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See this tool? Police say it's actually a makeshift gun ready to fire.

Vacaville Police allegedly found the "zip gun" loaded with a single round while arresting a man for public intoxication.

VACAVILLE, Calif. — Vacaville Police said they found a makeshift gun loaded and ready to fire while arresting a man for public intoxication Thursday.

Officers found 33-year-old Gilberto Trigales lying on the sidewalk. While arresting Trigales for public intoxication officers noticed he started to act nervous. While searching him they found a small metal cylinder in his pocket. Officers say it had an odd-looking piece of copper inside. 

The copper was actually a bullet. Officers say the metal cylinder was a makeshift weapon known as a "zip gun." This improvised firearm was designed to load and fire a single handgun round. It uses a spring, similar to a ballpoint pen, and with the press of a thumb, the zip gun plunges a metal point into the bullet and fires. 

Credit: Vacaville Police
What appears to be a tool is actually a makeshift weapon known as a zip gun.

Under California Penal Code 33600, zip guns are illegal and punishable by one year in county jail.

"While it may look like a metal tube, spring and a lag bolt from any hardware store, this is a purpose-built instrument whose only function is to fire a potentially deadly round," said the Vacaville Police Department on Facebook. 

Trigales was booked at the county jail on charges of intoxication, possession of a zip gun, and for being a felon in possession of ammunition. 

Credit: Vacaville Police
33-year-old Gilberto Trigales

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