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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
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.
I wanted so desperately for there to be a comment on this that I could mod flamebait. Thank you for your contribution.
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!
Killing isn't bad when it's mosquitoes. You've supped your last on me you little bloodsucking bastards!
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