President Biden’s Claim on Gun Restrictions With Flamethrowers and Machine Guns Are Not Applicable in Most States

President Joe Biden claims that people cannot own flamethrowers and machine guns in most parts of the country, a claim that is not true in most parts of the country.

President Biden on his gun control plan press con. (Photo: The Washington Post)

Gun Restrictions on Flamethrowers

In contrast with Biden‘s claim on gun restrictions with flamethrowers, citizens are actually allowed to own them in most states. Flamethrowers, when fired, shoots out fire along a single direction. Due to its extreme deadliness, the US army stopped using them after the Vietnam War. Today, flamethrowers are used for civilian purposes, specifically for agriculture. Several companies way back in 2015 started selling flamethrowers for such purposes, as reported by the CNN.

Gun restrictions on flamethrowers are not that strict, given that having one is legal under federal law. However, some states impose strict guidlines before owning and using them. In Maryland, owning a flamethrower is completely banned. In California, permits are needed for flamthrowers that stream fire for more than 10 feet. Some communities, in particular, prohibit people from owning flamethrowers unless they are permitted by their local fire chiefs.

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Gun Restrictions on Machine Guns

Similiar with flamethrowers, gun restrictions on machine guns are also not that strict since having one is legal across most parts of the country, according to the Giffords Law Center‘s analysis report. Within the same report, owning machine guns are allowed as long as it was owned prior to the day when President Ronald Reagan signed a major gun law, which was in the 19th of May, 1986. Additionally, up to 35 states have “minimal or no regulation” concerning gun restriciton on machine guns, according to the same report.

In accordance with federal law, the legal possession of machine guns requires fingerprints, filling a registration form for clearance purposes, getting consent from a high-ranking local law enforcement official, and submitting a tax payment of $200.

Gun restrictions on machine guns in New York, Iowa, Illinois, Delaware, and Hawaii has the gun completely banned. States such as New Jersey, Minnesota, and Massachusetts allow people to apply for exceptions for specific reasons, allowing them to slip past gun restrictions and ultimately allowing them to own banned guns, such as machine guns.

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