History Main / RecklessGunUsage

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Part of Scarecrow's backstory (now retconned) is that he was a psychology professor who pointed a gun at a student giving a presentation to demonstrate fear. Naturally, his ass was fired pretty fast.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'': Johnny Warren tries to shoot Robin and the woman Robin is saving from him even though Tim warned him that the epoxy he tossed on Johnny's gun has warped the barrel and the gun is visibly deformed. He loses a hand for his bloodlust.

* ''Series/EmptyNest'' one episode has Carol almost kill Charlie by firing at him in the dark.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{ER}}'', a husband and wife pair of dealers come to the hospital from a gun show where he got shot in the leg. The wife shows off the merchandise and tries to sell guns in the reception area, letting people handle non-functional samples. Desk clerk Jerry picks up a grenade launcher and at one point, playfully points it directly at the other receptionist, who yelps and ducks away. The wife laughs and assures her that it's perfectly safe because it isn't loaded... just as Jerry pulls the trigger and fires a grenade into the parking lot, where it blows up an ambulance. The very fact that the husband was shot at the gun show already demonstrates incredible carelessness on their parts, and there's considerable FridgeHorror that Jerry would have killed the other clerk and likely other people had he pulled the trigger earlier. ''Always'' assume a gun is loaded, even if you yourself just unloaded it, and ''never'', '''''ever''''' point a gun at someone unless you intend to use it.

* Stories of children accidentally shooting themselves with their parents' firearms are sadly too numerous to mention, but there is an even worse subset of young children mistaking their mothers' [[https://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-what-happens-when-you-sell-pink-guns-that-look-like-toys-2013-2 hot-pink "designer" pistols for squirt guns]]. While full responsibility lies with the parents, one could argue the recklessness of gun manufacturers as well. In the United States, toy guns are required by law to have bright coloration somewhere on them to indicate that they're toys (usually a bright orange muzzle cap at a bare minimum), so making a real gun ''look like a toy'' to a child who doesn't know better often has tragic consequences.

* No matter how cool she thought it might have looked, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Idiotswithguns/comments/xgs1xl/from_facebook/ this woman]] quickly found out that [[BreastAttack you can't use your chest to holster a pocket pistol.]]

* In the summer of 2020, a [[MemeticMutation social media fad]] emerged where people, ostensibly (but not always) [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem right-wing Americans]], would point loaded pistols at their own genitals and take a photo or film themselves repeatedly flicking or lightly pressing the trigger. One unidentified man [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3zeew/gun-enthusiasts-celebrate-man-who-shot-himself-in-the-balls-as-their-king actually did]] manage to blast his own testicles into oblivion by accidentally pulling the trigger.

* ''Webcomic/EvilPlan'': Firing 12 handguns at once using telekinetic powers without seeing where you're aiming [[http://evilplan.thewebcomic.com/comics/1474419/chapter-8-page-10-nice-try/ goes poorly]] for Tal A Kinesis. [[http://evilplan.thewebcomic.com/comics/1479583/chapter-8-page-11-sometimes-sour/ He gets rightfully chewed out for it.]]

* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'': [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100908 Ethan demonstrates]] why UsefulNotes/GunSafety rules exist.

* Pretty much any time Frank Burns gets hold of a firearm in ''Series/{{MASH}}''. He's managed to shoot himself in the foot and to shoot BJ.

* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'': Marten [[JugglingLoadedGuns doesn't observe]] ''taser'' safety and [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=529 unintentionally electrocutes himself.]] Of course, he ''was'' drunk.

** "Homer the Vigilante" has a scene where Homer's neighborhood watch somehow gets their hands on a bunch of pump shotguns, and start cocking them and pointing them around in Homer's front hall with their fingers on the triggers--at one point, Homer even looks down the barrel of the fully-cocked shotgun. When Marge steps in and points out that this seems too dangerous, Homer says they're responsible adults who can be trusted to handle firearms... then, in the next ten seconds, Moe, Captain [=McCallister=], Principal Skinner, Moe again, and ''Bart'' all have their guns go off in sequence.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abc_looking_down_gun_barrel_5547.jpg]]

->''"Don't worry about it ... Look, the clip is not even in it. What do you think I'm gonna do? Blow my brains out?."''

->''"Don't worry guys, it isn't loaded."''

* In ''Manga/CatsEye'' Hirano is called a "mad shooter" for his habit of pointing his HandCannon at various things, ''before'' he actually shoots something that shouldn't be shot-and that's with him being a crack shot who can easily pull a [[KnifeOutline Bullet Outline]] (how he solved a hostage crisis: the moment the criminal showed up he made an outline around his head and flat-out stated he could shoot him in the head even with the hostage). Also, Toshio once fooled around with a gun at the police academy and ended up shooting himself in the foot, leaving him with a crippling terror of guns.

* ''Manga/HighSchoolOfTheDead'': This occurs somewhat often due to the main characters being [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent perfectly normal high school students]] in a country with heavy gun control during a ZombieApocalypse, however, since there's a resident gun {{otaku}}, their errors are quickly pointed out and UsefulNotes/GunSafety is properly followed.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'': In the Band of Seven Arc, Jakotsu is confronted by soldiers who introduce the matchlock to the series. After dispatching them with ease, he studies the gun by looking down the barrel. Of course, prior to that, he took a shot to the shoulder with little reaction. A shot to the face might not have fazed him much either. Also, the guns require a lit fuse and must be loaded manually after each shot.
* The title character of ''Manga/{{Jesus}}'' had his revolver fall out of his jacket onto the floor in front of all of his new co-workers. The ditzy Sayuri picked it up, admonished him about bringing model guns to school...then '''put the barrel to his head''' and pulled the trigger. Only the fact that Jesus followed good gun safety by keeping the first chamber empty spared his life.
* ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'': Not knowing what a pistol is, Tao points one at Esteban, who's obviously startled. Tao then suspects it might some sort of weapon, and the shot goes off, almost hitting Esteban.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Johnny Warren tries to shoot Robin and the woman Robin is saving from him even though Tim warned him that the epoxy he tossed on Johnny's gun has warped the barrel and the gun is visibly deformed. He loses a hand for his bloodlust.

* ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'': In "[[Recap/YellowjacketsS1E4BearDown Bear Down]]", Coach Ben is familiar with guns but is is no physical condition to go out hunting, so he conducts tryouts among the other survivors to see who is best suited to be sent out hunting. When Nat calls Travis by his EmbarrassingNickname, he points the loaded gun at her. There is no indication he was serious about harming her, but the Coach sternly tells him to never do that again.

* Several examples in ''Film/FallingDown'', since for as much as Foster ends up using guns across the film, it's clear that it's his first day he's actually done so. There are two standout examples, both of which revolve around Foster keeping his trigger on the trigger when he doesn't intend to shoot:

* ''Film/{{Narc}}'': the cops are called to the scene of an apparent BathSuicide. They eventually figure out that the guy in the bath had actually [[TooDumbToLive been using his shotgun as a makeshift hash pipe]], but had forgotten to make sure [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace there wasn't a round chambered beforehand]].

* In ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', some Reckless Gun Usage (firing off a series of rapid shots at a dog while not even looking in the same direction) results in one character unintentionally killing the infamously unkillable [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Bullet Tooth Tony]].

** On the other hand, played very straight in the episode "Dalek". The security guards ambush the Dalek twice. Both times, the setup has guards on opposite sides of the Dalek firing at it -- and thus at each other, with automatic weapons no less. They probably took more casualties from friendly fire than they did from the Dalek.

* The Militant Squad from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars'', reflecting their nature as untrained civilians would often display poor firearm responsibility; they will either look down directly at the barrel of the gun to check their ammo, or, out of boredom, pick up a rock and use their rifle to swing it as a baseball bat, with the handguard acting as its handle.