(credit: RevMedX)

As mass shootings continue to make headlines and gun sales surge nationwide, a sponge-injecting device designed to patch life-threatening bullet wounds in war is making a domestic debut.

The device, called XSTAT 30, acts like a syringe that squirts out 92 tiny, compressed cellulose sponges coated with a blood-sopping absorbent. Together, the sponges can take in about a pint of blood and swell enough to completely fill-in a wound, creating a physical barrier for blood flow. That plugging-power may be enough to prevent life-threatening blood loss as a patient is rushed to an emergency medical facility, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

On Tuesday, the agency approved the use of XSTAT in civilian adults and adolescents.