Guns in Church: Difference between revisions

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|''[[Jackie Chan]]'s First Strike''}}

Imagine this scenario for a bit: You're at a bank, and someone walks in, wielding a sword, gun, axe, or any other matter of established weapon (not a chair leg). The implications are far from good, unless of course, it happens in a video game. Obviously, the hero has just come to withdraw money from his account so he can purchase even bigger swords to walk into banks with.

In short, Guns In Church is what occurs when a weapon is carried or brandished when not appropriate. When you have Guns In Church, the bank, the supermarket, the U.N, an airport, or anywhere else where the very mention of a weapon could be grounds for arrest, people in games are surprisingly aloof to the dangers it presents. As a result, everyone fantasizes about owning a sword/gun/etc that will never leave their side in all of life's journeys.

In [[Real Life]], however, throughout most of the civilized world, life is ''just'' peaceful enough that this is typically a bad idea. With an individual who normally is expected to carry a weapon (such as a knight, policeman, or soldier), if they have a means to store a weapon that can be easily drawn, this trope then is restricted to them actually ''carrying it'' (For example, a policeman who has a gun in his hand everywhere he goes, leaving his holster empty.)

Some weapons (such as rifles, large machine guns, and [[Arm Cannon|Arm Cannons]]) can't be sheathed/holstered, and due to context, the trope is often averted by necessity. If you are a soldier, then chances are, not only do you play the trope straight, but you're actually better off for it. The same does not hold true for an average white-collar office drone walking down the street holding a claymore. (the mine or the sword).

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* Spoofed in [[Spy Hard]], when Leslie Nielson's character sneaks into a church to rescue a girl, he has to deal with a bunch of violence-prone nuns, ending with nuns ''brandishing machine guns'' and trying to shoot at them!

* In ''[[Unforgiven]]'' sheriff Little Bill is deadly serious about his 'no guns in town' policy so any time a stranger in town is seen carrying any weapon, even holstered, it means big trouble. Either, the stranger is about to shoot people or Little Bill is going to beat him into a bloody pulp.

* Used for a joke early in [[Man Of The House]]. When Texas Ranger Sharp and his partner go to a church to get information from an ex-con turned minister, Sharp keeps his gun with him. When reminded by his partner that they're entering a church, Sharp replies, "that's why I didn't bring the helicopter".

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* ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'': Pete is justifiably alarmed when Kenneth turns in a gun as well along with his page's badge. For non-fans: they work on a television show, folks.

** When Liz visits a bad neighborhood nicknamed "Little Chechnya", she asks if she just saw a man walking down the street holding a gun. She is told, "Yeah, but don't worry, he's not a cop."

* On ''[[Garth Marenghi's Darkplace]]'', most of the characters, who work in a hospital, seem to have guns at all times. This comes in handy when they're attacked by [[Animate Inanimate Object|Animate Inanimate Objects]], undead warlocks, and Scotsmen.

== [[Manga]] ==

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* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' averts this. Certain areas won't allow you to pull out your weapons, and in other areas civilians will panic and/or refuse to talk to you if your gun is drawn.

* In the ''[[Gothic]]'' games, unsheathing a weapon or preparing an offensive spell out of combat will make people nervous, and they will attack you if you don't put it away after a few warnings.

* Radd Spencer of ''[[Bionic Commando]]'' is warned not to shoot within neutral zones, but the fact that he brought a bazooka with him is perfectly okay.

** The computer, naturally, is not at all restricted, and [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules|can attack Radd freely]]. If he retaliates, ''he's killed by the peacekeepers.''

* ''[[Duke Nukem]]'' 3D features a protagonist arming himself across various normal settings, including a movie theater, a burger chain, a theme park, a supermarket, and even a hotel. The trope is justified by the fact that there ''is'' an invasion underway.

* ''[[Faxanadu]]'' shows the main character holding his weapon even when he's in a town, or in a King's throne room.

** In theoretically non-hostile areas, though, the character can't ''swing'' the weapon (the "Attack" button has become the "Talk" button), meaning that [[Goddamn Bats|little enemies]] hiding in people's houses [[Demonic Spiders|are one of the most deadly threats that the game offers]].

* Averted in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[Ocarina of Time]]''. Link cannot draw his sword in Castle Town.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda|Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]''. Link's sprites show him constantly holding his sword, even if he is in a peaceful town. One must wonder if this makes the townspeople nervous.

* Averted in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', when wearing a disguise. If Joanna pulls out a weapon in front of a guard or is caught wielding one otherwise, Her cover will immediately be blown, and she may even be accosted for it.

** ''Where did you get that!?''

** ''Put that down, NOW!''

* Similarly, during the undercover missions in the early ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' games, pulling a gun out in front of German soldiers would blow your cover. But thanks to [[No Body Left Behind]], taking out lone guards while their back was turned with your silenced pistol didn't.

* Averted in all 3 games of ''[[STALKER|S.T.A.L.K.E.R]], you can't enter most populated places with your weapon out and nearly no one will talk to you unless you put your weapon away.

* Mostly averted in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', as being a Spectre allows Shepard to go around armed wherever s/he pleases, and in the first game no one bats an eye if Shepard whips out a shotgun in a residential area and starts firing. There are a couple of exceptions where guards try to confiscate your weapons, i.e. the guards as Noveria and Purgatory, and one specific mission in ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' requires Shepard to go around unarmed, while another restricts Shepard to just his/her sidearm at a formal dinner party where only concealed sidearms are allowed.

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* ''[[Cave Story]]''. No NPC will ever mind if you test your weapons inside their house. Not even [[Ultimate Blacksmith|Hermit Gunsmith]] while sleeping.

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption]]'', your characters could walk around in full tactical armour brandishing RPGs and flamethrowers, and police, store owners and private citizens didn't bat an eye (in NYC this was bad enough but London?). Just don't get caught [[Kiss of the Vampire|necking with someone in an alleyway]]...

* Given its relative realism you'd expect that drawing weapons in a city might cause a ruckus, but ''[[Mount ~~and~~ Blade]]'' averts this, and with good reason. Calradia is in a state of constant war, with raiding parties, bandits, and mercenaries pretty much everywhere. A person carrying weapons openly while covered in plate armor is hardly worth a second glance, but civilian NPCs won't fuss if you happen to draw a spear and shove the pointy end in their face while talking to them. Shopkeepers blithely ignore the mace being waved in their face by your character while you browse their wares, and even city guards will simply give you a generic 'don't cause trouble' message.

* Given its relative realism you'd expect that drawing weapons in a city might cause a ruckus, but ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' averts this, and with good reason. Calradia is in a state of constant war, with raiding parties, bandits, and mercenaries pretty much everywhere. A person carrying weapons openly while covered in plate armor is hardly worth a second glance, but civilian NPCs won't fuss if you happen to draw a spear and shove the pointy end in their face while talking to them. Shopkeepers blithely ignore the mace being waved in their face by your character while you browse their wares, and even city guards will simply give you a generic 'don't cause trouble' message.

* A gameplay element in ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]''. Waving a gun around causes people to flee and police interest to skyrocket. Paying off the cops is possible. Outright hiding works as well. Even crooks get nervous around your gun. It gets funky when you're trying to do in-game required missions in the middle of the street.

* Explicitly averted in ''[[Persona 4]]''. The Protagonist and Yosuke are ready to go into the [[Eldritch Location|TV World]] to find some clues on the murder of one of their classmates, so Yosuke brings along weapons for them to defend themselves with. Problem is, the portal to the TV World is a TV screen at the local supermarket. And the town IS on edge due to the ''murder investigation''. A brief incident with the ''police'' later, they have to spend a few tense moments sweating it out with the Protagonist's uncle (the detective in charge of the investigation) and he spends the entire game being suspicious of his nephew's activities afterwards. They wisely decide to hide their weapons under their clothes next time.

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'', anywhere designated a 'combat' zone allows you to draw your heaviest artillery and blast away, with no worse repercussions than making nearby non-combatants panic. Normally, combat zones are in areas not covered by law enforcement anyway, but there are a few examples where you'd think you'd get some problems. The trope is inverted in one case, however: A certain enemy has to be killed without the use of firearms or you will be chewed out by the quest-giver, as the subsequent investigation into the enemy's death will have multiple witnesses hearing the gunshots.

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* According to [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-05-nuclear-football_x.htm this USA Today article], the nuclear football once entered St. John's Church.

* Europeans seem to think that this is the [[Eagle Land|norm everywhere in America]].

** Most Westerns would have you believe this was case in the wild west. In reality many towns at the time had ordinances requiring you to turn your guns over at a saloon or livery while you were in town. This was one of the things that led up to the shootout between The Earps and The Clantons & McLaurys at the O.K. Corral.

** In most States in the US, it is legal to walk around wearing guns openly, but there are variations in both law and practice that a wise man would do well to familiarize himself with. Additionally, just because it's legal doesn't mean that some random citizen won't freak out at the mere sight of a firearm; or that you won't have occasional conversations with Law Enforcement while they try to determine if you are going to cause a problem. Private property owners also have the right to forbid weapons on their property.

*** In the state of Pennsylvania, it is actually legal for you to carry most sorts of weapons as long as they are not concealed, and you are not brandishing them. You need to get a special license to carry concealed.

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* [[Truth in Television]]. While churches have a very long history of being sanctuaries where you're not permitted to bring a holstered and concealed weapon, there have been been cases of police officers interrupting mass or sermons ''with drawn guns'' and not understanding what people are so upset about.

** The exact phrase used for this sort of situation (at least in Texas) is ".22s for Jesus". Of course we all know that the Lord would prefer to [[Black Lagoon|use a Jericho]], but that gets into a completely different debate all together.

** Louisiana recently passed a law allowing people to carry firearms in church. It prompted a lot of snarky comments. Generally from folks who hadn't read the law in question. Not only do you have to have a Concealed Handgun License, but you also have to have permission from the pastor/priest/rabbi/imam/etc, and to be a member of a volunteer security group for that church.

* [[Truth in Television]] in much of the US, where concealed-weapons permits are easy to obtain. May not count as this trope since they're...well...concealed.

** And even so, even those can be banned from certain places, such as schools, government buildings, and some private businesses.

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* Despite being under Norwegian sovereignty, [[wikipedia:Svalbard|Svalbard]] allows everyone to carry rifles openly (although there are some rules on how to carry them in populated areas). Why? Because of [[Everything Is Worse With Bears|Polar Bears.]]

** To be fair, [[His Dark Materials|Svalbard polar bears are]] [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Guys]] clad head to toe in [[Meteoric Iron]], so...

*** Note also, that if they are going out of the settlement, they are not ''allowed'' to carry a rifle, but instead ''required'' to do so.

* Averted in the UK, where handguns aren't allowed, at all. So when a French cop working in St Pancras station for the international customs office (they have French cops on the British side and vice-versa) forgot to take her gun out of her holster when she walked across to the non-international section of the station to buy lunch, she got in ''serious'' trouble.

* Swords served a dual purpose in Medieval Europe, especially during Crusades: In addition to weapons, they were also a makeshift crucifix. It was not that uncommon for a knight to enter a place of worship and use it as such, or in some other peaceful, humble way.

* In communities in the Canadian Arctic it isn't impossible to see someone walking into the local store with a slung rifle to pick up something before they head out on to the land, although it's generally considered to be rude. On the other hand, seeing people driving down the street on an ATV or a snowmobile carrying a rifle or shotgun is extremely common. It actually became a security issue when G8 Finance Ministers were meeting in Iqaluit and southern security personnel had to be briefed in advance to make sure that they didn't shoot an elder puttering along down the street heading out to his cabin.