The Gerber Impromptu Pen | A Pen for the Prepared Citizen

The Gerber Impromptu pen is built for something like an NPE. For those that don’t know, NPE stands for Non-Permissive Environment.

It is a military/intelligence term for an area of operations in which you can either expect apathy or outright hostility from the local authorities. Because what you’re doing isn’t exactly sectioned.

The equivalent of this for a prepared citizen is a place you are barred from carrying a gun or knife. This is the environment this pen was meant for. First off, it’s made of steel. Not just a steel barrel with plastic pieces like a Zebra pen; solid steel.

The endcap, also made of steel, is attached by a solid quarter inch of steel threads. This thing is built TOUGH. This also has some interesting secondary effects on the pen.

First, it’s not light. Not heavy, but just enough weight to add a little momentum to your fist. Second, it makes it into an excellent improvised impact weapon for striking or pressure point manipulation.

Hence the name, Impromptu. It also has a glass breaker built into the end cap. This obviously has the main purpose of breaking glass for quick egress in an emergency. But this also increases its potential as the aforementioned improvised impact weapon.

The other surprise bonus of this weapon is its use of a rite in the rain cartridge. This allows the pen to write even underwater when coupled with Rite in the Rain brand notebooks and paper.

This just might come in handy in an emergency as you don’t get to pick the weather your emergency happens in. Retailing for around $77 depending on where you buy it, it’s definitely not a cheap pen.

But if you want something overbuilt and multipurpose to keep in the glovebox or carry where guns and knives aren’t allowed, the Gerber Impromptu might be just what you’re looking for.