Its Not Guns That Kill People Its Bullets

The SwissMiniGun is the size of a key fob and fires tiny bullets that travel at 270 mph, powerful enough to kill at close range.

The world's smallest working revolver only for men confident enough to use it , the gun is being marketed as a collector's item and measures just 2.16 inches long (5.5cm). It can fire real 4.53 bullets up to a range of 367ft (112m) of course at that range they will merely put your eye out .

The stainless steel gun costs £3,000 although the manufacturers also produce extravagant, made-to-order versions made out of 18-carat gold with customised diamond studs which sell for up to £30,000. I'll take two.

The gun is banned from being imported into the US because it's barrel is less than three inches, meaning it is deemed too small to qualify for sporting or manly purposes as in America size really matters .

Jonathan Spencer, consultant forensic scientist and firearms expert, said that although the gun, which fires bullets at a speed of 399 feet a second, was tiny, it could still prove fatal. The general threshold for perforating the skin is about 330 feet a second.

"Apart from bone, skin offers the greatest resistance to penetration. If it can pass through the skin it is potentially lethal, even if the bullets are small.

"If you shoved something 3mm across into someone's chest you could kill them. It's the same with these bullets, they could penetrate the heart."

The owner of the SwissMiniGun company Paul Erard said that since the product's launch three years ago, the firm had sold around 300 of the guns, mainly to collectors in the Middle and Far East.

He said: "We are producing in very small quantities - perhaps 25 gold guns and 100 steel guns a year, and there is a six month waiting list to get one.

"We will make whatever the customer wishes for. The most expensive version we have sold cost £30,000 and was covered in diamonds and came with a gold chain."

Special Agent William McMahon of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives(ATF) in New York said the gun was so small it could pass for a key fob, and warned it made the perfect stealth weapon for serious criminals and also some flippant criminals who we do not take so seriously.

But Mr Erard denied the gun was deadly as he has shot many homeless people and they all survived he said it was only a tenth as powerful as some air guns.

"Since September 11 there has been a lot of paranoia in America", he said.

"It is ridiculous. Why would criminals want my gun when you can go out and buy a Kalashnikov there already?"

A Guinness World Records spokesman confirmed the gun held the record as the word's smallest working revolver.