American Derringer Corp.
Waco, Texas
Marketed the design as the Model 2 “Pen” Pistol.
Stinger Pen Pistol
The Stinger Pen Pistol
A single-shot pistol carried as a pen that fires only after it is folded. Robert J. Braverman designed it around 1990, three American companies made it until 2004, and his company has re-engineered it for a new generation.
The design
Carried as a pen, fired as a pistol
The Stinger is a single-shot pistol made to look like a pen. In its pen form it cannot be fired: the rear housing has to be pulled back and hinged down to about ninety degrees, which exposes the trigger and gives it the profile of a small handgun.
Robert J. Braverman and Isaak M. Shklyarov received two United States patents for the design on November 5, 1991. The folding version is US Patent 5,062,231.
In development
The re-engineered Stinger
The Stinger is returning.
R. J. Braverman LLC has re-engineered the Stinger for a new generation. A working prototype has been built, the company describes the design as ready for manufacture, and the new design is patent pending.
The new design carries the original idea forward: a working pistol that is carried as a pen and becomes a pistol only when it is deliberately folded.
Three makers
One design, three eras
R. J. Braverman Corp.
Meredith, New Hampshire
Sold it as the Stinger. The guns were made locally by Remcon North Corp. The first run ended in 1996 or 1997; the sources differ.
Stinger Manufacturing Corp.
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Revived it in 2002 as the .22 “Pengun”, initially with Bob Braverman’s help, and stopped production in early 2004.
The record
What the documents show
- The American Derringer arrangement
American Derringer Corp. of Waco, Texas, marketed the design as the Model 2 “Pen” Pistol in 1993 and 1994.
The Firearm Blog, July 28, 2020Gun Digest Gun Values- R. J. Braverman Corp.
Both 1991 patents name R. J. Braverman Corp., then of Winthrop, Massachusetts, as their assignee. From 1995 the company sold the gun as the Stinger from Meredith, New Hampshire, where Remcon North Corp. made it.
USPTO, 1991USPTO, 1991The Firearm Blog, July 28, 2020- The first run’s end
The first run ended in the mid-1990s. Wikipedia gives 1996; The Firearm Blog’s reviewer dates it to 1997.
WikipediaThe Firearm Blog, July 28, 2020- The 2002 revival
Stinger Manufacturing Corp. of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, made the design as the .22 “Pengun”, a single-shot pistol under six inches long. ABC News describes Marc Lefebvre as a major investor in the company, and The Firearm Blog reports that Braverman helped it at first.
ABC News, October 30, 2003The Firearm Blog, July 28, 2020- The end in 2004
In the autumn of 2003 the gun drew national attention, and an advocacy group asked federal regulators to reclassify it. Production stopped in early 2004; The Firearm Blog, reporting the founder’s view, attributes the closure to politics rather than sales.
ABC News, October 30, 2003Violence Policy Center (advocacy)The Firearm Blog, July 28, 2020
Continue the story
Where the story goes next
Robert J. Braverman
The inventor: his patents, his company and his work.
Meet the inventorThe full history
A dated timeline from the first patent filing in 1990, through the years of production, to the re-engineered Stinger today.
Read the historyPatents and innovation
The two 1991 patents, the 2002 application, the new application, and the drawings.
See the patentsThe gallery
Pen pistols, cases, advertising and documents from the collection.
See the galleryDo you have documents, photographs or recollections that add to this record? Get in touch