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The citizens of the United States love weaponry. Ignoring
all the political and social implications of gun ownership, the U.S. is first in
private gun ownership with more guns than people (Who's number two? Serbia).
According to a
2015 estimate, there are roughly 1.12 guns for every U.S. citizen, although
that's assuming every civilian gun since 1899 is still operational and in the
U.S. Other estimates aren't so high, but the point is there are between 245
million and 357 million privately-owned firearms in the country.
Believe it or not there are many restrictions on firearms in
the U.S., although very few are outright banned for private use (pretty much
post-1986 machine guns and that's it, but local laws can be different). This
includes ridiculously
over-powerful weapons such as miniguns, black powder cannons, grenade
launchers and, the subject of today's blog, flamethrowers.
 The history of the flamethrower goes back as far as Greek fire, a
napalm-like substance used by the Byzantine navy in the 7th century
to great effect. It was loaded into reservoirs on special ships and pumped
through a siphon to spray enemy vessels. The substance would ignite on contact
with the vessel without an external ignition, and would also burn and float on
top of the water. The Byzantines kept it a very closely guarded state secret,
so much so that
attempts to reproduce Greek fire today all fall short.
Incendiary weapons such as Greek fire largely fell out of
use until the World Wars, where troops found it helpful for clearing enemy
trenches, bunkers, pillboxes, and wilderness. After WWII, flamethrowers saw
limited use in Korea and Vietnam, but their effectiveness was questionable.
Eventually they were discontinued from most arsenals, and are actually banned
from most military uses by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. This might be for the best, because
flamethrowers have some legitimate-and less legitimate-civilian uses.
Flamethrowers have slowly become a modern alternative to
herbicides and pesticides in sensitive environments. Smithsonian had an
article in March that detailed the use of flamethrowers by the Maryland
National Parks and Planning Commission. Workers flame invasive plants because
chemical applications can run-off into nearby streams or harm native animals
and insects. Chemical applications are more expensive and require licensed
application, whereas the flamethrower requires just a worker and some training.
 A hoax news report in
2013 stated a Fargo, North Dakota, man was arrested after he used a
flamethrower to clear his property of snow during a week of blizzards. We know this isn't true because a)
flamethrowers are legal in North Dakota, and b) there is plenty of evidence of
the people doing just that. When John F. Kennedy's 1961 presidential
inauguration was threatened to be delayed by 8 inches of snow, the Army Corps
of Engineers took to the streets of Washington D.C., flamethrowers in hand.
 Anyone who's done roofing work is probably familiar with
roofing torches, which can often be purchased for less than $100. But if you're
looking for the full experience, consider the X15 flamethrower (at left), a
$1,750 consumer product that shoots jet streams of flame up to 50 feet, and
comes in six colors. Bad news for Maryland residents: it's against your state's
fire code.
It seems like the flamethrower is another military spin-off
that has grown into more applications as the military stigma wears off.
Thankfully I can still order one.
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Re: Flamethrowers Find Industrial Uses
