English: Flamethrower Junior Size.

Lt. Oliver R. Bailey of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, Stockton, Calif., recently had occasion to examine a new homemade weapon used by juveniles in his area. The weapon—a flamethrower in miniature but with a highly dangerous potential—was found in the possession of a youth arrested by members of the sheriff’s office. The homemade device is a pressurized can of metallic spray paint with a wire extending 6 inches in front of the spray jet and a candle inserted in a loop in the wire. When the candle is lighted and pressure applied to the nozzle, the flame spurts out some 3 to 4 feet from the nozzle of the can.

In a southeastern Alaska community, two subteenagers directed a similar-type spray through the flame of a cigarette and started a multithousand-dollar fire in a commercial building.