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{{trope}}
Guns are dangerous things. ''Extremely'' dangerous things. They're not just [[The Simpsons (animation)|designed to hurt]]; they're designed to ''kill''. With a single flick of a single finger, one can take a life. Such power needs to be respected, and it shouldn't be surprising that there are [[Gun Safety|various obvious safety rules in place when using a gun, that anyone who is trained to use a firearm should know.]] Add to this, even an expert can conceivably make a serious (and dangerous) mistake when handling a gun. There is even a saying among gunsmiths that "[[There Are Two Kinds of People in the World|There are two types of gun owners.]] Those who ''have'' had their guns discharge accidentally, and those who ''will'' have their guns discharge accidentally."
Many writers, actors, artists, and directors, however, [[Did Not Do the Research|do not know these rules]]. What results from this are scenes where characters are doing things they shouldn't, such as placing their fingers on the triggers of their weapons when not about to fire, or pointing their weapons at people who they are not trying to shoot (one particularly common example is making routine arrests (drunk driving, check fraud) at gunpoint for no reason). This is particularly troublesome when these people are [[Informed Ability|supposed to be]] [[Department of Redundancy Department|experienced experts with lots of experience]] with their weapons. As a result, experts will be caught [[Title Drop|Failing Gun Safety Forever]].
The distinction between this trope and [[Reckless Gun Usage]] is that this involves people who either ''should'' know
May also be the writer hinting that a character isn't as professional as he should be.
{{examples}}▼
Note that there is a very good reason why all of the examples here are listed under Artistic License, as trying to actually replicate any of them could lead — and has led — to accidents, many of them fatal. For obvious reasons, [[Don't Try This At Home]]. And on that note, {{noreallife|we'd [[People Sit on Chairs|overload the wiki if we listed them all]].}}
== Anime & Manga ==▼
* ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' played with as the girls themselves are weapons and grabbing Henrietta's handler isn't exactly proper safety protocol. There are also multiple scenes where characters yell at other characters for playing this trope straight, including Henrietta looking down the barrel of her jammed pistol and Raballo chewing out Guiseppe for not training her properly.▼
With that in mind, the Four Rules of gun safety are:
1. Treat every gun you encounter as if it were loaded.
2. Never point a gun at something you do not intend to shoot and destroy.
3. Keep your finger ''off'' the trigger and ''outside'' the trigger guard until you are in position and ready to shoot.
4. Always be aware of who or what your target is, and who or what is around and behind it.
▲{{examples}}
▲* ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'': played with, as the girls themselves are weapons and grabbing Henrietta's handler isn't exactly proper safety protocol. There are also multiple scenes where characters yell at other characters for playing this trope straight, including Henrietta looking down the barrel of her jammed pistol and Raballo chewing out Guiseppe for not training her properly.
* ''[[Appleseed]]'' averts this and invokes physics: when (cyborg) Briareos leaps building to building. In-story, Deunan (whom he carried) is temporarily blind from the G-forces. In his notes he calls attention to Briareos carrying his enormous gun with his finger outside the trigger guard while leaping (proper procedure). [[Shirow Masamune]] averts this trope frequently.
* ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'':
** [[Shirow Masamune]] shows proper [[Gun Safety]] again
** This is [[Invoked Trope|invoked]] in a first-season episode of ''Stand Alone Complex''. The character is shown running around waving his gun wildly with his finger on the trigger, uncharacteristic enough to show how unhinged the case is making him.
** However, it's later averted in ''2nd Gig''. When the police move in to arrest Gouda, they trap him in the middle of a hallway. The cops at one end are armed, while the cops on the other end are wielding armored riot shields to block the hallway and protect themselves from stray bullets at the same time.
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]? Fumoffu'' plays a too-literal adherence to this trope for laughs: Sousuke is playing an arcade light gun game, and doing quite well until the light gun runs out of bullets. Sousuke immediately pulls his personal very real pistol and blows the game away. When it's explained to him that you're supposed to shoot away from the screen to reload, his response is that [[Hypocritical Humor|this would have been horribly unsafe]]. It should be noted that Sousuke observes proper
* ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' averts this: Tenma's training strongly emphasizes [[Gun Safety|the rules]], and he later handles guns with the responsibility and care you'd expect of a surgeon.
* ''[[
** Inferred [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face]] instead of an [[Inferred Holocaust]]: Episode 12, like in graduation ceremonies, helmets were tossed into the air by the troops upon learning they don't have to fight. It's all well and good until you spot loaded rifles up in the air with the helmets...
** In one episode, Kanata cleans her rifle while oblivious to the fact that's it's ''pointed right at Kureha's face.'' (Like [https://web.archive.org/web/20151005233252/http://www.thatanimeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/SnW-03-11.jpg so.])) Kureha, oddly enough, doesn't seem to notice, and she definitely doesn't get out of the way (because it's a still shot, but that's beside the point).
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': Spike loads his handgun and then points it directly at his partner for no reason. Jet, a freaking ''former cop'', fails to comment.
* ''[[Highschool of the Dead]]'' averted: One of the survivors is a Gun [[Otaku]] and knows proper gun etiquette. He is also very fastidious in pointing it out to his fellow survivors when they [[Reckless Gun Usage|handle a firearm improperly]]. However, points are lost when shots are fired dangerously close to main characters, only [[Rule of Cool]] prevents [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face]].
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* ''[[D.Gray-man]]'' has Devit and Jasdero who are constantly pointing guns at each other. {{spoiler|Though, they are toy guns and it is how they combine to form Jasdevi, so this might be subverted.}}
* In the "Go for It! Pass it!" episode of [[Upotte!!]], the girls are participating in a live fire exercise. The targets? ''Balloons floating just above their heads.'' Granted, the girls are anthropomorphized guns and aren't all that affected by gunshots beyond minor bruising, but it's still jarring, considering all the other ways in which guns are depicted accurately.
* In ''[[Lupin III]]'', expert marksman Daisuke Jigen is almost never unarmed, and it is something of a mystery as to how he gets his guns past airport security when he flies commercially, something he does rather often. A common fan theory is that he has set up hidden checkpoints at every conceivable airport where he could travel to where he could deposit them before boarding and pick them up after arriving.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Super Dickery]]'' provides an example: [
== Comics ==▼
▲* ''[[Super Dickery]]'' provides an example: [http://www.superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=30:frames-and-panels-index&id=794:this-pistol-isnt-loaded-aaagghh&Itemid=34 This].
* ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace]]'' Parodied: [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Revenge_of_the_Clone_Menace.jpg on the cover], where one of the titular characters is scratching his head. ''With a deactivated [[Laser Sword|lightsaber]].''
* ''[[The Boys]]'': Butcher is confronted by a couple of street hoods. One lifts his shirt to show off the gun in his pants waistband. Butcher just reaches out and pull the gun out before either hood can react, then crushes the gun. This is rather tame for a Garth Ennis comic, frankly. Butcher could have just as easily grab the gun, then pull the trigger, blowing off this guy's nuts. And demonstrating how stupid it is to walk around with a cocked gun - in your pants!
* ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. These guys are supposed to be elite. Yet posing for a photo [http://www.yojoe.com/comics/image/dd26large.shtml while holding a gun like this] in [[Real Life]] is how ''civilians'' get featured on "Idiots With Guns" blog.
* ''[[Misfiled Dreams]]'': Averted
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* ''[[ToyHammer]]'': Averted and excused
* ''[[Pretty Cure Heavy Metal]]'': During any of Shugo's temporary [[Face Heel Turn]]s in the second half of the first season her finger will always be on the trigger of her gun, and she will aim as though she was confused as to who she's aiming for. Thankfully, she'll only spend approximately one minute (usually; she was reckless with her gun for the entirety of episode 45) as a Heel before going through the [[Face Heel Revolving Door|revolving door]] to the Face side. As for the aforementioned episode 45... her [[Face Heel Turn]] lasted for the duration of that episode (during which she's a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] whose quarry is a Satanist), only ending when [[Heel Realization|she realizes she had recklessly endangered her own friends in chasing the Satanist]].▼
▲* ''[[Misfiled Dreams]]'' Averted: when Ash reaches under a car seat to check that a weapon the car's owner just told her about is there, the [[Creator Cameo|owner]] chastises Ash and tells her about the rules for gun handling. Of course, ''[[Misfiled Dreams]]'' is known for its aversion of [[Did Not Do the Research]].
▲* ''[[ToyHammer]]'' Averted and excused: when Vincent does his best to observe basic firearms safety (safety catch, finger off trigger), although earlier he does ignore a few basic rules. Justified in that he had almost been ''murdered'' by [[Ax Crazy]] cultists (it took more than one attempt to reload the pistol).
* ''[[Finishing the Fight]]'': When presenting their weapons to medieval era guards, the Chief still shows them his battle-rifle's empty chamber and removed magazine before putting it down on the table, empties out his shotgun and pistol while Johnson does the same, and the Arbiter does the plasma-rifle equivalent. Later, when they are teaching others how to use the guns, the Chief first stresses the correct procedures for unloading, reloading and teaching them what the 'safety' is.
* Averted for Akane and Shampoo in ''[[Desperately Seeking Ranma]]'' -- when getting training for stuntwoman positions in L.A., both go through rigorous gun safety training. And we see that they adhere to it both on the range and later when they're performing stunts for their "job interview".
* The ''[[RWBY]]'' fic ''[[Emergence]]'': Not unlike the Vale cops near the end of V1, Ruby casually points a loaded rifle at Sam and Joe with her finger on the trigger. She gets thoroughly scolded for it. It could be justified from her point of view in that with Aura, Remnans are pretty much bullet-proof, and thus wouldn't have as much need for safety practices, but still...
* Safebooru has over a hundred pages of [https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=finger_on_trigger fan art and professional art with the tag "finger on trigger",] showing that the artists did not illustrate proper [[Trigger Discipline]]. It has over three hundred pages of images with the tag "trigger discipline". (Interestingly, it has four pages of images with ''both'' tags as of early 2022.)
* Averted in the ''[[Worm]]'' [[Alternate Universe Fic]] ''[[Mauling Snarks]]'': In their roles as Wards and to qualify for carrying sidearms, Taylor and Missy both take the PRT firearms courses, which include a great deal of gun safety instruction.
▲<!--* ''[[Pretty Cure Heavy Metal]]'': During any of Shugo's temporary [[Face Heel Turn]]s in the second half of the first season her finger will always be on the trigger of her gun, and she will aim as though she was confused as to who she's aiming for. Thankfully, she'll only spend approximately one minute (usually; she was reckless with her gun for the entirety of episode 45) as a Heel before going through the [[Face Heel Revolving Door|revolving door]] to the Face side. As for the aforementioned episode 45... her [[Face Heel Turn]] lasted for the duration of that episode (during which she's a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] whose quarry is a Satanist), only ending when [[Heel Realization|she realizes she had recklessly endangered her own friends in chasing the Satanist]].
The work currently consists only of a series of screenplay drafts on https://ryansprettycurefanseriesemporium.fandom.com/wiki/Pretty_Cure_Heavy_Metal - naturally nothing seems to have come of these lofty plans, but the drafts at least exist and were "published" to a degree. What to do with this...?-->
==
* ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]'': Gaston declares his intent to marry Belle by pointing his gun at her. Not a good idea. It is true that his blunderbuss had recently been discharged and should have been empty, but later in the film he demonstrates that his blunderbuss is fully automatic, which is another problem entirely.
* ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'': prison guard Trigger and [[I Call It Vera|"Old Betsy"]], his not-so-trusty crossbow, which he is none too careful with aiming. At one point he absentmindedly has the arrow aimed right at the sheriff's nose; when told to point the crossbow the other way, Trigger assures that the safety is on, patting Betsy's side and immediately causing an accidental discharge. Minutes later as he and the sheriff investigate a strange noise, he is pointing the arrow right at the sheriff's back.
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'''Trigger:''' ''(while patting the crossbow)'' You bet it is, sheriff.
'''Sheriff:''' ''That's'' what I'm afraid of. You go first! }}
* In ''[[Megamind]]'' during the celebration of Metro Man's museum police officers can be seen in the crowd firing their pistols up into the air. Thanks to gravity what goes up must come down, those bullets should have hit someone in the crowd or someone far off in the distance (stray bullets have been known to hit people at over '''a mile away''') but fortunately it doesn't appear that anyone was hurt. Still very reckless behavior for supposedly trained police officers.
* ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', the [[Trope Namer]] for [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face]]: Vincent, an experienced hitman, is talking with Marvin, a guy he and Jules picked up in the aftermath of their hit near the beginning of the movie, in the backseat of Jules' car. While speaking with Marvin, Vincent is casually waving his handgun in the air, and when Jules hits a bump, Vincent [[Reality Ensues|accidentally fires the weapon]], shooting Marvin in the face and blowing his brains all over the rear window Even after the accident, Vincent doesn't remove his finger from the trigger; he continues waving it around as though the gun had nothing to do with the mess in the backseat.
* In [[Heat]], Mc Cauley does a brass check in the elevator to kill Waingro. While checking your weapon to make sure there's a round in the chamber when going into combat is a good idea, Mc Cauley does it by putting his whole hand over the barrel to push back the slide. If gone wrong, he could have blown his hand off. This is a rare example in a movie that otherwise notably averts much of this trope.
* ''[[Marx Brothers|Monkey Business]]'': a gangster hands revolvers to both Groucho and Zeppo on two separate occasions. Both times he does so he immediately realizes that they are absentmindedly pointing them right at him, and grabs their hands to turn the guns aside. Don't hand weapons to people who don't know proper
* ''[[Tremors]]'' Averted: Burt Gummer, a survivalist and gun-enthusiast, always follows proper weapon safety. At one point he gives a revolver to teenaged waste-of-space Melvin Plug, to get him moving to a safe-point. Despite ''knowing'' that he'd deliberately handed Melvin an unloaded gun, when Burt takes it back from Melvin he ''still'' flips it open and re-confirms the chambers are all empty... which is exactly what you're supposed to do any time you pick up a weapon.
* ''[[Black Hawk Down]]'': During the barbecue scene, the Ranger unit CO calls out a ''Delta Force operator'' for wandering around with a loaded M4 carbine hanging from his neck with the safety catch off. Said operator then just about laughs in his face (and says "this is my safety, holding up his trigger finger)". This was based on a real precise incident described in a book by journalist Mark Bowden.
* ''[[Independence Day]]'': during the [[Gondor Calls for Aid]] scene, specifically the bit in Iraq with the British soldiers, one of them can be seen holding his sidearm for no apparent reason while looking at the map, with his finger clearly on the trigger, and the barrel pointed directly at one of the other officers.
* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'':
** Harvey Dent seems to have a bit of a devil-may-care attitude toward gun-safety even while he's sane. He cleary knows something about guns when he removes the magazine and chambered round from the pistol in the courtroom. On the other hand, he points an unloaded pistol at a criminal to get him to talk, which is still against
** The Joker naturally doesn't give a damn about
* ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'':
** The NRA newsletter had a few articles about the ludicrous lack of basic
** In the third film, Murtaugh accidentally fires his revolver in the locker room while putting it in his holster, showing that he's either [[Catch Phrase|getting too old for this shit]], or that he's not all with it. Riggs covers the mishap by smashing in some lockers, producing an apparently identical sound.
** In ''[[Lethal Weapon]] 4'', Riggs in effect tells Leo, "You haven't got a badge so you ought not to have a gun--" (throws Leo's property into the ocean) "--but I have a badge, so it's okay for me to point my gun at your face point-blank for a laugh. Clear?"
* ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'': one of the screwup Marine trainees grossly mishandles his automatic rifle during target practice. This resulted in a burst of bullets narrowly missing the [[Jerkass]] superior officer. The trainee is punished by doing laps for miles, with his rifle held over his head, till he falls down in exhaustion. This was considered somewhat cruel by his squadmates; if this happened in real life, hell would rain down in this guy for time out of mind.
* ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'':
** In a firing range exercise eary in the film, J is rationalizing his choice of targets to Z while waving a loaded gun around. He points it at Z at least twice. Note that J is a police officer for the NYPD, and should know better about proper
** Later, two mistakes are made when K gives J the Noisy Cricket (a powerful gun that looks more like a child's toy than anything else):
*** The first mistake was by K: he shouldn't have given J a gun that he didn't know how to use.
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* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Obi-Wan Kenobi hands a Luke a weapon without first explaining how it works. Mind you, a weapon that will instantly kill or maim you if you even slightly mishandle it.
*** Possibly justified in that its a melee weapon, not a projectile weapon, so he'll have time to grab it if Luke starts to wave it in the wrong direction. And since Obi-Wan is telekinetic, he can 'grab' it just by looking at it.
** The scene in question: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=389240727794201&set=a.184244804960462.62918.169299103121699&type=1&theater
** This scene is parodied (like damn near everything else) in ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|LEGO Star Wars]]''. Not only does Obi-wan dive out of the way when Luke lights the saber, Luke accidentally beheads Threepio.
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** During the long-shot of the "Live Fire" exercise, [http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Starship_Troopers#The_Completely_Unsafe_Live_Firing_Exercise you can see] that the range has no walls to the sides and other trainees are doing their thing right next to it. The recruits take the course in teams, with the next sent directly ''behind'' the previous! Then, the characters must face off against targets that shoot lasers at their training vests, which give the victim an electric shock. This causes one soldier to clamp down on the trigger and fire wildly in all directions, killing another. Rico is blamed for taking the recruit's helmet off, when the whole scene was a disaster waiting to happen. This was definitely intentional on the part of the director, who was satirizing military culture. Contrast the original book, where the protagonist is nearly drummed out of the military for [[Averted Trope|firing a simulated (harmless) weapon without following all protocols]] even when he was dead certain it would land in a safe place.
** One of the propaganda films has a group of soldiers pass their rifles to a bunch of kids, who immediately begin to do exactly what you'd expect of a bunch of idiot children given a cool new toy. The guns are obviously loaded, since there's a visible clip near the back.
* ''[[Shooter]]'' Aversion: Bob Lee Swagger shows exemplary
* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'': When the Nazis stand in a small circle and shoot at the floor in the middle {{spoiler|to kill the hidden Dreyfuss family}}. Even if you don't shoot your own feet, you might shoot your friends'.
* ''[[Rambo|First Blood]]'': John Rambo only kills one guy (by disabling a helicopter with ''a rock''). All of the other deaths are due to the Sheriff and his deputies flagrantly ignoring any semblance of safety (even that one could have been avoided if the deputy hadn't taken off his harness).
* ''[[Phantasm (Film)|Phantasm]]'' Aversion: Jody gives some firearms combat instruction to his younger brother Michael.
{{quote|'''Jody:''' Now, remember: you don't aim a gun at a man unless you intend to shoot him. And, you don't shoot a man unless you intend to kill him. No warning shots. Hey, you listening to me? No warning shots. Warning shots are bullshit. You shoot to kill, or you don't shoot at all.}}
* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'': Tom Sawyer is shown being taught to shoot by Alan Quartermain, before the former puts his foot in his mouth asking about the latter's son. Sawyer then takes a moment to lean on the upturned gun contemplatively, putting his ''chin'' on the barrel of the ''explicitly loaded weapon''. Especially stupid considering Sawyer is a Secret Service agent and should have received proper weapon training. It is generally assumed that
* ''[[RoboCop]]'': The title hero [[Gun Twirling|twirls his gun via a finger inside the trigger guard]], mimicking the lead of a [[Show Within a Show|show within the movie]], "TJ Lazer". Being a cop who's not exactly [[New Meat|a rookie]], impressing his kid or not Murphy should have known how dangerous that could be, to himself and others. Even though Murphy is shown putting a magazine into the weapon afterwards, it still violates Rule #1: A gun is ALWAYS loaded. Even when it's not. ''Especially'' when it's "not". More people are injured or killed by accidental discharges because they think the gun is not loaded than from actually being shot at ''deliberately.''
** When he actually becomes Robocop, he doesn't even have the empty magazine excuse. That gun of his is always loaded, and he rarely seems to empty the clip when he uses it. He still does the twirling thing out of habit.
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** The drones, however, were loaded by Vanko, who knew exactly what he was doing when he armed them.
** If one looks closely, you can see that Hammer's ''gernade launcher'' is loaded when he's waving it around. And he has his [[What an Idiot!|finger on the trigger.]]
* ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'': In the opening scene, one of the gunmen catches an annoying fly in the barrel of his gun, then keeps it in by putting his finger on the end, keeping his index finger on the trigger the entire time. Though as we all know from [[Cartoon Physics]], firing a gun with a finger plugging the barrel results in the total destruction of the gun but no damage to the finger. (Note: The ''[[
* ''[[The Baader Meinhof Complex]]'': during a scene in which Andreas Baader's gang is counting the money they have robbed from several banks. One of the members is examining a loaded pistol and it discharges, the bullet narrowly missing Andreas' head. After he grabs the gun and shouts at her, he unloads the magazine, clears the chamber and leaves it open before throwing the gun down on a table.
* ''[[Battlefield Earth (film)|Battlefield Earth]]'': Terl intentionally hands a human prisoner a ready-to-fire weapon, to prove his point that the "human animals" are too stupid to operate firearms. This after said human has already shot one person according to his subordinates. The prisoner ends up killing Terl's lieutenant with it.
** Which is strange that he would do that, since later in the film, Terl proves he's not ignorant of
* ''[[Plan 9 from Outer Space]]'': A cop in the graveyard using his revolver to gesture around, point out things, and even scratch the side of his head. Legend has it that the actor knew exactly what he was doing, but had heard that [[Ed Wood (creator)|Ed Wood]] was unwilling to reshoot anything, so he was trying to see what he could get away with. Everything apparently....
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' [[Affectionate Parody|parodied this]]; they seem to have made a list of the most common gun un-safety practices. From an old man who repeatedly whacks a dud ocean mine to Danny accidentally shooting the local Doctor in the leg ''twice'', and all of the firing-a-full-magazine-into-the-air drama in between. Given all the [[Shown Their Work]] in the film, it was probably deliberate.
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* ''[[In Bruges]]'': Ken is very careful with his guns. Harry locks his guns away when he's at home so his kids can't get at them. Ray is a bit more careless, but as he's young, reckless, and a bit suicidal, this is in character for him (and he never points a gun at anyone he doesn't want to kill, though his occasional poor aim when he does want to kill someone tends to get him in trouble). At one point a man tries to rob Ray with a gun loaded with blanks—Ray wrestles the gun off him and fires it directly into the man's eye. The blanks leave him partially blind.
* ''[[Bowling for Columbine]]'' has an (offscreen) example, where [[Michael Moore]] interviews a man (the brother of Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry Nichols) who literally sleeps with a gun next to his bedside. Though the audience doesn't get to see it, a subtitle informs us that the man has pointed the gun at his head. Moore freaks out a little, though the interviewed man clearly had no intention of [[Never Say "Die"|doing himself in]].
* In ''[[RED (film)|RED]]'', CIA agent Cooper gestures at a co-worker with his [[Hand Cannon]] while energetically explaining something to him. The rest of the film plays so fast and loose with [[More Dakka]] that
* ''[[Terminator
* ''[[McLintock!]]'': McLintock's spoiled brat daughter demands her father shoot a gentleman caller, at which point McLintock promptly goes over to his gun cabinet, pulls out a gun and shoots him. The young man falls over convincingly and Becky begins freaking out, at which point McLintock says that if he's dead, he'll be the first man killed by a blank cartridge. Of course, since this is a [[John Wayne]] [[Western]] with heavy doses of comedy made in [[The Sixties]], no attention is paid to the fact that blanks are still dangerous, or why McLintock had a loaded gun (even if it's loaded with blanks) in his gun cabinet. [[MST3K Mantra|Presumably they expected the audience to roll with it and move on.]]
* ''[[City Slickers]] 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold'' has a scene where Curly's brother, a sailor, checks to see if some gold bars are fake by scratching them with his gun barrel.
* ''[[Get Smart (film)|Get Smart]]'': Agent 99 is trying to show Max why he should listen to her, by asking him what he would do if someone was trying to kill him. She demonstrates how someone could kill him instantly if he was unprepared by pulling out her gun and pointing it at Max while making noises like she's shooting him.
** In the ''[[Get Smart]]'' film "The Nude Bomb", Max talks about how you can never be too careful with guns - then carelessly tucks his loaded and unsafed pistol into his belt, at which point the gun goes off. Fortunately,
* In ''[[Gran Torino]]'', Thao picks up Walt's Garand without checking to see if it was loaded, points it at him, and even has his finger on the trigger! Granted, this was made to show how inexperienced he was {{spoiler|and why pursuing revenge would end up killing him.}} Another example comes from Walt's barber friend, who points his shotgun at Thao, finger on the trigger. Walt himself clearly knows how to safely handle guns, only leveling his weapon at a person or having his finger on the trigger when he was fully prepared to fire at them should things come to that.
* In ''[[The Seven Percent Solution]]'', Sherlock Holmes is holding a revolver with his finger inside the trigger guard, talking in an animated fashion with Doctor Watson and Sigmund Freud—and gesturing with the pistol, waving it back and forth from one of them to the other.
** Of course, as Holmes is canonically the sort to shoot holes ''in the walls of his own flat'', his notion of proper
* ''[[White Christmas]]'' begins with Bing Crosby singing to his fellow soldiers at an impromptu Christmas show somewhere in Europe in [[World War II]]. A GI who looks to be about 16 first puts his hand over the business end of his M1 Garand, then rests his chin on his hand.
* Curiously, this trope is invoked yet subtly averted in ''[[Bram Stoker's Dracula|Bram Stokers Dracula]]'', where Lord Holmwood threatens Professor Van Helsing with revolver in grief-striken rage when Lucy's body turns out to be missing from her coffin, but a careful viewer can see that he in fact isn't holding his fingers anywhere near the trigger. He may be mad with grief, but not murderously so.
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* Averted in the [[Daniel Craig]] version of ''[[Casino Royale]]''. When [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] gets his new pistol from the dashboard compartment of his new car, he immediately removes the magazine, opens and looks down the breech (rather than the muzzle) to make sure the barrel is clear, closes the breach, replaces the magazine and clicks on the safety. Plus, he doesn't chamber a round into the gun until much later, just before he expects to be using it.
* In "Marlowe", [[Raymond Chandler|Philip Marlowe]], at the scene of a murder, checks that a gun has been fired by putting the muzzle under his nose and smelling it. Yes, his finger isn't on the trigger, but he certainly should know better.
* One scene in ''[[The A-Team (film)|The
{{quote|'''Pike:''' You've handled a gun like that before? And you're still alive? That's amazing to me.}}
* ''[[Goodfellas]]'' provides good examples of the biggest mistake many criminals make handling firearms; to conceal small guns the gangsters stuff them into their waistbands and in one case a woman hides a snub-nosed revolver in her panties. Doing that might keep them hidden, but if they go off you might lose something very important.
* A party guest in ''[[Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]]'' randomly starts waving a loaded gun around and laughing. Jim Williams suggests they move to a different conversation. John Kelso adds, [[Lampshade Hanging|"Yeah, one less likely to involve gunfire."]] Subverted later on when somebody actually ''does'' get shot and killed, but not because of this trope: Jim Williams appears to practice proper
* Present by ghastly implication in one scene from ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'', when Cole sees the ghost of a boy who eagerly offers to show him where his father keeps his guns -- before turning around and revealing that the entire back of his head has been blown out.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Mirror Dance]]'': Miles has amnesia, but when asked to reassemble a number of weapons from component parts, he does so without ever letting the guns point at a person, a big hint that he used to be a soldier.
* ''[[Black Light]]'' by [[Stephen Hunter]] Aversion: Even though they are pursued throughout the novel by gunmen, Bob Lee Swagger refuses to give his companion, Russ Pewtie, a gun. Because, as he explains, Pewtie is untrained, Swagger doesn't have time to train him and Swagger does not want to be around an untrained man with a gun.
* In ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]'', Rico is punished for a firearms safety protocol violation ''that doesn't result in anyone being hurt'', and which he only does because he ''knows'' it can't ''possibly'' result in any harm in that particular case.<ref>His missile launcher is loaded with a smoke rocket for training purposes instead of an actual anti-armor missile, and he and everybody else within ten miles are all wearing powered armor and without a live warhead the missile can't hope to even scuff the armor's paint.</ref> He's flogged because ''had'' the weapon he was using been real, it would have killed his teammate. So it's a complete inversion, as the punishment is designed to make the point to him that you ''always'' follow the rules, even when you're ''absolutely sure'' it would be safe not to. Lt. Robert Heinlein (ret.) knew a thing or two about weapons and the military.
* Taken to almost hilarious extremes in the [[Old Man's War]] 'verse. Colonial Union firearms technology has almost as much [[Applied Phlebotinum]] dedicated to making the gun safe for its owner as dangerous for the enemy. A prime example of the resulting [[Justified Trope|justifiedly]] casual attitude is the incident in which a drill instructor demonstrates this by taking a recruit's gun, pointing it in said recruit's face, and pulling the trigger.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]''. When Gregory joins the swim team, nobody told him that the referee's gun only fires blanks so he was more worried about where the bullet was going to land than actually trying to win the race.
* Subverted in ''[[The Queen's Thief]]''. Eugenides is held in contempt by the Attolian soldiers for treating his wooden sword carelessly; like the ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]'' example, they believe that even a "non-dangerous" weapon should be treated with caution, so no mistakes are made later. Eugenides casually replies "In Eddis, we're taught to keep track of the weapon we have in our hands." {{spoiler|He then snatches the sword out of the air with his bare hands and uses it to beat up the soldier trying to kill him. ''Further subverted'' when the other soldiers point out that he couldn't have done so with a real sword, and therefore he technically lost the duel. Eugenides reveals that he had, in fact, used the same move on an assassin earlier in the book.}}
* [[Defied]] by the Rebel Alliance in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]. The ''New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology'' mentions that Rebel soldiers were well known for practicing safe firearms usage, including modifying every blaster that came into their possession to have a safety if it didn't already.
** Verbally [[Deconstructed]] in the novella ''Side Trip'' by [[Timothy Zahn]] and [[Michael A Stackpole]], which features a customized weapon called a "hotshot". This is a blaster with the ''trigger guard cut off''. Supposedly the idea is along the lines of [[Gangsta Style]] (looks cool but is a bad idea), but the narrator mentions that anyone who knows anything about
** Also played with ''Han Solo's Revenge''. Han, who is an experienced gunman, deliberately removes the trigger guard of his blaster before stepping out onto an alien planet. However, its averted in that a) he knows this is not normally safe to do, b) he intends to put the trigger guard back on as soon as he's finished, and c) the only reason he's doing it is because he can't fire his weapon while wearing an environment suit glove without removing the trigger guard first, he can't survive the outside conditions without an environment suit, and there is a distinct possibility of being attacked sometime in the next five minutes.
* The ''[[Dragaera]]'' novels have [[Fantasy Gun Control]], but Vlad still lampshades this trope when he watches a crowd of armed political protesters in ''Teckla'', and notices one of them ''hugging'' another while holding a razor-sharp sickle. It was blind luck the man didn't cut his fellow-activist's throat.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'':Andy always makes Barney unload his pistol and only allows him one bullet which he keeps in his pocket,most times though he defies Andy and ends up shooting the gun into the floor or ceiling. Why Andy even lets him have the gun is anyones guess.
* ''[[Picket Fences]]'': Zachary Brock, bitter about his brother's injury in a school shooting, calmly retrieves his father's gun from its supposed place of concealment, pantomimes firing it at his brother's attacker, and then just as calmly returns the weapon to its place. Zack's father is the town sheriff, yet his means of securing his weapon barely even slow his son down. Oh, and did I mention that Zachary is about ''nine'' at the time?
* ''[[Law
* ''[[Law
** Averted, of all places, in the episode Rebels. Curtis is pissed and has his gun to a man's head yet he keeps his finger off the trigger.
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'': Robin is a gun enthusiast who routinely loses her guns, accidentally points a gun at another character while making vague threats, and apparently goes to the shooting range while blackout drunk.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
** The episode "[[Doctor Who/Recap/
** An earlier episode shows him sensibly freaked out by a girl casually tossing a (fake, but he didn't know that) gun around, which indicates that he should have known better.
** He is seriously considering shooting the person he points it at though, and it's something of an internal struggle to point the gun away.
* ''[[Sherlock]]'': in the final scenes of the first series, our eponymous hero waves a loaded pistol around and gestures with it like there's no tomorrow. This includes ''nonchalantly scratching his head with it''. Admittedly, he's just been through a very traumatic confrontation, but it's a very [[Ditzy Genius]] moment for him.
** This continues in "Scandal in Belgravia", where he disarms a man, flips the gun through the air, casually catches it, and again holds the pistol with his finger on the trigger. By contrast, Irene Adler, in the same room, is pointing the gun at her assailant with her finger clearly off the trigger, just like the assailants were doing themselves seconds earlier. Sherlock is either unaware of or ''simply doesn't care'' about
** Incredibly, he manages to top himself in "The Reichenbach Fall." First, while pretending to take John hostage, he puts the gun to John's hand ''with his finger on the trigger'' while walking backwards. Later, while running, he drops it.
** This only includes the times he didn't shoot a gun; in addition, he's fired randomly into the air twice, and shot at the walls of the flat, all in an extremely populated city.
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* ''[[Top Gear]]'': the hosts travel to the North Pole, and are given a variety of firearms in case they need to defend themselves from polar bears. At one point, though, James May earnestly looks down the barrel of his shotgun, and is yelled at by their guide, who grabs the weapon out of his hands. In a Series 14 outtake, May defended himself, claiming it was the only way to see whether the barrel is unblocked, which is completely wrong. There is always a safe way to find out whether a barrel is block, like shining a light down the front and looking at the breach for the a reflection of light or looking down from the breach itself.
* ''[[The Colbert Report]]'': Stephen loves to whisper sweet nothings into the barrel of Sweetness... and then hold it up to his ear so it can whisper back.
* ''[[
* [[Dead Like Me]]: Roxxy, a new police officer and grim reaper, who pulls a gun in a crowded restaurant on her fellow grim reaper Mason. While she initially does so as a way to try to make Mason shut up, she holds it pointed straight at him. Now, grim reapers may be [[Immune to Bullets]], but everyone else at the restaurant isn't, and apparently no one really cares that an officer is pointing a loaded firearm at another client of the restaurant. She then [[Butt Monkey|shoots Mason]] in the leg, which is not only insanely irresponsible, but only draws [[Too Dumb to Live|startled glances from the patrons]]. Roxxy's behavior is only excused by the [[Rule of Funny]].
* ''[[Get Smart]]'': the [[Shoe Phone|Gun Phone]] is by its very design impossible to use properly. Guess which bit of it the earpiece is.
{{quote|'''Agent Smart''': 99 I'm gonna have to hang up now. I may have to fire my phone.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Bones]]'': In one of the Valentine episodes FBI agent Booth waves an unloaded machine gun at his partner. Yes, unloaded but this is still completely wrong. Bonus fun; this happens in the gun range.
** The show sometimes averts this, or at least shows the consequences of this trope. Another episode had Bones using a giant revolver that Booth notes is to big for her (she has very little
** And another episode averts it by showing that when Booth comes home after work, he first unloads his sidearm, then locks gun and magazine up in a safe.
* On ''[[The Wire]]'' during the famous [[Cluster F-Bomb]] investigation scene, McNulty wants to figure out the angle of a bullet entry and exit wound. So he takes out his loaded service weapon and points it at himself to simulate it. All perfectly in character.
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** In the first season, Rick and Shane confront {{spoiler|Daryl}}, and in the process Rick draws his pistol. Shane is standing exactly opposite of {{spoiler|Daryl}}, so that if there was cause for Rick to fire, the bullet would go straight through the intended target's head and lobotomize Shane the hard way. Neither officer, who are supposed to be trained in [[Gun Safety]], sees anything wrong with this.
** The second season premier's ending demonstrates why you check what's ''behind'' what you're shooting at, with a hunter's rifle round going through the deer they were targeting and hitting {{spoiler|Carl}}.
** Andrea seems to be the worst offender when it comes to
* On ''[[The Office]]'' (US) Dwight accidentally discharged a gun in the office. He is often portrayed as a [[Crazy Prepared]] survivalist so he really should know basic
** Almost assuredly the latter. In an earlier episode, Dwight was keeping an eye on Michael by watching him ''through the scope on a rifle''. Even worse, it's not until after he makes a brief comment to the camera crew about it that he remembers '''to put the safety on'''.
* Averted in ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]''. Bill Maxwell is determinedly careful with his guns, or at least as much as possible when the circumstances permit. He never points his weapon at anyone he isn't willing to shoot (and he does this even when the person in question is his bulletproof partner, Ralph), keeps it on safe until he absolutely has to take it ''off'' safe, and when picking up or putting down a weapon ''always'' clears the weapon first.
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* A second series episode of ''[[The A-Team]]'' features a sequence where Hannibal Smith attempts to help defend a young woman and her son against a prison escapee invading their home. Hannibal's way of telling the woman to lock the front door of the house is to gesture with his loaded shotgun in an enclosed environment, pointing it directly at her. Bear in mind that both the character Hannibal Smith and the ''actor that played him'', [[George Peppard]], are both veterans of the U.S. armed forces.
* ''[[Falling Skies]]'' has people walking with rifles on their backs, safeties off. Sure, most of these people are civilian militia but there are certainly enough career military types and reservists around to catch this. Especially considering the alacrity with which professional NCO's and officers tend to react to offenders.
* Deliberately played for [[Values Dissonance]] in ''[[Mad Men]]''. In the first season, one character brings his new rifle to the office, then jokingly points it at various people while pretending to shoot. Granted, the gun was brand new and had never been loaded, but there wasn't a safety rule he didn't violate. Apparently
** It may be less [[Values Dissonance]] and more Pete being foolish and likely completely inexperienced with guns.
* Tragically [[Deconstructed]] on an episode of ''[[Quincy]]''. The eponymous character spends the latter half of the episode trying to keep a confiscated revolver from reentering the hands of its rightful owner, who has two small children. As luck would have it, the owner proceeds to leave it lying, fully loaded, safety off (if it had one), on his bedroom closet floor. His son finds it, thinks its a toy gun, and shoots his sister. [[Gory Discretion Shot]] to credits.
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* Discussed in an episode of ''[[The Pacific]]''. Gunny Haney rips a lieutenant a new one on the firing range when the officer handles his sidearm in an unsafe manner. Captain Haldane, who was standing next to the officer in question, flatly tells the lieutenant being screamed at that Haney's right.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* A number of first-person shooters play this one straight as an arrow, showing the gun being held with a finger on the trigger and ''twitching''. This may be justified since the character has to fire the gun instantly. If the character's finger was off the trigger, there would either be a delay in the firing animation or it would look weird.
** However, many modern FPS games will cause the character to lower their weapon, or be otherwise unable to fire if aimed at a friendly NPC, or while in an area with no enemies. Some games even will have the NPCs act annoyed at you if you hold a weapon in their faces.
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* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'': Several of your party members can be armed with blasters. These same party members have scripted hand gestures that they make while talking. They make these gestures ''regardless of what weapons they are holding''. This can be especially unnerving when Carth Onasi is snapping at you about how he isn't sure he can fully trust you... while waving a heavy blaster pistol in each hand.
** The same gestures frequently cause melee fighters to impale themselves or others to make a point. At least Jedi will be waving around ''inactive'' [[Laser Sword|lightsabers]]...
* ''[[BioShock (series)|BioShock]]'': In the first game, the main character reloads his Webley .455 by putting rounds in, then putting the cylinder back in place by flicking his wrist. This may look cool, but there is a very high chance it will misalign the cylinder.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': While characters usually put their guns away during cutscenes, some don't, which can lead to situations like a security guard waving a sniper rifle at you one-handed while he's telling you what a good job you did.
** Shepard him/herself often waves his/her weapon around in a way that would be outrageously irresponsible for a military or law enforcement agent of any kind. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJxJmkk877I&NR=1 The Renegade option for Conrad] alone may seem awesome, but if Shepard weren't above the law, he/she would be facing a courtmartial faster than you can say, "Immensely profitable trilogy." It gets worse in the next game, where you can simply shoot him in the foot.
** Even a Paragon option where you allow Conrad to take your picture will cause Shepard to pose by triumphantly aiming his/her gun - Directly into a nearby crowd.
** In the Citadel, Shepard can overhear [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bloy8-7vrk this conversation] where the gunnery chief chews out a couple of recruits for unsafe gun handling practices (they've essentially forgotten the "know what's behind your target" rule). Of course, the "gun" they're firing is the main cannon of a dreadnought, whose projectiles hit with the [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|kinetic energy of a nuke]], so hitting the wrong target can have... consequences.
** The actual
** The second game did slightly better than the first, in that you could no longer draw weapons outside of combat areas. In the first, you were quite free to pull out your assault rifles and shoot up any part of the Citadel you like—including the high-security center of galactic government!--without anyone so much as batting an eye. You just can't actually harm any civilians by shooting them.
** Interestingly averted somewhat at one point—when you first meet Garrus, he takes down a thug holding a doctor hostage with a single shot. Shepard can either congratulate him on the shot or berate him for taking the very dangerous risk of shooting at someone when there's an innocent victim only a few inches away. (Mass effect weapons have built-in targeting computers and likely "smart" ammunition as well, plus Garrus' visor acts also helps his aim. Still, it's a very serious risk.)
*** To be fair, Garrus is a police sniper—its sort of his ''job'' to shoot criminals that are standing directly adjacent to innocent people, particularly in hostage situations. And while he was still reckless in firing as quick a snap shot as he did, the situation didn't exactly allow him a lot of time to aim.
** A lot of the NPC, especially those belonging to [[Private Military Contractors|merc]] or criminal gangs have poor
* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]]: where
** Played painfully straight with its prequel, [[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]. One of the enemy idle animations is the [[Mook]] in question scraping something off the sole of his shoe ''with the barrel of his gun.''
* ''[[Persona 3]]'': Takaya likes to use his jeans (or at least his belt) as a makeshift holster for his revolver. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120509181908/http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110313011357/megamitensei/images/b/b3/Takaya.jpg How he hasn't managed to blow his crotch or foot off yet is a miracle.]
** Well, in all fairness it is a little better then most versions of [[Pants-Positive Safety]] since the barrel is pointed AWAY from his body, but still not nearly as safe as a holster.
* ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|GoldenEye]]'': The guards have an animation in which they would wave a hand as if to shoo away a fly, and then threaten the offending insect with their assault rifles. (Even worse, they do the same thing while the cheat code that gives them all ''rocket launchers'' is active...). Similar nonsense can happen with [[James Bond]] as well, as various tweaks to the game can affect which gun shows up in level-ending cutscenes. Putting a bazooka [[Trouser Space|down]] his [[Freud Was Right|pants]] is entirely possible.
* ''[[Silent Hill]]'': an unintentionally funny scene in the first game, in which police officer Cybil Bennett confirms that the hero she's just met, a professional writer, has never handled a gun in his life, and so proceeds to hand him her spare gun for protection. The entirety of her instructions are "Know what you're shooting, and don't go blasting me by mistake." ([[Foreshadowing]]!)) A little justified in that they're in a [[Survival Horror]] environment (and even used as a game mechanic, as, due to Harry's inexperience, the player can't accurately aim at long range), though you have to wonder why, as a police officer sworn to protect and serve, she didn't just accompany Harry instead of giving him a gun and sending him on his merry way.
** Later on, there's an even more hilarious scene at the local hospital. Harry comes upon Dr. Kaufmann, in an examination room, sitting down in shock next to a corpse of a monster he just shot. Harry carefully comes to introduce himself, and Kaufmann responds by immediately pointing the gun at Harry's face. He pleads with an appropriate, "Don't shoot! I'm a human!" Kaufmann digests this information for a second, and ''accidentally shoots anyway'' (missing, but still). He then says a casual-as-if-nothing-had-happened, "Thank God. Another human being."
*** Given the ambiguous nature of [[Silent Hill]], it could be [[Fridge Brilliance]]; if any of the events were only in Harry's mind, pulled from Harry's imagination by the town, or part of a [[Dying Dream]], then Harry wouldn't have known
* ''[[Resident Evil]]'': Early games have this in droves, though the most recent examples (''Degeneration'' and ''Resident Evil 5'') have an almost obsessive focus on
* ''[[Battlefield Heroes]]'': the National Army Soldier class characters inspecting their submachine guns should they be using it when you do not perform any abilities, move, or move the crosshair for a bit. '''By looking into the barrel. In the middle of a battle. While ammunition is loaded into it.''' Since if you fire while they are doing this and they will go back into a normal firing stance and fire, it can be assumed there is no safety on (or there possibly isn't one -- ''Battlefield Heroes''' setting is a silly [[WW 2]] one). This can also happen should you be in, but not driving, a moving vehicle, which is even more dangerous. But since the game is based around the [[Rule of Fun]], it can be assumed it was used for a joke, as such an action is clearly dangerous and stupid. Not to mention ''scratching your ear with a pistol!''
* ''[[Battlefield: Bad Company]] 2'' Lampshaded: When the player points a gun at any member of his squad, the player character diverts the gun away from them. Again, in all other situations, you're free to point weapons and even fire at them when you so choose.
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* Averted completely in the ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'' and ''[[Arm A]]'' series by Bohemia Interactive. Characters move their fingers out of the trigger guard on a weapon when they lower it. For primary weapons, at least; there's no way to lower a pistol or ordnance launcher without putting them away.
* ''[[Call of Duty]] 2'' Big Red One, averted: When one private points his rifle at someone, the CO yells at him.
* ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Modern Warfare]] 2'' Sometimes averted: When reloading every gun in the game (most obviously on the FAMAS) the player character takes their finger out of the trigger to avoid discharging the weapon. However most all other
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'': When showing off his gun in a cutscene, Mustadio very clearly points it at Ramza. And if the player acquires [[Optional Party Member|a robot weapon of mass destruction]], Ramza orders it to beat Mustadio up, only to frantically demand someone bring a Phoenix Down when said robot blasted Mustadio to the floor, though this would be a case of Ramza not knowing just how lethal the damn thing is.
* ''[[Fallout]]'' series: Many characters will refuse to talk to you or will even try and kill you if you refuse to put your weapon away in their presence. It's also perfectly possible for your trigger-happy teammates to accidentally blow you to pieces in combat, especially if they're using burst weapons. This was epidemic in the first Fallout, most of your total deaths would be from a friendly AI getting a burst crit 'through' you onto a nearby mob. Fallout 2 permitted you to more carefully micromanage your teammates' combat settings, with an option that ''only'' determined the use of burst-fire and included the options "be absolutely certain you won't hit me" and "never use". It's possible they sell the gun and throw in the ammo for free. Flimsy, but the Fallout universe isn't exactly the one most rooted in reason.
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** '''Caitlyn''' is shown with her rifle held over her shoulder. Presumably, whenever she does this it's not loaded or she has safety off. However, she takes a rifle and ''holds it in one hand'' while using one of her special attacks. In real life, this is ''asking'' for a sprained or broken wrist.
** '''Miss Fortune''' uses [[Guns Akimbo]], but whenever she runs, she quickly holsters them.
** '''Tristana''' likewise always keeps her [[
** '''Gangplank''' however has a pistol in hand and has it perpetually pointed up unless he brings it down to fire or use Parrrley. He does this to signal his ship to fire on a target location with his ult, and ironically even used to shoot his own men.
* ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel]]'' During your first meeting with [[The Gunslinger|Forte Stollen]], she is seen demonstrating her skills with a [[Revolvers Are Just Better|Revolver]] in the [[Cool Ship|Elle Ciel]] shooting range. After, presumably, firing every bullet in the chamber she turns around and ''playfully aims'' the gun at [[The Hero|Tact]]'s face, whom naturally reacts with fear. It's quite jarring, seeing as she is, otherwise, responsible with the handling of firearms.
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* In ''[[Gears of War]] 3'', the loading screen and cover has Marcus resting his hands on the muzzle of his lancer rifle.
* When a World of Warcraft character holds a gun but isn't firing it, they hold it level with the ground, pointing forward, by gripping the heel and trigger.
* In ''Shadowrun: Hong Kong'', before leaving for the final level there is an optional sequence where you can give one of the NPC vendors (a teenaged boy) a gun to defend himself with, as rioting is expected to break out soon. Upon finding out that he's never used a gun before, there is a dialogue option to give him a basic briefing in gun safety. If your character has a decent skill level in gun combat, your safety briefing will be a very accurate and succinct overview of Cooper's Four Rules. And if your character doesn't have the skill... then your weapons safety briefing will be inadequate, and you will return to find out that said NPC accidentally shot themselves in the foot while you were gone.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'':
** In multiple games, Stryker has a victory pose where he fires his weapon into the air and then [[Gun Twirling|twirls it before holstering it]]. And this guy is actually a police officer.
** Cassie is just as bad in ''X'', despite actually being in the military, often ignoring the [[Gun Safety| third rule of gun safety]]. She's worse in ''XI'', where she twirling guns in her intros ''as she loads them''.
** Erron Black is pretty bad at this too, but given his whole [[The Gunslinger| gunslinger shtick]], it's kind of expected.
* Lara Croft from ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' is clearly a gun nut (heaven knows where a woman who dresses like her keeps the vast arsenal she uses), and would be considered a dangerous criminal given how much she flaunts gun laws. For starters, she is British, and while you can obtain a carry permit for a rifle in Great Britain, handguns and assault weapons are illegal for civilians to own, so Lara is already breaking the law in her home country. Still, some countries she travels to has even stricter gun laws that she's able to get around; she's able to use them freely at a military base in Antarctica (a demilitarized zone, meaning firearms, explosives, and ammunition are forbidden via international law), Polynesia (handguns illegal for civilians to own - shotguns are okay), India (civilians aren't allowed to have handguns ''or'' shotguns), China (no weapons allowed at all; a civilian would even get in trouble for carrying a baton or hunting knife), Japan (forget civilians, even the police cannot carry firearms)... You get the idea.
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'': [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20070920.html Averted]. [[The Captain]] is so confident in the
▲* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'': [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20070920.html Averted]. [[The Captain]] is so confident in the gun safety skills of his crew, many of their weapons [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20010316.html don't have safeties] ([http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030704.html except] for certain [http://schlockmercenary.com/d/20070522.html heavy weapons] issued to certain [[Trigger Happy]] crewmembers). Played straight in this [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20091007.html strip] along with [[Gangsta Style]]. The next [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20091008.html strip] makes it clear that he knew how stupid he was being and just didn't care.
** Then there's [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-05-02 this strip] with the local police trying to arrest Elf. Which rule was "know what's behind your target" again? (However, this is a deliberate set up by the author.)
** Also appears in [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-05-21 this strip] where an officer points out that Schlock's outdated plasma cannon is so obscenely dangerous that firing it at all goes against
* ''[[Tales Of Zenith]]'' 5: the manager of the homeless shelter, disarms a woman who pulled a rifle, and sets it on the counter, noting that she should have known better, the Remington 20 has a well-known habit of accidental discharge. [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face|At this point it goes off, shooting the front-desk clerk in the gut]]. [[Lampshading|One of the inmates yells out "You just shot Marvin in the face!]]" 5 breaks the fourth wall by pointing out that they're not parodying [[Pulp Fiction]] in this cartoon in the strip, and besides, he shot him in the stomach.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': Agatha puts her eye under Gil's lightning generator, as he ''repeatedly presses the trigger mechanism'' while commenting that it takes too long to recharge. Apparently a lot of new [[Mad Scientist|Sparks]] die in lab accidents, although often of the [[Turned Against Their Masters|No! I am your creator!]] variety.
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* ''[[The Dreadful]]'': Someone shows up at Kit's door and starts threatening and talking down to her, while flipping his revolver around like [[Metal Gear Solid|Revolver Ocelot]]. Unfortunately for him, Kit is [[Improbable Aiming Skills|good enough a shot]] to hit the hammer of said revolver in midair, while it's pointing at his [[Boom! Headshot!|head]].
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' Frequently averted: The Range staff are very, very hot on
▲== Web Original ==
▲* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' Frequently averted: The Range staff are very, very hot on gun safety, understandably given that they work at a ''school''. A couple of the writers appear to be gun enthusiasts and/or soldiers of one stripe or another. Big deals are made in-universe of the times when people don't follow the rules.
* ''[[Kickassia]]'': It seems like Sage is going to [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face|blam himself]], doing things like holding up his 'Immortality' Uzi to his head to ''wipe his tears away.'' {{spoiler|He doesn't.}}
* [[Cracked.com]] has [http://www.cracked.com/article_18576_5-ridiculous-gun-myths-everyone-believes-thanks-to-movies.html an article deconstructing this trope, as used in Hollywood].
* [[StarDestroyer.
* Mostly averted thanks to a glitch in the game engine in [[Red vs. Blue]], a Halo machinima. To keep the characters from looking like they were pointing guns around while talking to one another, the creators were able to exploit a glitch in the first game in which a character would be looking down but would appear to be looking straight ahead, making it appear they lowered their weapon. (In subsequent games, Bungie actually deliberately put this functionality in for the use of machinima makers.) Despite that, everyone still carries around multiple weapons and fire them off for little to no reason on occasion. Perhaps the most egregious example is Tex using Caboose as target practice in her first appearance ([[Knife Outline|shooting ''around'' him]], not ''at'' him). Although she's a highly trained fighter and an excellent shot (as well as {{spoiler|an AI, so she theoretically should have perfect aim... if we ignore the example of Church}}) and she's only a few feet away from him, it's still an insanely dangerous thing to do.
* Demonstrated by a pair of cops near the end of Volume 1 of ''[[RWBY]]'', who casually gesture with massive handguns, fingers on triggers, while discussing a robbery in the street outside the burgled shop, with civilians only a few feet away.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'': Galaluna's military academy has the worst security imaginable. To wit, Baron, who admittedly had the best record at the school, is able to take fully charged laser weapons to try to kill Lance without having to go through any security or check out procedures. They're kept in an unlocked cabinet. It gets worse when they enter the training wing, where both boys are able to hijack ''fully-armed''<ref>and ''loaded''</ref> battle mechs without so much as a security code. The only way to deactivate these things is a shutdown switch built ''on the mech'' rather than in a remote station since they are training devices. Another possibility is that the control console was too far away to reach in time to keep the people nearby safe.
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'': Elisa is, at one point, seriously injured when Broadway accidentally shoots her while playing with her gun. Elisa, a NYPD detective, had left her sidearm, holster ''and'' gun belt unattended ''in another room'' from where she was (she admits later that she should have known better). Notably, she's much more careful for the rest of the series.
* In ''[[Daria]]'', during the ''Daria Hunters'' episode, several characters are shown playing paintball without safety goggles on. Granted, Paintball guns are not necessarily deadly weapons, but they still hurt and and can inflict [[Eye Scream]] if they hit an unprotected face. Sandi even calls Quinn, Tiffany, and Stacey out on this because the rules of paintball state you're supposed to wear goggles.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]
[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]
[[Category:Artistic License
[[Category:Guns Do Not Work That Way]]
[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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