NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
Can you go to prison for bomb-making materials
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, with over 40 years of combined experience handling federal cases that others won’t touch. Our criminal defense attorneys have represented clients in cases that captivated national attention, like the Anna Delvey Netflix series, Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct proceedings, and the Alec Baldwin stalking case. If you’re reading this, you’re probably facing federal explosives charges – or worried someone you know is about to.
Yes, you can absolutely go to prison for bomb-making materials. Federal law doesn’t wait until you light a fuse. Possession of explosive materials, precursor chemicals, or even distributing information about bomb-making can land you in federal prison for 5 to 20 years, depending on what prosecutors prove about your intent.
The Federal Statutes That Send People to Prison
18 U.S. Code § 842 makes it illegal to possess explosive materials without proper licensing – and the exceptions are narrow. You can’t manufacture, import, distribute, or store explosives without ATF authorization. Violate this, and you’re looking at up to 10 years in federal prison.
But here’s what most people miss – you don’t need finished bombs. In January 2025, the FBI seized over 150 pipe bombs from a Virginia man’s garage in what prosecutors called the largest seizure of finished explosives in FBI history. Federal agents also found tools, fuses, plastic pipe – the kind of materials that don’t look dangerous sitting on a workbench until ATF connects the dots.
The same month, Michael Gann in New York ordered two pounds of potassium perchlorate and one pound of aluminum powder online – precursor chemicals – along with 200 cardboard tubes and 50 feet of fuses. He’s now facing federal charges for assembling at least seven IEDs. Prosecutors charged him with attempted destruction of property by explosives, transportation of explosive materials, and unlawful possession of destructive devices.
Prohibited Persons Face Automatic 10 Years
Under 18 USC 842(i), certain people can’t possess explosive materials at all. If you’ve been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year – you’re prohibited. If you’re under indictment, a fugitive, an unlawful drug user, or you’ve been committed to a mental institution – you can’t legally touch explosives.
ATF doesn’t care if you found the materials, inherited them, or claim you didn’t know the law. Possession as a prohibited person carries up to 10 years in federal prison. In 2018, a Sarasota man got five years for possessing over 7,700 pounds of explosive materials as a convicted felon. That’s the reality when you’re a prohibited person – the government doesn’t need to prove intent to use them.
Intent Crimes Carry Harsher Penalties
The sentences get worse when prosecutors prove intent. If you transport or receive explosives in interstate commerce with knowledge or intent that they’ll be used to kill, injure, intimidate, or destroy property – that’s up to 10 years. If someone gets hurt, it jumps to 20 years. If someone dies, you’re facing life in prison.
Federal prosecutors focus hard on proving what you planned to do with the materials. Texts, internet searches, social media posts – they build intent cases from digital trails most people don’t think twice about. In June 2025, a Texas man visited a New Mexico travel center asking for fireworks “that could be thrown directly at people to cause harm.” He told clerks he wanted them for use against law enforcement. That conversation alone gave prosecutors their intent element – receipt and transport of explosives intended for use against law enforcement.
Using explosives during any federal felony adds a consecutive 10-year mandatory minimum to whatever sentence you’re already facing. Second conviction? That’s 20 years mandatory, stacked on top of the underlying felony. These sentences don’t run concurrent – they add up.
Teaching and Distributing Bomb-Making Information
Here’s something that surprises people – you can go to prison for 20 years just for teaching someone how to make a bomb or distributing instructions. 18 USC 842(p) makes it a federal crime to teach, demonstrate, or distribute information about making or using explosives when you intend it to be used for a federal crime of violence, or when you know the person you’re teaching intends to use it that way.
This isn’t about casual conversation. Prosecutors must prove you either intended the information to be used for violence, or you knew the recipient planned to commit a federal crime. But that’s a lower bar than you’d think – juries hear evidence about who you shared the information with, what you said when you shared it, what websites you visited, what you posted online.
The statute faced First Amendment challenges when Congress debated it across three sessions. It passed because prosecutors must prove criminal intent, not just the sharing of information. Still, 20 years is 20 years – and federal prosecutors in 2025 are bringing these charges when the evidence supports it.
What Prosecutors Actually Prove in These Cases
Federal explosives cases turn on evidence most people don’t think about until agents are executing a search warrant. Online purchases of precursor chemicals – potassium perchlorate, aluminum powder, ammonium nitrate in certain mixtures – create records. So do purchases of fuses, pipes, end caps, timers. ATF monitors these transactions, sometimes for months before making arrests.
Internet searches matter. Browsing bomb-making forums, downloading instructions, watching YouTube videos on IED assembly – all of it gets preserved in search histories and browser caches. Prosecutors use this to establish knowledge and intent. You might think you’re just curious, but a jury sees someone researching exactly how to build the devices found in your garage.
Physical evidence matters too. How materials are stored, whether they’re mixed or separated, whether you have tools specifically designed for bomb assembly – these details help prosecutors prove you weren’t just collecting interesting chemicals. The Virginia case is instructive – agents didn’t just find components, they found over 150 finished pipe bombs. That’s not ambiguous.
Defending Federal Explosives Charges
These cases are defensible, but the defenses are narrow and fact-specific. Sometimes the issue is whether materials actually qualify as “explosive materials” under federal law – ATF maintains a specific list, and not every chemical mixture makes the cut. Sometimes it’s whether you qualify as a prohibited person, or whether the government can prove interstate commerce.
Intent cases create more openings. If prosecutors can’t prove you knew materials would be used for violence, or that you intended them for illegal purposes, the case weakens. Personal use for legitimate purposes – like farmers using explosives for land clearing with proper permits – is legal. Target shooters can manufacture certain explosives for personal use without federal licensing.
But these defenses require experienced federal criminal defense attorneys who understand ATF regulations, federal explosives statutes, and how prosecutors build these cases. At Spodek Law Group, we’ve spent decades defending federal charges where the stakes couldn’t be higher. We know how federal agents investigate explosives cases, what evidence matters most, and how to challenge the government’s proof of knowledge and intent.
The worst thing you can do is talk to federal agents without a lawyer. ATF and FBI are skilled at getting people to explain away their innocence – they’ll ask about your purchases, your internet history, who you know, what you were planning. Every answer you give becomes evidence, even if you think you’re being helpful. Especially if you think you’re being helpful.
If you’re under investigation for explosive materials possession, or you’ve already been charged, you need lawyers who’ve handled federal explosives cases before. We’re available 24/7 because we know these investigations don’t wait for business hours. Call us – we’ll tell you honestly what you’re facing and what we can do about it.