You have to pump this gun. The selling point is that you can essentially use it like a standard water gun (weak water stream, only goes short distance) or pump a large amount (e.g. monsoon) of water on your unsuspecting family member. It better be unsuspecting - b/c it takes a good amount of pumping and practice to get this to work. Plus, once you have dumped the "monsoon" you aren't going to have much water left over for much more. So, great for sneak attacks - but not your only water gun in a water fight.