History Main / ShootEverythingThatMoves

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' has a lot of fights like this.
-->''We are going in with the first wave, means [[BugWar more bugs for us to kill]]. You smash the entire area, you kill anything with more than two legs. You get me?''
* Applies to T-800s in the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' film franchise. An Infiltrator spy in the first film going on a rampage killing off human Resistance even kills off German shepherds just to shut them up.

* 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".
* ''Lethal Weapon Franchise'':
** ''Film/LethalWeapon'': Murtaugh has been deriding Rigg's gun-happy approach until the bad guys kidnap his daughter.
--->'''Riggs:''' We do this my way. You shoot, you shoot to kill. Get as many as you can. Just don't miss.
** ''Film/LethalWeapon2'': Riggs tells Murtaugh the plan for rescuing Leo.
--->'''Murtaugh:''' What's the plan?
--->'''Riggs:''' Wait for my signal, then just go in and shoot those fuckers.

* In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Col. Stryker tells his mooks that after he leaves, they are to shoot ''anyone'' who comes down the corridor, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting even if it was him]]. He knew that Mystique was on-site.

* Mentioned a few times in the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' as a viable combat tactic when using [[TheParalyzer stunners]] since it reduces friendly fire mistakes from potentially lethal to merely annoying[[note]]- it's implied, but not directly stated, that Ivan's yell of "Stunner Tag!", while foiling an attack on Lord Dono, is (perhaps informal) Military shorthand for this tactic[[/note]]; 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...
--> '''Elli Quinn:''' Gee, I feel really bad about that. I've never killed a man by accident before. Unprofessional.
* In one of the Creator/SvenHassel novels, Porta is instructing the NewMeat in everything they should have learned in basic training and didn't.
-->"If there's any doubt, shoot. If you hit one of ours, too bad! Comfort yourself with the thought that [[HighTurnoverRate he wouldn't have lived long anyway]]."
* Referenced in the novel ''TheThirdWorldWar'' when NATO launches a desperation B-52 carpet bombing mission in order to halt the Soviet advance in Germany. As it would be impossible to hide such a massive formation of large aircraft from radar, Warsaw Pact forces saw it coming and launched their interceptors. NATO fighters sortied going out to meet the enemy aircraft, with a simple order: if it was flying toward the west, shoot it.

* In ''Congo Mercenary'', Major 'Mad Mike' Hoare derides reconnaissance by fire as "shooting wildly at anything in sight to establish what's not there". He's puzzled when one of his mercenaries shoots off a rifle grenade to blow up the wall of a prison. [[{{Plunder}} A bank at least he could have understood.]]

* In ''Series/{{Defiance}}'' we find out that Nolan's nickname when he was a soldier in the Pale Wars was "No Man's Land" because he tended to be trigger happy and shoot anything that moved in the no man's land between the two armies. He has since gotten better.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'': One of the "closing in on enemy" quotes for NOD's Militant Rocket Squads is "If it moves, kill it!". While not an exact quote, it's still very similar.

* Clicking the "Story" button on the menu of ''KillMonty'' brings up the words "SHOOT EVERYTHING" in massive letters.

* The Combine Snipers in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' are this to the point that they don't just hit Resistance members or zombies, they also shoot at reprogrammed rollermines and ''even crows''. Justified, since they're brainwashed cyborgs.

* In ''VideoGame/CounterStrike: Global Offensive'', one of the round-starting lines for the S.A.S. is "Remember, this is bandit country--shoot everything that moves." Inevitably some players [[ExactWords take this]] [[TeamKiller as a challenge.]]
* Quite obviously, the whole point of the game ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin If It Moves, Shoot it!]]''.
* The rules in the Instructions section of the original ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'' are "[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Run like the wind]]", "If it moves, shoot it" and "If it doesn't move, take it!".
* ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'': Normally it's better to social-fu incoming agents into submission, then capture anyone with a heat rating, releasing them from the cage only in the name of either torturing them to death or using them to gain XP for your henchmen. However, there are three buttons on the interface that control the alert setting. The green one involves everyone going around unarmed. The yellow has workers and combat minions carry guns, but not use them unless ordered to do so. The red? That's the instruction to engage anything not a minion or henchman on sight. It tends to be reserved for the endgame siege, where socialising stops being viable and the only remaining strategy is to kill indiscriminately.
* ''VideoGame/OperationWolf'' punishes this mentality. If you accidentally (or "accidentally") shoot a civilian or hostage, you will take damage.
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' has [[spoiler:the BigBad Hades, who has [[EnemyMine temporarily teamed up with you]] due to an Aurum invasion,]] order his troops to "shoot anything that moves", as the enemy forces are a dangerous threat [[spoiler:that could destroy the Earth, a rich source of souls for Hades.]] Of course, "anything that moves" can include ''you'' as well, mostly because that particular commander is a gigantic {{troll}}.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': When instructing Kaeloo, Stumpy and Quack Quack on what to do during his own new version of hide and seek, Mr. Cat explains that he counts to 100, they hide somewhere, and then he shoots everything that moves with a bazooka.
* ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' does this a lot. "EAT DIRT, EVERYONE IN THE VICINITY! AH-HAHAHAHAHA!"

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

[[folder:Newspaper comics]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' :

* What happens when you call in the Rabbit team in ''VideoGame/LobotomyCorporation''. It causes an entire department to immediately lock down, trapping everyone inside it, and send in mercenaries that start firing at everything within said department, no matter whether it's an employee, a clerk or a breaching Abnormality.

--> '''[[spoiler:Adams]]''': So, how we gonna do this?
--> '''[[spoiler:Walker]]''': Kill everything that fuckin' moves.
--> '''[[spoiler:Adams]]''': Sounds like a plan.

Not to be confused with AnythingThatMoves, though with [[ILoveTheDead some people]], you never know...

* In the first Gulf War, maps were 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 IFVs, killing 9 soldiers.

* In ''Literature/MailedFist'', tank commander John Foley describes an engagement in Holland where he had to lead his three tanks down a forest road by night, knowing the woods to either side were full of Germans with [[CoolGuns/RocketsMissilesAndGrenadeLaunchers Panzerfausts]]. He detailed his machine-gunners to continually fire into the forest to either side and his drivers to go flat out. None of his tanks were hit, and in the morning there were quite a lot of dead Germans with anti-tank rockets they had not had a chance to fire.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Lethal Weapon''
** In ''Film/LethalWeapon2,'' Riggs tells Murtaugh the plan for rescuing Leo.
-->'''Murtaugh:''' What's the plan?
-->'''Riggs:''' Wait for my signal, then just go in and shoot those fuckers.
** And in the [[Film/LethalWeapon original movie]] -- Murtaugh has been deriding Rigg's gun-happy approach until the bad guys kidnap his daughter.
-->'''Riggs:''' We do this my way. You shoot, you shoot to kill. Get as many as you can. Just don't miss.

* In ''WebAnimation/TheThwomps'', Mario want to squeeze ''everyone'', much to Luigis annoyance.

* Mentioned a few times in the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' as a viable combat tactic when using [[TheParalyzer 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...

* The developer commentary in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' uses the phrase several times... [[SubvertedTrope chiefly when describing how certain Special Infected were designed to make players avert the trope.]]

* 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...

* In the first Gulf War, maps were 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.

* A quick primer in [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Ork]] [[MoreDakka target-identification]] [[ATeamFiring procedures]]:

"Listen karefully and I'll explain 'ow we do things 'ere in ComicBook/DeffSkwadron... 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?"\\

** [[MoreDakka This is the main strategy of any Ork army.]]

And when something moves, you [[PainfulRhyme shoot]].

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

* ''99 Luftballons''/''99 Red Balloons'' by Music/Nena has WorldWarIII happen over a misunderstanding caused by [[SillyReasonForWar helium balloons]], with both sides either being [[GeneralRipper too hysterical]] or [[ColonelKilgore trigger-happy]] to double-check the facts.

* ''99 Luftballons''/''99 Red Balloons'' by Music/Nena has WorldWarIII happen over a misunderstanding caused by [[SillyReasonForWar helium balloons]], with both sides either being [[GeneralRipper too hysterical]) or [[ColonelKilgore trigger-happy]] to double-check the facts.

* ''99 Luftballons''/''99 Red Balloons'' by Music/Nena has an entire war happen due to military hysteria over [[SillyReasonForWar helium balloons]], with neither side stopping to double-check or think things over.

* ''99 Luftballons''/''99 Red Balloons'' by Music/Nena has an entire war happen due to military hysteria over [[SillyReasonForWhat helium balloons]], with neither side stopping to double-check or think things over.