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Commercial Flamethrower Successfully Crowdfunded
ColdWetDog writes: You've always wanted one, of course. Zombies, the occasional alien infestation. The neighbor's smelly roses. You just need to be prepared for things. You can get freeze dried food, AR15's, enough ammo to start a small police action (at least here in the U.S. -- YMMV), but it has been difficult to get a modern, portable flamethrower until now. CNET has a brief explanation on the XM42, which doubled its Indiegogo funding target in just a few days.
"....where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower.... The kids love this one."
It's legal in all states except MD and CA. There generally hasn't been a big problem with drive-by flamethrowings.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
I know from Myth Busters they are not legal in California.
Is anything legal in California these days?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
no, there are different types of flamethrowers with differing fuels, see my other comment.
The Geneva convention only forbids flamethrowers in certain situations, look it up. Two armies roasting each other in a field is perfectly fine by the GC
The U.S. military still has flamethrowers and practices with them
On a more serious note but nonetheless just as funny, the liability suits from this should be hilarious.
A flamethrower is primarily useful for clearing bunkers.
Squirt a jet of flame through the firing slit on a concrete bunker, and it quickly ceases to be a threat to the guys on the outside.
Like a demolition charge, it's utility is pretty limited, but when the right (or wrong, depending on perspective) situation comes up, there's no substitute....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I know from Myth Busters they are not legal in California.
Is anything legal in California these days?
Idiot politicians who waste taxpayers' money are legal in California.
Also, idiots who make frivolous lawsuits against their former employers
appear to be legal.
All in all, it is a good place not to live.
Gravel may be all you can grow, but that isn't a garden. That isn't even a rock garden.
If ever there was a weapon that would be classified as only a weapon of terror with no practical application beyond fear.
This is it.
I hope this fails, and i'm an NRA member who is often caught saying things like "from my cold dead hand"
The only time I ever used a flame thrower was to put out a forest fire. I don't doubt that the deer were frightened of me, but in my defense I was trying to protect their home.
Why are NRA members so dim-witted? Do you even understand your own propaganda, or do you just spew it like a mindless zombie? It isn't the flame-thrower that scares people, it is the asshole waving it around.
I wanted so desperately for there to be a comment on this that I could mod flamebait. Thank you for your contribution.
Good we don't want any tea-baggy cry babies here anyway
Having fun isn't necessarily stupid. Having fun with flamboyantly dangerous things isn't necessarily stupid. It's endangering unwilling bystanders that's stupid.
Some people like to build and shoot powerful crossbows, or even replicas of medieval siege weapons. These are extremely dangerous and useless things. The dangerous power of a trebuchet to throw an upright piano 150 yards is part of the charm.
But a trebuchet is something that takes certain amount of thought and sacrifice to obtain and use. This flamethrower thing is more like a powerful handgun. There's been a recent fad for ridiculously overpowered handguns, which pack superfluously fatal power into a convenient, affordable form factor. The recent brouhaha over "armor piercing" ammunition was a side effect of a manufacturer selling a cut-down semi-automatic carbine as a "handgun", even though if you look at videos of people using them they're obviously terrible as handguns. This raised the question of whether 5.56 NATO ammunition should be regulated as "handgun ammunition", and in the end I think the decision not to was reasonablee. These aren't cop-killing or military handguns. They're extremely dangerous toys designed to get your rocks off.
There are some who'd say that because these guns are dangerous and impractical they should be banned. But I don't agree. "Impractical" isn't the same as "useless" because getting your rocks off is a legitimate use for a thing. I think people should be able to enjoy their ridiculous firearms as long as they do it at some kind of appropriate range. I also think there's a real danger though from stupid people who will go plinking in the woods with the things like they were BB guns.
That's really the only problem I have with this flamethrower, whether it's gold, chrome, or gunmetal gray. Any idiot can buy one, but it'd take someone reasonably intelligent and determined to find a place where it can be used safely. I'm not against people buying them, but I am for coming down hard on people who use them where they're a danger or public nuisance.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
While you're linking to youtube, you might checkout the homemade flamethrowers. I can't claim to have made one but plenty of my friends have (including my school physics club). The mechanics of a flame thrower is just a squirt gun + a match. I can buy propane "flame throwers" as is at the local hardware store (used for burning weeds).
Why are people making all these flame throwers? Because something that shoots jets of flame is freaking cool. As far as I could discern on a quick google search, none of them have been used to commit murder.
What I personally find horrific is the idea that anyone would be so afraid of their fellow citizens that their first assumption on hearing they have access to a projectile shooter/flame maker/etc. is "OH GOODNESS HOW ARE THEY GOING TO USE THAT MURDER ME?" I realize unhinged people are out there, and will do bad things, but there are also bears in the woods which could find their way to my house and easily maul me to death. But the statistics are low enough that I don't worry about. I suppose my luck could run out some day, but trusting my fellow citizens not to murder me has worked so far, and I wouldn't care to live any other way. I like the idea of a society and a government that assumes I have good intentions until proven otherwise and I consider it worth some risk to have it even if I am not personally a person who is interested in owning a weapon.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
1. If I recall correctly they were very popular in South Africa as a self defense weapon at one point. So, not quite uniquely American
2. The "clearing snow" thing might be a reasonable usage case. Depends on the efficacy.
3. Regarding deadliness, there are flamethrowers and then there are flamethrowers. Glancing at the pics and vids, I'm not seeing any burning fuel on the ground. If this thing spews a fireball that burns itself out instantly without coating anything with the still-burning fuel, it's probably not something you can accidentally maim someone with. Singe their hair off and give them second degree burns, sure, but it's not napalm. Barring fuel tank rupture, I'd say this thing appears to be significantly safer than a gun.
4. I appreciate the desire to stop bad ideas before they snowball, but having a society based liberty (and generally averse to the idea of a nanny state) means asking "why not?", not "why?" Europe is safer in a lot of ways, but there's a reason why it's not the main driver of innovation despite having a higher GDP and a population 50% higher than the USA. The side effect of letting people innovate is that sometimes someone goes and starts selling flamethrowers. Oh well.
Says you.
I've been itching to whole roast a deer mid jump.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
If you want to be afraid of something, worry about ladders - those fuckers are dangerous. If you want a rational view of danger, then statistics, not imagination, is your friend.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Killing isn't bad when it's mosquitoes. You've supped your last on me you little bloodsucking bastards!
Allow me to take a moment to mourn what Slashdot has become as many of the interesting people have left for other pastures.
There was a time I'd come to an article about this and learn all sorts of neat details, such as why flame throwers existed, the mechanics and challenges involved with producing something like this, why it hasn't been done before and speculation as to how this is working... along with stories of where their usage has gone wrong by those with interesting backgrounds, and yes, a healthy dose of humor at the absurdity of it existing and maybe one or two freakouts.
Now? Mostly just some freakouts. Where have all the slashdotters gone... I'm starting to feel like only the helicopter moms are left, refreshing slashdot because they like their macbook air so think they enjoy tech.
Er, when you say "clearing".....? [fearing the worst].
Burned the people inside to death or near enough so they stopped fighting. What do you think the flamethrower did? Spewed chocolate bunnies inside to make the enemies lapse into a diabetic coma?
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
That sounds a bit like claiming to be celibate while boasting that you've the neighbourhood's biggest and best porn archive.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.