Germany manages to do so just fine. It's virtually impossible to obtain hydrogen peroxide in enough high concentration and volume to produce significant amounts of TATP without setting off more than a few alerts.
Almost all popular precursor chemicals for drugs and explosives are heavily controlled in Europe.
They do the same in the US but it just makes the synthesis a bit more complicated. Friction may be the point. Plenty of people synthesize the precursors. It is precursors all the way down, each one more ubiquitous and innocuous than the previous. Bootstrapping chemistry is 19th century technology.
Near as I can tell, there is no explicit legal limit in Germany. Like the US it’s a kind of ‘soft’ limit, and is about 12%. If someone can find where it’s codified in law, I’d appreciate it.
It's EU law, 12% hydrogen peroxide is the highest you can get in EU without being cleared to do so (say by showing government authorization, proof of end use, proof of academic education or certifications, ...) [1].
Pretty sure I can buy 30% or more from a lab supplier in the US. I can buy gallons of the 3% stuff with no issue too. The 12% stuff is usually in hair products, which I think has stabilizers or other additives in it. I use peroxide for European style mounts which is why I need so much of it. I decided 3% works fine and is way more economical than the powerful stuff even if it takes longer.
Wouldn't this just encourage another killdoser situation without the guns? Just the armor?
I mean if someone wants to cause mass causulty and terror its going to happen, be it a gun or a knife or explosive. Hell I'd argue cyber attacks could also do the same.
> I mean if someone wants to cause mass causulty and terror its going to happen, be it a gun or a knife or explosive.
Sure, the general idea though is to raise the barrier - both to make it more difficult to get the weapon in question and to have better chances of red flags popping up somewhere along the chain.
Same for gun background checks outside of the US, for requiring CDLs to rent trucks capable of plowing through assemblies of people, or for requiring at least a CPL if not an ATPL to pilot a plane capable of dealing a large amount of damage.
The higher the damage potential in the hands of someone abusing a thing for terrorism, the higher the barriers to entry should be.
Almost all popular precursor chemicals for drugs and explosives are heavily controlled in Europe.