They can have my Donkey shoots fire out his butt lighter when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers

First they came for my singing bass, and I said nothing...

I was going to come in here and ask what the hell a novelty lighter was. I read the article and still ask, what the hell is a novelty lighter?

special_patrol_group: I was going to come in here and ask what the hell a novelty lighter was. I read the article and still ask, what the hell is a novelty lighter?

GIS is your answer headquarters.

adults and children have been burned using them


adults and children have been burned using safety matches, barbecue grills, fireplaces, stoves, ovens, and 1000 other things. I'm sure somewhere out there some dumbass has managed to get burned using only a magnifying glass and a box of Kleenex.

You can't legislate the stupid out of people.

Eat More Possum: adults and children have been burned using safety matches, barbecue grills, fireplaces, stoves, ovens, and 1000 other things. I'm sure somewhere out there some dumbass has managed to get burned using only a magnifying glass and a box of Kleenex.

You can't legislate the stupid out of people.

THIS

lots of people get killed or injured every year in bus accidents. Are we gonna have to outlaw buses?

I'm waiting for the inevitable flood of Pink Panther references. Pistol-lighters = hillarity.

Eat More Possum:
adults and children have been burned using safety matches, barbecue grills, fireplaces, stoves, ovens, and 1000 other things. I'm sure somewhere out there some dumbass has managed to get burned using only a magnifying glass and a box of Kleenex.

And then they posted the footage on YouTube.

Mr. Av8rLuvr's Favorite....

Fark liters will still be allowed.

I wonder where the Nanny State comedians are now...

meekychuppet: I wonder where the Nanny State comedians are now...

Sobbing quietly I should think, meekychuppet. This is pathetic.

I want one of those wallets that burst into flame when you open it. I saw one on an episode of CHEERS once and harry the hat had one.

I bought two of these that looked like a jukebox and lit up with very bright blue and red LED's on either side when you flipped the top.

Anytime somebody was driving too slow on the highway (2 lane), I'd just open both up, set one on either side of my dashboard, and they'd move right over to the shoulder and let me pass.

Hey, I found it on GIS! It looks like it would be green, maybe this one is different, but it looks the same except mine had red and blue.

If you have ever been to Maine you would know that novelty lighters really should be way at the bottom of list of issues that need to be addressed.

Crown_of_Shoes
sounds pretty illegal. play spot the cop with your passengers before trying that next time.

Subby, that made me laugh.
--haxtor,

I think I'll drown my sorrows in a warm bottle of Moxie.

C'mon baby light my novelty

/my novelty is plenty warm as it is, thanks
//would probably be freezing off in ME

Seriously

how do I get a job sitting around thinking of things to ban?

1. Q-tips (people put them too far into their ears)
2. Rollerblades (have to be bad for the ankles)
3. Camera Flash (might blind someone)
4. Books (nasty paper cuts that could lead to staph infection)

I mean geezus.

Snes: Crown_of_Shoes
sounds pretty illegal. play spot the cop with your passengers before trying that next time.

Oh I have no doubt it is very illegal. But I have this defense; the lighter made me do it. I opened it at the gas station I thought that perhaps the manufacturer had this scheme in mind when they made it. I mean, they flashed back and forth, with the flicker, just like a police light would/might.

meekychuppet: I wonder where the Nanny State comedians are now...

Get back to me when this actually becomes law, not the ramblings of a powerless individual who seeks to create such a law.

nhtodd: If you have ever been to Maine you would know that novelty lighters really should be way at the bottom of list of issues that need to be addressed.

You don't know how right you are.

Crown_of_Shoes: I bought two of these that looked like a jukebox and lit up with very bright blue and red LED's on either side when you flipped the top.

Anytime somebody was driving too slow on the highway (2 lane), I'd just open both up, set one on either side of my dashboard, and they'd move right over to the shoulder and let me pass.

Hey, I found it on GIS! It looks like it would be green, maybe this one is different, but it looks the same except mine had red and blue.

Than would have been nice to see you on cops, if you would have pulled that on a real cop.

Wouldn't it be simpler to close all the hospitals in Maine? That'd teach 'em a lesson about their risky burn-prone lifestyle.

King Something:

You can't legislate the stupid out of people.

Jesse Ventura used the same argument when talking about helmet/seat belt laws.

Eat More Possum: adults and children have been burned using them


adults and children have been burned using safety matches, barbecue grills, fireplaces, stoves, ovens, and 1000 other things. I'm sure somewhere out there some dumbass has managed to get burned using only a magnifying glass and a box of Kleenex.

You can't legislate the stupid out of people.

THIS.

TFH: But how am I going to light my novelty?

If it were a true novelty it'd light itself.

I live on the border of Maine and New Hampshire so;

Step 1: Buy novelty Lighters from tacky trinket shops in New Hampshire.
Step 2: Smuggle them across the border into Maine.
Step 3: Affix a variety of "Vacationland", "Welcome to Maine", and lobster picture stickers to them.
Step 4: Sell them to unwitting "Flatlanders" and "People from Away"
Step 5: PROFIT!

special_patrol_group: I was going to come in here and ask what the hell a novelty lighter was. I read the article and still ask, what the hell is a novelty lighter?

A non-regular (usually fancy) looking item is a novelty.

Now, FTFA, they are talking about one type of lighter that shots a 4 inch high flame.

Makes sense to me to get rid of those, they are accidents waiting to happen. People hurting themselves is the Darwin class for beginners. I'm suprised that they haven't burned a city's worth of house down with those yet.

I love lighters, I usually get "novelty" windproof torches, which have been used on many occasions to solder or melt, etc.

I found a Bic lighter in the parking lot last month, but it was branded from Big Dick's Halfway Inn.

Eat More Possum: You can't legislate the stupid out of people.

NOT THIS.

While I'm sure this "see no evil" approach plays to quite a number of libertarianesque vanities here, this is clearly oversimplistic and unworkable. For example, auto safety standards and traffic laws can and do reduce the number of auto fatalities.

Now, banning novelty lighters may be stupidity. But what about requiring that toy guns have those little orange "i'm just a toy gun" things on the end of them? Not so much.

The point is, that blanket statements like "prohibition never works" more often than not reveal more about the wishes and biases of the speaker than any sort of great cosmic truth.

nhtodd: If you have ever been to Maine you would know that novelty lighters really should be way at the bottom of list of issues that need to be addressed.

Ha. This makes me giggle.

As long as the lighters meat the federal standards for child-proofness I don't see a problem. Many of them do look like toys, which does make them what Dear Abbey calls attractive nuisance.

However, I do take issue with the lighters that look like guns -- some are close enough to real models that a cop might well bust a cap on someone's ass who pulled one out of their pocket at the wrong time.

"You must have Javascript and Cookies enabled on your Web browser to view MaineToday.com pages."

Novelty lighter shaped like a fire extinguisher.
Does that make sense to you?

Help-Im-Sober: I live on the border of Maine and New Hampshire so;

Step 1: Buy novelty Lighters from tacky trinket shops in New Hampshire.
Step 2: Smuggle them across the border into Maine.
Step 3: Affix a variety of "Vacationland", "Welcome to Maine", and lobster picture stickers to them.
Step 4: Sell them to unwitting "Flatlanders" and "People from Away"
Step 5: PROFIT!

Maybe you could start with one like THIS!

NSFW (new window)

Outside of Portland points south which is not much. This is Maine. This is a pointless waste of time to discuss.

Dang! There goes my nose hair trimmer!!

Some are bad. Must ban all.

Novelty Lighter: The kind that you use when drunk, to burn the hair off of your friends arm, then laugh like hell about it.

No dangerous situation here.

phukitol: this is different from normal metric liters?

Metric Liters come from Europe.

As a resident of Maine I have to say that compared to all of the other assinine and useless laws that we have this seems almost reasonable.
It is not, of course...but we are so controlled and taxed by a corrupt govt' that is just pointless.

...But how am I going to light the fireworks I smuggled in from New Hampshire?

haxtor: Subby, that made me laugh.
--haxtor,

Me too, so help me.

Oznog: Novelty lighter shaped like a fire extinguisher.
Does that make sense to you?

Awesome! Also, if you try to put out any fire with an extinguisher that small......

special_patrol_group: I was going to come in here and ask what the hell a novelty lighter was. I read the article and still ask, what the hell is a novelty lighter?

You use it to light novelty fireworks.



/can't read article because I blocked cookies

While they're in the mood to ban things, they might as well ban dihydrogen monoxide. Here's why:

* People can die by accidentally inhaling it, even in small quantities
* Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage.
Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not ypically life-threatening side-effects.
*It is a major component of acid rain.
* Its Gaseous form can cause severe burns.
* Contributes to soil erosion.
* Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
* Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
* Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
* Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
* Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks.
* Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.
* Thermal variations in dihydrogen monoxide are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.

And this is just a start!

Source: http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

What is actually funny is that all of it is actually true, but it doesn't mean that water should be banned.

Eat More Possum:

You can't legislate the stupid out of people.

But they will try. Massachusetts is rubbing off on Maine and New Hampshire in terms of becoming complete nanny states. In fact, I'd say Massachusetts is second only to England in that little contest.

All you need is a Zippo

BillArr: As a resident of Maine I have to say that compared to all of the other assinine and useless laws that we have this seems almost reasonable.
It is not, of course...but we are so controlled and taxed by a corrupt govt' that is just pointless.

What I loved was

Some emit a flame four inches high, and adults and children have been burned using them, department spokesman Stephen McCausland reported Friday.

Children? Really. When you have to have a MAINE picture drivers license or a MAINE state id to prove you are 18 to even BUY a lighter. AND all lighters are already required by law to be childproof And the fact that if DHS even heard about a kid with a lighter that the Nanny State would grab said child and throw them in foster care without so much as a 'how do you do'. FFS!!! GRRRRRR... I love this state. I HATE the government.

/to the person posting Moose pictures and saying that north of Portland that was all Maine was about.... you are right. Portland is the only 'civilized' town in the state. Pretty sure in Hallowell they still have a law on the books saying no shooting indians on Sundays. No one should ever come here. We are nothing but trees, lakes and snow. Keep your flatlander arses out of our wilderness and I'll be happy.
//HATES Portland with a passion. Traffic, smog, gangs, prostitutes and drugsellers on the street corners, etc, etc You urbanites can keep it. I lived there during college. NEVER AGAIN. There was a fox in my front yard yesterday. And my backyard was full of deer. (They walk across the ice during the winter looking for food.) I have squirrels that ask very nicely for their peanuts by sitting pretty in my kitchen window. My kids can go outside and play without an armed escort. There are 46 kids in my sons entire gradelevel in middle school. There were 33 in mine. (Same school) May be a Nanny State.. ok... is a nanny state... but I can help vote out the government... I couldn't vote out the 2 crack houses down the street when I lived in E. Providence, RI. It's about quality of life. And Maine has it... well.. north of Portland we do anyway ;-)