Röhm Gesellschaft (RG) is a German brand of firearms and related shooting equipment. RG developed as a diversification of Röhm GmbH in the 1950s. After 1968, RG Industries was established as a US division in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

and operated until 1986. In 2010, the RG brand was acquired by

Umarex UMAREX GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of air guns (including Umarex air pistols such as the Beretta Elite II), tear-gas and signal pistols, paintball markers under the RAM brand and airsoft guns, based in Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westpha ...

GmbH & Co. KG. Röhm's RG-14 handgun, used in an assassination attempt on then US President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, was referred to in 1981 as a

Saturday night special Saturday night special is a colloquial term in the United States and Canada for inexpensive, compact, small-caliber handguns made of poor quality metal. Sometimes known as junk guns, some states define these guns by means of composition or mate ...

, a cheaply manufactured firearm of perceived low quality, believed at the time to be favored by criminals.

History

In the early 1950s, Röhm GmbH of Sontheim/Brenz, which was traditionally focused on the production of chucking tools, diversified its product line and began to produce gas alarm guns,

flare gun A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal. Types The most common type of flare gun is a Very (s ...

starting pistol A starting pistol or starter pistol is a blank handgun or, more recently, an electronic toy gun or device with a button connected to a sound system that is fired to start track and field races as well as some competitive swimming races. Tradit ...

s and handguns. Röhm's product line of firearms was primarily established under the brand name ''RG''. Following importation limits imposed on handguns by the 1968 Gun Control Act, RG established a factory in Miami in the 1970s under the name RG Industries. The Miami factory produced revolvers, automatic pistols, and

derringer A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. It is not to be confused with mini-revolvers or pocket pistols, although some later derringers were manufactured with the pepp ...

s in .22 LR, .25 ACP, .32 S&W, and .38 Special. The Miami factory ceased operations in 1986. In 2010, Röhm GmbH sold their firearms manufacturing business to

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; ) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Ho ...

Litigation in the United States

Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known locally as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and, colloquially, DC Police, is the primary law enforcement agency for the Washington, D.C., District ...

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

Thomas Delahanty Thomas K. Delahanty (born ) is an American retired police officer who served in the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. He was one of the people wounded during the assassination attempt on US President Ronald Reagan on M ...

was shot by

John Hinckley Jr. John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. president Ronald Reagan as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using ...

with a Röhm revolver during his failed assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Delahanty later sued Röhm, arguing that small, inexpensive guns serve no purpose except for crime, and thus that the company should be held responsible. The suit was subsequently rejected by the

District of Columbia Court of Appeals The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia, the capital city of the United States. The court was established in 1942 as the Municipal Court of Appeals, and it has been the court of last resort ...

in a suit that has served as case law for other similar product liability cases.Delahanty v. Hinckley, 564 A.2d 758 (D.C.App. 1989), judgment hosted by

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

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In 1985, ''Kelley vs. RG Industries'' was filed over a 1982 shooting in which Olen J. Kelley, a grocery clerk, was shot in the chest with an RG firearm.

Firearms made by Röhm

Starting pistol A starting pistol or starter pistol is a blank handgun or, more recently, an electronic toy gun or device with a button connected to a sound system that is fired to start track and field races as well as some competitive swimming races. Tradit ...
s

Starter pistols firing 6 mm Flobert blanks * RG-2s * RG-3s

Derringer A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. It is not to be confused with mini-revolvers or pocket pistols, although some later derringers were manufactured with the pepp ...
s

* RG-15 * RG-16 * RG-17

Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
s

* RG-7 * RG-10 * RG-14 * RG-23 * RG-30 * RG-31 * RG-35 * RG-38 * RG-39 * RG-40 * RG-57 * RG-63 * RG-66

Semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...
s

* RG-25 * RG-26 * RG-42

Blank firing pistols

* RG-46 * RG-88 * RG-96

References

External links

*
''Röhm''
at Muzzle.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohm (Rg) Revolvers of Germany Firearm manufacturers of Germany Firearm manufacturers of the United States

History

Litigation in the United States

Firearms made by Röhm

Starting pistol A starting pistol or starter pistol is a blank handgun or, more recently, an electronic toy gun or device with a button connected to a sound system that is fired to start track and field races as well as some competitive swimming races. Tradit ...s

Derringer A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. It is not to be confused with mini-revolvers or pocket pistols, although some later derringers were manufactured with the pepp ...s

Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...s

Semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...s