History Main / NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont

* ''{{ComicBook/Hitman}}'': Marc Navaronne spent years honing his ImprobableAimingSkills to kill Tommy and avenge [[YouKilledMyFather his father Johnny's death]]. When he finally gets the drop on Tommy, he forgets his safety is on.

* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': Subverted when Marsha and Louis are facing a kidnapping attempt. [[spoiler: She telekinetically flips the safety on. The kidnapper just pulls a knife.]]

* In ''Film/JupiterAscending'', Jupiter holds Caine at gunpoint when she first meets him.[[spoiler:Subverted in that he tells her how to disengage the safety, so when she holds it up again, it's primed to fire. He actually left the gun there for her to point at him, so she'd feel more comfortable]].

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Used as a bluff, by Vamp, who needed the distraction. [[spoiler: She had just finished a secret conversation with her mother about who her biological father really was, when suddenly the man she had ''thought'' was her father up to that point burst in, and threatened both Alex and her mother with a shotgun. Alex used a [[MadScience Devise]] she had borrowed from another student, disguised inside a cellphone, to prime him for a memory-blanking effect, but to keep him busy she said, "I just wanted a picture of your face when you realized that you hadn't taken the safety off on that shotgun."]]

-->'''Cage:''' ''(as Griff walks off)'' Wait! Where is the safety?"

* ''{{Comicbook/Hitman}}'': Marc Navaronne spent years honing his ImprobableAimingSkills to kill Tommy and avenge [[YouKilledMyFather his father Johnny's death]]. When he finally gets the drop on Tommy, he forgets his safety is on.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': In the second episode, Andrea threatens to shoot Rick for bringing a horde of "walkers" to their location. Later, he advises her to take the safety off next time and even gives her a quick lesson in handling a gun. She points it at him again in the sixth episode and mentions she knows how the safety works (and it actually is off). Earlier in the pilot, Rick tells an inexperienced deputy to make sure he had a round chambered and the safety off (despite being a Glock, which has no manual safety). He then racks the slide to chamber a round, then presses the slide stop release, though the deputy seems rather new and naïve, perhaps he was being hazed.

'''Jared''': ''(holding a carbine)'' Phft, if you ever saw my VideoGame/CallOfDuty stats, you'd feel embarrassed even asking that.\\

'''Jared''': ''(tears in his eyes)'' Commander I think I'm really bad at this.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack: The Series'' had a variation; J grabs an alien weapon he's unfamiliar with and points what he thinks is the business end at his attacker. The alien identifies the gun and informs him that he's pointing it the wrong way; J assumes the alien is trying to bluff him and fires anyway. Sure enough, a beam shoots out of what appeared to be the scope and just misses J's head, and the alien smugly comments that he was just trying to help.

-->'''Cage:''' ''(as Griff walks off)'' Wait! Where's the safety?"
-->'''Griff:''' Exactly.

* ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' has safeties on the weapons built into the PoweredArmor worn by the soldiers. Cage, who has never worn the armor and is a PR officer, struggles to unlock the safety. He accidentally changes the armor's computer language to Japanese instead. By pushing random buttons he eventually does get the safety switched off, but not in time to do him much good.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': The murderer is cornered by Beckett while holding Castle hostage at gunpoint. After uncovering the murderer's motive, Castle knocks him down and wrests the gun from him. Beckett tells him he could have been killed, and Castle replies that the safety was on the whole time.

* In ''[[Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss Orguss 02]]'', used by the series' MagnificentBastard Manning, who notes as he's being tied up by the series' naive hero Lean that 'you can't fire that gun without a bullet in the chamber. Next time, pull the bolt first.' (Manning didn't bother to act on this before being tied up because, basically, EnigmaticMinion.) Lean ''himself'' provided an inversion in an earlier episode, realizing the Derringer his companion Nataruma has repeatedly pointed at him isn't loaded, reminding her that a professional soldier might recognise this immediately.

* At TheClimax of the Creator/TomClancy Ryanverse novel ''Literature/PatriotGames'', after the BigBad is taken into custody, one of the Marines that joined Ryan on the would-be escape ship points out that if John had really wanted to kill the terrorist (whose head he had his gun to), he'd have had the safety off. As a part of the "Green Machine" legacy himself, Ryan would be more than familiar with the safety of the pistol he was holding, although the narration implied that Ryan had not consciously ''realized'' that he kept the safety on.

* ''Earthsearch 2: Deathship'' by James Follett has an example where the villain is actually told to take the safety off, only to have the weapon taken off them anyway as it wasn't loaded either.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': In the ''Gun Gale Online'' arc, protagonist Sinon pulls this on a group of bullies who brandish a (model airsoft, but still dangerous) gun to exploit her phobia of firearms. They even make a show of turning off the safety. Sinon, however, has been (slowly) conquering this phobia; she takes the gun from them, lectures the bullies on the fact that this particular gun has ''two'' safeties, switches the other one off, and shoots a nearby can. The bullies are stunned and terrified, and leave her alone after that.

In the first case, the character being held up might use it as a ruse to try to wrong-foot his opponent. Usually in this instance the character at gunpoint is a veteran, his savvy attitude being contrasted to his inexperienced opponent. It is ''extremely'' rare for the opponent to call his bluff; instead he will usually tilt his gun and look down to check if the safety is on, letting the other person get the drop on him. Note that in this case the safety need not actually be on; all that's necessary is to trick the guy holding the gun into checking.

In the second, the person at gunpoint is generally a villain and the one holding the gun an inexperienced good guy; in this case, the villain will grab the gun after it fails to fire, mocking his opponent for their lack of expertise only afterward.

Variations exist; it might be that the gun is recognizably jammed, is physically impossible to fire at the target for some reason, would kill both of them if fired, is not cocked, or even is not loaded. Note that in RealLife, any (competent) gun user or owner will leave the safety on until ready to fire, and especially make sure the safety is engaged if they are going to hand it to someone else. In addition, nearly all revolvers and many automatic pistols (Glock, Sig and others) do not feature a safety catch, relying on internal mechanisms and a strong trigger pull.

* Done in the ''Manga/BattleRoyale'' manga, in a flashback: a guy holds a revolver to Shogo's girlfriend's head, and demands that Shogo drop his gun or else he will shoot her. Shogo casually says, "You're not going to shoot her -- the safety's on," causing the other guy to check to see if that's true, and Shogo uses the opening to shoot the guy in the face. He then remarks: "Idiot. Revolvers don't have safety catches."

* Somewhat subverted or at least tongue in cheek referenced in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]''. Two characters are in a stand off with Athrun, an experienced soldier and ace pilot holding a knife and Cagalli, his temporary "prisoner", having snuck his gun away from him while he slept, which Athrun'd told her he'd kill her if she tried to do. The standoff breaks with Athrun charging with the knife just as Cagalli loses her nerve and throws away the gun because she doesn't want to shoot him, even to save herself. We hear a gunshot...and then the scene cuts back to the gun lying on the ground as Athrun angrily demands why she'd be stupid enough to throw a gun with the safety left off. Later referenced pretty much exactly in an exchange between Kira and Mu as they chase down Rau Le Creuset.

* In {{Hentai}} anime / manga ''Kamyla'', the main character escapes from confinement because she sees the mook's gun having safety on, and beat him up.
* A variation of the third example is used in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' when Katz uses a pistol borrowed from Amuro Ray to force Quattro Bajeena to take off into space without Kamille, lest they miss the launch opportunity. Quattro isn't a villian by any means, but he later expresses his awareness that the gun's safety was on as the shuttle launches, and that he was going along with it because it really was the most sensible decision.

* In ''[[Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss Orguss 02]]'', used by the series' MagnificentBastard, Manning, who notes as he's being tied up by the series' naive hero Lean that 'you can't fire that gun without a bullet in the chamber. Next time, pull the bolt first.' (Manning didn't bother to act on this before being tied up because, basically, EnigmaticMinion.) Lean ''himself'' provided an inversion in an earlier episode, realizing the Derringer his companion Nataruma has repeatedly pointed at him isn't loaded, reminding her that a professional soldier might recognise this immediately.

* The trope picture is from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', and that's protagonist Jesse Custer giving the would-be shooter the boot. The artist omits the manual safety on the man's 1911, but does show the hammer as down, so it wouldn't fire anyway.

* In ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', hero John [=McClane=] (Creator/BruceWillis) gives his reluctant ally Zeus (Creator/SamuelLJackson) a submachine gun lifted from a fallen mook to defend himself as they search the bad guys' boat, even giving him a short primer on how to use the gun. Zeus later comes upon BigBad Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons) and holds him at gunpoint. Simon takes the gun away, casually notes (of course) he's got the safety on, flips off the safety and shoots him. Whether [=McClane=] made a mistake due to unfamiliarity with the [=MP5K=], or if he did it intentionally with the idea being to prevent Zeus from becoming a killer, is up for debate.

* In the beginning of ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Korben is confronted by a crazed robber with a rather nasty-looking gun. Korben informs him that the safety's on, but is even helpful enough to point it out to him and give him a chance to flip the switch. Cue the subversion, as the poor dumb criminal has just ''de''activated the gun, and Korben pulls his own weapon on him and takes it.

** In ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', rookie agent Rosie Carver finds a hidden arsenal in Quarrel Junior's boat and confronts him with a revolver, only to be told she's left the safety catch on. This is a little odd, since while revolvers ''can'' have safeties, most (such as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%26_Wesson_Model_19 hers]]) don't have a catch to operate them.

* ''Film/{{Manhunt in the Jungle}}'' (1958). The evil native chief gets hold of the explorer's rifle and goes to shoot him with it, but nothing happens. The explorer takes the rifle back, surreptitiously clicks off the safety and shoots a bird flying overhead, proving that only MightyWhitey can fire the deadly stick!

* Possible subversion in ''Film/RunLolaRun'': Lola is threatening a police officer with a gun. The cop seems to be strangely unafraid of her, until her boyfriend informs her that the safety is on, and tells her how to disable it. In a later scene in the movie (in a GroundhogDayLoop), Lola steals a gun from a security guard and immediately flicks off the safety catch before firing it.
* In the finale of ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', the BigBad pulls this on Gale. She steals his gun as he holds the FinalGirl hostage, and proceeds to run through a "the good guys win and the news reporter gets the scoop" scenario, when he stops to inform her that he knows something she doesn't: "Works better without the safety on." As she pulls the trigger to no avail and starts panicking, he knocks her out with one kick. [[spoiler:Later, when Gale gets the gun again and shoots him, she retorts "guess I remembered the safety ''that'' time, you bastard."]]
* ''Film/ShootEmUp'' features this trope when, at the beginning of the movie, the hero, Mr. Smith holds the villain, Mr. Hertz at gunpoint with his own gun. Hertz appears quite jolly, even reciting a limerick, until Smith tries to shoot him, only to find that the gun has a fingerprint sensor to prevent anyone but the owner from discharging it. Later, [[spoiler:it is inverted, when Smith corners Hertz in a brothel, who chuckles again as Smith pulls out a gun, the freezes in horror as Smith pulls out the previous owner's hand, and places the thumb on the sensor to authorize the gun. Hertz is saved by his bulletproof vest.]]

* ''Literature/AbleTeam''. In ''Texas Showdown'', a street thug holds a knife to a girl's throat and forces her father to hand over his Colt .45 pistol. However he puts the hammer on half cock first. The moment the now-confident thug take the knife from her throat, he kills him while the one holding his pistol is futilely trying to pull the trigger.

* ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'': An interesting subversion happens in one episode. Hanson, posing a student, is being threatened by another student (named Ronnie) with a gun. He is saying things such as, "you could end up dead". The gun is cocked and incredibly close to Hanson's face. After the student is satisfied and begins walking away, the following exchange takes place:

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': In one episode, Centurions have boarded the ship. Billy is about to help a Marine flank two that are fighting Lee, Jammer and two other Marines... but not before Dualla reminds him to remove the safety. Note that the safety was on in the first place because Dee told him to use it before [[PantsPositiveSafety putting the gun in his pants]].

'''Willie''': (reluctantly hands him the gun) Well you know you're lucky cop. 'Cause I coulda shot you right through the heart.\\

* ''Series/FXTheSeries'': When a former friend turned foe is handed a gun and told to watch the good guys, Rollie promptly beats the crap out of him as soon as the opportunity arises, pointing out that "''Real gunmen use the safety you moron.''"

* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "The Deadly Angels", Gambit is held at gunpoint by a secretary. He starts instructing her on the proper way to hold and search a prisoner at gunpoint. When he tells her to take the safety catch off the gun, she goes to obey. As she does so, he turns around and snatches the gun off her. He then gives it back to her, kisses her and asks her for a date.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': In the second episode, Andrea threatens to shoot Rick for bringing a horde of "walkers" to their location. Later, he advises her to take the safety off next time, and even gives her a quick lesson in handling a gun. She points it at him again in the sixth episode, and mentions she knows how the safety works (and it actually is off). Earlier in the pilot, Rick tells an inexperienced deputy to make sure he had a round chambered and the safety off (despite being a Glock, which has no manual safety). He then racks the slide to chamber a round, then presses the slide stop release, though the deputy seems rather new and naïve, perhaps he was being hazed.

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': Non-gun example: In an early episode, Gabrielle finds herself holding a hostile warlord at swordpoint. He retaliates by mocking her, telling her that she has no business pretending to be a warrior, and that she isn't even holding her sword properly. Sure enough, Gabrielle takes her eyes off the warlord for a moment to check her grip, and he knocks the sword out of her hands.

* The mugger who keeps pestering you in ''VideoGame/DejaVu1985'' repeatedly forgets to take the safety off, meaning you can score a punch to the nose and make him scurry off. The first few times, anyway. This is particularly strange, because he's clearly threatening you with a revolver, which would lack a safety.

* An inversion happens in the original ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', when Max runs into Mona Sax, her signature Desert Eagle aimed point-blank into his face. He returns the favor with his own Beretta, uttering: "Your safety's off, EvilTwin. You could hurt somebody with that gun of yours."

'''Commander''' : Th' safety's on. ... It's still on. ... Now yer holdin' it upside down. ... That's a good way t' blast yer fingers off. ... Naw, [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets that just ejects th' magazine.]]\\

* Another variation occurs in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Bender attempts to shoot the Professor, but finds that he physically can't because his programming prevents this. So he switches on his recently installed Free Will Unit to override the program...only to find that he still can't shoot the Professor. Aw, it looks as though Bender has a conscience after all, and can't bring himself to - Oh, no, wait, it was just because the safety was on. BANG.

* Cofounder of Magpul, former Force Recon Marine and current self-defense trainer Travis Haley has stated that this trope once saved his life while serving overseas in the Marine Corps. Haley had let his guard down as he was processing weapons while dealing with a suspected arms trafficker when the suspect pulled an AK. Looking up at the man, Haley noticed that his would-be killer had forgotten to take the safety off, allowing him precious moments to push the man's weapon aside, grapple him, and draw his own sidearm, which he then used to shoot the man in the head.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': A period variant of not when your gun (and mine, and everyone else's) is soaking wet. A problem with early firearms.

* ''Series/AdamTwelve'': A variation happened in one episode. Malloy chases a guy armed with a shotgun over a hill, only to find the shotgun leveled at him. Then the guy gives up. Turned out he left the safety on and pulled the trigger so hard it ''broke''.

** The reason Stella wasn't shot by Frankie in "All Access". Frankie didn't know enough about guns to take the safety off.

* ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' has one on the PoweredArmor worn by the soldiers. Bill Cage struggles to unlock it (at a certain point, he even changes the language of the armor computer to Japanese), but, once he's forced to do it again, comes to learn the way.

* In the ''Literature/TalesFromTheMosEisleyCantina'', Momaw Nadon lures an Imperial captain into an alley and threatens to kill him. The captain laughs ruthlessly and says, "You can't kill me with a blaster set to {{Stun|Guns}}." Momaw knows he set the blaster to Kill, but fears he may have knocked the setting aside, and looks. Of course, it ''is'' set on Kill, but he has lost his chance, and the captain shoots him. (Luckily, his blaster ''is'' set on Stun.)

* [[spoiler:Billy]] pulls this on [[spoiler:Gale]] in the finale of ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}''; she steals his gun as he holds the FinalGirl hostage, and proceeds to run through a "the good guys win and the news reporter gets the scoop" scenario, when he stops to inform her that he knows something she doesn't: "Works better without the safety on." She later gets a TakeThat back, however: "Guess I remembered the safety that time, you bastard."

* The mugger who keeps pestering you in ''VideoGame/DejaVu'' repeatedly forgets to take the safety off, meaning you can score a punch to the nose and make him scurry off. The first few times, anyway. This is particularly strange, because he's clearly threatening you with a revolver, which would lack a safety.

** Michael tells a man pointing a gun at him, "By the way, Vince, you're gonna have a hard time blowing my brains out with the safety on." When Vince looks at the gun to check, Michael wrestles the gun away from him, shooting Vince before saying: "What do you know, the safety ''was'' off! My mistake." (A ''little'' hard to believe, since Vince is said to be a former Army Ranger, but then again he's also said to have ''washed out'' of the Rangers, so...)

* An interesting variant of this crossing with ItWorksBetterWithBullets appears in ''Manga/DetectiveConan''. [[spoiler:Fake Shinichi]] is holding the rest of the cast at gunpoint when Shinichi calmly points out the gun is empty, dropping the bullets from his hands. [[spoiler:Fake Shinichi]] checks and discovers it's a lie, but it's too late as it already gave Shinichi time to disarm him.

* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/BrassRestoration'': Ryo invokes this against [[spoiler:the bookstore owner]], who then fires without hesitation. Turns out that that was exactly what Ryo was expecting--the question about the safety was to provoke him into firing. "...You can avoid a bullet if you know when it's fired."

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