On February 1st, Tesla-founder Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he has officially sold out of flamethrowers, which he was selling to fund his new company. The Boring Company is an underground tunneling business that Elon Musk created for building a network of underground tunnels to ease traffic congestion. However, in order to fund his company, Elon Musk sold 20,000 flamethrowers for $500 each.
Musk first announced his plans of selling a flamethrower in December of 2017. The Boring Company insisted that the flamethrower they created is safe. “Much like a roller coaster, this is designed to be thrilling without danger,” said a company Spokesman in a statement he gave regarding the dangers that come with the flamethrower. Elon Musk believes it is a perfectly safe toy, he even joked about it by tweeting, “When the zombie apocalypse happens, you’ll be glad you bought a flamethrower,” afterwards, he sent another tweet saying, “Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!”
However, not everyone is thrilled with the idea of Musk selling flamethrowers to the public. Mr. Miguel Santiago, who serves in the California State assembly, is filing legislation to stop this dangerous stunt. “We’ve now seen some of the worst wildfires in California’s history, so handing out flame torches for $500 is a really bad idea and bad public policy,” he said in a statement. Mr. Santiago has a reasonable fear, not only can these flamethrowers damage the environment, but it can also be used to hurt people. According to the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), as long as the flame of a flamethrower does not surpass 10 ft, it is legal to own and operate.