A pen gun is a firearm that resembles an ink
pen
A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...
.
They generally are of small caliber (e.g., .
22 LR
The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smoothb ...
,
.25 ACP
The .25 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) (6.35×16mmSR) is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled centerfire pistol cartridge introduced by John Browning
John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) was an American firearm designe ...
,
.32 ACP
.32 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol, also known as .32 Automatic) is a centerfire pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, initially for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pi ...
,
.38-caliber, etc.)
and are
single shot
Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cent ...
.
Early examples of pen guns were
pinfired, but modern designs are
rim or
centerfire
Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center
A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...
.
Some pen guns are not designed to fire regular cartridges, but rather
blank cartridges,
signal flares or
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
cartridges.
In the United States, pen guns that can fire bullet or shot cartridges and do not require a reconfiguration to fire (e.g., folding to the shape of a pistol) are federally regulated as an
Any Other Weapon
Title II weapons, or NFA firearms, are designations of certain weapons under the United States National Firearms Act (NFA).
These are weapons requiring a Type 01 Federal Firearms License (FFL) as well as a Class 3 Special Occupation Tax (SOT) t ...
(
Title II). They require registration under the
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act (NFA), 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, was enacted on June 26, 1934, and currently codified and amended as . The law is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes an excise tax on the manufact ...
and a tax in the amount of five dollars is levied.
According to the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
, pen guns were widely used for self-defense in the 20th century.
[{{Cite web, date=October 2018, title=October 2018: Pen Gun, url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/artifact-of-the-month/october-2018-pen-gun, url-status=live, access-date=March 30, 2021, website=Federal Bureau of Investigation, language=en-us]
References
External links
Braverman "Stinger" Pen GunOSS "Stinger" Covert Cigarette Guns
.22 LR firearms