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{{trope}}
[[File:
In movies and television, a locked door, or a padlock on a cage is never an impediment so long as the Hero has bullets to spare. One or two shots is generally enough to destroy the lock, allowing the door to open.
Unfortunately, in real
Attempts to shoot the lock mechanism itself tend to leave the distorted metal jammed in place while the bolt or latch remains closed. In effect, it is actually ''more'' locked than if you had left it alone.
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The [[Speculative Fiction]] version is shooting [[Destruction Equals Off Switch|the control panel]] for the automatic door or force field, or [[Force Field Door|automatic force field door]]. While there are doors that "fail safe" or "fail open" when power is cut, in fiction this is always coincidentally whichever the shooter and/or plot requires. (Note to villains: The [[Evil Overlord List]] recommends rigging yours to reverse this.)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131104042508/http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot5.htm Tested on ''The Box O'Truth''.]
Not to be confused with [[Thrown Out the Airlock|getting shot out of an airlock.]]
{{examples}}
* Commercials for Weatherby ammunition would show a lock penetrated, but not completely destroyed, by a rifle cartridge.
* For years, the Master Lock company ran TV commercials during the [[Super Bowl]] where they would shoot one of their own padlocks with a gun to demonstrate its durability. This is an interesting application of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]], because its effectiveness is based on viewers' expectations that a lock will break when fired at. (This commercial is referenced in the [[Stephen King]]-as-Richard-Bachman novella "[[Rage (
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Gets played with in the first episode of ''[[
* [[Highschool of the Dead]]. Takashi ''tries'' to do this, but resident Gun [[Otaku]] Kohta quickly stops him, worried that one of the bullets will riccochet and hit one of them.
* Done in ''[[Lupin III]]: Plot of the Fuma Clan'', but for the opposite effect most people go for. The lock is an old-fashioned one whose purpose is to disable the booby traps guarding a treasure stash. The person shooting it does so to trash the mechanism after his enemies steal the vase with the key hidden inside.
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* In one of the ''[[War Picture Library]]'' comics, the heroes are freeing a captured British spy from prison, and one suggests shooting out the lock. The spy responds: "You've been watching too many cowboy movies; the ricochets would kill us all." (As the prison has stone walls and a steel door).
* ''[[Bookhunter]]'''s opening scene shows a SWAT team using a shotgun with "shocklock rounds". In the preliminary briefing, Agent Bay points out that the hallway's layout prevents them from using a ram.
▲== [[Commercials]] ==
▲* Commercials for Weatherby ammunition would show a lock penetrated, but not completely destroyed, by a rifle cartridge.
▲* For years, the Master Lock company ran TV commercials during the [[Super Bowl]] where they would shoot one of their own padlocks with a gun to demonstrate its durability. This is an interesting application of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]], because its effectiveness is based on viewers' expectations that a lock will break when fired at. (This commercial is referenced in the [[Stephen King]]-as-Richard-Bachman novella "[[Rage (Literature)|Rage]]", when the narrator/protagonist puts his locker padlock in his shirt pocket, where it later saves him from a sharpshooter [[Pocket Protector|bullet in the heart]]. The narrator mentions later viewing that commercial, with adverse emotional effects.)
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]''. Jack Burton shoots off a padlock to free the female captives from their cells in Lo Pan's warehouse.
* The weasels use a machine gun to shoot a hole around the lock on Eddie's door to open it in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''.
* In ''[[No Country for Old Men]],'' the villain (chillingly well-played by Javier Bardem) shoots off locks, but with an air gun that drives a metal spike through the lock and launches it into the next room. As cool as this is, it is sadly [http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/NoCountry.htm impossible].
* Luke does this in the first ''[[Star Wars]]'' movie to keep a door ''shut'', cutting off pursuing Storm Troopers. Unfortunately, it also stops the bridge controls from working, making a heroic swing across a chasm (and a kiss that [[Brother-Sister Incest|later becomes awkward]]) necessary.
* Subverted in the film adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's ''Paycheck''. The hero and his girlfriend have sealed themselves inside a room, and she is about to smash the control panel for the door when he stops her and lets her know that will only keep them from opening the door from ''their'' side, not the bad guys.
* Played straight at the end of ''[[The Mask of Zorro]]''.
* Charles Lee Ray in ''[[
* [[James Bond (
** He uses both variants in ''[[
** Also in ''[[
** ''[[
* Used in the movie ''[[Ghost (
* [[Terminator]] doesn't seem to bother with pistols. An M79 grenade launcher works better.
** Still pretty unrealistic as grenade launchers have a preset safety distance before the grenade is armed to explode. At the range the Terminator was firing at the grenade would have harmlessly put a dent in the wall but not have blown it up.
** The Terminator shoots a padlock and chain off a gate with a shotgun from an implausible distance during the truck/bike chase in ''[[Terminator 2]]''. Oh, and he's on a speeding motorcycle at the time.
* At the end of ''[[The Leech Woman]]'' a detective shoots out the lock on the titular character's bedroom door, which at least seems vaguely more plausible since a door handle's locking mechanism probably isn't anything near as sturdy as a combination lock. At any rate, it's more plausible than everything else in the film.
** Then your pineal gland is safe. For now.
* In ''[[Highlander:
* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]''. The title character throws an object and hits the control box for a door, causing the door to close and prevent pursuing robots from capturing him.
* ''[[Die Hard 2]]'' has John McLane shooting a padlock on an access grate to get onto a runway at Dulles Airport.
* Guns are used to do '''everything''' in ''[[Ultraviolet]]'', unlocking doors included.
* ''[[
* Keanu Reeves did this to a door in ''[[
* The first ''[[Resident Evil (
* ''[[Clue (
* Averted in, surprisingly enough, ''[[
* Averted in a scene from Michael Mann's ''[[Heat]]'', where Wes Studi and Al Pacino's characters stage an entry with Wes Studi blowing out the hinges with a shotgun instead of going for the lock.
* Averted in ''S.W.A.T.'' when the [[Big Bad]] locks a sewer exit the protagonists were chasing him through. The lock is obviously a high-end, very tough lock, and a couple of shots from an assault rifle barely dent it. They have to resort to blowing the entire grate off with a claymore.
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* Spoofed in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''Guards! Guards!'', where Captain Vimes orders Sergeant Colon to shoot the lock off a gate...while Colon is armed with a crossbow.
** Detritus later gets a siege crossbow called the 'Piecemaker' which can shoot out the lock...and the door...and the surrounding wall...and just about anything else in a 270-degree arc.
* There was a sci-fi book once where the variant seen in Star Wars - shooting it to keep it closed - was attempted, but it just jammed the door into "open". Don't remember the title, though.{{verify}}
* Lampshaded and averted in ''[[Sharpe]]'' - someone suggests shooting open a lock, but Sharpe points out that all it does is mangle the levers and make it worse. He does play it straight once, but in a way that would work. He shoots the door in. ''[[No Kill Like Overkill|With a cannon]].''
** Played straight in the TV series.
* A character in the ''Island'' series of
* The first ''[[Doom]]'' novel had the hero, as in the game, looking for many keys. The important thing was, blasting open a locked door was entirely possible, given his sci-fi ammunition, it was just that he preferred to save the bullets for the horrible monsters intending to eat him.
* Averted: When faced with a padlocked gate in ''[[The Bourne Supremacy]]'', Jason Bourne noted how useless shooting the lock would be, resulting in only shrapnel and wasted bullets. Instead, he cuts through the fence a discreet distance to the side.
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* The '''ultimate''' version of this trope is when [[Goldfinger]] plans to use a ''[[Empty Quiver|stolen tactical nuclear weapon]]'' to blast open the vault of Fort Knox. This was fortunately changed for the movie.
* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''[[Rainbow Six]]'', a bad guy tries to do this, rather unsuccessfully. He then shoot-cuts the lock off the door using a Uzi.
* In another Clancy work, ''[[Clear and Present Danger]]'', the character doesn't even bother aiming at the lock. Instead, he fires five rounds from his revolver to separate the lock from the door and then opens it, "just like in the movies"
== [[Live
* The above-mentioned ''[[
* Called out by ''[[MacGyver]]'' in "The Wish Child", where Mac, being a [[Technical Pacifist]], explains that shooting a lock won't work. Instead, he empties powder from a cartridge into the lock, then clubs the shell casing with the gun to blow up the lock from the inside.
** And the Mythbusters recently demonstrated that this won't work either. There isn't enough powder in one cartridge (or even six) to sufficiently damage the lock.
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*** Which doesn't make much sense unless the Wraith use special materials in their locks, as the 5.7x28mm round used in the P90 is specially designed to defeat high-quality armor.
** An earlier SG-1 episode manages to avert this, when an NID agent uses a machine pistol on full auto to shoot ''around'' a lock, completely separating it from the rest of the door (and he actually reloads afterward, for bonus verisimilitude).
* Both subverted and used (almost) correctly in the ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' episode "Ariel." Jayne attempts to shoot out a lock with a futuristic stun gun, resulting in total indifference on the part of the door (stun rifles aren't really designed to blow out locks anyway). However, {{spoiler|Mal's shotgun does a much better job at shooting out the lcok, doing substantial damage to the door itself}}.
* In the ''[[Chuck]]'' episode "Chuck Versus the Marlin," Casey shoots open the lock to free Sarah who had been locked in a freezer by an enemy spy.
* Kate successfully shoots a padlock in the ''[[Lost]]'' episode "Eggtown."
* Averted, subverted, lampshaded, and played straight on one episode of [[In Plain Sight]], all within about a minute. The lead, Mary, and another cop are trapped in a burning building. The second cops wants to shoot the lock, but Mary informs him that it won't work; the shrapnel would just bounce back. She tries to find the key for the door on the huge bunch of janitor's keys she used to get into the building, gets impatient, and shoots the lock. No shrapnel, but the dents damage the lock enough for them to get outside. She's surprised that it actually works.
* Played straight in several episodes of the 60s spy series ''[[The Man
* In an episode of ''[[The Green Green Grass]]'', the Driscoll brothers use a pair of AK-47s and destroy every part of the door ''except the lock''.
* Averted in an episode of ''[[
* ''[[
* Jack Bauer does it in the premiere of the eighth season of ''[[
* Used in the ''[[
* Done somewhat ridiculously in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' new series episode "Partners in Crime". A couple of guards try to chase Donna through a locked door. It should be noted she's well out of the way at this point, so it's definitely the door they're shooting. Armed with high-powered assault rifles, they just unload randomly on the door, perforating the entire middle section. They succeed in managing to shoot the handle off... then the door just falls off like they blasted the hinges.
* ''[[Kojak]]'' used a shotgun to blow off the hinges.
* An early episode of the classic run of ''[[Hawaii Five-O]]'' uses this trope. Danno shoots out the lock of a cheap apartment, only to accidentally kill a robbery suspect he was pursuing. The rest of the episode deals with the aftermath.
* Averted in the ''[[Star Trek:
* Averted similarly in an episode of ''[[Sliders]]''. A small security robot is chasing Maggie when a door separates the two. The robot proceeds to carve a hole in the door exactly its size.
* In the first episode of ''[[
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' plays this straight and averts it, depending on the episode. When played straight, it is typically done by shooting all round the edge of the ([[Script Reading Doors|standard sci-fi sliding]]) door to make it fall in. [[Averted]] and [[Discussed Trope|discussed]] at once in an episode where Sheridan warns a group of opponents trapped in an adjoining room that the doors are made from an alloy that will deflect PPG blasts.
{{quote|
* Averted in ''[[Bones]]''. Bones tries to shoot a lock with a revolver, and the bullet ricochets off the lock hitting Booth in the leg. He even knew it was coming.
* Averted in a Season 4 episode of ''[[Top Shot]]''. For one elimination challenge, the players had to breach three locked doors using a specially modified pump shotgun. Their trainer, a former Navy SEAL, took great care to show them how to do the job right: by tilting the barrel down at a 45-degree angle and putting the muzzle between the lock and the doorframe.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Done realistically in ''[[SWAT 4]]'', you need to use a special breaching shotgun to do this, normal guns won't do the trick.
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' actually has several variations on shooting the lock. Blasting the padlock with a gun works. As does kicking the door itself, although that will generally take several attempts (Leon's strong, but he's not ''that'' strong). It's also possible to ''knife'' the lock open. In each case, shooting the lock is not strictly necessary; you ''can'' shoot the chain instead, if it's visible. And for doors that aren't locked at all, but that you don't want to open, you can blow large holes in them. Even with 9mm handgun rounds.
** [[RE 4]] is all over the place with this trope. Some locks can easily be broken while some require considerable firepower, such as the cage fight with the second Garrador and numerous zealots.
* Though not quite the same, several ''[[Star Wars]]'' games allow you to pop open a door simply by using your lightsaber to slice open ''an electronic lock''. Seriously, just one swing and the doors open on their own. Of course, the movies subvert this, showing not only can you ''not'' do this, but it actually takes a while to cut through your standard ship door.
* ''[[Hitman]] Blood Money'' finally introduced this feature to the series as an alternative to opening locked (or even unlocked) doors quickly, noisily, and with a gun aimed into the room beyond.
* In ''[[
* Considering your signature weapon is a crowbar, this is almost [[Justified]] in ''[[Half-Life]]''. Though a bullet will still work, and regardless you just hit it with the crowbar once rather than actually using it.
** The gamemod ''[[They Hunger]]'' has a padlock in an early level. Since the weapons are re-skinns of the ones of ''Half-Life'', you can conserve ammunition by breaking it open with a ''umbrella''.
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** The achievement "The One Free Bullet" is unlocked if you complete the entirety of ''[[Half Life]] 2: Episode 1'', firing exactly one bullet. Take a guess at what you have to use that one bullet for.
** The first game does this a bit differently for a few locked doors, though. If it's locked, you either aren't supposed to go that way, or you ''are'', and you just need to either get someone to unlock it/cut it down, or [[Door to Before|unlock it yourself on the other side]] after getting past it through an air vent or something.
* Similarly, padlocks in ''[[
* The ''[[Metroid]]'' series has an interesting variation. This is the ''only'' way to open a door, as your energy blasts somehow open doors. Architects must've been insane to build doors like this.
** Prime 2 explains this if you scan a door: It's a low powered force field, meant to keep the native (and not-so-native) critters out/in.
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* In ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'', York does this in a cutscene to free Forrest Kaysen, who is locked in the basement of the art gallery. You can also do it to padlocks in regular gameplay, though hitting them with any other weapon will work just as well.
* In the ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]'' series, padlocks can be shot off or bashed off with a melee attack. Unlocked doors can opened with a rifle butt or grenade in the first game's expansions and later; mysteriously they close themselves automatically after a while.
* [[Dead Space (
* ''[[Mind Jack]]'' uses both versions of this in cutscenes. The protagonists find that shooting panels works for either opening or closing doors.
* The only way to open a padlocked door in ''[[Uncharted]]'' is to shoot the lock.
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* ''[[Postal]] 2'' allows you to kick open doors if you're in a hurry, though like ''FEAR'' above they mysteriously close on their own after a while. The "Apocalypse Weekend" expansion adds a sledgehammer that can just break them down entirely.
* In ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'', Claude uses his Phase Gun to bust open the door to Allen's mansion in Salva in order to rescue Rena from him.
* Because ''[[Silent Storm]]'''s lockpicks aren't very effective and are a finite resorce, the most effective way to open a locked door or chest is to just shoot it repeatedly as most bullets are easily replaced.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'' - a constant [[Running Gag]] is that the game you're playing keeps confusing guns with keys anyway.
* Played with by ''[[Spacetrawler]]''. Dmitri shoots the control panel; when this fails to open the door, he comments, "This always works in movies."
* Reynardine takes a [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=218 direct approach] in ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Played with in an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', when Peter rescues Lois from Mel Gibson. Mel proceeds to brandish a gun, which he uses to blast open the lock of a safe, inside which a slightly bigger gun lay.
* ''[[G.I. Joe: Resolute]]'': Duke shoots the electronic lock on Cobra Commander's emergency bunker. Cobra taunts him for thinking that would get him in. Duke replies that he didn't think it would get him in, just prevent Cobra from getting out, as it's revealed he activated the [[Self-Destruct Mechanism]].
* Used often in ''[[Archer]]''... and subverted just as much, as Archer tries shooting out steel locks on bulletproof doors, often resulting in painful ricochets.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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** Makes sense if you think about it, you don't want to be locked in with whatever is destroying those control panels.
*** Like, uh... humidity? Hardware failure? Battery corrosion?
* Works very nicely on a padlock holding a gate shut - the term in my hometown is "local's key"
* There's also the Knight's Armament Company's door breaching shotgun based off the Remington 870, the [[Stealth Pun|Masterkey]]. Though it's also a (very-short barreled, three round) regular shotgun.
* This trope is apparently [[Older Than Television]], with the result that one careless commando in a raid on St Nazaire in [[WW 2]] tried to shoot out a lock without thinking about ricochets and shrapnel and ended up wounding himself rather badly.
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* In dealing with older buildings, especially buildings in a state of disrepair, law enforcement personnel will sometimes opt to breach a ''wall,'' rather than a door, especially if they have solid information that places a criminal near said wall. This can be very effective, and much safer than breaching at a standard entry point, especially in older, poorly maintained buildings.
* Of course, modern, more [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm2j0zsQ92M&feature=related effective] means are sometimes used.
* During the liberation of the Cabanatuan POW Camp in [[WW 2]], S/Sgt Theodore Robinson shot the lock off the main gate using a .45. He actually did this after the .45 was shot out of his hand without injuring him, making this an example of both
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]
[[Category:Guns Do Not Work That Way]]
[[Category:
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