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M*A*S*H pothole

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Line 1: {{trope}} {{quote\|''"They arrested me last time because they thought I was a dangerous person. On account of... all the missiles I launched..."''~~\|'''[[Cromartie High School]]'''}}~~ \|'''[[Cromartie High School]]'''}} There are [[Gun Safety\|some basic rules for safely using guns]]. Unfortunately, not everyone knows what they are since many people are not used to firearms. This can result in things that are [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|deadly serious]] or [[Juggling Loaded Guns\|hilarious]] depending on the work in question. Line 6 ⟶ 7: When somebody '''unfamiliar''' with firearms does something reckless with guns that endanger others, what's occurred is Reckless Gun Usage. Whether it's some schmuck in the middle of a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] or a bank robber, screwing up is still dangerous. Now if they should have known gun safety, that's more like they [[Artistic License Gun Safety\|failed their gun safety course]]. When somebody who ''should'' know proper gun safety, such as soldiers or police, use guns recklessly, that's [[Artistic License Gun Safety]]. If somebody gets shot because guns are used recklessly and it's played seriously, that's [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face]]. If safety is ignored or somebody gets shot for laughs, that's [[Juggling Loaded Guns]]. If a gun goes off randomly despite observance of [[Gun Safety]], that's [[Shur Fine Guns]]. See also [[Remonstrating with a Gun]]. Compare [[Wiper Start]] for when someone unfamiliar with a ''vehicle'' is put in control of one. {{examples}}▼ ▲{{examples}} == Advertising == * In this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi13LczGlsE bizarre advertisement for Amber Alert], four stereotypical soccer moms are firing rifles and machine guns at the camera in super-slow-motion. It features them [[Dramatic Gun Cock\|re-cocking their guns when they're already ready to fire]], shooting from the hip, and firing with their eyes closed. But even these acts pale in comparison to {{spoiler\|one woman going [[Guns Akimbo]] with ''AK-47s'' firing into the air - and '''hitting herself in the head multiple times with shell casings'''.}} And a woman hip-firing a ''belt-fed light machine gun''. Which is somehow semi-automatic. * Many ~~MANY~~''many'' belt fed weapons have semi automatic modes, making them similar in use to a battle rifle with a massive ammunition supply. How long does 200 rounds last on semi auto? Much more effective at long term suppression than blitzing the whole belt in one go. == Anime and Manga == * ''[[Baccano!]]!'', when the [[Firing in the Air a Lot\|celebratory gun shot]] the head of the Martillo family fires is immediately met with "Oh my God, somebody just killed Isaac!" from the floor above (luckily, Isaac's [[Plucky Comic Relief]] status means it actually only went through the brim of his hat without touching him). * ''[[~~Sora~~So noRa ~~Woto~~No Wo To]]'', When sent to investigate another part of the base for a ghost ([[It Makes Sense in Context]], sorta), Kanata and Kureha showed bad gun safety. They were fingering the triggers of their rifles while arming up, although we don't know whether the rifles were loaded when they did that (still bad, though) and at least they weren't pointing them at each other. However, unlike the [[Artistic License Gun Safety\|soldiers of episode 12]], they're young and likely have very little (read: non-existent) training with the stuff. Though they've presumably been through Basic... * ''[[Highschool of the Dead]]'', This occurs somewhat often due to the main characters being [[Ordinary High School Student\|perfectly normal high school students]] in a country with heavy gun control during a [[Zombie Apocalypse]], however, since there's a resident gun [[Otaku]], their errors are quickly pointed out and [[Gun Safety]] is properly followed. * ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', Kamina's short stint of [[Juggling Loaded Guns]] was due to never seeing a gun before. In spite of claiming otherwise, he didn't know what a gun was and thought you used it as a hammer. Line 24 ⟶ 25: == ~~Fanworks~~Fan Works == * ''[[Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past]]'': Arthur Weasley has a gun in his office in the Ministry of Magic, which he shows to Harry and starts to pull the trigger with the muzzle close to his head, but the gun doesn't shoot because Arthur didn't go all the way. Harry nearly has a heart attack when this happens. He proceeds to steal the gun so that Arthur doesn't do this again. (And the gun is charmed to conjure bullets as it goes, so it might be useful in the future!) == Film == * ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', Subverted ''~~'HARD'~~hard''. {{spoiler\|After driving away from the apartment where the briefcase was being held, Vincent turns around to ask Marvin (their contact) about their [[It Makes Sense in Context\|Miracle]]. With a gun in his hand. In a moving car. With the barrel pointed at the guy. Suddenly, the car goes over a speed bump, Vincent's trigger finger slips, and '''BANG!'''. No more Marvin. This is also the [[Trope Namer]] for [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face]].}} * ''[[Planet Terror]]'', half of the ''[[Grindhouse]]'' double-feature, Dr. Dakota Block gives a gun to her child, when she leaves him alone in a car. {{spoiler\|He shoots himself within a few seconds of her leaving the car.}} * ''[[The Dark Knight]]'': [[The Joker]] ignores all gun-handling rules, but being ''the Joker'', he probably doesn't care at all if he unintentionally shoots someone. Or himself, for that matter. Hell, he'd probably think it was ''hilarious''. In fact, there is a scene where he stumbles and unintentionally sprays a burst of S&W M76 fire in a random direction. ** Harvey Dent is flipping a two-headed coin so he won't ''purposely'' shoot someone he was interrogating, but he was still pressing a loaded gun to that man's head. * ''[[House (film)\|House]]'', ([[House (TV series)\|no relation]]), William Katt's character pretends that his shotgun went off while he was cleaning it, in order to explain the sound of gunshots. He ''actually'' used it to shoot a demonic witch-thing, but [[Through the Eyes of Madness\|he's afraid it may have actually been his ex-wife]]. * ''[[The Host (2006 film)\|\|The Host]]'', Nam-il keeps pointing the barrel of his shotgun at objects (and people). In one scene, he pointed and ''thrust'' the shotgun at Gang-du's head while the latter was asleep. * ''[[Frozen River]]'', the main character is far from a gun expert, but is in fact a gun owner and somewhat intelligent person. Therefore it's quite horrifying to see one scene where she's driving a car while holding someone at gunpoint in the passenger seat. Just to be clear, she has a loaded gun in her hand, with her finger on the trigger, and is ''steering'' with that hand. The gun keeps swinging wildly in the passenger's direction. It becomes hard to pay attention to the film when you're constantly waiting for someone to unintentionally blow someone else's brains out. * ''[[Star Wars]]'': Watch very closely as Luke Skywalker [http://irregularwebcomic.net/373.html first ignites his lightsaber] in ''[[A New Hope]]'' — he doesn't know how long the beam is and yet is pointing it at Obi-Wan. Of course, this is also Obi-Wan's fault for giving Luke a weapon he is totally unfamiliar with and letting him play with it. ** ~~Presumably~~However, Obi-Wan does know exactly how long the blade is, and stands far enough away to keep from being hit when it does get triggered. Still his fault since Luke could have easily injured himself. Though as a prescient and a telekinetic, he probably could have foreseen Luke getting into any trouble with it and intervened if necessary. * ''[[In Bruges]]'': Averted. 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/neglect of overpenetration 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 permanently blind in that eye. * ''[[Commando (film)\|Commando]]'': After Matrix gets locked up in a police van, Rae Dawn Chong tries to free him with a quad-barrelled missile launcher. Unfortunately, she points the wrong end at the target and blows up the shops behind her. Although given that the launcher, the M-202 "Flash", fires rockets tipped with a compound similar to white phosphorus (and would have incinerated the van), someone was getting screwed no matter where it was pointing. Line 49 ⟶ 50: * ''[[Plan 9 from Outer Space]]'', an actor deliberately did this because he wanted to see if director Ed Wood would stop filming when a character was being so blatantly unsafe with a firearm. Actions included keeping his finger on the trigger at all times, casually pointing at people with it and even scratching his head with the barrel. True to his nickname, One Take Eddie never stopped to correct him. * ''[[NARC]]'': the cops are called to the scene of an apparent bathtub suicide. They eventually figure out that the guy in the bath had actually [[Too Dumb to Live\|been using his shotgun as a makeshift hash pipe]], but had forgotten to make sure [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|there wasn't a round chambered beforehand]]... * In the film ''[[Snatch]]'', some [[Reckless Gun Usage]] (firing off a series of rapid shots at a dog while not even looking in the same direction) results in one character unintentionally killing the infamously unkillable (though not to the level of Boris) [[Names to Run Away From\|Bullet Tooth Tony]]. * Just about everyone in ''[[1941]]'': ** Ward Douglas fires an anti-aircraft gun at a Japanese submarine by firing the gun through his house. Line 57 ⟶ 58: * ''[[30 Minutes or Less\|Thirty Minutes or Less]]'' has the bank robbery scene, where one woman slides a gun across the floor after not wanting to hold it. The gun then hits the bank counter, shooting a guy through the leg. The victim is understandably pissed at her. * In the second ''[[Hellboy (film)\|Hellboy]]'' movie, Hellboy fires his [[Hand Canon]] at two tiny little creatures that were flying from him towards a crowd of spectators. Given the size of the gun (big), the size of the creatures (small), and the fact that they were in a direct line to the spectators, you'd expect some collateral damage. ** On the other hand, if he ''doesn't'' shoot them they'll just fly into the crowd and start killing dozens of people anyway. So this is a rare Justified example of the trope. * A minor example from ''[[Escape From L.A.]]'': the lead in to the basketball scene shows a group of gunmen surrounding the court and shooting the poor sap inside full of holes. The gunmen on opposites sides of the court are obviously firing toward each other during the execution. Line 76 ⟶ 78: In ''The End Of Time'', the Doctor does a [[Dramatic Gun Cock]] every time he changes his aim. Does he think he needs to hold the gun very, very still to prevent it uncocking itself, or does he believe that the gun knows when he changes his mind? It [[Shur Fine Guns\|shouldn't even be possible to do that]]. Subverted in the episode "Daleks in Manhattan". A ditzy-seeming actress is almost exaggeratedly bad at safe handling of a gun she has been threatening with, ultimately throwing it onto a chair. It's a prop. ** On the other hand, played very straight in the episode "Dalek". The security guards ambush the Dalek twice. Both times, the setup has guards on opposite sides of the Dalek firing at ~~it--and~~it—and thus at each other, with automatic weapons no less. They probably took more casualties from friendly fire than they did from the Dalek. * ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', avoids the trope almost a little ''too'' much when a museum worker is ordered by a guard to hold Cam and Vala at gunpoint and while he certainly points the gun at them, his finger is not even ''close'' to the trigger. To be fair, he was on SG-1's side and as such, had no intention of killing them. * ''[[Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge]]'', Alan Partridge once [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|unintentionally shot an obnoxious food critic in the heart with an antique dueling pistol on live television]]. It is this (coupled with his later punching of a [[The BBC\|BBC]] programming executive in the face with a turkey) that ended his TV career. Line 94 ⟶ 96: In a Series 14 outtake, May defended himself, claiming it was the only way to see whether the barrel is unblocked. * Important Safety Tip, you never do that. Open the action and check from the breech end; light coming through the barrel without shadows shows an unblocked barrel. This lets you also remove any shell from the chamber, in case the gun is loaded - ''[[Gun Safety\|and it is.]]'' ** The lecture May got off screen seems to have actually taken hold. In future episodes May exhibits proper safety handling even when using obvious props. * ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'', someone breaking just about all the ~~rules -- carelessly~~rules—carelessly waving a loaded [[WW 2]]-era pistol around, pointing it straight at a friend, and then removing the magazine without clearing the chamber. After all that, how unlucky is it for said gun to [[What a Senseless Waste of Human Life\|get knocked off a desk, unintentionally fire, and shoot someone right in the heart]]? * ''[[Perry Mason]]'', If there was a gun involved in the murder-of-the-week, odds are good that [[Perry Mason]] will recklessly wave that gun around. One episode was particularly egregious: The district attorney, Hamilton Berger, fondles the murder weapon (a revolver marked as exhibit whatever) during the trial and rests it casually on the witness box, his finger on the trigger, the barrel aimed directly at the weapons expert's head. After a few questions, he turns it toward the jury, gesturing dramatically. Then, Mason does exactly the same thing when cross-examining. * ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'', a [[Very Special Episode]] of the original uses this {{spoiler\|[[Dropped a Bridge on Him\|to kill off one of the regulars]],}} in front of Bryan Austin Green. Line 111 ⟶ 114: In his (albeit weak) defense, he'd just removed a coat strapped with explosives off of John Watson after the pair were threatened with being blowing up and/or being shoot by multiply snipers if Sherlock didn't back off. Even Sherlock was a bit freaked out once the danger had passed... {{spoiler\|until of course Moriarty returned because he can't make his mind about when to kill the heroes.}} * He has absolutely no excuse in the next season's finale, when he presses a loaded gun to his best friend's head ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) ''with his finger on the trigger'', and later just drops it on the cobblestone street while running away. * Pretty much any time Frank Burns gets hold of a firearm in ''[[~~MASH~~MASH (television)\|MASH]]''. He's managed to shoot himself in the foot, and to shoot BJ. * In the first episode of ''[[Wild Boys]]'', Jack wakes up to find Mary's young son Tom pointing Jack's own gun at his head. Jack is understandably angry. * This caused the death of one of ''[[MacGyver]]'''s childhood friends, as shown during a flashback in "Blood Brothers". Line 128 ⟶ 131: == Theatre == * ''[[~~Der Freischuetz\|~~Der Freischütz]]'', and the rock opera version, ''The Black Rider'' (which was written by [[Robert Wilson]], [[Tom Waits]] and [[William S. Burroughs]]), combine this trope with literal [[Diabolus Ex Machina]], and the heroine [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|gets shot on her wedding day]]. In Carl Maria von Weber's original version, the bullet gets deflected by the blessed white roses in her bridal wreath, though, and she's okay (the villain [[Karmic Death\|buys it]], instead). * ''[[Assassins (theatre)\|Assassins]]'': Sarah Jane Moore is written to be played with no regard for the proper operation or storage of her .38 revolver. She unintentionally discharges it no less than five times during the course of the show, once while it's still in her hand bag, narrowly missing Squeaky Fromme, once into the air when she's supposed to be clicking the hammer of an unloaded weapon in "The Gun Song," once when startled with her finger prematurely on the trigger, damaging Charles Guiteau's hearing in the process, and twice during two separate scene change blackouts, with the lights coming up on her scene the second time to reveal she's just unintentionally shot her own dog. Line 138 ⟶ 141: * ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'', During Maxamillion's chapter, after he picks up two flintlock pistols, an insanity effect involves dropping one of them while reloading, [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|killing him]]. * ''[[Fallout 2]]'', features a cruel variant: One of the ways to assassinate {{spoiler\|Orville Wright}} is to give one of his kids a loaded gun and tell them "Why don't you wave this in your daddy's face and pull the trigger?" * ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', In [[GTA Radio\|one of the radio segments]], [[The Ahnold\|Jack Howitzer]] threatens to kill host Billy Dexter unless he touches Jack's genitals ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]... sorta) and then says he was just fooling around and that his gun was unloaded, only for it to go off and kill Dexter. * In the Security opening cutscene for the Aquarium level of [[Brink]], one of the Security Officers smacks his friend's gun away, because he was waving it around while he was talking. == Webcomics == * ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Alt-Bun-Bun [https://web.archive.org/web/20161003092637/http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=040607 invokes this trope], enough that Torg yells, "''Quit pointing that empty gun at me, it's not really for making points in conversation!''" [[Justified Trope\|Justified]] since Alt-Bun-Bun comes from a dimension without guns (or much in the way of violence at all). * ''[[Questionable Content]]'', Marten [[Juggling Loaded Guns\|doesn't observe]] ''taser'' safety and [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=529 unintentionally electrocutes himself]. Of course, he ''was'' drunk. * ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'', [http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100908 Ethan demonstrates] why [[Gun Safety]] rules exist. Line 149 ⟶ 152: * ''[[Lackadaisy]]'': [http://www.lackadaisycats.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=19 In a background extra strip], Rocky [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|shoots himself in the ear]] when waving around his pistol, giving him the hole in the ear seen in the regular strip. * ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' had a [[Lampshaded]] case: [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-04 if you know through the full-body armor a small subsonic slug can only attract attention, using them for just this purpose becomes tempting]. == Web Original == * ''[[Girlchan in Paradise]]'', "It's out of bullets, anyway!" "Then that means... I... can do this!" (''[[Too Dumb to Live\|BANG]]'') * ''[[The Onion]]'', [http://www.theonion.com/articles/8yearold-accidentally-exercises-second-amendment-r,725/ this] article , an 8-year-old boy who unintentionally shot himself in the thigh wins praise from [[Strawman Political~~\|Strawman Politicals~~]]s for having exercised his constitutional rights. * In the second tale of Merry in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' a passel of Federal agents look on in amusement as Merry, completely untrained, points her weapon directly at another police officer, finger on the trigger, and discusses shooting him. * The Vale police investigating the Dust shop robbery in S1E15 of ''[[RWBY]]'' are spectacularly careless with their ultratech-looking guns, gesturing broadly with them instead of leaving them safely holstered while they look for clues. == Western Animation == * ''[[Gargoyles]]'', Elisa is at one point seriously injured [[I Just Shot Marvin in the Face\|when Broadway shoots her while playing with her gun]]. To be fair, Broadway is a 1,000-year-old gargoyle who had never handled a gun before... but 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). This is a case of [[Reckless Gun Usage]] for the 1,000 year old gargoyle that has no concept of firearms, and a case of basic breach of common sense for the New York cop who kept a loaded gun holstered and unsecured in her apartment in plain sight and should have known better. Notably, she's much more careful for the rest of the series, and Broadway gains guns as a new [[Berserk Button]]. * In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "The Cartridge Family", Homer buys a gun after riots erupt in Springfield. He proceeds to be '''''very''''' reckless with it, using it to open beers and change the channel (among other things). When the members of the local NRA see him doing this, they chew him out for being so irresponsible and kick him out. Earlier in the episode he hides the gun in the crisper drawer after Marge tells him to get rid of it; Bart finds it by accident, and Marge catches him and Milhouse about to play William Tell with it. ** Also in "$pringfield": frenzied over Lisa's nightmare, Homer believes that the boogeyman is really out there and he brandishes a shotgun which he points at Marge's face when she comes home, upon realizing that she's not the boogeyman he tosses the gun onto the ground, negligently causing it to discharge. Thankfully, no one was hit. Line 171 ⟶ 173: [[Category:Did Not Do the Research]] [[Category:Guns Do Not Work That Way]] [[Category:~~Reckless Gun Usage~~{{PAGENAME}}]]