Explosive gender reveals are not uncommon
Published 6:18 pm Monday, February 19, 2018
A gender reveal party turned explosive caught the attention of residents across the Golden Triangle Saturday night.
News spread quickly on social media as locals chimed in with their location saying they had heard the booms across the city and the Mid County area. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a home on West Port Arthur Road where the explosions were coming from.
“It all started with a gender reveal party as the soon-to-be dad shot a Tannerite target to reveal either pink or blue. Then they shot up what was left. They were advised to shut it down,” according to information from the sheriff’s office.
Deputy Crystal Holmes said no one was issued a citation and no laws were broken. In addition, the shooting was shut down with no problems.
But this wasn’t the first time the sheriff’s office dealt with Tannerite, which is a pre-package binary explosive consisting of two separate components. The components are not listed separately on the list of explosive materials and do not meet the definition of explosives; hence, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives does not regulate its sale and distribution.
“It happens quite often. We get calls of unexplained explosions,” Holmes said.
Gun enthusiasts sometimes like to see a visual when target shooting and Tannerite is often used and is often used in rural areas and pastures.
Holmes said that Tannerite baby gender reveals are not a new concept and is something routinely done by families in rural areas outside city limits and a Google search showed that Sonic Boom Gender Reveal kids are readily available for purchase.
On Sunday, local dispatchers in Rusk County were busy with calls about an explosion and learned it was individuals blowing up a tree stump. In February, a boom accompanied by a blue plume signaled a gender reveal near Alvin and in January, multiple law enforcement agencies investigated reports of explosions and learned a person was exploding Tannerite on private land used as a gun range.