FDA Approves Handgun for the Handicapped

Dec. 8, 2008 -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a conceptual, ergonomic 9mm handgun -- designed for people crippled by arthritis, muscular dystrophy, or similar conditions that render them too weak to operate normal handguns -- as a Class 1 Medical Device.

The single-shot gun, dubbed the Palm Pistol, is "an adaptive tool that allows someone otherwise incapable of handling a revolver or semiautomatic weapon to operate one," said Matthew Carmel of Constitution Arms, the New Jersey-based company developing the gun.

Thanks to the gun's designation as a medical device, doctors could eventually write prescriptions for it and then be reimbursed by Medicare.

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The proposed Daily Activity Assist Device (as it is called by the FDA) would be symmetrical, ambidextrous, and made largely of stainless steel.

For the gun to be fired, two mechanical safeties must be depressed with the fingers on either side of the barrel before the trigger, located on the top and bottom of the gun, is pressed by the thumb.

A three-digit combination lock is set opposite to the loading button to help prevent accidental discharge.

The Palm Pistol would hold a single cartridge, loaded by pressing a button in the middle of the combined stock and receiver, which swings to the side.

"A single shot means it's clearly for self-defense," said Carmel. Depending on sales of the single-shot version, he says a multiple-shot version could be possible.