"Apparently, some customs agencies are saying they won't allow shipment of anything called a ‘Flamethrower,'" Musk fired off in a tweet. "To solve this, we are renaming it ‘Not a Flamethrower.'"
About two hours after his first tweet, he revisited the name change and brainstormed another possible name.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2018
Alas, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO opted to go with his initial idea, folks. Say hello to The Boring Company's Not a Flamethrower.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2018
Aside from running into delivery issues, Musk is also facing criticism from California Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, who released a statement condemning the [not a] flamethrower.
"The State of California and the County and the City of Los Angeles have entrusted Mr. Musk to help alleviate a real public policy problem here by executing a tunnel under the City to help alleviate traffic," Santiago said in a statement. "This deviation is a complete slap in the face."
"This subject matter, in the wake of the state's deadliest wildfires in history, is incredibly insensitive, dangerous, and most definitely not funny. Absolutely no public good could come from the sale of this tool," the Los Angeles official added.
Santiago also announced that he is hoping to pass legislation that would ban the sale of the fiery product.
"We don't allow people to walk in off the street and purchase military-grade tanks or armor-piercing ammunition," he wrote. "I cannot even begin to image the problems a flamethrower would cause firefighters and police officers alike."
Shipping for the "Not a Flamethrower" product is expected to restart in the spring. It is unclear if the previously denied products will be re-shipped to customers or if they will be given a refund.
Musk first announced on Thursday that he'd managed to completely sell out of the flamethrowers in just a week. The sales netted the company an estimated $10 million.
