# Ammonia and grand theft **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338 "2012-04-19T23:54:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/1 "2012-04-19T23:54:04Z")
According to Wikipedia: “[In New York] Grand larceny consists of stealing property with a value exceeding $1000; or stealing a public record, secret scientific material, firearm, credit or debit card, ammonia, telephone with service, or motor vehicle or religious item with value exceeding $100.” Why does ammonia get the special treatment? ---
**Author:** ![dan1500](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dan1500](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dan1500)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/2 "2012-04-19T23:58:30Z")
Possibly because it’s used to make meth. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/3 "2012-04-19T23:58:35Z")
SWAG: It’s used in production of lots of dangerous and illegal things, including explosives and methamphetamines. Why restrict only ammonia, among all the other chemicals with dangerous and illegal uses? I don’t know; maybe it’s the most commonly stolen, or there was a rash of ammonia thefts, or who knows what. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/4 "2012-04-19T23:59:31Z")
WAG - the statute may date back to when ammonia was a common refrigerant. It would have been easily available in large quantities, but it’s toxic and explosive. Bad news all around. Thank goodness for CFCs - except for the ozone layer thing. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/5 "2012-04-20T00:01:59Z")
Maybe also because it’s easy to steal. It’s used as a refrigerant so it’s pumped, in large quantities, outside up to compressors. The other things used in making meth that might be worth over a thousand dollars (and I’m just guessing) might get people in more trouble. That is, if the DEA is cracking down on someone and catches them stealing $1200 worth of ingredient X, they don’t need it to be grand theft since the person will already be charged with drug manufacturing. Maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/6 "2012-04-20T00:03:45Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > WAG - the statute may date back to when ammonia was a common refrigerant. It would have been easily available in large quantities, but it’s toxic and explosive. Bad news all around. Thank goodness for CFCs - except for the ozone layer thing. It’s still used. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/7 "2012-04-20T00:46:16Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > WAG - the statute may date back to when ammonia was a common refrigerant. It would have been easily available in large quantities, but it’s toxic and explosive. Bad news all around. Thank goodness for CFCs - except for the ozone layer thing. CFC’s are aa poor refrigerant compaired to NH3 ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/8 "2012-04-20T00:48:51Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > According to Wikipedia: > > “[In New York] Grand larceny consists of stealing property with a value exceeding $1000;… or religious item with value exceeding $100.”… I wonder what the case law is on what the definition of a religious item is. For example, who must consider the object to have a religious function for the object to be a “religious item”? The victim? The thief? A recognized clergyperson? E.g. if a non-Christian steals Catholic rosaries, statues, icons, or vestments believing them to be mundane objects in fact because the religion behind them is false, is that a valid defense that would bump the grand theft minimum up to $1000? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/9 "2012-04-20T00:52:56Z")
Also available in rural areas in tanks on trailers, ready to be towed away. Ammonia is used as a fertilizer and hauled to the farm in [big tanks](http://www.purplewaveauction.com/i/a/2011/20111026ag/A2937.JPG). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/10 "2012-04-20T00:54:25Z")
> [@](#): > > E.g. if a non-Christian steals Catholic rosaries, statues, icons, or vestments believing them to be mundane objects in fact because the religion behind them is false, is that a valid defense that would bump the grand theft minimum up to $1000? What do you mean “the religion behind them is false”? Many people believe that Catholics believe untrue things, but I’ve never heard anyone who thought that Catholicism wasn’t actually a religion. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/11 "2012-04-20T01:42:32Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > CFC’s are aa poor refrigerant compaired to NH3 You may be right - but CFCs aren’t corrosive, explosive or toxic. They can be a suffocant, but so can N2 fer Og’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/12 "2012-04-20T01:55:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What do you mean “the religion behind them is false”? Many people believe that Catholics believe untrue things, but I’ve never heard anyone who thought that Catholicism wasn’t actually a religion. Well, I could up and claim that my computer is a sacred object in my religion of “robert\_columbiology” in order to make any theft of it into a felonious grand theft. The question is where do you draw the line and how would a court determine whether the object is a bona fide religious object? Would you really want a judge or jury saying, “Sorry, \, your religion is not recognized by this court and therefore we treat the theft of your so-called fertility statues, worth $200, as petty theft.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ammonia-and-grand-theft/619338/13 "2012-04-20T02:05:07Z")
Courts concern themselves with the question of what is and is not a religion all the time. It’s not an issue they’re afraid to delve into.