History Main / CrooksAreBetterArmed

* In ''Film/RoboCop1987'', Dick Jones, an exec in OCP which owns the police, wants Robocop destroyed, so he supplies Clarence's gang with military hardware.

%% * In ''Film/{{Robocop}}'', Dick Jones, an exec in OCP which owns the police, wants Robocop destroyed, so he supplies Clarence's gang with military hardware.

* Somewhat averted in some high risk areas like Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport (AKA one of the most secure airports in the world) or Fort Knox or many Army installations, where security and police carry full-auto submachine guns (and Fort Knox is right next to an Army base with [[TankGoodness plenty of armored cavalry]]). Airports have higher security than the usual city block, though.

-->-- '''Commissioner Gordon''', ''Film/BatmanBegins''

* Downplayed in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. The crooks have rifles and are more indiscriminate about using them. The police and SWAT have rifles, but they rarely use them. Notably, the Joker surprises them at one point by pulling out ''a rocket launcher''.

* TruthInTelevision: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout On North Hollywood, CA in 1997]], two gunmen held up a Bank of America. When police arrived, they discovered the gunmen were wearing body armor and armed with fully automatic assault rifles with armor piercing rounds and custom [[MoreDakka drum magazines]], so the cops' service revolvers were completely ineffective. The police actually raided a nearby gun shop for AR-15 rifles and commandeered an armored money transporter in order to fight back effectively. After this incident, LAPD were regularly issued AR-15s in their squad cars.

* Typically, policemen on patrol are lightly armed, with only a pistol holstered and possibly a shotgun or rifle in the squad car. If the emergency they're called for involves battling a heavily armed criminal, that's when a SWAT Team would be sent who would have stronger weapons.
* Somewhat averted in some hi-risk areas like the Tel Aviv airport (or Fort Knox), security and police carry full-auto submachine guns (and Fort Knox is right next to an Army base with [[TankGoodness plenty of armored cavalry]]). Airports have higher security than the usual city block, though.

* Zigzagged in MetalSlug: your team of mercenaries come with a pistol and supply of small grenades against whole infantries. Even if you can get HEVEE MASHINE GUN or RAWKET LAWNCHAIR and the various Slugs later, your enemies will still have a lot of things under their sleeves. DeathOfAThousandCuts applies, though, so with enough shootings they'll all fall down.

%% * Zigzagged in MetalSlug: your team of mercenaries come with a pistol and supply of small grenades against whole infantries. Even if you can get HEVEE MASHINE GUN or RAWKET LAWNCHAIR and the various Slugs later, your enemies will still have a lot of things under their sleeves. DeathOfAThousandCuts applies, though, so with enough shootings they'll all fall down.

* On the climactic shootout of the second ''Film/DeathWish'' movie, Paul Kersey and an InspectorJavert cop (both armed with handguns) end up fighting a gang of crooks armed with black-market assault rifles and submachine guns.
* In ''Film/{{Robocop}}'', Dick Jones, an exec in OCP which owns the police, wants Robocop destroyed, so he supplies Clarence's gang with military hardware.

The reason for this trope can vary. Sometimes it implies that the law enforcement is held back by HonorBeforeReason; they could do better against crooks if they'd use more deadly guns. Other times it can seem like a critique against the United States' Second Amendment; why do we let the public gain such dangerous weapons legally? At its core, though, it's ultimately a way of increasing the stakes, so that the viewer roots for the underdogs.

* In ''Film/Robocop1987'', Dick Jones, an exec in OCP which owns the police, wants Robocop destroyed, so he supplies Clarence's gang with military hardware.

* A common explanation given for this in RealLife is that police departments have to get the mayor/city council to sign off on their budget; criminals who can't afford a powerful gun [[NoDelaysForTheWicked can either steal it outright or get the money illegally]].

* Somewhat averted in RealLife, in some hi-risk areas like the Tel Aviv airport, security and police carry full-auto submachine guns. Airports have higher security than the usual city block, though.

* In ''Film/{{Robocop}}'', Dick Jones, an exec in OCP which owns the police, wants Robocop destroyed, so he supplies Clarence's gang with military hardware.

* John Woo's Hard Boiled is a straight up example- near the end of the movie, the cops surround the hospital used by the BigBad as a front for their gun smuggling operations. Naturally, the criminals break out their armaments and tear into the cops laying siege to the hospital.

* A common explanation given for this in RealLife is that police departments have to get the mayor/city council to sign off on their budget; criminals who can't afford a powerful gun [[NoDelaysForTheWicked can either steal it outright or get the money illegally]].

%% * Linked to the budget explanation, most criminals that aren't tied to organized crime can be expected to have only legal or illegal but widely available on black market weapons. While criminals in the mafia or yakuza or drug cartels have enough money to buy armories full of illegal weapons.

* The climax of the ''[[TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "''The Lastest Gun In The West ''" involves a group of thieves (led by Snake) getting in a shootout with the police while trying to rob a bank, with [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being only Wiggum and ThoseTwoGuys armed with revolvers and the robbers (six of them) being equipped with body armour and [[ShoutOut the]] [[Film/{{Aliens}} M41A Pulse Rifle]]. [[RockBeatsLaser They are beat by an alcoholic cowboy packing a lasso]].

* TruthInTelevision: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout On North Hollywood, CA in 1997]], two gunmen held up a Bank of America. When police arrived, they discovered the gunmen were wearing body armor and armed with fully automatic assault rifles with armor piercing rounds and custom [[MoreDakka drum magazines]], so the cops' service revolvers were completely ineffective. The police actually raided a nearby gun shop for AR-15 rifles and commandeered an armoured money transporter in order to fight back effectively. After this incident, LAPD were regularly issued AR-15s in their squad cars.

%% This seems to be a general trend, really. Better armed police = more villainous police. Unarmed police are definitely good, as are beat cops with service revolvers. Police with automatic pistols start being more shady. Assault rifle toting paramilitary in black body armour? Bad guys.

* Creator/JohnWoo's ''Hard Boiled'': Near the end of the movie, the cops surround the hospital used by the BigBad as a front for their gun smuggling operations. Naturally, the criminals break out their armaments and tear into the cops laying siege to the hospital.

* TruthInTelevision: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout On North Hollywood, CA in 1997]], two gunmen held up a Bank of America. When police arrived, they discovered the gunmen were wearing body armor and armed with fully automatic assault rifles with armor piercing rounds, so the cops' service revolvers were completely ineffective. The police actually raided a nearby gun shop for AR-15 rifles in order to fight back effectively. After this incident, LAPD were regularly issued AR-15s in their squad cars.

* The climax of the ''[[TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "''The Lastest Gun In The West ''" involves a group of thieves (led by Snake) getting in a shootout with the police while trying to rob a bank, with [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being only Wiggum and ThoseTwoGuys armed with revolvers and the robbers (six of them) being equipped with body armour and [[ShoutOut the]] [[Film/{{Aliens}} M41A Pulse Rifle]].

* The climax of the ''[[TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "''The Lastest Gun In The West ''" involves a group of thieves (led by Snake) getting in a shootout with the police while trying to rob a bank, with [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being only Wiggum and ThoseTwoGuys armed with revolvers and the robbers (six of them) being equipped with body armour and [[ShoutOut the]] [[Film{{Aliens}} M41A Pulse Rifle]].

* ''Film/{{Hancock}}'': cops wielding standard-issue handguns plus a few rifles are pinned down by a group of bank robbers wearing BodyArmor and armed with machine guns and BottomlessMagazines. Hancock shows up in order to pull the two pinned down cops to safety, then catch the robbers.

* ''Film/BatmanBegins'' justifies this trope and {{foreshadow}}s The Joker's appearance in ''The Dark Knight'' in TheStinger.
-->'''Gordon:''' We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar...they buy armor-piercing rounds.
-->'''Batman:''' And?
-->'''Gordon:''' And you're wearing a mask...and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this new guy. Armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical. Like you. Leaves a calling card. ''[hands Batman a Joker card in an evidence bag]''

Often in fiction. when the police and crooks start a firefight, the criminals will have more powerful guns. They'll be wielding automatic weapons, and sometimes even explosive ones. As for the cops, they'll be forced to fight back with pistols.

The reason for this trope can vary. Sometimes it implies that the law enforcement is held back by HonorBeforeReason; they could do better against crooks if they'd use more deadly guns. Usually it's because the profligate use of automatic weapons in densely populated areas is contrary to the public safety. Other times it can seem like a critique against the United States' Second Amendment; why do we let the public gain such dangerous weapons legally? At its core, though, it's ultimately a way of increasing the stakes, so that the viewer roots for the underdogs.

The reason for this trope can vary. Sometimes it implies that the law enforcement is held back by HonorBeforeReason; they could do better against crooks if they'd use more deadly guns. Other times it can seem like a critique against the United States' Second Amendment; why do we let the public gain such dangerous weapons legally? At its core, though, it's ultimately a way of increasing the stakes, so that the viewer roots for the underdogs.

Oftentimes in fiction when the law enforcement and crooks start a firefight, the criminals will have more powerful guns. They'll be wielding automatic weapons, and sometimes even explosive ones. As for the cops, they'll be forced to fight back with pistols.

The reason for this trope can vary. Sometimes it implies that the law enforcement is held back by HonorBeforeReason; they could do better against crooks if they'd use more deadly guns. Other times it can seem like a critique against the US's second amendment; why do we let the public gain such dangerous weapons legally? At its core, though, it's ultimately a way of increasing the stakes, so that the viewer roots for the underdogs.

* In ''{{Manga/Jormungand}}'', Orchestra is known to be this. They have been involved in several shootouts with police forces around the world with police officers killed due to the group's access to better small arms such as assault rifles and grenade launchers.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' opens with a police chase. The crooks open fire out their car's window with an automatic rifle, the police shoot back with a pistol. [[ATeamFiring No one gets hurt]] in the half minute they spend driving around the block firing wildly.

* In ''{{Film/Firestorm}}'', the Hong Kong Police Force gets severe casualties when they are engaged by a heavily armed robbery crew to the point of having a showdown in Central where they blow the CNG pipeline as a last act of defiance before the crew is taken down.

* CorridorDigital's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Ib9SwC7EI Superman with a GoPro]]" uses this. Two crooks with rifles hold off a lone policeman with a pistol. Naturally, though, [[ShootingSuperman those rifles are then outmatched by]] {{Franchise/Superman}}.

-> '''Dick Jones:''' Suit yourself Clarence... But Delta City begins construction in two months. That's two million workers living in trailers, that means drugs, gambling, prostitution... Virgin territory for the man who knows how to open up new markets... one man could control it all, Clarence.
-> '''Clarence Boddicker:''' Well I guess we're gonna be friends after all, ''Richard''.
-> '''Dick Jones:''' ''[tosses Robocop's tracking device to Clarence]'' Destroy it.
-> '''Clarence Boddicker:''' Gonna need some major firepower. You got access to military weaponry?
-> '''Dick Jones:''' We practically ''are'' the military.