History Main / ShootEverythingThatMoves

* This is pretty much standard operating procedure in ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}''. Granted, the neutron wand's highly unstable ion stream is several times more powerful than a fire hose, so firing at anything that does or doesn't move is a given.

* In one of the SvenHassel novels, Porta is instructing the NewMeat in everything they should have learned in basic training and didn't.

* In ''{{Boondocks}}'', Riley is a fan of accusing people of this.
-->'''Riley:''' "\[The NRA\] got this thing where you just go out and kill everything you see. They call it hunting."

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'': Mentioned on the [[SingleBiomePlanet jungle world]] of Dxun, home to some reconstituted Mandalorian Clans (ProudWarriorRace BarbarianTribe ([[RecycledInSpace In Space]]). Specifically, the Mandalorian quartermast Kex says:

* ''SyndicateWars'' was usually played using point and click, selective attacking - but you had the ability to pump your agents full of psychotropic drugs that would either make them auto-attack anything with a weapon, or just anything that moves and is within combat range. Not usually useful, but spectacular with the right weapons.

* In ''LethalWeapon2,'' Riggs tells Murtaugh the plan for rescuing Leo.

** And in the original movie -- Murtaugh has been deriding Rigg's gun-happy approach until the bad guys kidnap his daughter.

* In the first Gulf War, maps where divided into grid squares called killzones, and patrolled by allied aircraft, with orders to engage any military target. This led to friendly fire due to lack of information sharing between service branches and countries, the most well known instance being when an American A-10 destroyed two British IFV's, killing 9 solders.

* In ''Film/WildWildWest'', President Ulysses S. Grant comments: "And you West, not every situation calls for your patented approach of shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more, and then when everybody's dead try to ask a question or two".

* ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' has a fairly horrific scene where the soldiers are attempting to secure a compound by shooting Infected, except that due to the speed and the confusion it's hard for them to tell the Infected from the panicked civilians running away from them. Then the snipers get the order that ''everyone'' is considered a target... Although given the alternative was being pulled down by a horde of TechnicallyLivingZombies infected with an incurable HatePlague, [[MercyKill the civilians were getting off lightly.]]

* The rules in the Instructions section of the original ''JazzJackrabbit'' are "[[SonicTheHedgehog Run like the wind]]", "If it moves, shoot it" and "If it doesn't move, take it!".

* ''ExterminatusNow'' is fond of this approach.
-->'''Virus:''' "What's going on?!"
-->'''Harry:''' "Whatever it is, we'd better stop it!"
-->'''Virus:''' "How?"
-->'''Harry:''' "The only way we know how... kill everything that isn't us!"

* ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' has a fairly horrific scene where the soldiers are attempting to secure a compound by shooting infected, except that due to the speed and the confusion it's hard for them to make out just the infected. Then the snipers get the order that ''everyone'' is considered a target...

* A quick primer in [[Warhammer40K ork]] [[MoreDakka target-identification]] [[ATeamFiring procedures]]:

* The 'Annihilate' mission in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' and the basic victory-point-based mission in previous editions and in all of the subordinate games give each side the objective of killing the enemy.

-->-- The ''{{Firefly}}'' crew plans a rescue mission

* This is pretty much standard operating procedure in ''{{Ghostbusters}}''. Granted, the nutrona wand's highly unstable ion stream is several times more powerful than a fire hose, so firing at anything that does or doesn't move is a given.

* This is pretty much a [[Ghostbusters Ghostbuster's]] standard operating procedure. Granted, the nutrona wand's highly unstable ion stream is several times more powerful than a fire hose, so firing at anything that does or doesn't move is a given.

Sometimes the good guys have to go into heavily-defended territory. There aren't any neutrals there, and it's too dangerous to leave any of the opponents alive. Maybe they're the defenders and the only things coming towards their position are trying to kill them.

--> People ask me how I do it, \\
And I say there's nothing to it. \\
You just stand there looking cute, \\
And when something moves, you [[PainfulRhyme shoot]].

* Mentioned a few times in the Literature/VorkosiganSaga as a viable combat tactic when using [[StunGuns stunners]] since it reduces friendly fire mistakes from potentially lethal to merely annoying; it's also extremely useful for hostage situations. ''Unless'', that is, someone has a heart condition, or the hostage takers have rigged some kind of dead-man switch as a precaution against exactly this tactic, or a stunned target goes over a railing...

* VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes: "Get out! Fire at anything! Fire at everything!" ~ Volksgrenadier sargeant exiting a troop transport while under fire

* In [[VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine Spec Ops: The Line]]...

"Listen karefully and I'll explain 'ow we do things 'ere in ComicBookDeffSkwadron... You shoot at it an' you miss, it's one of ourz. You hit it an' you shoot it down, then it must be one of theirs. Dead simple, see?"\\

* In ''Videogame/{{Metro Last Light}}'', The Rangers of the Order's Codex explicitly states "If It's hostile, You kill it!"

* In ''StargateAtlantis'', O'Neill gets annoyed with Woolsey continually calling out "General, is that you?" when he hears something. So when he needs to go activate a control in a flooded area, he hands Woolsey a gun and says, "If something is coming, then it isn't me. Don't call out to it. '''Shoot it.'''"