New guns that look like cell phones-Truth!

Guns That Look Like Cell Phones-Truth!  

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Summary of eRumor:
There are new guns that look like cell phones.
The Truth:
Guns that look like cell phones are real, but they’re not new.
The most recent warnings about cell phones made to look like guns surfaced in February 2016. It started with a Facebook post by Karl de la Guerra that served as an “officer alert” about the new cell guns:

Karl de la Guerra was referring to a cell phone gun being developed by a company called IDEAL Concept. And the cell phone gun is real, but it’s not on the market yet. The company says the patent is pending, and that it will be marketed to legal firearms enthusiasts at NRA shows — not criminals.
After his post was shared nearly 100,000 times, Karl de la Guerra clarified in a follow up post that he didn’t mean to imply that cell phone gun shouldn’t be sold, or that it would only be sold to criminals. He said his intent was to note that it could pose a threat to law enforcement officials:

And reports about cell guns are nothing new. The first one we investigated dates back to 2000. Back then, European officials issued a warning that .22 caliber guns were being manufactured to look like cellular telephones.  Travelers were warned to be careful around airports in particular because they authorities were having to contend with judging whether cell phones carried by air passengers may be lethal.
There were many media accounts of these cell-guns including. Much of the information that has been repeated around the Internet was included in a report by Lucrezia Cuen of ABC News on December 6, 2000:

At first sight it looks like a regular cell phone — same size, same shape, same overall appearance.

But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol — a phone gun capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the otherwise standard keypad.

European law enforcement officials — stunned by the discovery of these deadly decoys — say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in Europe.

“We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”

Authorities warned that cell-gun can fire four .22 caliber rounds, and that they posed a particular risk to travelers. The U.S. Customs Service provided this photo of a cell phone gun along with a warning for travelers:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So, warnings about cell guns have been around since at least 2000, and they actually do exist, but they haven’t caused any problems that we could find over the years.
(Photo: U.S. Customs Service)