Letters to the Editor
Dry ice bombs aren’t dangerous
Re: “Two arrested for setting off dry ice bombs” by Suzanne Parks, April 2.
It is quite disconcerting to realize that Tampa has University officials, police officers and prosecutors who are all willing to put a couple in jail because they poured warm water and a piece of dry ice into a soda bottle.
Are these people kidding? Is this country going to turn into the United Kingdom and ban knives? Is the United States going to push for a ban on blunt objects and noisemakers too?
More than that, does USF have officials that will jeopardize students’ futures over an activity that is completely legal? What law did they break? One wonders if University police have ever read the National Firearms Act of 1934, which states “The term ‘destructive device’ means any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas bomb, grenade, rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, mine, or similar device.”
While the dry ice bombs exploded on campus may have been an explosive, it could hardly be described as “destructive,” and under no circumstance would Florida’s legislature group soda bottles and water with hand grenades, rockets, and land mines.My only real prayer here, even more than the two students being found innocent, is that USF will remember what a bomb truly is.
Daniel McKnight is a freshman majoring in political science.
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