“The state of California and the county and 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,” writes Santiago, commenting on the city of Los Angeles’
ongoing relationship with The Boring Company. The company has received permits to build a two-mile test tunnel in the Culver City suburb, where Musk’s private spaceflight company SpaceX is headquartered. “This deviation feels like a slap in the face.” Santiago at first thought news of The Boring Company’s flamethrower sale was a joke. The bulk of his statement, which includes a
Spider-Man reference, lays out his argument against handing the public a fire-breathing firearm:
Like most Americans, I am in awe in of Mr. Musk’s genius — the brains behind Tesla, PayPal, SolarCity, and Space X. But as President Truman and Stan Lee have taught us all, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ There are many times in which technology and inventions benefit society, but are not made available to the public. We don’t allow people to walk in off the street and purchase military-grade tanks or armor-piercing ammunition. I cannot even begin to image the problems a flamethrower would cause firefighters and police officers alike.
News of Musk’s flamethrower sale came last week, seemingly making good on what appeared to be a joke
Musk tweeted out back in December about moving on from
The Boring Company’s hat sale to a flamethrower one. (We know now Musk was, in fact, not joking.) The announcement came accompanied by a still image of the weapon and then an
Instagram video of Boring Company representatives using working models, alongside a torrent of other Musk tweets and promotional material put out on social media. One
follow-up video included Musk running at the camera deviously wielding the flamethrower himself.
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