“The Protector” was a very discreet palm pistol developed in the late 1800s by a French inventor, produced in bulk by the Ames Sword Company, and sold by the Chicago Firearms Company. They are mechanically double-action turret revolvers with a unique grip design meant to be to be fired by squeezing. The first few were made in France by the original inventor, and later licensed to an Irish-American who sold them through first the Minneapolis Firearms Company and later the Chicago Firearms Company. Most are in an extra-short .32 caliber rimfire cartridge, but a few were also made in both .41 and .22 calibers.
Ian’s Video: [12:57] https://youtu.be/Zv4ekzpWdFk?si=
I suppose you could threaten to shoot someone with it unloaded as you could with more traditional firearms, bluffing for self defense. But I would seriously struggle to even recognize this as a firearm in any kind of altercation, so I think that’s a stretch.