The Senate approved an amendment to an anti-terrorism bill today to require that dynamite and other commercial explosive materials contain tagging agents that would aid investigators in tracing bombs.
But in a compromise to win the necessary Republican support, the Democratic sponsor of the legislation, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, agreed that smokeless or black gunpowder would be exempted from the regulation. The move to include the gunpowder, which is popular with gun hobbyists, had been opposed by Republicans and by the National Rifle Association.
The amendment, which was approved by a vote of 90 to 0, also calls for further studies before lawmakers would decide whether to require the tagging agents, tiny particles known as taggants, in nitrate fertilizers like those used in the Oklahoma City bombing and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Under Mrs. Feinstein's amendment, the Secretary of the Treasury would be required to conduct an 18-month study on the tagging of explosive materials. Within six months of completion of the study, the Treasury Department is to implement regulations for the addition of taggants to explosive materials, whether manufactured domestically or imported.