Under the Second Amendment, can explosives be lawfully restricted?

It’s not the debate we typically have regarding the Second Amendment. We typically have bigger fish to fry just to maintain what we have and hopefully nibble away at the current infringements.

So, for now, pipe bombs are illegal and will land you in prison for a very long time.

Well, maybe they would. One woman made a pile of pipe bombs and isn’t looking at a single day behind bars.

When Michelle Kolts’ parents found homemade pipe bombs in her bedroom back in October 2019, they feared the worst.

They immediately notified authorities who made a chilling discovery: 24 bombs filled with nails, screws, and pellets, along with materials to make more bombs, and books about terrorist bombings. They also found a hit list.

Kolts, who was 27 at the time and living with her parents in Wimauma, was arrested on explosives charges that could’ve put her away in prison for 100 years. But after more than three years of mental health evaluations and treatment, prison time no longer looms in her future.

On Wednesday, Kolts pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a deal that focuses on maintaining her mental health.

Following her arrest in 2019, Kolts was found mentally unfit to stand trial. She spent the next six months getting treatment at a state hospital and was ultimately diagnosed with schizophrenia.

So, basically, she’s got 24 months of “community control,” followed by 15 years of probation.

For the record, that’s house arrest for two years–after COVID, any of us should be able to do that standing on our heads–and 15 years of being watched.

When I first saw this story, I was kind of pissed. After all, not a day in prison for 24 pipe bombs, but Randy Weaver sawed a shotgun a smidge too short and had is life destroyed? It was absolutely insane.

Yet the truth is, this is not a sane person. This is a deeply disturbed woman who was thankfully stopped before taking anyone else’s life.

From what I know of schizophrenia, their grasp on reality isn’t really there. They envision all kinds of scenarios taking place around them that simply aren’t. In their minds, the steps they’re taking are warranted.

In short, they often can’t discern right from wrong, the legal definition of insanity.

Mandating treatment as the authorities have already done is definitely the right move here.

Yet it’s also interesting that this person didn’t get a gun to go after those on her hit list. She tried pipe bombs instead, which is a category of weaponry that’s far more terrifying than firearms. It’s also one that is restricted far beyond what anyone even could do with guns.

Gun control didn’t stop her. Neither did bomb control, really.

What stopped her is that her family figured out something was wrong and did something about it. As a result, this woman is going to get the help that she desperately needs and no one lost their life.

Any way you want to cut it, that’s a win for everyone involved.

Further, it’s not like she’s just walking here. For 15 years, she’ll have to keep her nose clean. If not, all this goes out the window.