Washington, DC - More than 16 years after a bomb ripped apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the government says it will soon issue a proposal calling for the regulation of the main ingredient used in the bombing -- ammonium nitrate.
A proposal is expected to be published in the Federal Register today, the Associated Press reports.
It would likely regulate the purchase, sale or transfer of the chemical when at least 25 pounds of it is purchased or transferred. Those buying, selling or transferring the chemical would be required to register with the government to be screened against terror watch lists.
A four-thousand pound ammonium nitrate fertilizer bomb was used by Timothy McVeigh on April 19, 1995 to blow up the Murrah Building in downtown Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 men, women and children.
Last week, a similar-type bomb was used in an attack in Norway. Seventy-seven people died and nearly one hundred others were injured in the attacks.
