It turns out umbrella guns aren’t just fiction

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One of the more memorable scenes in 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service involves Colin Firth kicking the shit out of a bunch of street toughs using his hi-tech umbrella. And since weaponized parasols have been a part of pop culture since the Penguin threatened to take down Batman in the 1960s, Sarah Laskow of Atlas Obscura decided to investigate if there’s any truth behind the fanciful firearm. And it turns out there is: Umbrella guns have actually been used throughout history, including in the assassination of a Bulgarian dissident.