Trigger Happy

"Border Guard: Recreational shooting? There's over a million rounds in there! Yuri Orlov, arms dealer: I'm trigger happy."

- Lord of War

Some people really, really like guns. Maybe they're Compensating for Something. Maybe they see all problems as solvable with More Dakka. Maybe they just prefer to shoot first and ask questions later.

Mr. (or Ms.) Trigger Happy tends to have some (or all) of the following traits:
 * Has a distinctive, preferred Weapon of Choice.
 * Loves Cool Guns, Rare Guns, Hand Cannons, BFGs, and More Dakka in general.
 * Addresses their gun by an affectionate name.
 * Fond of stroking or licking the gun barrel in a suggestive manner.
 * Greets people via Click Hello.
 * Will shoot at the slightest provocation—this is what "trigger happy" means, colloquially.
 * Can often be seen or heard laughing or shouting while firing.

See also the whole family of people who have a little too much fun murdering people, i.e., Ax Crazy, Chainsaw Good, Gatling Good, Knife Nut... Of course, even a mellow and sane person can sometimes find himself in a situation where the only thing to do is Shoot Everything That Moves. But if you're Trigger Happy, you'll enjoy it more.

Compare/Contrast Orgasmic Combat and Combat Sadomasochist.

Not to be confused with Trigger Happy TV.

Anime and Manga

 * Revy from Black Lagoon is the Sociopathic Hero version of this trope. When she goes into "Whitman Fever," though...
 * Gauron from Full Metal Panic!. He actually had to be restrained from shooting a pilot (who was the only one who even knew how to operate the plane everyone was on), all because he just likes shooting and killing so much.
 * Sousuke is also very Trigger Happy, but in the more non-lethal way. He just really seems to like shooting and blowing things up. In the Full Metal Panic!! Overload manga, this is taken to an extreme, where it might very well have been the lethal way, but is played for laughs. In fact, it's so bad that in one of the stories, he's actually shown having withdrawal symptoms because he hadn't shot a gun that day (due to promising Chidori he wouldn't bring his guns or shoot anyone). He Lampshades it by thinking that he shouldn't feel this way, since it would make him a Gun Maniac. To put it in his thoughts: "The recoil and muzzle flash when I fire, the lingering smell of gunpowder... experiencing these on the battlefield truly makes me feel alive!" Indeed, in the Overload manga, he's actually more of a Trigger Happy maniac than Gauron (yes, he officially achieved the impossible there).
 * Sousuke is actually, officially Lampshaded as "The Trigger-Happiest S.O.B." in Full Metal Panic! - so in other words, in canon, yes, he is indeed moreso than everyone including Gauron. (Though this actually makes a bit more sense when one takes into account that knives are Gauron's chosen weapon and specialty, not guns... since he enjoys slashing and cutting people up close and personal.)
 * Sousuke meets his match when he encounters the mad policewoman in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, who gets into a shootout with Sousuke in his Bonta-kun costume. In a later episode where she hears the gun-toting Bonta-kun is on the loose again, her fellow police officers have to physically restrain her from going berserk with Guns Akimbo FN-P90's.
 * Robert from Guu. He's even shooting it off in the opening.
 * Reborn from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, who, as Tsuna notes, looks ridiculously happy at the thought of being able to shoot people. Of course, the person he ends up shooting is always Tsuna.
 * Train Heartnet from Black Cat is this, somewhat. His gun has a name, "Hades", and he's shown to get a bit restless when he hasn't shot anything for a while. Although, being a Technical Pacifist, he's forced to not kill people with it, that doesn't prevent him from shooting things out of their hands or simply wounding them.
 * Technical Pacifist? You sure about that? I'm pretty sure he at least killed the first few people he fought, and probably plenty more.
 * Leena from Zoids: New Century Zero.
 * Most notable in Digimon: Gargomon, a trigger happy Rambo bunny (Dog actually, but who cares?) with gatling guns for hands.
 * Of course, we can't forget Alucard, from Hellsing. He carries two impossibly heavy guns, Jackel and his Casull Joshua. And the ever popular image of him resting his vampire canines on the barrel of the gun.
 * Genkaku from Deadman Wonderland. Wielding a double-machine gun-electric guitar, he really really loves to use it. He expresses great disappointment when Mouzuri restrains him from shooting Ganta. Not to mention that he even has an affectionate name for it, calling it "Flying V." He generally treats it with a lot more compassion and love than any human he encounters in the series, and the only time he's shown crying is when it's broken by Shiro. He keeps a grudge towards Shiro because of it, and is shown saying he'll hold a funeral service for it (something he'd never do for a human).
 * In Gantz, a lot of Gantzers (pretty much all side characters, since none of the protagonists are shown to be that sadistic) are Trigger Happy.
 * Maya Jingu from the Burn Up anime franchise, especially her Warrior/Excess incarnation.
 * K from Gravitation, anyone?
 * Giroro of Keroro Gunsou is hardly ever seen without his gun. When not firing it, he's either wearing it, polishing it, or messing around with a different weapon.
 * Elie from Rave Master.
 * Hiruma from Eyeshield 21.
 * Almost everyone in Gunsmith Cats.
 * Mana and Sayo from Mahou Sensei Negima.
 * Yuuna, oh so much.
 * Attenborough from Gurren Lagann LOVES firing the Dai-Gurren's cannons for the smallest reason. And when, his facial expression is one of pure bliss.
 * Arnage of Huckebein from Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force. In the chapter that introduced her Divider, instead of dodging the 25 million energy beams headed her way like she was ordered to, she decided to shoot them all down since that was more her style.
 * Kaito Wanijima from Air Gear has a gun as his weapon of choice. He uses it a LOT.
 * Hibari Ginza from Speed Grapher seems to have a permanently itchy trigger finger. When she's not shooting someone(Self Defense!) she threatening to shoot someone. Even if that someone is a fellow cop.
 * Ladd Russo from Baccano!, who gets excited at the sound of gunfire. Mind you, he also likes knives, Good Old Fisticuffs, tire irons, lead pipes, knuckledusters, rubber chickens with a pulley in the middle, or just about anything that helps in killing people, but he seems to have a special fondness for guns.
 * Officer Volvo Saigo in Kochikame is very trigger happy with his weapons at the slightest disturbance around him causing threat to Ryotsu and the others.

Comics

 * Deadeye Duck from Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars.
 * Sin City characters are over this trope. Marv certainly laughs when he kills his enemies and calls his gun Gladys. The Cool Car love is there as well. Dwight and the Old Town girls are also quite fond of mowing down enemies as seen in the climax of Big Fat Kill.
 * Pig's militaristic Guard Duck from Pearls Before Swine. He constantly believes that everyone besides Pig and his friends are the enemy and his first solution to problems is to shoot like crazy.
 * Brianna from Gold Digger. One author's note commented, "Yes, all of Brianna's weapons have first names... Got a prob' wit dat?"

Film
"Nelson: * while hanging out the door of a moving vehicle* Han' me dat choppah! Delmar: Say, what line o' work ya in, George? Nelson: * firing the Thompson at the cops* Ha ha ha ha! Come and get me, coppers! You flatfooted, lame-brained, soft-ass sonsabitches!"
 * Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas.
 * Emilio Estevez' Cowboy Cop character in Loaded Weapon 1 1, named Jack Colt. At one point the Police Psychiatrist claims he's "gun happy." He points his gun at her.
 * Eugene Tackleberry from Police Academy.
 * Baby Face Nelson in Public Enemies. Truth in Television, because in real life, Baby Face used to work for Al Capone, but was kicked out for his itchy trigger finger and even John Dillinger was nervous about having him around. Paradoxically, he was a devoted husband and father who often had his wife and children with him while he was on the run.
 * In O Brother, Where Art Thou? Nelson is portrayed as manic-depressive, and he's very trigger-happy when he's feeling good.


 * Jim West in Wild Wild West, as lampshaded by President Grant: "Shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more and then when everybody's dead try to ask a question or two!"
 * Ironhide in the Transformers live-action films is extremely trigger happy. In the first film, he recommends that they kill Sam's parents simply to expedite Sam's search for the MacGuffin. In the first video game, it's implied he blew up a planet, though he insists it would have blown up anyway.
 * Dear Wendy: Happens gradually over the space of the film. The protagonist actually hates guns at first.

Live Action TV

 * Ana-Lucia on Lost.
 * Fiona from Burn Notice. Since Thou Shalt Not Kill (Except Indirectly, Or In The First Episode) is in effect, this tends to come across as something of an Informed Ability....

"Jayne: [as the crew is being pursued by Reavers] Boy, sure would be nice if we had some GRENADES, don't you think?! And then later on: Mal: "Please tell me you brought them this time""
 * Jayne on Firefly. There aren't many scenes where he isn't carrying some sort of weapon.
 * He's shown to be Crazy Prepared as far as weapons go. His whole room is filled to the brim with them and in the Big Damn Movie, the one time he wants to bring grenades but gets overruled by Mal, the team ends up needing them.


 * Detective Hammer from Sledge Hammer. He does target practice inside his apartment, he talks to his gun, and his reaction to a sniper on top of a building is to bring the entire building down with a rocket launcher. That's just in the pilot episode.
 * Aeryn Sun on Farscape spends a lot of time shooting people with evident pleasure. Even while giving birth.
 * Chuck: John Casey loves guns.
 * In what might be the only nonlethal variation, Parker on Leverage is trigger happy with various Stun Guns and tasers.
 * Flashpoint: A wanna-be SRU member doesn't pass the exam when he's a little to eager to shoot a perp, or possibly a guy who happens to be in the wrong place in the wrong time.
 * Deadliest Catch: The Hillstrands mark special occasions with automatic rifle fire (plus fireworks and flare guns).
 * Carlton Lassiter on Psych is the butt of many wisecracks from everyone in the SBPD for being this (especially when shooting inanimate objects that he mistook for an attacker).

Music
"''I filled that kitty-cat so full of lead We'll have to use him for a pencil instead"
 * "Weird Al" Yankovic's Trigger Happy is, of course, a song that parodies this trope.

Tabletop Games

 * The Orks of Warhammer 40000 were the Trope Namers for More Dakka. Enuff said.
 * In Warhammer Fantasy Battle the Skaven Doomwheel must be fired at someone every turn. If there are enemies within range, all the better.

Video Games

 * Forte Stollen of the Galaxy Angel gameverse. Her personal Cool Ship is equipped with a pair of starfighter-sized gatling guns and enough missiles to shame your average UN Spacy pilot. Heck, the name of this flying death machine is even Happy Trigger.
 * Forte's anime counterpart is obsessed with military hardware, practically living for rare and antique firearms and never hesitating to try them out on people. Fortunately for everyone else, she exhibits A-Team Firing on pretty much anybody who isn't Normad.
 * Revolver Ocelot from Metal Gear Solid. To put it in his words, "There's nothing like the feeling of slamming a long, silver bullet into a well greased chamber." The man loves his guns.
 * One of the Shadow Master's goons from the Double Dragon animated series is named Trigger Happy. True to his name, he's got a big gun.
 * Willy, the Big Bad of the original arcade game, is nicknamed "Machine Gun" Willy for his favorite Weapon of Choice.
 * Big Bad Mr. X from Streets of Rage isn't shy of firing his gun either, even if he hits his own Mooks most of the time.
 * The Heavy from Team Fortress 2.
 * Any of the classes can be trigger happy, depending on the player. The Pyro especially has gained the derisive Fan Nickname of "W+M1" (the default commands to run and fire one's primary weapon, respectively).
 * In Mass Effect, the First Contact War happened because of the turians doing this. Upon discovering a few human ships trying to open a mass relay, they immediately opened fire. It would have been EASIER just to tell them that what they were doing was illegal under galactic law, and if they refused to cooperate, then they could shoot. But nooooooo...
 * Well, to be fair, it's hard to communicate with someone when your technology, language and biology are completely different. And this is the first time you've encountered that species. Maybe warning shots... Then again, following up that skirmish with the orbital bombardment of the first human planet they could find was probably overboard.
 * Both Jak and Daxter follow this trope, though Jak uses the BFG more often.
 * In Dead Rising, Cletus Samson and both Roger Hall and his son Jack have a policy of shoot first ask questions later in dealing with humans that they seem to enjoy. Perhaps somewhat understandable as the zombie outbreak did turn a number of human survivors homicidally insane. Then again, that they take it to an extreme that makes them obviously Trigger Happy is what makes them among those humans themselves.
 * Axl of Mega Man X, especially compared to Technical Pacifist X and Shell Shocked Senior Zero.
 * Final Fantasy VII: The typical response of Barret Wallace to any problem he faces is to let loose with the drill/BFG he's got hooked up to the end of his arm. It's Justified later in the game when you find out just why Barret's so Trigger Happy to begin with.
 * In Jagged Alliance 2, any mercenary with the "Psycho" trait can and will, when armed with a weapon capable of automatic fire, fire it on automatic. Even if you told them to fire a single shot or a burst.
 * Trigger Happy from Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. He's a crazy gremlin goldslinger whose main weapons are a pair of golden guns that shoot golden coins. His personality is described as gunplay being his solution to every problem and he "will take down any bad guy... usually without bothering to aim."
 * Red Dead Redemption: John Marston is trying to get over his problem of being one of these, but the time where he shot up three Mexican troublemakers for stealing his hat comes to mind.

Web Comics

 * Craze from Building 12.
 * Freckle of Lack a daisy fame is this- though he generally only becomes so when he has a gun in hand.
 * Vaarsuvius of The Order of the Stick would be this if s/he had a gun. As it is, s/he just uses spell spam.

Web Original

 * The Nostalgia Critic. This comes back to bite him in the ass during Kickassia; Insano calls out for Santa Christ, Santa Christ's theme starts, Critic panics and shoots our Lord and Saviour dead.
 * Also from Kickassia, we have Angry Joe, who shoots the cameraman when a reporter mentions that he has been called "gun-crazy."

Western Animation

 * Disney, oddly enough, Loves This Trope:
 * Scrooge McDuck's New Old Flame Glittering Goldie on DuckTales.
 * EVE in WALL-E, of course.
 * Trigger from Disney's Robin Hood.
 * It doesn't help that Trigger's crossbow "Old Betsy" is notoriously unreliable and goes off at the slightest provocation.
 * Heinrich "Herr Trigger" Triggermensch, one of the three assassins sent after Brock Samson during the Season Three Finale of The Venture Brothers, is one of these, complete with licking is gun-barrel in sexual ecstasy during his fight scene.
 * Minor Decepticon Triggerhappy in Transformers Generation 1 lives up to his name. Apparently while goofing around at the military academy he accidentally vaporized his entire squad of trainees and his instructor. This earned him an immediate graduation and field promotion. However, some theorize that his crazed affection for heavy automatic weaponry isn't due to pride at this defining moment, but because he happened to bump his head pretty bad in said accident.
 * The Simpsons - Homer Simpson became this for one episode, where he buys a gun to protect the family following a series of riots in Springfield. However, he quickly becomes ludicrously irresponsible with the gun (using it to change the channel and open a beer, among other feats), which drives Marge and the kids away. He goes to the local NRA for support, but they're just as appalled by him as Marge was and kick him out of the organization. The whole episode serves to deliver An Aesop about responsible gun usage.
 * Futurama - Mom's Friendly Killbots will automatically shoot whenever anyone mentions anything resembling gun terminology, like getting howitzer out of "how it serve". They usually shoot the person or Killbot that says the gun term. This is in addition to shooting anything that moves.