WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- An ABC News team easily bought a half-ton of dangerous bomb-making materials and stored them a few miles from the White House, the network said.
The undercover team purchased ammonium nitrate at farm supply stores in North Carolina and Virginia and were not once asked for valid identification, ABC said.
They then moved the chemical to a storage shed a few miles from the White House and Capitol Hill.
Ammonium nitrate, a white powder at room temperature, is commonly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer, but is also an oxidizing agent in explosives. It was used in the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Proposed laws requiring buyers of the chemical to register with the federal government have been blocked by the agricultural industry, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
A bill requiring sellers to record purchases has passed King's committee and is awaiting a vote by the full House.
ABC's entire report detailing its investigation is scheduled to air Monday.
