Best of all, the design behind the scalable offensive hand grenade is such that the whole thing is intended to surprise the enemy (sorry), people at your party, rather than injure, maim or kill them. This is accomplished by engineering the device so that it does little more than explode with concussive force. That is, there is little to no fragmentation that takes place, and so there is little chance that someone will be wounded or hurt by any resulting shrapnel.

Remember if you will that American offensive hand grenades have been around since 1918, when they were first invented to help troops fighting in close quarters (enemy trenches). Those kind of hand grenades were designed to kill. These are not. Considering this sordid “kill as kill can” history, isn’t it impressive that we now have a means of scaring the pants off of someone, rather than killing them? Surely this is an improvement, isn’t it? If not, why would SOCOM be asking to buy another $40 million of these things?

At any rate, once WWI G.I.’s discovered how useful grenades were in trench warfare, it wasn’t long before they demanded more varieties of them. For one thing, their use soon expanded beyond trench warfare to use in clearing buildings and caves. The result was the introduction (by the British) of the Mk 3 grenade. Over time it in turn got upgraded, until it was released in a more scalable version known as the Mk3A1. The current version, the Mk3A2, is made of waterproofed fiberboard and contains only minimal metal components. The Mk3A2 weighs 15.4 ounces (440 grams), has a five second fuse, and contains 8 ounces (228 grams) of TNT.

Our U.S. military introduced the Mk II grenade (sometimes written as Mk 2) as a fragmentation type anti-personnel hand grenade, in 1918. It worked so well that it continued to be the standard issue anti-personnel grenade right through World War II, as well as through later conflicts, right up to and including the Vietnam War.[1]

Stun (or “flash bang”) grenades were originally invented by the British SAS for use by their commandos in the 1960s. These weapons did not use explosives per se, but instead had a fire and shatter proof body with perforations for momentary bright light and a very loud noise to escape. The effect of one going off was incredibly intense, up to about 6 feet away from the detonation point.

The U.S. copied this idea, producing among others the current version known as the U.S. M84 stun grenade. The M84 weighs 8.2 ounces (236 grams), uses a .16 ounce (4.5 grams) magnesium/ammonium nitrate mixture, and a 1 – 2.3 second fuse to generate up to 180 db of sound, as well as an unbelievable 6 – 8 million Candela of light that is effective in stunning people up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) away.

So as you head out to enjoy your Fourth of July holiday, remember to stop off at your nearest Indian Reservation and pick up your own little supply of firecrackers... and be sure to ask for a couple of scalable offensive hand grenades. Stay away from the smoke bombs, Roman Candles and Snakes, they're old fashioned and sure to bore both your kids and the neighbors looking over the fence.

Instead head for the aisles that hold the Black Cats, M-80s and Lady Fingers. Somewhere in that area, if you dig deeply and carefully up-under the shelf itself, you will find—way in the back—a tattered old box that contains a bunch of scalable offensive hand grenades (the store’s clerk might know these as “stack grenades”).

If you’re really lucky, you’ll find the military version… which looks something like the ones in the picture above right. If not, what you’ll likely find is a civilian copy cat product. More than likely it will be labeled CTS, as this sweet little company offers the widest selection of Flash-Bangs and Sting-Ball Grenades available today.

If that's all you can find, worry not... buy them. After all, if they're good enough for your local police, ICE, the IRS, FBI, CIA and NSA to use when breaking down your doors, they're good enough for you. 

Take a few home to your kids. They’re bound to make you the hero of your Fourth of July party.