Detroit Area Mayor Trying To Ban Flamethrowers

A Detroit area mayor is trying to ban the ownership of personal flamethrowers by residents. Two Midwest companies are reportedly selling flamethrowers to citizens in the Michigan town. The two manufacturers are lcated in Detroit and Cleveland.

The flamethrowers manufacturers reportedly maintain that the equipment can be used for recreational purposes or to control insect hives, weeds, starting a bonfire, or to clear bush, ice, and snow. Detroit area mayor Jim Fouts stated that the professed uses of the personal flamethrowers are both “silly” and “pretty specious.”

The mayor wants to ban the use, possession, and storage of flamethrowers in Warren, Michigan. Fouts feels that the devices could cause injury, death, damage property, and start house fires. Opponents to the ban insist that knives, guns, garden hoes, house ladders, propane heaters, lighters, and chainsaws can all cause the same types of damages noted by the local leader.

“You know something like this will be used by bad people for bad things,” Fouts added.

The Warren mayor also deemed it “untinkable” that flamethrowers could be sold to the general public. Personal flamethrowers are legal in Michigan and nearly all other states.

“It’s how a product is used that determines punishment for the operator,” Detroit-based Ion Productions Team CEO Chris Byars, said. The company makes the XM42 flamethrower, which is reportedly the “world’s first commercially available hand-held flamethrower.”

“Simply owning a particular product should not be a punishable offense. It’s a matter of education and respect for safety,” Byars added. The Ion Productions Team CEO also said that it was both “discriminatory” and “insulting” for someone to thing that anyone who owns a specific product, be it a flamethrower, a gun, or a knife, is going to automatically misuse it.

Warren City Council members are currently debating Mayor Fout’s request for a flamethrower ban. The local elected officials are currently awaiting clarification of what exactly type of devices actually hold a flamethrower designation.

The proposed ban would reportedly include an exemption for members of the military, police officers, firefighters, and local, state, and federal government officials — as long as they are “on duty” and using the flamethrower “within the scope of his or her employment.” Violating the flamethrower ban, if it is passed in the Detroit-area town, would be a misdemeanor violation and would carry an up to 90 day jail sentence and $500 fine.

What do you think about the Detroit area mayor trying to ban flamethrowers?

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