Today, Scott Simon, the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition news program, interviews former NATO Ambassador Ivo Daalder about the cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and Russian separatists, and asks him:
“You’ve been saying for some time now that the U.S. and NATO should provide lethal defensive assistance to Ukraine. Wouldn't that just throw more guns into a hot stove?”
I surmise that the phrase “throw more guns into a hot stove” means 'to make the situation worse or even disastrous'.
I searched for the term “throw more guns into a hot stove” using Google, but it didn't return any hits. Is “throw more [something] (guns / bullets / powders / gasoline) into a hot stove” a common phrase, or just a one-off figurative expression?