Unsafe gas line to water heater ?

I had to remove some of the gas line to the water heater in order to replace a heater element. There was a warning posted on the inside of the vented metal door -- that said something about the danger of a fire hazard --IF a little piece (that serves as a gas flow restrictor) was removed.
I was most careful in taking it apart and there is NO LITTLE RESTRICTOR in the gas piece that I removed.

It seems to me (and I've been wrong more often than not lately) that that the piece has its own (built-in) flow restriction -- created by the built-in, small, pin-hole opening for the gas. You can see it in one of the photos.

Since I am the 1st owner of this '07 TM & since the unit has never been serviced -- I thought that it had probably been re-designed by Suburban to reduce the risk of loss of the part & thereby reduce the risk of fire.

So, I put it back together just as I had taken it apart (without installing the piece mentioned in the warning) --
trusting my "dangerous" reasoning -- and stood beside the unit with a fire extinguisher and fired it up.

It worked just fine. Bit I'm still nervous and can't help but wonder if EVERY unit "must" still have this flow restrictor -- even if it was not included with my heater & even if "appears" to be unnecessary.

Does anyone have any first hand knowledge ?

Eric