In 1882 on August 21, a man by the name of James Alexander Williams from San Saba County, Texas was filed a United States patent No.269,766. for a mousetrap incorporating a handgun, "by which animals which burrow in the ground can be destroyed".[1]
The patent application suggests that the device might also be used to kill or injure "any person or thing" that makes the fatal decision to open the door or window that it is placed by.
The patent application was approved on December 26 of 1882 and James Alexander Williams said "The object of my invention is to provide a means by which animals who burrow in the ground can be destroyed, and which the trap will give an alarm each time that it goes off, so that it can be reset."