Federal laws provide criminal sanctions for offenses involving the manufacture and sale of explosives. Such laws include the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which Act was enacted in response to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Federal laws also provide regulatory controls over interstate and foreign commerce in explosives. The regulatory controls are designed to assist states in regulating the manufacture, sale, transfer, and storage of explosives within their borders. The regulatory controls also require certain records to be kept with regard to transactions involving explosives and prohibit the making of false statements or false entries with regard to such transactions. The regulatory controls further require a theft of explosives to be reported to the federal government.

The Department of the Treasury is the licensing authority for explosives. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is responsible for enforcing the regulatory provisions of the federal laws regarding explosives.

A person commits a federal criminal offense if he or she imports, manufactures, or deals in explosive materials without a license. The terms "explosive materials" include explosives, blasting agents, and detonators. Although the term "deals" is not defined in the federal statutes, a single sale of explosives is sufficient for a conviction of the offense. A person also commits a federal criminal offense if he or she withholds information or makes any false oral or written statement for the purpose of obtaining explosive materials.

A person commits a federal criminal offense if he or she engages in the knowing interstate shipment, transportation, or receipt of explosive materials without a license. A person also commits a federal criminal offense if he or she knowingly distributes explosive materials to a non-licensed person who does not reside in the same state.

A person commits a federal criminal offense if he or she receives, possesses, transports, ships, conceals, stores, sells, or disposes of stolen explosive materials in interstate or foreign commerce and knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the explosive materials were stolen.

A licensee commits a federal criminal offense if he or she willfully fails to keep appropriate records of transactions involving explosive materials. This offense is a specific intent crime. In other words, the government is required to prove that the licensee acted willfully and not just knowingly.

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 makes it unlawful for any person to manufacture plastic explosives without a detection agent. The Act also makes it unlawful to import or to otherwise bring into the United States or to export from the United States any plastic explosives. The manufacture, importation, and possession of unmarked plastic explosives are considered to be federal crimes of terrorism if the offense was calculated to influence or to affect the conduct of the government by intimidation or coercion or if the offense was in retaliation against the government's conduct. Federal crimes of terrorism are investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

If a person violates any of the above federal laws, he or she may be subject to imprisonment for up to ten years, to a fine of up to $250,000, or both.

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