UPDATE: FDA Kills ‘prescription Pistol’

The FDA decided this week that the Palm Pistol, a 9-mm handgun designed by a New Jersey company to make it easier for people with arthritis and other debilitating conditions to fire, “is not a medical device.”

The inventor, Matthew Carmel, of the Maplewood, NJ, firm Constitutional Arms, which wanted to make the product, is crying foul. “I would assume it’s due to political pressure,” he said.

Carmel, who wanted Medicare to cover the cost of the gun for the elderly, previously said he received the green light for federal approval to market the weapon as a medical device, but the FDA denied the claim.

A Medicare spokesman said it would have never covered guns for senior citizens anyway. “Medicare will not cover it because there is no approved category for weapons,” said spokesman Peter Ashkenaz. “So, it would not be viewed as reasonable and necessary.”

Carmel said he might appeal the decision.