Lock and Load

Bob hands Alice a gun. "Do you know how to use this?" he asks. To answer, Alice goes through a little routine with the gun. This may involve checking the safety, unloading, testing the action, and reloading. It will almost always involve lots of exaggerated clicky noises and shoo-shoo sounds.

The idea is to show that yes, Alice knows how to use one.

May be part of a Lock and Load Montage. Not to be confused with the show.

Anime and Manga

 * Kirika does this with her eyes closed in Noir.
 * Parodied in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann during episode 3. Yoko tosses Kamina a pistol and asks if he knows how to use it. He cocks it and acts like he does. Then he uses it as a bludgeon, acting surprised when it fires...at him because he was holding it backwards.

Fan Fic

 * In the Fanfic Neon Exodus Evangelion, DJ hands a pistol to Shinji Ikari and asks him if he can use it. Shinji promptly performs the full routine to DJ's utter bemusement.
 * Realistically subverted in Streets of Rage Saga's second story, Origins. When Axel has to temporarily leave Blaze by herself, he leaves a pistol with her. She admits she's never held one before, so he shows her how it works. The explanation goes over her head, though, and when the time comes for her to use it, she tries to pull the hammer back...and ends up spilling all the bullets out of the clip instead. She has some difficulty reloading the bullets, but manages to work the gun correctly on the second try. Later on, she gets some gun-training from Adam.

Film

 * In Goldeneye James Bond tosses a gun to Natalya and asks if she can use it. She promptly checks if everything is in working order and answers "Yes."

Live Action TV
"Boyd: You know how to use this?
 * Every character on Lost has done this at least once. Even Shannon.
 * Both played straight and subverted in the fourth season of Buffy, when Xander tries to do this with a flare gun and totally fails. Giles then demonstrates how to do it properly.
 * At other points he -can-, due to a 'Cursed With Awesome' that hit him with millitary knowledge. It faded in an out later on.
 * Used in the second episode of Dollhouse, when Boyd gives a gun to Echo:

Echo: I have three brothers, none of them Democrats."


 * In The Sarah Connor Chronicles episode 2.12 Alpine Fields

Webcomics

 * Appeared in GPF when Nick and Ki was visiting his family... Nick's father turned out to be a cop, and when he showed off his new service sidearm to his son, Nick -- who is otherwise a stereotypical nerd - goes through this routine before checking the sights and commenting "Nice..." Ki is somewhat intimidated. Apparently, growing up in a house with guns taught him how to handle them.