It turns out California lawmakers do not in fact worry enough about Elon Musk and the Boring Company ’s design to sell$10 millions ’ worthof really big crème brûlée torches tool around up to reckon like flamethrowers to devolve a law of nature preventing it , or at least they do n’t care enough to anger the state ’s gun lobby . TheSan Francisco Chroniclerecently reported that United States Department of State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago ’s greenback to more closely regulate flamethrowers is being held in commission , which has effectively defeat the legislation .
“ If this is real , I ’m outraged and you should be too,”Santiago tweetedback when he was promising to put in the note . “ If this is a joke , then it ’s a terribly insensitive one give that we ’re coming off of the worst wildfire time of year in chronicle . Either way : NOT FUNNY . NOT GONNA HAPPEN . ”
It is , however , pass off .
fit in to the Chronicle ’s account , Santiago ’s billwould have made it more difficult for consumers to purchase flamethrowers for unpaid use , leaving any potential industrial or agricultural habit uninfluenced . But it total under confrontation from , uh , the gunman lobby — and was afterwards buried in committee to avoid an embarrassing voter turnout :
Although the bill was support by law and firefighters , Santiago now faced opposition from gun - rights advocates .
The Firearms Policy Coalition criticized lawmakers for trying to regulate the gadget and indite that AB1949 criminalized nonviolent behavior . “ This bill , ” the mathematical group wrote , “ should be torched . ”
Santiago narrowed the scope of his bill from requiring a tight permitting system for flamethrowers to simply involve them to carry a safety label . But even that weakened descriptor of the bill stall May 25 , when it was hold in the Assembly Appropriations Committee , a victim of the infamous “ suspense file cabinet ” process in which legislative leaders often defeat bills that could pose an embarrassing balloting for the ruling political party .
AsArs Technica notes , while California law currently requires owners of flamethrowers that can shoot further than 10 foot to obtain a $ 425 license , there are few other regulations . There are no federal law preventing possession of such devices , and California ’s permitting cognitive process and a full ban in Maryland areeffectively the onlystate - level limitation on ownership .
Videos show the Boring Company ’s blowtorch are n’t rangedanywhere closeto 10 foot , and can attain a spray more like three to four invertebrate foot , max . After Musk tweeted that the ATF was “ A - okey ” with devices of that specification , an ATF representative was evenforced to clarifyit does n’t regulate flamethrowers at all and they were not even sure which agency does .
As theL.A. Times noted , the laissez - faire attitude towards ordinance across the res publica mean there are way scarier devices for cut-rate sale on the open market that could be more accurately termed flamethrower :
Flamethrower manufacturers say Musk ’s foray into flamethrower has led to more interest in their own products .
[ Throwflame Chief Executive Quinn Whitehead ] say Throwflame customers have identify “ quite a few ” orders since Musk first began tweeting about his flamethrower promotion . Throwflame ’s signature merchandise is the X15 Flamethrower , which starts around $ 1,600 and has a chain of about 50 foot .
Whitehead said the company , found in 2015 , has sold several thousand X15 flamethrowers in the last year or so , though it ’s still a recess market .
With the failure of the bill , Musk is cleared to transport the torches to recipients in California with no issues . However , if he was at all serious about his jokey plan to get them through outside customs with label saying“Not A Flamethrower,”some merchant vessels delay for other buyer may be inevitable .
[ San Francisco ChronicleviaArs Technica ]
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