by Angel Shamaya
[email protected]

November 21, 2002

KeepAndBearArms.com -- The Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Andrews Air Force base is distributing an "Officer Safety Alert" flyer to domestic American law enforcement agencies -- via the internet -- "warning" them about a lawful firearm manufacturer who makes a legal product. The firearm in question is a fancy little single-shot .22LR pen gun called The Stinger Pen Gun -- manufactured by Stinger Mfg. Corp. in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. Mark LeFebvre runs the company. It's also available in .22 Mag and .17HRM.

(Click here to view the flyer. NOTE: The file contain copyrighted graphic images taken from the Stinger website, so it's large: 2091KB. The format is MS Word. The file's "properties" registry contains original data about the person who created it -- find that by opening the file and clicking on File, Properties. For people who do not have MS Word or a reader, we created a smaller .pdf file.)

The manufacturer's website says the pen gun "was classified a pistol by the ATF in 1991. It is not classified as AOW or under NFA rules." Law-abiding people with a clean criminal record can procure one through the same method by which you can procure any other handgun -- except in the states where anti-gun misfits have banned it: California, Maryland and New York.

The flyer being distributed by a branch of the military's "Criminal Investigations" unit, however, issued a "Cat III" alert to "All AFOSI Regions, Squadrons, and Operating Locations." To notify them of this legal firearm. Their reason is due to the fact that the pen gun is "easily concealed." A single-shot .22.

Says the AFOSI flyer,�

"DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTIONS: LAW ENFORCMENT [sic] USE ONLY: Disseminate this information to other Military/DoD/Government Criminal Investigative Organizations (NCIS, USACIDC), Security Forces, and local law enforcement."� [emphasis added]

KeepAndBearArms.com received the flyer from a friend who works in law enforcement -- a patriot who is as tired of gun control as we are. The manufacturer hadn't seen it yet -- until I sent it to them. Mr. LeFebvre was rather surprised that it was originating from an agency whose official shield on the flyer says "Criminal Investigations". He was cautious, but not overly concerned. "If it's just to make sure officers are aware of our product to promote officer safety, this is a good thing -- we want police officers to be safe like every other good American citizen does."

Later calls from Stinger to the military agency that produced and distributes the flyer yielded positive responses. LeFebvre said, "they told me we're not under investigation, they don't want to shut us down, they just want to make sure officers are aware and safe. This is a good thing." A comment on the flyer alludes to the same general purpose: officer safety, "especially those who conduct searches and apprehensions/arrests." The head of the pen gun manufacturing company also said he'd been wondering why so many police officers have been buying his pen gun. He now understands -- the Air Force has been doing free marketing for him!

The hit counter at StingerPenGun.com has also climbed. Mr. LeFebvre hopes the Air Force will continue their free promotions. Plans are in place to produce the pen gun in .32 caliber, as well -- and the company hopes to begin selling the .32 in the first half of 2003. They are also "presently working in the design of 2 pistols and we are projecting to have them out on the market by early summer." With the continued help of law enforcement, the company expects great success.

RELATED LINKS

Stinger Pen Guns
http://www.StingerPenGun.com

Air Force Office of Special Investigations
http://www.dtic.mil/afosi/contact.html

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