This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: I Disarmed It: From YKTTW
Mattock: I was wondering, is there an example of someone who, when confronted with this trope, doesn't hesitate like a moron while the baddie shoots him, but rather flips out and starts pistol-whipping the baddie?
Sookie Stackhouse of all people does that in True Blood
Nohbody: Would it be subversion, played straight, or another trope for the "held at gunpoint" scene in the Man-Kzin wars novel Cat House, where the human protagonist has a bead drawn on the remaining bad guy, using a Kzinti gun whose lit "insufficient power" indicator is intentionally covered up to make it look like the weapon had enough of a charge for at least one more shot (like, say, the one that would kill said bad guy)?
(I'm pretty sure that "insufficient charge" not being "out of juice", which leads to accidentally burning down the house in which the confrontation took place, is another trope entirely, but which one I have no idea.)
[later] Given the Star Trek phaser example, I'm guessing "not enough juice" is close enough. Worst case, it gets deleted later. :)
