A dc electron gun, generating picosecond pulses with up to 8 × 106 electrons per pulse has been developed. Its applicability for future time-resolved diffraction experiments on state- and conformer-selected laser-aligned or oriented gaseous samples was characterized. The focusing electrodes were arranged in a velocity-map imaging spectrometer configuration. This allowed us to directly measure the spatial and velocity distributions of the electron pulses emitted from the cathode. The coherence length and pulse duration of the electron beam were characterized by these measurements combined with electron trajectory simulations. Electron diffraction data from a thin aluminum foil illustrated the coherence and resolution of the electron-gun setup.