Maine lawmakers have banned novelty lighters after a six-year-old was burned by a lighter shaped like a miniature baseball bat while shopping with his mother, the Associated Press reported March 24.

Gov. John Baldacci this week signed into law a ban on novelty lighters, the first such ban in the country. The lighters come in the shape of cartoon characters, toys, animals, and other figures that critics say appeal to children.

The ban is supported by the National Association of State Fire Marshals, currently headed by Maine Fire Marshal John Dean. The Lighter Association, a national trade group, also supports the ban. But John Gibson, a California-based distributor of novelty lighters, said that the devices are safer than other lighters and contended that the ban was the work of "overzealous fire marshals."