(Photo: CGTN)

A man from South China's Fujian Province has been detained for selling a four centimeter-long gun-shaped key chain, which police consider a firearm.

Police from Anshan Public Security Bureau in Northeast China's Liaoning Province  issued an official identification report on Tuesday, classifying the key chain as a gun with a shooting function. 

Police said the man involved in the case, who was detained on July 31, was suspected of illegally trafficking firearms under relevant laws. The case is being reviewed and prosecuted.

The man's wife, Cheng (pseudonym), said they were selling stimulated gun-shaped key rings, mainly for collectors, for several hundred yuan.

"Though it could fire, it didn't have any gunpowder," Cheng told the China National Radio. "It was a little keychain pendant.

She said that her husband brought home a gun-shaped key chain from abroad a few years ago. He then found domestic factories which could copy and process similar key rings and sell them online.

Cheng said the keychain is 4 centimeters long and no injuries have occurred. 

Cheng said the simulated gun key chain is not harmful. "It's much less dangerous than a knife or a bow," she said. "Even if a dealer fills it with ammunition, it will be a squib."

Cheng said that in late August 2015, local police had inspected the key chain and told them there was no problem selling the product as a key chain.

A video that demonstrates the power of the "stimulated mini gun key chain" on Sina Weibo has attracted much attention. Video shows that under certain conditions, such a gun-shaped key chain can shoot through thin iron barrels.

Yang Weihua, a lawyer representing the case, said the point of concern is how big a gun can be called a gun.

According to a document on firearms identification issued by the Ministry of Public Security in 2010, guns able to fire projectiles with a muzzle velocity equal to or more than 1.8 joules per square centimeter is considered a firearm.

Yang said although the gun key chain reaches a muzzle velocity of 1.8 joules, the keychain is only 4 centimeters in diameter, which cannot be grasped by a hand at all. He believes that the standard of gun identification should be changed.

Lawyer Qiao Feng, who has represented a number of gun cases, said the key to judging the case was whether the kind of gun-shaped key chains were at risk of causing death or injury.