Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ “Burn Baby Burn!” Magnificent Montague, a 60’s L.A. Disk Jockey during the Watts Riots
I was surprised the other day to find out one of the most brutal and effective weapons of mass destruction, the flamethrower, is legal in North Carolina and 47 other states. In fact flamethrowers are easily obtainable from companies selling these devices over the internet.
Many of us have watched documentaries capturing the images of Japanese soldiers being burned alive as they emerged from pillboxes being doused by roiling jets of flaming jellied gas from Flamethrower nozzles. What was a GI to do if confronted by an enemy wanting to fight to the death? During the island hopping across the Pacific, tens of thousands of the Japanese soldiers were incinerated in bunkers, caves, pillboxes, and during banzai charges across jungle terrain. Flamethrowers still appeared during the Korean conflict and in the Vietnam War before the military ended their use.
In the United States today two flamethrower companies “ThrowFlame” out of Cleveland, Ohio and “Ion Productions Team” out of Detroit produce flamethrowers thoroughly capable of the “unimaginable”. “ThrowFlame” is currently selling their product at $1,599 a pop. It can hurl a flame slightly over 50 feet. It also makes a product called “Napalm” that jellies gas. And “Ion Production Team” sells their product at an affordable $900. Their flamethrower hurls an intimate fire stream out at 25 feet. Hey you can torch trailer down on Airport Road with this baby no time flat. WHOOOOSH!
Keep in mind both of these flamethrowers are peddled by their companies as “fun devices” for BBQ events or burning out farm fields. Okay. And one of the companies insists that safety is a priority. Hey you can’t blame a guy for trying to make a buck? Right?
Save for California and Maryland where flamethrowers are illegal, the other states have nothing on the books. Flamethrowers are not guns so lawmakers apparently look the other way. The NRA is against outlawing Flamethrowers. “If they take away our flamethrowers, they’ll be taking our guns next. The constitution guarantees our right to bare propelled flammables.”
In any event flamethrowers can be purchased over the internet and shipped via the U.S. Postal Service and UPS to legal destinations (Anywhere, but Maryland and California) The postal service will only handle the Ion Production Team tanks and not the flammable liquid.
Lest we forget its relatively easy to construct flamethrowers out of propane tanks. Instructions can be found on line with a little hunting. Several gangs, in other states, are doing this. Gang flamethrowers also have been used in Bolivia to execute rival gang members after forcing them into a room and burning them alive. Flamethrowers are the new breed gang weapon of mass destruction. Prior to the emergence of the flamethrower, the Molotov Cocktail, simply a bottle full of gasoline stuffed with a flammable rag was the gang fave for torching a house, a school, or building.
Okay imagine if you will a local gang orders a flamethrower or two. Imagine what havoc they could reek on rival gangs, drug dealers who encroach on their turf, buildings, or law enforcement? Can you picture a 50 foot flame shooting out of the back window of an SUV on a Saturday night joyride down South Main in Salisbury?
