You might find entertainment in purchasing a novelty lighter that amuses you for any number of reasons – maybe you collect whatever item it is shaped like, or maybe you like being a little bit different when you bust out your lighter. Regardless, New York has come to the rescue by banning novelty lighters. However, the particular emphasis of what they really want banned are lighters that are shaped like guns and ammunition.
The Bronx Democrat who sponsored the bill cited a reason for banning them because “…there’s no reason for them to exist.” Retailers will now face a $500 fine per oddly shaped lighter if they are caught with them. Trying to import them into the state will set you back $10,000 if caught. Leave your whimsical lighter at home when you visit the Empire State. In fact, just leave behind your sense of humor, desire for fun, and any sense of amusement you might possess.
So what happens if I duct-tape a Bic lighter to a Pop Tart that has been carefully nibbled into the shape of a gun?
The universe implodes, I think.
I wanted to go to NYC once.
Just to find out why my friend from there was the way he was.
Definitely not worth IMHO.
I’m reminded of a scene in one of the Pink Panther movies.
Inspector Clouseau’s boss has a pistol-shaped cigarette lighter. The lighter is similar in size to a real pistol, and the flame spurts from the end of the barrel.
Predictably, at least one person is threatened with the cigarette lighter instead of a real gun. And I think the owner of the novelty lighter tries to light a cigarette with a real gun, late in the film.
(I never figured out whether that novelty lighter was supposed to have the weight that its matching pistol ought to have.)
Now that kind of novelty lighter is dangerous. But it’s not likely what these lawmakers had in mind.
Leave your whimsical lighter at home when you visit the Empire State. In fact, just leave behind your sense of humor, desire for fun, and any sense of amusement you might possess.
Or, better yet, just stay home.
Unless you live in NYC, then you should GTFO ASAP, OK?
My parents keep telling me what a wonderful vacation spot NYC is. I keep telling them that I believe I’ll stay in Free Country.
SJ,
I think it was Chief Inspector, Charles Dreyfus who had the lighter, and later on had a very bandaged nose, and a nice padded cell in the asylum. — Return of the Pink Panther?
Funny movies
“The Bronx Democrat who sponsored the bill cited a reason for banning them because “…there’s no reason for them to exist.†”
It’s only a matter of time before folks like him move on to banning certain people, because “…there’s no reason for them to exist.â€
Indeed. The rationale is the same. Those dangerous folks, with no reason to exist, are hazardous to the “children.” And we can’t have people thinking that they are entitled to raise their own children as they choose, can we?
Good God. This is a guy who is terrified that somewhere, someone is having a good time.
The same rationale could be applied to politicians…….
I’m setting up an eBay store to sell gun-shaped lighters to NY residents. Their fines don’t apply to me over here in PA so fuck ’em.
Those have been ‘illegal’ in the People’s Soviet of Illinois for some time. Very few Fire Chiefs actually enforce it though as I see them everywhere.