[mindslight]

I find it odd the fervor with which rural people react against superfluous regulations. I get it that they're ridiculous, asinine, and sometimes even onerous. But the regulations aren't targeted at them, and rural freedom involves being away from the enforcement matrix and maintaining a can-do attitude, no?

Can't buy a new gas powered chainsaw in a store or have it shipped directly to you? Buy used, keep old gear going with new parts, or make a trip out of state for you and your handful of well-known neighbors. The suburbs outright banning the use of gas equipment will mean lots on the used market, too.

Maybe I'm just biased against gas chainsaws since my childhood is full of memories waiting foreeeverrrr to get a chainsaw started. Meanwhile electric is just sitting there always ready to go. I'd feel differently if I were a professional arborist cutting down 40 inch trees, but I, and most other people, are not.

Also, that image captioned "visit from the fun police" is a bit off the mark. I don't like disclaimer labels everywhere either, but this one is at least defensible. Loaders generally use flexible hoses, which can burst suddenly and then the unsupported bucket/load just drops. If you are under it or on it, you will be injured. Hydraulic equipment meant for safety critical situations uses things like pilot operated check/counterbalance valves right on the cylinders.

[cdshn]

So ban them in suburbia.

Why do rural folks have to become outlaws to do day to day things just because they're unlikely to get caught?

Anyway, my comment was about future forest fires from the impossibility to do maintenance.

[mindslight]

Because government is a very blunt instrument and it's reacting to the harm caused by large scale economic behavior (especially fueled by a debt based system that sucks wealth away from the edges so it's hard to retain the slack required to not turn the screws).

"Outlaw" is a bit overstating it though, don't you think? Is the average motorist an outlaw due to the proliferation of unreasonable speed limits? I get that it's a bit vexing, but once you've got your hands on your illicit chainsaw, nobody is coming to check where you bought it. Personally I'd be more worried about getting called out for felling the type of trees you need a gas chainsaw to cut.

You've got a good point about PG&E being institutionally prohibited from gas chain saws in a way they can't sidestep like individuals can. But much of their right of way maintenance is likely done with heavy machinery or helicopters, rather than solely relying on manual labor with 2 cycle engines.

[cdshn]

No one has to check where you bought it, just the manufacturing date which is stamped on the case.

And yes, you are an outside the law, as trivial as it seems. For some of us breaking the law is a big deal; we put a large burden on "unjust law is not law" because we recognize that "stupid" "inconvenient" or even "ruinous" law isn't obviously "unjust"