For decades, every Soyuz rocket crew packed a sidearm in their emergency kits—even after joining the International Space Station partnership. This “survival gun”, the TOZ 82, had three barrels and a swing-out machete.

[T]he official purpose of the gun — which could fire rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares — was for survival in a harsh environment, such as the Siberian wilderness, in the event of an off-course landing.

But according to journalist James Oberg, one of the leading U.S. experts on the Russian space program: “I proposed that to guarantee the gun only be usable in an off-course landing, it be stashed in compartment accessible only from outside the Soyuz, after landing. There never was any response to my helpful suggestions”.

The practice has been unofficially suspended; by “unofficially” I mean that the weapn is included on the inventory list, but it is then removed by vote before each individual flight.

Via io9.