saltpeter

You're gonna have to ban lead and saltpeter and basic tools then, too.

If you want to make gunpowder, where in the world do you get saltpeter and sulfur?

If I could identify what the hell saltpeter was, gunpowder would be an option.

It doesn't go into detail other than reacting sulfuric acid with saltpeter.

Spoiler: saltpeter makes an appearance, as suggested by someone elsewhere in this thread.

Mixing in accusations of astroturfing is like adding saltpeter to a fire.

Charcoal, potassium and sulfur; or saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal.

The practicality difference is that saltpeter costs US$1/kg, while lead-acid batteries cost about US$6/kg.

And even if they went that far, Wikipedia mentions an old process[1] for synthesizing saltpeter using only wood ash, urine, and straw.

It allowed Germany to produce ammo and explosives even while cut off from Chilean saltpeter [2] and also sustained its agriculture in the absence of fertilizer imports.

The gun he used to shoot rabbits implies bullet and gunpowder manufacture; he didn't mention it explicitly in the interview, but I don't assume he had his own sulfur and saltpeter sources or was smelting his own bullets.

The kind of people who experiment with saltpeter are exactly the kinds of people to read those books out of interest, not some sort of malicious plan to commit crimes.-Also this is an aside but...> So don't tell me that no one thought it was an actual bomb.

Saltpeter was known by the 1st century AD; but saltpeter is not gunpowder.