„Elon Musk`s Boring Company launched a new flamethrower that sold out of 20,000 in a matter of days, without bothering to educate buyers or their reasons for buying. Giving the public access to this type of machine is extremely problematic; Some commercial flamethrowers can shoot flames up to twenty feet away from the user,” reads the memo from the sponsor of the bill. Thinking of flamethrowers as recreational toys is a bit of a headache,” Senator John Brooks, sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. „This law will protect children, families and neighbours from irresponsible and dangerous `gambling`. Weapons of war have no place in our backyard. In 2015, MP Eliot Engel introduced the „flamethrowers? Oh, really? Gesetz im 114. Congress would regulate flamethrowers identical to machine guns, which have long been largely illegal for civilians in the United States. This bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations, but no further action was taken. [13] Ironically, the prospect of potentially banning flamethrowers increased awareness of their legality, with the CEO of the Ion Productions team telling Ars Technica in 2015, „We have received tremendous support from police, firefighters, our customers and interested parties to keep them legal.” [12] The bill never made it out of the 114th Congress committee. [14] Flamethrowers are an extremely fun and exciting weapon that can make every day a good time. They remain legal in many states of the Union and it is therefore possible to play the day with your personal flamethrower.
Starting in 2015, several companies began selling flamethrowers to civilians. This has led to increased interest in regulating them, with unsuccessful attempts to regulate flamethrowers at the federal and state levels starting in 2022. Proponents of the regulation pointed to the potential dangers of civilian use of flamethrowers, while opponents identified legitimate uses and pointed to the almost non-existent record of flamethrowers in the United States. Representative Engel reintroduced the bill in the 116th Congress. At the time, a former ATF employee pointed out that Congress would first have to legally change the definition of what counts as a firearm to regulate flamethrowers at the federal level. Under President Donald Trump, changing gun laws was seen as a failure, as it eliminated any chance of a law regulating flamethrowers at the national level becoming law. [14] The images attached to the tweet showed several bags of unknown substances, a Glock pistol with an elongated magazine, and a Boring Company flamethrower still in its original packaging. Elon Musk`s Boring Company (which would dig tunnels through which cars can drive because it`s somehow better than trains) began selling flamethrowers in 2018 as a publicity stunt. It produced only 20,000 and all were sold.
One of those 20,000 is now in the hands of the NYPD. Under Senate Bill S1637, anyone caught with a flamethrower in New York City would be charged with criminal possession of a fourth-degree firearm, a Class E felony. Establishes the crime of criminal possession of a flamethrower The whole stunt prompted the New York State Senate to pass a bill banning the recreational use of flamethrowers. It will now be submitted to the National Assembly – but the icy pace of the US legislative process could make the bill a case of too little too late. The New York State Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would make owning a flamethrower, except under certain circumstances, a crime. The bill is a direct response to a controversial January 2018 promotion by Musk`s tunnel company, The Boring Co, which sold 20,000 flamethrowers at $500 each in just five days. It`s no secret why they want to ban flamethrowers like Musk`s. Although Boring`s device is not technically a flamethrower (it looks more like a torch attached to a rifle grenade), it sometimes has the effect of such a device. The company even demanded that buyers release the company from liability if they damaged people or property.
Many people will certainly use the Not-A flamethrower, but it would only take an accident (or worse) for things to go horribly wrong. Apparently, it wasn`t already illegal to use a flamethrower for recreational purposes in New York City. and then came Elon Musk. New York State Senator John Brooks introduced a bill in the state Senate in 2019 that would criminalize the recreational use of flamethrowers while allowing their use „for agricultural, structural or historical collection purposes.” As of March 2022, this bill is before the Rules Committee and appears to have stalled. [15] Read more about flamethrowers: Elon Musk`s flamethrowers are here, and yes, people are already using them stupidly It may be, but Brooks introduced the law in January 2019, nearly a year after the flamethrowers were announced and long after the first deliveries. It then took the New York Senate nearly five months to pass the bill, and it still needs to be voted on in the state assembly. In California, Rep. Miguel Santiago spoke out in favor of introducing a law that would ban the flamethrower made by The Boring Company, stating that „absolutely no public good could come from the sale of this tool.” [11] [16] He introduced AB-1949 Explosives: flamethrowing devices during the 2017-2018 session of the California legislature. This bill would have amended California`s existing legislation to extend the regulations to devices that emit a flame at least 2 feet in length. The bill was eventually sent to committee and did not pass. [17] The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) does not define flamethrowers as weapons because they are not included in the National Firearms Act and states that their regulation is outside the agency`s jurisdiction.
[12] The use or display of a flamethrower in a national park is not allowed and could lead to riot charges, according to William Reynolds, then regional chief of the National Capitol Area Rangers. [2] If you live in upstate New York and bought one of The Boring Company`s Not-A flamethrowers, you`ll probably want to get rid of it soon. The state Senate recently passed a bill banning the possession of a recreational flamethrower, and lawmakers specifically cited Elon Musk`s device as an example. The gauges specifically lock any aircraft that plans to burn fuel at least three feet away, which appears to include Boring`s hardware. In the United States, flamethrowers are largely legal for personal possession and use. California requires a permit to possess a flamethrower, and only Maryland has completely banned its possession and use. There are no federal laws for flamethrowers because they are not defined as weapons in the National Firearms Act. The United States is a signatory to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Protocol III of which restricts the military use of flamethrowers; This does not apply to civilian use. NYPD seized one of Elon Musk`s Boring Company flamethrowers from a Queens apartment building on New Year`s Day.
The bill would add flamethrowers to the list of items that fall under criminal possession of a fourth-degree weapon. There are exceptions for flamethrowers built before 1966 and flamethrowers used in agriculture and construction. The United States became a party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1983, an international treaty that partially restricts the military use of incendiary weapons, including flamethrowers. [3] However, the Convention does not regulate the use of flamethrowers outside of military applications. [9] The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidelines on the safe operation of flamethrowers in 2018. Joseph Galbo, the creator of Guidance, commented: „Although the CPSC has not received any reports of injuries caused by flamethrowers, it seemed wise to issue safety advice for the public” following the introduction of more powerful civilian flamethrowers this year. [5] In the same year, The Boring Company introduced a flamethrower model that had lower performance than the two models introduced by other companies in 2015, called the Not-A-Flamethrower. [6] This flamethrower drew attention to the more powerful flamethrowers from Throwflame and Ion Productions Team, both of which told the Los Angeles Times that they saw an increase in flamethrower sales in 2018. [3] Although flamethrowers are legal in most states, it is important to use your flamethrower safely. You should also pay attention to all local prescriptions. Many places have their own gun rules, so it`s possible that there are cities in the U.S.
that ban flamethrowers. Flamethrowers are one of the coolest weapons in human history. The ability to shoot your target is an amazing feeling for any person. While flamethrowers are cool, many people think that flamethrower ownership is probably limited where they live. If you live in the United States, you can probably own a flamethrower if you want. Flamethrowers are legal in all states of the Union except California. The NYPD did not respond to VICE`s request for comment on the circumstances surrounding the seizure of the flamethrower. This gives flamethrower owners plenty of time to use the devices in incredibly stupid and dangerous ways — a great example of how quickly the U.S. government can actually enact new laws can`t always keep up with the need for those laws.