Everyone Is Armed: Difference between revisions

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZcNXe20dXI&feature=related This XBOX 360 ad] is an amusing play off of that idea.

 

* [[Played for Laughs]] (just like every other trope) in the first episode of ''[[Miami Guns]]'', where even the baby in the baby carriage is packing heat. [[Mugging the Monster]] ensues.

 

* ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]'' has the planet New Hong Kong, where this is the norm thanks to the planet's only law being "There Are No Laws on New Hong Kong". Even EMTs whose job it is to '''help''' people who've been shot go armed.

** Specifically happens in the graphic novel ''PSmIth'':

** Also New Hong Kong is invaded in the uncollected short story "Field of Screams"; it goes very badly for the invaders

 

* In the 1985 [[Chuck Norris]] movie ''Code of Silence'', two armed robbers attempt to hold up the bar where all the off-duty cops hang out. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GAgIBgOA3M It does not end well.]

* In ''[[The Fast and the Furious|Fast Five]]'', Dom reminds Hobbs that they are no longer in the United States and states "this is Rio". Suddenly everyone in the crowd pulls out a gun.

* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', this was the reception Sheriff Bart received upon entering Rock Ridge for the first time. Even the schoolmarm was packing!

 

* The ''[[Dean Koontz]]'' novel ''Frankenstein: Lost Souls'': an attempt to {{spoiler|begin assimilating the townsfolk en masse}} at a gathering goes awry when it turns out that almost every adult in town carries a firearm, and the villains encounter significantly more resistance than they had planned on.

* ''Healer'' by F Paul Wilson. One of the planets in this fictional universe is Flint, basically the Planet of the Anarchist Gun Nuts. '''Everyone''' there is armed. Invaders who have been using a portal technology to launch terror raids try this on Flint only to instantly come under fire by everyone they encounter. (Thanks to Der Trihs of the Straight Dope Message Board)

* In ''[[Artemis Fowl]] and the Eternity Code'', Artemis and Butler walk into the bystander Mooks version.

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Discworld]] novels

* In [[1632]] if not everyone, a sizable portion of the town of Grantville was armed. As this was supposedly a typical American rural town(the number of badasses it had was rather above-average of course) it only carried what the twentieth century considered good for hunting. In the seventeenth century it could give pause to an army.

* In [[Technic History|A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows]] a border world has a dispute with [[The Emperor]] about this. No disloyalty is intended, not least because the local monarch would rather have the emperor's military protection then not. But local military tradition is not only a necessity on the border but the military has a large influence on social life which would be hard to change. The dispute is in point of fact a mere difference of opinion but there is an [[Evil Plan]] to escalate it into a civil war.

 

* The opening scenes of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' shows Michael running away from the bad guys which involves a car chase through busy streets. When they stop and pull guns on him, however, about two dozen bystanders whip out firearms of their own, allowing Michael to escape.

** Michael [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this by noting Nigeria as the "gun running capital" of Africa, and that it wasn't a good place to have a car chase.

* The TV series ''[[Turks]]'''s pilot episode featured an attempted robbery of a cop bar.

 

 

* ''Escape From Terra'' , the webcomic by Big Head Press features an anarchic Belter society centered on the minor planet Ceres [http://www.bigheadpress.com/eft?page=50 where virtually everyone carries a gun or a knife]

* ''roswell, texas'' by L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser also from the big headed press [http://www.bigheadpress.com/roswell?page=80 tops this.]

 

* The world of Remnant in ''[[RWBY]]'' at first glance ''looks'' like this, but the sample is biased by virtue of the story being focused mostly on professional warriors, military, students and staff of combat schools, and criminals. The average person in the street does not ''appear'' to be armed, at least in the protected Kingdoms. Settlements in the wilderness, however, may be a different story.

 

* ''[[Rango]]'', where the title character asks if anyone has guns to contribute, and they all pull out multiples, even the cute little mole girl.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''

* In the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' episode "Almost Got 'Im", various Batman villains meet in a club and tell tales of how they almost killed Batman once. Turns out one of them is Batman in disguise trying to get critical info. When he reveals this they all pull out guns; but then every patron in the club pulls out a gun pointing at the villains - they were all undercover Gotham police, making this an example of the bystanders being the '''hero's''' mooks.

 

* In early human history the men of most families were expected to be proficient with arms, first for hunting then later for defense against beasts and each other. Some cultures also let women carry defensive weapons like knives to protect themselves and their children and some places even considered it acceptable to arm ''the children''. After standing armies became common, bladed implements like knives and machetes were still widely carried as all-purpose tools until modern regulation of lethal and potentially lethal weapons. People in several Asian and African countries as well as more remote areas of developed nations still wear their knives openly.

* Some historical social classes, such as gentlemen in Europe and samurai in Japan, carried weapons as a symbol of their station. In Europe, when swords went out of style, walking sticks took over, which were essentially fancy clubs. Thus, when you were rubbing elbows with the elite, everyone was armed.

**In Medieval Europe a surprising proportion of society had access to weapons and took part in warfare fairly often and sometimes [[Underestimating Badassery| more effectively]] then one might expect from their station in society. There was of course the traditional warrior class. But even peasants often had arms especially in rough country-though they were often only adapted farm tools. Burghers of course had their money as a "weapon", but they also had warships and walls and war machines, later including cannon which the noble class often could not pay for. As well as crossbows which were a favorite Italian specialty. Jews were ''usually'' disarmed but there were even exceptions to that in odd corners here or there-enough for cases involving weaponry to enter into the Talmud. Even clergy a number of times became noted warriors.

* Sikh men are required by religious law to carry a knife with them at all times. These days it's usually a small, ceremonial knife.

* Exaggerated in the retelling but basically true: [http://www.snopes.com/crime/dumdum/gunshop.asp The Guy who tried to rob a Gun Store]

* [[wikipedia:Kennesaw, Georgia#controversies|Kennesaw, Georgia]] famously passed an ordinance in 1982 actively requiring most heads of households there to possess a gun and ammunition.

* This happening repeatedly is why Hamas switched to bombing instead of using guns in Israel.

* Every few years another incident makes the news in which crooks attempt armed robbery in places where multiple off-duty police officers happen to be.

** One notable example involves the robber robbing a bank branch in New York, [[Too Dumb to Live|directly under the FBI's office]], on payday.

* In ''Tales of the Alhambra'' Washington Irving commented about this aspect of Spain. As there had not only been a recent guerilla war, but the government was corrupt and incompetent, disorder was rampant and private subjects were often forced onto their own resources.

**Spanish knife fighting is a plebian tradition complimentary to the more courtly rapier and arising from such turmoil. In Spain(not otherwise a country famed for female egalitarianism)even women regularly learned how to use knives and knives made for women were decorated and had cute slogans to the effect of, "[[Loyal Phlebotinum|I am]] [[Submissive Badass|devoted]] to my mistresses [[Chastity Dagger|honor]]". Gitano(Spanish Roma) have their own curious tradition of using horse shears as a combat weapon.

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