History Main / GunsVsSwords

** Guns. There's Han Solo's declaration that "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader proves him wrong. On Hoth in the same film, Han uses Luke's lightsaber briefly (the only non-jedi to do so in the film series) to cut open Luke's mount.

* Depending where you live, legally obtaining a firearm may be impossible. Most countries today do not restrict swordsmanship or fencing (although openly carrying around a big sword might still get you on trouble).

* [[RevolversAreJustBetter Revolvers]] and [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotguns]] are badass!

* [[KatanasAreJustBetter Katanas]] [[ParryingBullets can deflect and cut (certain) bullets in half!]]

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', Spike uses a gun, and his rival, Vicious, uses a katana. They're shown to be equal fighters, at least partially because Vicious recognizes the limits of his weapon and uses stealth to get up close.
** Having said that, both times they fight, Spike has already taken at least one gunshot wound. But since it's a HeroicBloodshed show, it can be questioned whether they [[JustAFleshWound slow him down]].

* Episode 12 of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' had a scene where Revy and KnifeNut mercenary Shenhua argued about whether guns or knives were better, and then decided to demonstrate their points by slaughtering a small army pursuing them.
** Also, Revy vs. Ginji, who does in fact wield a katana and can [[ParryingBullets cut bullets in half with it]]. After much bullet-slicing and GunKata, [[spoiler:Revy wins.]]

* We get this late into ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' once [[spoiler:the Military Police's Central 1st Brigade gets introduced and they clash with the Survey Corps.]]

* In a team up event, Comicbook/{{Blade}} and Comicbook/ThePunisher meet on a rooftop. Punisher has a gun to Blade's head and Blade has his sword to Punisher's neck.
* Elsa Bloodstone in ''Comicbook/{{Nextwave}}'' was a combat specialist, and mostly stuck to using guns, but upon facing a bunch of samurai robots, she declares "[[RuleOfCool Samurai Robots beat guns. Every time]]." So she drops her guns, pulls out her own sword, and proceeds to face them that way.
** And by sword we mean Shovel.

* In a famous scene from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', Indiana Jones is confronted by a formidable sword wielder. [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim So Indy just shoots him]].
** Allegedly [[ThrowItIn a hasty rewrite]]. An epic SwordFight was planned but Harrison Ford had a minor back injury when it was due to be filmed. [[RuleOfFunny Comedy]] and [[CombatPragmatist pragmatism]] took the day.
*** Another version has Ford suffering from diarrhea that day.

* ''StarWars''

* Don't forget the ending sequence for the ''Film/VForVendetta'' movie - the bad guys shoot up V with submachine guns. But, thanks to his superhuman strength (and metal chest plate) recovers enough strength to kill them all with his many knives before they can reload.

* Exaggerated in [[Literature/{{Okuyyuki}} "Okuyyuki"]], which goes one better and makes it ''[[CoolVsAwesome T-72 tanks vs katana]]''. [[OneManArmy Reilly]] takes on four of them with only his sword. [[spoiler: He wins, but is mortally wounded in the process]].

* [[Series/MockTheWeek "A lot of you will be wondering, why there are so many wonderful treasures on display here, at the British Museum. Now, it is quite simple, really: Gun beats spear!"]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is all about charging the enemy before he can gun you down, or shooting him before he can reach you.
** Though many units designed for close-combat use SwordAndGun as the rules make having a pistol and melee weapon the same as having [[DualWielding two melee weapons]] for lots of melee weapon types except you can shoot with the pistol, combining two great tastes in one.

* In the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series, swords tend to do more damage per ammo cost than most ranged attacks to compensate for lack of range. Examples are Slash Claw from ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'' and Flame Sword from ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'': Ever Since Zero became fully playable since ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', this trope becomes the player's decision- X's ArmCannon or Zero's LaserBlade. [[spoiler: Also, X v.s. Zero in ''VideoGame/MegaManX5''. Whichever weapon comes out on top is decided by the player]].
* Also referred to in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork''. Title Character [=MegaMan=] uses an ArmCannon as his signature weapon, while TheRival [=ProtoMan=] makes use of a BladeBelowTheShoulder.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' compares the two, complete with ''StarWars'' reference, [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20020702 here]]. Judging by [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20020703 the next strip]], Torg ultimately decided a gun ([[MoreDakka or three]]) ''and'' a sword was [[SwordAndGun the best option]].

* Part way through episode "War" of ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' Aeon is already dead by this point (not a spoiler, she always dies), and the guy who killed her is making is way through armies of mooks. He is brought up short by a guy doing fancy twirly moves with a sword. He watches for a moment, and sardonically looks at his gun. After a moment, he simply shoots the guy... ''who then deflects the bullet with his blade'' and impales our hero in a single swift move. And onwards...
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' tends to lean both ways with this. Guns in the hands of {{Mook}}s are typically pretty useless against the sword-swinging samurai, but any gun user with training and experience, like the Clench Family and The Scotsman, are able to use them with great effect. The Clenches actually were losing against Jack ''until'' they brandished their guns, which quickly turned the battle in their favor.

** And up until the development of more modern cartridge-based firearms, the biggest great equalizer when you've only got time for one shot was the use of [[BayonetYa bayonets]], though that essentially settled the debate in favor of melee. Granted, the initial volley(s) remained every bit as essential to winning the battle as other ranged weapons were in earlier times, the addition of bayonets meant you could give every soldier in your army a gun ''and'' a bayonet instead of splitting melee and firearm roles between different formations, and the development of rifled firearms offered another essential use for guns, creating the prototypical ColdSniper. Though when guns were still muzzle-loading, that rifling [[AwesomeYetImpractical did hinder one's ability to shove the bullet and wadding fully down the barrel.]]

* Some early battles of UsefulNotes/WW1 played out like this. In the opening months of the war, the Germans had settled down into the trenches and had adopted the attrition tactics that [=WW1=] is remembered for; however, what most people forget is that [=WW1=] was an entirely new kind of war, and introduced tactics like tanks, artillery barrages and air support that had simply not existed beforehand. Therefore, the British and French kept trying to use the tactics they had been using in the colonial wars for decades- which were based pretty heavily on cavalry charges to break the lines. The British cavalry relied on their sabres much more than their pistols (because it's hard to aim a gun whilst riding a galloping horse), and some French cavalry regiments did not even carry guns because [[HonorBeforeReason it was ungentlemanly]]; meanwhile, the Germans were tooled up with [[GatlingGood machine]] [[{{Dakka}} guns]]. [[{{Deconstruction}} For an example of how well swords versus guns worked in this situation]], watch the first hour of ''Film/WarHorse''. They eventually learned better, and [=WW1=] changed the face of warfare forever.

* And then there's "Mad Jack" Churchill, who fought with a claymore (and not the 'mine' kind) in [=WW2=].[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill]]
** He wasn't using the {{Film/Braveheart}} kind of claymore, either. The sword Jack Churchill used was a basket-hilted one-handed affair, not a giant stonking {{BFS}}. [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Jack_Churchill_leading_training_charge_with_sword.jpg A picture of him, sword in hand (bottom right).]]

* Featured prominently in ''Film/SukiyakiWesternDjango'', all manner of weapon was used, culminating in a dual between the Hero and the Big Bad in the final scene, with the {{Hero}} using a pistol against the BigBad's Katana. He even parries a strike from the Katana, locking it against the finger guard. [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sx1MlBYps0A/SavFyGdt3aI/AAAAAAAAAYk/iJ2PkqG4S3g/s320/sukiyaki-western-django-2.jpg As shown in this picture]]

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': The AxCrazy orderly Skelter holds the opinion that guns tend to make people sloppy and careless, making it that much easier for him to get up close and personal with his {{kni|feNut}}ves.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}} 2'', you can have a competition with the gunfighter to see which is better: Your katana or his rifle, seeing who can kill the most enemies in a fixed period of time. Of course, this is a katana against a 16th century matchlock. In real life, the gunman would have only been able to shoot a handful of times in the timeframe involved.
* In ''VideoGame/{{ResidentEvil4}}'', Leon and Ada [[CutscenePowerToTheMax have a flashy knife-to-gun fight]]. In the end, Leon gets the upper hand, disarms Ada and holds his knife to her throat. [[WorthyOpponent He lets up,]] [[UnresolvedSexualTension though.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' a ludicrously effective strategy is using Marathon (for unlimited sprinting), Lightweight (to move faster), and Commando (which lets you stab enemies from a longer distance away) - and use a pistol with a tactical knife attachment (to stab faster). Essentially, this lets you dash everywhere and stab everyone for a one-hit kill. Granted, if someone sees you coming, they can gun you down from a distance pretty easily, but ninja-ing your way through the maps is still quite effective.

* In the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' series, swords tend to do more damage per ammo cost than most ranged attacks to compensate for lack of range. Examples are Slash Claw from ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'' and Flame Sword from ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'': Ever Since Zero became fully playable since ''X4'', this trope becomes the player's decision- X's ArmCannon or Zero's LaserBlade. [[spoiler: Also, X v.s. Zero in ''X5''. Whichever weapon comes out on top is decided by the player]].

** But then comes the ''Fall of the Samurai'' campaign, set during the Boshin War. Not only are handheld firearms much more dangerous and widespread, you can also field powerful artillery pieces like [[GatlingGood Gatling guns]]. It's ''possible'' to refuse to modernize and win the game with a "traditional" army, but in most cases bringing a bunch of swords to the battlefields in this era is just asking for a massacre.

->''"Those who live by the sword get shot by [[CombatPragmatist those who don't]]."''

* In the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'', the advantages of each are highly situational, depending on the material of the weapon and the specific opponent out of the setting's FantasyKitchenSink. A shotgun loaded with {{silver|HasMysticPowers}} ColdIron can be devastating against a TabletopGame/{{Werewolf|TheForsaken}} or [[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost True Fae]], but would only annoy a TabletopGame/{{Vampire|TheRequiem}}; on the other hand, a trained spear fighter can tear a vampire a new one. Also, as an UrbanFantasy setting, there's the matter of acquiring, licensing, and transporting your weapons, since RealityEnsues if you carry a zweihander or uzi down a busy street...

* In the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'', the advantages of each are highly situational, depending on the material of the weapon and the specific opponent out of the setting's FantasyKitchenSink. A shotgun loaded with ColdIron or {{silver|HasSupernaturalPowers}} can be devastating against a TabletopGame/{{Werewolf|TheForsaken}} or [[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost True Fae]], but would only annoy a TabletopGame/{{Vampire|TheRequiem}}; on the other hand, a trained spear fighter can tear a vampire a new one. Also, as an UrbanFantasy setting, there's the matter of acquiring, licensing, and transporting your weapons, since RealityEnsues if you carry a zweihander down a busy street...

* Ash clearly demonstrates the superiority of a double-barreled shotgun over a broadsword in Army of Darkness.

* ''SwordArtOnline'' presents this quite literally in its third arc, where Kirito enters the world of Gun Gale Online. Despite having poor accuracy and fighting many opponents with guns, Kirito is able to defeat them all by equipping a photon sword and using his reflexes to deflect bullets, something no other user has ever even attempted.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' compares the two, complete with ''StarWars'' reference, [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20020702 here]]. Judging by [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20020703 the next strip]], Torg ultimately decided a gun ([[MoreDakka or three]]) ''and'' a sword was the best option.

* ''SwordArtOnline'' presents this quite literally in its third season, where Kirito enters the world of Gun Gale Online. Despite having poor accuracy and fighting many opponents with guns, Kirito is able to defeat them all by equipping a photon sword and using his reflexes to deflect bullets, something no other user has ever even attempted.

* In Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, Akizuki Yōjirō uses a katana, Getsuruito(Moon Tear Sword), while Kanna Sakyōnosuke is armed with a dual pistols, Remington Model 1858.

* In ''Anime/Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto'', Akizuki Yōjirō uses a katana, Getsuruito(Moon Tear Sword), while Kanna Sakyōnosuke is armed with a dual pistols, Remington Model 1858.