Video: This US company wants to crowdfund a handheld flamethrower

We can see nothing that could possibly go wrong with this invention: A hand-held flamethrower.

It just seems so handy to be able to hurl a stream of liquid fire across a room. Annoying flatmate? Wooooosh. Dinner needs cooking? Woooosh. Is it a bit cold in your bedroom? Woooosh.

And all for $699 (£467). A bargain.

A company in the US is looking for funding to help it bring the XM42, its vision of personal flame weaponry, to life.

Despite being technically forbidden as a weapon of war under the Geneva Convention, these devices are legal in 48 of the 50 states, Ion Productions says.

Only those wimpy liberals in California and Maryland have laws controlling the use of flamethrowers.

Killjoys.

XM42 is at the ‘research and development’ stage at the moment and Ion is looking for investors through the crowdfunding site Indiegogo to help it bring your flame-based fantasies to life.

We can't imagine it's going to be too hard for them to raise capital: within hours of the webpage going live, it crashed under the weight of traffic.

Suggestions by apparently real people who seem to have no sense of proportion on how to use this fire stick include: ‘pest control’, ‘melting snow’ and amazingly ‘eliminating weeds between cracks in the pavement’.

Wow. A flamethrower for gardening. Although, it would’ve made weeding the most desirable chore of all growing up.