Yeah, but you can make toxic gases with lots of things that are easier to get than nitric acid. (The one time that I had to tell my parents "don't go in the basement" was after an... excursion with nitric acid making nitrogen dioxide. I don't remember if it was a metal or a paper product that I was trying to digest when things got out of hand.)
Now I'm wondering what kind of acid it was. I don't recall having access to Nitric Acid, but Sulphuric was readily available, along with Hydrochloric. I don't think I did this at home, probably a chemistry class stunt!
I also had acid I used for etching circuit boards, but I think that stuff was pretty mild. Got it with a Heathkit Electronics set for making homemade radios at 12 years old!
I found that out about 1959/60 in college chemistry class. There were lots of reagents sitting out for our use including concentrated nitric acid. When I walked into the lab the room was beginning to fill with a transparent brown gas. NOTE: I wasn't the cause.
