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Comment by throwup238 | Hacker News Reader

> Specific restrictions exist in Maryland, where flamethrowers require a Federal Firearms License to own, and California, where the range of flamethrowers cannot exceed 10 feet.

As a Californian I knew I was going to be disappointed before I even opened the link.

I like the weather and the governance but we’re really not allowed to own anything fun. Can’t even own a ferret or a hedgehog.

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Considering California's history with wildfires, having a law like this is essential. In 2020, a major wildfire was triggered by a pyrotechnics device for a baby gender reveal party.

https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-gender-reveal-california...

Communities should not be put at risk because some Americans want to cosplay as action movie heroes. What makes you think that flamethrowers of all things are going to be used responsibly?

> Communities should not be put at risk because some Americans want to cosplay as action movie heroes. What makes you think that flamethrowers of all things are going to be used responsibly?

What makes you think I want to cosplay as a hero? :-)

I was erring on the side of charitableness. America makes great films and characters, but the audience tends to have a hard time deciphering whether some of those are cautionary tales or instructional videos.

Oh no, no anti-heroes here!

you should slightly rethink/reword your argument because it is not right to say no riak for communities in a cost benefit analysis. The benefit maximizing outcome will hve some non zero risk to the community because the benefit from [insert some individual action] is non zero. Zero anything is almost always wrong.

Presumably 10 feet is already room for plenty of fun.

Maybe for children. I think the CA Regulators are out of touch with the typical flamethrower consumer and lack cognitive empathy.

meh, about 3 meters.

It's funny because most of the firearm laws aren't even that enforceable. For example: magazine size limits. It isn't federally prohibited to ship large magazines into California, so unless a cop catches you with one then you can easily own a magazine larger than 10 rounds.

Almost any company selling magazines in the US is enforcing state laws as well. Reference: I used to work in this industry and encoded local legislation enforcements in our order processing software.

Many vendors sell "parts kits." Magazines have no serial numbers, unique identifying information, and are commonly rebuilt.

Many vendors sell riveted "10 round magazines" that can be converted back to standard-capacity with a pliers in 30 seconds.

Sure, companies might do it so they can keep doing business in California. Private sales / package shipments are still possible, though.

Or just 3D print a completely functional standard-capacity magazine in a matter of hours and purchase a spring from McMaster-Carr.

I think it's fair for a state prone to catastrophic wildfires to have some limits on flamethrowers

> Can’t even own a ferret

I mean, there is good reason for this, ferrets are very hostile to the many ground nesting birds in California. Our state bird, the California quail, is exceedingly terrestrial, and that's before we even get started on the endangered shore birds, which are the real issue as I understand it.

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