View source for The Lethal Connotation of Guns and Others

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{{quote|''And one of them has greatest super power of all: '''[[Large Ham|GUUUUUUUUNNNNNSSSSSS!]]'''''|[[Totally Radical|90's Kid]], [[Atop the Fourth Wall]]}}
In media in general, and media with children in the demographic in particular, ''nothing'' is more dangerous or deadly than an old-fashioned gun. Guns have [[Instant Death Bullet]]s, and those are the only things likely to cause instant death.

Knives, swords, arrows, etc., can hit square-on but [[Only a Flesh Wound|leave flesh wounds that cause little more trouble than paper cuts]]. Blunt weapons may just bruise, if that, even when they hit. Lasers are often [[Family-Friendly Firearms]] that just stun, or leave burns with little more effect than a burn from a hot stove. Bombs sometimes leave just a soot layer on their targets; more realistic works will let a character [[Outrun the Fireball]]. If a building falls on top of a character, he may crawl out of the rubble with nothing more than a layer of gray dust—yes, even in works that are superficially realistic. Tornadoes will just fling a character aside even if he [[Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud|does touch the funnel cloud]], and [[Convection, Schmonvection]] gives enough protection from fire that almost anyone can escape it. Poisonous gas has antidotes, and the worst effects can be escaped if you hold your breath as soon as you know it's there. Even the radiation from a nuclear bomb, the other scariest weapon a character is likely to run into, sometimes causes [[I Love Nuclear Power|beneficial mutations]]; even when it doesn't, it often leaves few side effects between the radiation poisoning and death.

But old-fashioned guns? If a bullet hits, even the overly minor flesh wounds are gonna hurt like mad. No one just shrugs off bullets. And if a bullet hits in a place that looks deadly, then it ''will'' kill, painfully. There may be time for a [[Final Speech]], but usually not for an ambulance.

It is also easier to protect yourself from other weapons than from bullets. If armor blocks a physical blow, melee weapon, or arrow, there often will be no damage; in the case of the melee weapons, the character protected may be impacted so little that it violates Newton's Third Law. Gas masks let in all the oxygen and none of the gas. Bomb shelters protect against bombs so well that they never even lose their shape; tornado shelters never lose more than the entry door when the tornado passes over them. But, even given that [[Bulletproof Vest]]s are more effective in fiction than in [[Real Life]], if it stops the bullet, then the bullet will ''still'' knock the character off his feet or even knock him out.

The characters are aware at some level that guns are the most dangerous weapons they can face. [[Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh]] can be played for laughs; but if a character is [[Immune to Bullets]], then only the [[Weaksauce Weakness]] will hurt him, and the opposing side will react accordingly. Only the best at their arts can deflect a bullet. And characters only willingly [[Taking the Bullet|take bullets]] if they are [[Immune to Bullets|invulnerable to them,]] willing to die, or wearing a bulletproof vest.

Fortunately, in series where guns are common and are like this, [[Inverse Law of Sharpness and Accuracy|there are usually]] [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|few people good at aiming them]].

In [[Real Life]], guns are extremely common and not infrequently used [[We All Live in America|in America]]. They are not ''[[Exact Words|always]]'' deadly, but it's easier for children to find and inadvertently hurt someone with an unattended gun than most other types of weapons. This trope is thus an attempt by the [[Moral Guardians]] to [[Scare'Em Straight]]. As to whether this effort to make guns disproportionately scarier than other weapons actually has the intended effect, that's a long and nuanced issue best saved for the Analysis subpage.

Counterintuitively, [[Bloodless Carnage]] can make the impression more effective. In old movies, and some newer shows that retain the trope, it often appears that guns fire death itself rather than speedy bits of metal.

[[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]] can be a subtrope of this. Contrast [[Guns Are Worthless]]. See also [[Non-Fatal Explosions]].

{{examples|The dangers of guns are exaggerated in these works:}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* One episode of ''[[Pokémon]]'' shows Ash and Pikachu frightened of a robber who brandishes a pistol. Pikachu can summon lightning ([[Screw the Rules I Have Plot|and ignore all sorts of game rules]]), [[Team Rocket]] is always [[A Twinkle in the Sky|blasting off]] after some Pokemon-related explosion hits, but bullets from a gun are apparently worse. (Luckily they had walked onto a movie set and it was a prop gun.)
** Subverted in another episode - Ash is berated by his friends for sending Pikachu after a man with a gun, then another Pokemon takes him out.

== [[Comics]] ==
* Taken to an almost humorous extreme in [[Wanted]], where Wesley's skill with firearms is treated as an unstoppable trump card. At one point, as the [[Big Bad]] urges his minions to "do something" about the oncoming [[Anti-Hero]], Wesley muses to himself "like what? stop a bullet with their faces?" It seems to not occur to the writer that, in fact, many super villains are more than capable of exactly that.

== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Going along with the [[Pokémon|main series]]' premise (see the example above), firearms are by far the best sort of individual weaponry available during the [[Poke Wars]]. Almost nothing faced so far couldn't be killed by well-applied small arms fire.

== [[Film]] ==
* This is why ''William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet'' (with [[Leonardo DiCaprio]]) uses Sword brand guns. Characters are able to escape ''the explosion of a gas station'' (caused by gunfire), but ''no one'' is able to live through the direct hit of a gun.
* Guns are almost always instantly lethal in [[Film Noir]]. 

== Toys ==
* The characters in ''[[Bionicle]]'' never have realistic guns, but they do carry explosives, rocket launchers, lasers, swords, chainsaws and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|squid launchers.]]

== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Super Smash Brothers]] Brawl'', Snake uses explosives instead of his guns for weaponry. In his original canon of ''[[Metal Gear]]'', he had a perfectly serviceable [[Stun Guns|tranquilizer gun]].
** The [[Word of God|stated]] reason he only uses explosives is because they're [[Rule of Cool|cooler]] and [[Rule of Funny|funnier]] than just shooting people.
* Takaya's magnum revolver in [[Persona 3]]. despite the protagonists being shocked, stabbed, burned, frozen, and pierced, one shot from his gun  {{spoiler|kills both Shinji and Junpei, only one of whom get better}}. Granted, it ''is'' a high powered magnum, but still.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Mocked in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' in an [[April Fools' Day]] one-shot where his family of ninja (and gunslinging sidekick) are murdered by their only weakness: "Bullets...from a gun."

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[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:The Lethal Connotation of Guns and Others]]
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