Pistol-Whipping: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"If you get a customer, or an employee, who thinks he's [[Charles Bronson]], take the butt of your gun and smash their nose in. Everybody jumps. He falls down screaming, blood squirts out of his nose, nobody says fucking shit after that."''|'''Mr. White''', ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]''}}

 

 

If you do this in Real Life -- with enough force -- you can actually kill the victim by cracking their skull. Also, even the butt of a gun has quite a few pointy parts, which, if whacked against your face, will cause a lot of bleeding and probably leave a large and permanent scar. Pistol whipping itself is a outdated way of striking somebody with your weapon, along with butt stroking somebody, the proper way is to thrust your barrel in a forward motion into the target. Muzzle strikes to the head are considered a lethal strike. Barrel strikes are typically used to put down a person who isn't considered a lethal threat, the point is to keep the ability to shoot at all times. Butt stroking or pistol whipping sweeps yourself or buddies in the line of fire. A proper non lethal weapon strike can be seen in ''[[Safehouse]]'' by Denzel's character to Ryan Reynolds' character in the soccer stadium, though a strike of that nature would typically break the sternum.

One purpose of Pistol Whipping is to humiliate your captured enemy (or moronic henchman). You've got a gun, and you could kill them right there, but they're so insignificant, so pathetic, so helpless, that you can just smash them across the face and be done with it. It also causes a lot of bleeding, making a character look a lot worse than they really are. It is also possible to damage or break the magazine or handle of the weapon, depending on the model and the force of the blow.

 

 

A rare case of the [[Evil Overlord List]] ''not'' reflecting common sense, as nearly all modern militaries train their troops in how to fight using their rifle as a melee weapon (although it might be that the Evil Overlord just hates it when henchmen Pistol Whip the Hero ''rather'' than shoot him). This was also fairly common during the time periods where firearms were not very advanced and required a lot of time and effort to reload which meant that sometimes it was more prudent to use your gun as a melee weapon rather than trying to reload it in the middle of battle.

== Anime and Manga ==

* Train Hartnett of ''[[Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat]]'' has basically turned this into a fine art. Since he's chosen not to kill people, he's always clubbing them with his VERY HARD INDESTRUCTIBLE GUN, although since he's a former elite assassin it might explain why he's able to avoid killing with it.

* Early in the second season of [[Strike Witches]], Gertrude's two heavy machine guns run out of ammo, so she grabs them by the barrels and uses them as melee weapons.

* Some pilots in ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' / ''[[Robotech]]'' (most notabily, Hikaru Ichijo / Rick Hunter) have used their Gunpods as an improvised meelee weapon when they had ran low of ammo or missiles.

== Comic Books ==

* In the original ''[[Sin City]]'' comic (though not in the film), Marv actually criticises Wendy's technique while she's pistol-whipping him in case she harms the ''gun''! But then, he is crazy. [[Made of Iron|And unkillable.]]

* [[Tintin]] knocks out two criminals with this in "The Black Island" to shut them up when he realizes that the gun he obtained from them is empty.

* In ''[[Quantum and Woody]]'', Woody butt strokes an armored goon after discovering his rifle has been loaded with rubber bullets.

** Tommy also does this to Billy Batts after he's pushed his [[Berserk Button]] so hard that the gun ends up breaking.

* In ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]'' Stanley Ipkiss does it twice: he knocks out the cop guarding his jail cell in order to escape and takes out a [[Mook]] offscreen while infiltrating the Coco Bongo club.

* Played with in a particularly bad Lou Diamond Philips movie, where he is pistol whipped several times, causing him to ask, "Doesn't anybody ''shoot'' guns anymore?" Eventually he gets the gun away from one of the people, and winds up like he's going to hit her with it. "See how ''you'' like it!"

* A Somali in ''[[Black Hawk Down]]'' uses his AK-47 as a makeshift club and smacks the pilot of one of the titular choppers across the face with it.

* Used repeatedly in ''[[Firefly]]'', often with ''very'' satisfying results.

* Someone on ''[[Lost]]'' gets hit in the head/face with a gun roughly every other episode. For example:

** Kate also hits a guard with the butt of a rifle in "Not in Portland."

* Archvillain Fox hits one of the cops with his gun in the second episode of ''[[The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed]]''.

* In the Jesse James vs. Al Capone episode of ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'', pistol whipping is tested as one of Jesse Jame's "weapons" against Al Capone's brass knuckles.

* In the 1999 TV Series of ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', Bill Sikes used this technique to land two very bloody blows on {{spoiler|Nancy, before he finished her off with a club}}.

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'', Kaito does this to Yuusuke in the Agito's World episodes to get the G3 Chip from him, though Yuusuke isn't badly injured.

** ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'' Gun Form is usually [[The Gunslinger]], but he isn't above using his firearms as melee weapons.

** In ''[[Dawn of War]]'', you get to watch it happen. In the rare occasions Tau Fire Warriors kill anything in melee combat, they will generally do so by first rifle whipping it to the edge of death, then ''[[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|fire several pulse rounds into the target's face]]''.

** Some races take this even further by sticking ''blades'' on their guns. The Kroot have blades sticking out of the stocks of their rifles (kind of reasonable, as they were designed from more primitive staves) while the Dark Eldar regularly have knives adorning the bottom of the grips on their guns.

* The Tabletop RPG ''[[Star Wars]]'': Saga Edition gives a talent that lets one do that: Gun Club. A later talent builds upon that, allowing one to use weapons with bayonets as double weapons.

* In [[GURPS]] pistol whipping is just slightly better than punching someone. A few weapons, like the Tower Sea Service Flintlock, do considerably more damage.

== Video Games ==

* ''Winback'' for the Nintendo 64. Sneaking up on someone and pistol whipping them is entirely possible, but your trainer (after shoving out a guy for you to practice on, ) says this is not really always effective. So blasting 'em is better.

** Snake himself utilizes this trope. If a weapon is equipped, and he attempts to punch, he will swing the weapon and do more damage to enemies than he would with his bare fists.

* In ''Perfect Dark'' for the N64, it's entirely possible to steal a mook's Generic Pistol, then knock him out with it.

** More than fairly useful - the developers (and players) know it is an essential part of the gameplay, two melee hits in standard multiplayer will kill anyone, making it a prudent thing to use after shooting someone and closing in. Many fights with the standard-equipment end with a melee attack there. A hit from behind is instantly fatal.

** It was actually taken to the extreme in Halo 3. Before it was removed, a melee kill would send the vanquished flying across the map. When asked why this is, Bungie replied [[Rule of Cool|"Because it's awesome".]] Unfortunately, it was later removed and player models behaved more realistically from melee kills.

* In ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'', shoving, which is essentially (though it can be done with bare hands or non-combat items), makes less bulky infected stumble back, giving players breathing room to shoot. It's fatal if done repeatedly ([[Cherry Tapping|though it takes a while to kill even a Common Infected]]), and a [[One-Hit Kill]] if performed [[Back Stab|from behind on an unaware Common]]<ref>This actually nets you an [[Video Game Achievements|achievement]]</ref>. Good when conserving ammo, backed into a corner, or [[Interface Screw|covered in boomer bile]]. It was so [[Game Breaker|game breaking]]<ref>in fact, the most popular strategy was to choose the auto shotgun, huddle in a corner when a horde comes and shove ''ad infinitum'', which frustrated Infected players in Versus to no end unless there was a Tank to break the formation</ref> that later updates and [[Left 4 Dead 2|the second game]] included a slight [[Combat Breakdown]] [[Nerf]] in the form of fatigue, where shoving needs a certain cooldown after a few consecutive strikes if you're not under the effect of [[Sprint Shoes|an adrenaline shot]] ([[Word of God]] says it's been implemented to simulate the survivor tiring out after a while).

* In ''[[Gears of War]]'', the most common strategy in multiplayer was to run right up to your target, pop up at the last second and shotgun them in half. The Developers thought this was boring, so they added a delay between when you stop running and when you can fire. Now the most common strategy in ''[[Gears Of War 2]]'' is to run right up to your target, pop up at the last second, club them with the butt-end of your shotgun, ''then'' shotgun them in half.

* Awesomely subverted in ''[[The Punisher]]'' video game in which the Punisher prepares to pistol whip a mook but shoots him instead as said mook recoils in expectation of the gun strike.

** You can hit guards with your weapons; typically when holding guards as a human shield, it's a nonlethal kill (the Punisher showing mercy? Egads!); however, some specific close range kill animations feature the Punisher clubbing the gangsters to death.

* Mr. X from ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' has a very annoying tendency to run right up to you and smack you in the face with his tommy gun. Which actually turns out to be much more powerful than [[Guns Are Worthless|actually firing it]].

* Draco from ''[[Samurai Shodown]]: Edge of Destiny'' takes this to its logical extreme, using a shotgun primarily as a melee weapon. Actually makes a certain amount of sense, considering all the playable characters use standard melee weapons...and while he does actually ''shoot'' with his gun, it [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|doesn't kill or incapacitate instantly]], and he has to reload after two shots.

* Also Smugglers gets the Blaster Whip ability in ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic]]'', Troopers also get the Stock Strike ability, which is e done by smacking the enemy in the face with the rifle butt. Commandos with BFG will just swing the assault cannon and smack the enemy with it.

* The 2010 ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' game allows the Marine players to do this. While hardly practical to kill an enemy, it does generally give them enough space to use their firearms effectively. However, it does raise the question of how strong the Marines would have to be, considering when Arnold Schwarzenegger tried it the Predator just looked kind of annoyed and when Yaphet Kotto went hand-to-hand with an Alien he died almost immediately.

* In [[Mass Effect 2|Mass Effect 2's]] Overlord DLC, [[Good Is Not Nice|a Paragon interrupt allows you to pistol-whip]] [[Complete Monster|the bad guy]].

** The original Mass Effect allows you to hit a Wrex with the butt of a shotgun. This is pistol-whipping a ten-foot warlord which most peole would take down with a ''rocket launcher''.

* [[Bury Your Gays|Matthew Shepard]] was pistol-whipped to death while tied to a fence.

* Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp--and yes, that's his full name--was actually known for this. It is said that, around Dodge City when he was deputy, having a knot on one's head was actually known as having an "Earp."

** According to myth, Earp favored an extra-large revolver known as a [[wikipedia:Colt Buntline|Buntline Special]] specifically so he could flog people with its long and heavy barrel.

*** Do it a few times and your gun [[Reality Is Unrealistic|will never fire straight afterwards]] unless you change the barrel. An expert marksman would have known better than to ruin his gun this way.

** [[Gun Kata|Rifle Kata?]]

** [[The More You Know|This is why all military rifles were full-stock]] while their civilian/hunting versions were usually not. The wooden part had to protect the barrel of the weapon from bending, nicking, pitting and so on, otherwise the gun would quickly lose any kind of accuracy.

*** Yes. Infantrymen are taught all manner of methods for mayhem, from bare-handed to edged weapons to the use of the rifle and fixed bayonet; US infantrymen, and probably many others, are even [[Improbable Weapon User|taught to use the entrenching tool]]--the infantryman's small folding spade--as a battle-axe in melee combat. The Japanese even have a martial art system called jukenjutsu for the rifle and bayonet, and JGSDF infantry units compete fiercely for prizes. JASDF and JMSDF units tend to compete at kendo instead.

** Also a favoured tactic of Swedish cavalrymen during the Thirty Years War. High speed charges and low effective range of pistol volleys meant that there was little time to draw a sword before the melee began. Swedish cavalry pistols from this time are almost 4 inches longer than their continental counterparts, and have brass- or steel-plated butts specifically for this purpose.

** The pistols favored by 18th century Scottish Highlanders seemed to be made with this in mind, being made entirely of steel.

** He also cracked Fred Seward's skull so badly it was thought to be highly unlikely that he'd survive. He did.

* Most interpretations of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution have Davy Crockett and other doomed defenders resorting to using their rifles as clubs by the end of the siege.