Handguns: Difference between revisions

[[File:dirtyharry01 3026.jpg|frame|The .44 Magnum. Guaranteed to blow your head clean off.]]

 

 

There are certain rules about guns and who's armed with what. In general, in non-military stories, the protagonist is armed only with their trusty handgun. Essentially, a character who carries a pistol as their primary firearm is showing just how cool he really is; he can take the field with an inferior weapon and win the day. However, pistols can be portrayed as wonder weapons, equal to a rifle in killing power.

 

However, when it comes to handguns, everyone agrees that [[Revolvers Are Just Better]]

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* While the various mercenary ne'er-do-wells of ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' use a wide variety of weapons, the most skilled tend to use either pistols or a [[Hand Cannon]]. Nevertheless, while chainsaw, minigun, and dual-pistol wielding maniacs are the order of the day, the most feared and effective force in the setting are Balalaika's faceless snipers and AK-wielding ex-paratroopers.

** ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' and ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' had quite a bit of phaser-rifle brandishing in later seasons, because there was a greater emphasis on [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] threatening the Federation (or because the big guns had been passed on from the Trek movies). This was also seen when ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' was made [[Darker and Edgier]] with the Xindi war arc, leading to the introduction of the MACO's -- basically a special ops team who, unlike Reed's security mooks, had energy rifles.

* Wesley of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Angel]]'' fame used two handguns as his primary weapons in the latter series—odd, for a show in which guns of any sort were generally maligned.

** [[Fan Wank|They may have just run out of the good stuff by that time, since a huge emphasis was placed on ammo.]]

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' Security uses the PPG plasma pistol as their standard weapon since they're basically cops. They only break out rifles when things get really bad.

** PPGs are used instead of bullet-firing guns so as to avoid putting air holes in the hull of the ''space station''.

* In ''[[Supernatural]]'', the Winchesters use handguns with silver bullets to take down shapeshifters and a werewolf. They also have a Colt [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] that can kill {{spoiler|almost}} anything.

* Its parent show ''[[Doctor Who]]'' features even more, with a USP compact, Glock 17, Webley bulldog, Beretta 92FS, SIG P226, Webley Mk. VI and IV, Walther PPK, Walther P38, Strayer Voight Infinity, Tokyo Marui Hicapa, Luger P08, Glock 26 Advance, Colt Single Action Army and Smith & Wesson model 27.