FBI looks to help St. Louis-area residents secure things that go boom

[Sherman A1]

The St. Louis office of the FBI and six local bomb squads have launched a week-long effort to get military explosives out of the homes of area residents.

Bomb technicians regularly get calls from residents who find old grenades that a loved one brought home as a souvenir of their time in the military, said Spencer Evans, the interim special agent in charge of the FBI locally. Others purchase shells or explosives at gun shows, thinking they are replicas.

“It really takes someone with specific knowledge and experience and training to be able to identify what is a live device and what is inert,” Evans said. “Some of the fakes are very realistic. When in doubt, give us a call so our folks can come and check it out.”

Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found three Civil War-era cannonballs while dredging the Mississippi River in south St. Louis. FBI bomb technicians transported them to a local firing range and detonated them safely.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/law-order/2022-01-24/fbi-looks-to-help-residents-secure-things-that-go-boom

[rsdsharp]

1. When I was a kid, a friend had a 60mm mortar shell next to the fireplace.

Everybody’s father was a veteran in those days, and his dad had brought it back from WW II. I hope it was inert, but I never had guts enough to ask.

[Throck]

2. Shouldn't be the job of the ATF?