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Elon Musk Is Selling Flamethrowers Now, and They're Already Sold Out

Although Musk has cheekily called the flamethrower a "super terrible idea" and urged people not to buy one, his company said the product is very real

Elon Musk has a hot new product on his hands. 

The Los Angeles entrepreneur, who also leads Tesla and SpaceX, has been advertising flamethrowers sold by his tunnel-boring business Boring Co., and they've sold out in just four days.

Musk said Monday that Boring Co. had pre-sold 10,000 flamethrowers in two days, pulling in $5 million, according to The Los Angeles Times. By Thursday, the company’s website said all 20,000 flamethrowers it was making had been sold.

The white, shotgun-shaped devices were being for $500 each, with $30 fire extinguishers being sold separately as a safety precaution — which Musk admitted was overpriced. However, Musk said Thursday that the flamethrowers would ship with a complementary fire extinguisher.

Musk and the Boring Co. have been using lighthearted, even joking language when talking up the product, leading some people to question its legitimacy. 

"Obviously, a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one," Musk tweeted Saturday, before adding in a second tweet, "Unless you like fun."

A Boring Co. representative confirmed to NBC that the product is real.

Boring Co. describes the flamethrowers on its website as "guaranteed to liven up any party!" and the "world's safest flamethrower!" A video on the website shows two people demonstrating how to use the devices, shooting out flames about three feet.

Musk posted an Instagram video of himself laughing as he used one of the flamethrowers, which he even turned toward the camera and the person holding it.

The company first indicated that it may sell flamethrowers in December, when it offered company-branded baseball caps and said that if it sold 50,000 of them, flamethrowers would follow. The goal was reached and Musk announced over the weekend that the flame-spitting devices were officially for sale.

To the Twitter-sphere's dismay, Musk tweeted Wednesday that the flamethrowers were sold out.

However, not everyone was as excited as Musk. California Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, told The Los Angeles Times on Monday that he was worried that the sale of the flamethrowers could be a public health hazard, noting that California has already gone through some catastrophic fires.

"It's a bad joke," Santiago told the newspaper.

Boring Co. has not responded to a request for comment on the intended uses of the flamethrower.

California has some restrictions on flamethrowers. State health and safety codes mandate that, to use flamethrowing devices with a range of at least 10 feet, a person must have a permit or be part of a firefighting agency.

A Boring Co. spokesman told The Los Angeles Times the flamethrowers on pre-sale have a range of fewer than 10 feet, meaning no such permits are needed.

Musk founded the Boring Co. in late 2016 in an effort to build underground tunnels that would lessen traffic. It's currently working on a test tunnel in Los Angeles and is planning a tunnel from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., that would be extended to New York City and seeking permits for another tunnel in the Chicago area. The company suggests one use for its tunnels could be another of Musk's futuristic ideas: the Hyperloop transportation system.

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