That appears to be a "pen" version of a zip gun and a .22 Long Rifle cartridge (a very weak and potentially unreliable rimfire caliber). A zip gun is only good for shooting someone at contact distance, and you are likely to injure your hand in the process of firing it (they have been known to blow up in the past since they were usually made out of ordinary pipe). A sword is actually a hell of a lot mightier than one of those in most circumstances, unless perhaps you're trying to kill a squirrel, and the squirrel is willing to let you walk right up to it so you can fire at point-blank range.
Fetterlock wrote:That appears to be a "pen" version of a zip gun and a .22 Long Rifle cartridge (a very weak and potentially unreliable rimfire caliber). A zip gun is only good for shooting someone at contact distance, and you are likely to injure your hand in the process of firing it (they have been known to blow up in the past since they were usually made out of ordinary pipe). A sword is actually a hell of a lot mightier than one of those in most circumstances, unless perhaps you're trying to kill a squirrel, and the squirrel is willing to let you walk right up to it so you can fire at point-blank range.
The weapon was designed for espionage purposes and assassination, intended to be used at point blank or for disarming or incapacitating targets in close quarters. As for a sword being better, this is the way to go if you wanna be discrete about it and is much easier to wield in confined spaces than a sword.
A sign that you may have too much time on your hands is when you take the pen out back to shoot at some cans, or squirrels.