In terms of the technology, "squirts" have been around for hundreds of years. They were used in 1666, during The Great Fire of London, along with buckets. I'm not entirely sure if squirts included hand-held plunger-in-tube or if they were larger pumps.

https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/museum/history-and-stories/the-great-fire-of-london/

As for using a squirt as a kind of gun, I can't imagine somebody owning a squirt and not being tempted to drench somebody with it, but that's just my opinion.

EDIT: For anyone interested in Googling the history of squirts, make sure that you turn on SafeSearch. For reasons.