On the topic of tactical or \self-defense\ pens.
I have carried several over the years. First some of my background and experience, I have worked in the medical field for 2 score years. Areas that are pertinent to this discussion military, EMS, surgery, psych and in the criminal justice system. I have treated many people with wounds -some fatal- caused by the tactical pens that I am going to discuss. I have carried them into high security areas which include recently airplanes. I have NEVER been challenged by security about my tactical pens.

I carry several on me when I go out in public and sometimes even when I am at home. The ones that I like are economical enough to be considered disposable. ;]

The brand that I like best is Bic…. The hard plastic ones with removable caps.
Back in the 70s Bic used to have an ad on TV where they would shoot a pen out of a 30-06 into a pine board. The pen penetrated a 1 inch thick pine board with enough of the point sticking out and then while it was still in the board they
would demonstrate writing with it. By the way, a few years ago I was doing some marketing for the Locum Tenens company I worked for. The pens that we got to hand out were very nice with padded finger grips and really tough. The \cheap\ ones were 69 cents and the expensive ones were 99 cents, all metal and both of them used cross refills.