Despite selling more than 1 billion bullets a year for use in Iraq and Afghanistan, US arms manufacturers are looking for new markets – they’re targeting (oops!) women with pink guns. Isn’t that cute?

Taser C2 is bright pink, looks like an electric shaver, costs £145 and uses compressed nitrogen to fire two metal spikes into an attacker’s skin, before zapping them with 50,000 volts. They tell us it’s a “personal protector, designed with your lifestyle in mind”.

Jim’s Gun Supply specialises in custom paint finishes. Want a Glock 9mm with candy-pink detailing ? Jim’s your man. As he says : “Females want to shoot guns, but they want them to look pretty, too.”

Children’s pump-action shotguns (yes, really) are popular in the Midwest. Classic gunsmith Remington recently produced a limited-edition extra-small shotgun. It came with a pink stock bearing the slogan “Shoot like a girl”.

Ironic artists have been completely overtaken by events. GlamGuns is a parody site offering pink Hello Kitty-themed AK-47s for sale, and Italian artist Antonio Riello makes replica Beretta pistols with pink highlights , which look almost excactly like the real guns from Jim's Gun Supply.