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Defensive Failure (view source)

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Occurs in ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'', where Usopp's childhood friend Kaya draws a flintlock from her cloak and points it at her traitorous butler, who is the main villain of the arc. The butler recounts seemingly happy memories with her, takes away the gun, and dismisses all of those times as "endured" and "humiliating".
* A variation of this occurs in the ''[[Hellsing (Manga)|Hellsing]]'' manga, where Seras actually ''does'' fire her weapon at the vampiric priest - for all the good it does her. ''Then'' he disarms her.
* In ''[[Planetes]]'', Hachimaki is outrage at finding {{spoiler|Hakim}} [[The Mole|sabotaging the Von Braun mission]], and trains an [[Grappling Hook Gun|armor-piercing anchor gun]] on him. {{spoiler|Hakim}} is utterly unfazed; he knows Hachimaki won't shoot, as he "doesn't have the eyes of a killer." He then delivers a devastating [[Hannibal Lecture]] at Hachi, steadily walking towards him. The lecture climaxes as {{spoiler|Hakim}} walks past Hachi, who remains [[Heroic BSOD|standing perfectly still]], and barely has time to scream at his betrayer's back before a bomb goes off.
* Terrifying variant in ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'': {{spoiler|Tenma}} has {{spoiler|Johan}} at gunpoint, but hesitates. The latter calmly approaches the former in a way that suggests this trope... then {{spoiler|he just stands there, points at his own forehead, and ''[[Dissonant Serenity|smiles]]''}}.
 
== [[Film]] ==
* Used ''very'' powerfully in the movie ''[[Eight MM|8mm]]''. The main character has the director of a snuff film tied to a support bar in the building the film was made at, has his gun trained on him... but can't bring himself to fire, even as the director taunts him (to the point of ''licking the gun''). The hero then steps outside, {{spoiler|calls the mother of the snuff film's victim, and begs for permission to kill the man. He gets it. Five seconds later he pistol-whips the director to death.}}
* One of the few tropes played straight in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'', when Danny repeatedly has villains at his mercy but can't pull the trigger. Understandable, since he's a scared kid, and we wouldn't want him to become a killer anyway.
* Variant in Disney's version of ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'': in that case it's partially because Tarzan can't figure out ''how'' to make the rifle fire.
** Similiarly, it's all over ''[[The Host (Filmfilm)|The Host]]'', though not because the heroes are afraid to shoot. They're not; they're just (mostly) shitty shots. Add to that one of the characters, a national bronze-medallist in archery, has a nasty habit of hesitating before taking a shot, and you know the monster has nothing to worry about. Hence why it charges the main characters at every available opportunity.
* Subverted in ''[[Wolf Creek]]''. {{spoiler|However, it doesn't kill the villain: the rifle bullet passes through his neck and somehow he doesn't bleed to death.}}
* ''[[The Rock]]'': Just after Goodspeed and Mason's Navy SEAL teammates are all drawn into a trap and killed, Goodspeed tries to stop Mason from leaving Alcatraz Island by pulling his pistol on him. Mason replies that [[Defensive Failure|Goodspeed doesn't have what it takes to kill him]], and also remarking [[Not Withwith the Safety On, You Won't|"Besides, the safety's on"]], before grabbing the gun away.
* A rare good-guy/good-guy example occurs in ''[[Independence Day]]'', as Major Steven Hiller is climbing into a helicopter to go look for his girlfriend:
{{quote| '''NCO:''' ''Hey, what the hell you doing?'' (Draws pistol, points it at Hiller) ''Get out of there, sir.''<br />
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* In ''[[The Sound of Music]]'', Rolf becomes a Nazi soldier, but proves unable to kill Captain Von Trapp:
{{quote| '''Captain Von Trapp:''' You'll never be one of them.}}
* Parodied in ''National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1'', where a character seizes up and -rather than merely trembling- begins to convulse in an exaggerated manner, wagging his pistol in every direction. Said character, by the way, is played by ''[[Samuel L Jackson|Samuel L. Jackson]]''.
* Played straight in [[The Ref]]. In it, [[Denis Leary]] gets distracted, leading to the son of his two hostages grabbing his gun and demanding that Leary untie his parents or he'll shoot. However, Denis knows the kid's not a killer, and starts moving towards the kid. When the phone rings and momentarily distracts the son, Leary simply takes the gun back.
* Subverted at the end of ''[[Vibes (Film)|Vibes]]''. Nick ([[Jeff Goldblum]]) has the [[Big Bad]] held at bay with an M-16.
{{quote| '''Dr. Steele''': Have you even held a machine gun before?<br />
'''Nick''': [[Blatant Lies|Sure, lots of times. I was captain of the Automatic Weapons Team in high school.]]<br />
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== [[Literature]] ==
* In the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Jingo|Jingo]]'', eccentric inventor Leonard of Quirm has captured {{spoiler|Sgt. Colon and Corporal Nobby}} using a firework missile and a rifle mechanism he invented. He then stops, hands the pieces of his weapon to his captives and ''proceeds to redesign it on the spot.'' The two ex-captives simply fire the incredibly inaccurate weapon. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* Oddly featured in ''[[Nation]]'' where Daphne points a gun at Mau. She seems so scared of it that he tries to take it from her to relieve her concern. She does actually fire it, but fortunately the powder had got wet, and he thought she was giving him a tool for lighting fires with. So easily could have been [[Poor Communication Kills]].
* Subverted in one of the Track novels (by Jerry Ahern) when a neo-Nazi gives his revolver to a nun and dares her to pull the trigger. Of course, since the nun is the heroine in disguise he gets shot between the eyes instead.
* Svidrigailov and Dounia in ''[[Crime and Punishment (Literature)|Crime and Punishment]]'' by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dounia has a defensive failure in front of Svidrigailov while Svidrigailov attempts to disarm her, laughing at her and taunting her to kill him. She doesn't, of course.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Occurs in the pilot of ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'', except the gun wouldn't have stopped the vampiric villain. Not that the victim knows that.
* In an early episode of ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' Samantha Carter has an ex-lover at gunpoint as he has been suffering delusions of grandeur. He even tells her to shoot him but she still cannot.
* [[Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' - Martha has an enemy at gunpoint who says she doesn't have the nerve to fire - she replies that nervous people with guns are not a safe combination, and asks him if he wants to risk it.
** And reversed in an earlier episode. The Doctor is holding a man at gunpoint. He being the Doctor, he handles it differently when the man starts getting nervous...
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* Happens a couple of times in the ''[[Metal Gear]] Solid'' series
** In the first game Meryl points her rifle at Snake, and Snake taunts her about not being able to pull the trigger
*** Snake even points out that [[Not Withwith the Safety On, You Won't|she hadn't even taken the safety off.]]
** Subverted in Snake Eater, near the beginning when Ocelot points his gun at Snake, Snake laughs and says "You don't have what it takes to kill me." An enraged Ocelot pulls the trigger, only to discover that his gun is empty. Whoops.
*** There are implications that Ocelot [[Magnificent Bastard|intended for this to happen all along.]] {{spoiler|It's hard to maintain an image of being a Russian soldier if you refuse to shoot an American spy, after all. Emptying your weapon beforehand is a nice [[Take a Third Option|third option.]]}}
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