Regulation of flamethrowers in the United States
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In the United States, flamethrowers are broadly legal for personal ownership and use. California requires a permit for the possession of a flamethrower, and only Maryland has outright banned their ownership and use. No federal laws exist regarding flamethrowers, as they are not defined as weapons under the National Firearms Act. The United States is a signatory of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, protocol III of which limits military use of flamethrowers; this does not extend to civilian use.
Beginning in 2015, several companies began selling flamethrowers to civilians. This brought increased interest in their regulation, with unsuccessful attempts to regulate flamethrowers at both the federal and state level as of 2022. Proponents of regulation have highlighted the potential dangers of civilian use of flamethrowers, while opponents have identified legitimate uses and pointed to the nearly nonexistent record of flamethrower incidents in the United States.
Until 2015, flamethrowers marketed to civilians were largely nonexistent in the United States; the only flamethrowers available were M1 and M2 flamethrowers of World War II vintage.[1] Two startup companies began producing and selling flamethrowers for civilian use in the United States in 2015, Cleveland-based Throwflame (originally known as XMatter) and Detroit-based Ion Productions Team.[2] While acknowledging many purchasers wanted flamethrowers simply for fun, both companies have identified genuine civilian uses of flamethrowers, including for controlling brush and for starting controlled burns, as well as melting snow and ice.[2][3] One of Throwflame's founders reported in 2015 that "Seventy percent of our market is farmers using flamethrowers agriculturally".[1] Ion Productions Team has stated its flamethrowers are not marketed or intended for personal defense.[4]
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidance on the safe operation of flamethrowers in 2018. Guidance creator Joseph Galbo commented that "While CPSC had received no reports of flamethrower injuries, it seemed prudent to put out safety tips for the public" following the introduction of more powerful civilian flamethrowers that year.[5] In the same year, The Boring Company introduced a model of flamethrower, of weaker power than the two models introduced by other companies in 2015, named the Not-A-Flamethrower.[6] This flamethrower brought increased attention to the more powerful flamethrowers produced by Throwflame and Ion Productions Team, which both told the Los Angeles Times that they had seen an increase in flamethrower sales in 2018.[3]
Several instances of the Not-A-Flamethrower have been seized during seizures of illegal drugs and weapons by law enforcement, both in the United States and Canada.[7] Improvised flamethrowers, described as based on instructions related to the Not-A-Flamethrower, have also been seized from far-right extremists in the United States.[8]
