I-Team: Explosives & the Internet

BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (WWLP) - The Colorado movie massacre brought a frightening reality to light: that you can simply log onto the internet to learn how to make a bomb.

The 22News I-Team investigates how much the government is monitoring these dangerous searches.

The Colorado movie theater shooting captured the nations attention and we watched live as experts attempted to disarm a homemade bomb that shooting suspect James Holmes used to booby-trap his Aurora apartment.

Authorities say Holmes likely learned to make that bomb on the internet.

"Homemade explosives just multiply the dangerousness factor,"  said Michael Rogowski, Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad.

Rogowski told 22News they are called to handle explosives about once every couple weeks, the majority are developed using information on the internet.

Experts say a lot of the information out there about building explosives is unreliable, often times wrong and can put anyone nearby, even the people attempting to assemble the bomb, at risk.

"I think that there should be safe guards if people are starting to order more and more of these types of chemicals or things that can be used to make these weapons," said Karen Thomes, Springfield.

According to the FBI, they don't monitor or step in when people are conducting dangerous searches because it's a violation of the constitution.

But, Rogoswki says you can be arrested before you even make a bomb  and here in Massachusetts the laws are especially strict.

"In Massachusetts we have a component law meaning you don't need the completed device it can be different components separated prior to their assembly stage and we can charge accordingly to that," Rogowski said.

Rogowski says it's likely laws related to explosives will be analyzed and strengthened following the situation in Colorado.