From My Cold, Dead Hand of the Day: Detroit Lawmaker Wants to Ban Personal Flamethrowers

If you live near Detroit, your dreams of owning and using your own personal flamethrower could soon flicker and die.

Warren, a suburb of Detroit, is considering legislation that would ban the personal use and ownership of nature's flamiest weapon.



The Time Free Press tells more:

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts calls the proposed uses "pretty specious" and "silly," the Detroit Free Press reported. Fouts wants to ban the storage, use and possession of flamethrowers in Warren because he believes the devices are dangerous and could damage property and cause house fires, injury or death.

"You know something like this will be used by bad people for bad things," Fouts said, adding that he thought it was "unthinkable" such a device would be sold to the general public.

According to the two companies making the devices, flamethrowers are legal in Michigan and most other states. They argue that flamethrowers have been used for decades, that people should be able to own one if they want to, and that misuse can happen with any product.

As one Detroit manufacturer says about their flamethrowers on their website:

The XM42 is the world's first fully handheld, grab and go flamethrower on the market. No heavy pressurized tanks, no silly car-wash sprayers.

Sounds fun!

Buy one while you can, folks and remember: