Boomsticks: Typhoon in a thimble.

Desperate as usual for something to panic about, the fluff-headed cretins that clutter the newsrooms over at ABC have decided to engage in a bout of hand-wringing over a novelty Swiss micro-revolver. In an almost hysterical parody of Ralphie's mother in A Christmas Story, police officers are warned that bad guys could use this weapon to, well, shoot their eyes out. (I wonder how long it takes before the LE wires start burning up with stories of this gun, the way they have with the time-travelling FN FiveSeveN and the semi-mythical 'cell phone gun'. Somebody needs to point the cops at Snopes. Anyhow, I digress...)

The gun itself seems to be a gem-like miniature replica of the Colt Python. There is a long tradition of miniature functioning firearms, and a long tradition of miniature replica firearms, but it is indeed rare that a firearm strives to be a functioning miniature as well as an at least quasi-accurate replica. It remains to be seen how the internet gun world will react to the little pistol (and if the BATFE actually allows importation, because this thing definitely won't make it on import points, even if you add target stocks.) As has been pointed out rigorously by luminaries such as SayUncle and Ninth Stage, this little gun, with its .09 caliber bullet that weighs not quite all of two grains, is less dangerous than a felt tip marker wielded by a malnourished toddler with severe hand/eye coordination problems. That is, until Cor-Bon releases its 1.5 grain load, which will bump velocity over the 450fps threshold, and will cause Marshall and Sanow to give it an estimated One Shot Stop rating of 0.02%, which is a considerable increase from where it stands now.

All I know is that I didn't even know of its existence until this morning, and now I'm deep in the throes of gun lust over this little oddity. Good job, ABC. :)