6 Stupid Gun Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)

Cracked.com ^ | April 16, 2012 | Robert Evans

[Slings and Arrows]

Hollywood wants you dead. We said it. We don't know why. We don't know what they could possibly gain from it, but it's true all the same. Hollywood has been teaching you lessons about guns for decades and decades. Hollywood wants you to build your entire understanding of guns based on the gun tropes they parade in all of their movies. Hollywood wants these gun rules ingrained so deeply in you that you apply these lessons in real life. Even though doing so will kill you.

That's right. All of the lessons Hollywood has taught you about guns are wrong.

Dead wrong.

[GonzoGOP]

That myth about baddies getting thrown back twenty feet by a bullet might have originated with the Dirty Harry movies.

The only real video of a guy being thrown back by a shot was from Gulf War I. An Iraqi popped out of a spider hole in front of an Abrams with an RPG. The gunner just hit the firing switch, forgetting in the excitement to switch to coax. Suffice to say the guys was thrown back, as well as up and to both sides.

[Clay Moore]

I want one of those pump double barrel shotguns like
Moe on the Simpsons has!

[familyop]

"What about the Hispanic irresistible urge/impulse to fire a handgun (usually a semi-auto) held sideways?"

Actually also done by white thugs many decades ago. The purpose was to avoid showing the profile of a revolver to bystanders in the city street semi-darkness. And only for point-shooting at close/point-blank range.

[Mr Rogers]

“FBI now teaches shooting from the hip as rapidly as possible and, if possible, aiming FOR the hip of the bad guy.”

Proof? Because that would be a stupid tactic...

[familyop]

"FBI now teaches shooting from the hip as rapidly as possible and, if possible, aiming FOR the hip of the bad guy."

Which is what many of the old timers--of the few who engaged in such fights--did with their single action revolvers. Friends, don't discount a man with a sixshooter in an antiquated kind of rig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1BwUJ4--Qw

[Ramius]

One thing is certainly correct.... don't try to catch a falling firearm.

I was carrying my Sig P220 in a "jackass" (tm) shoulder rig one day. I'd just put it on and apparently didn't get a positive snap on the thumb-release. The gun had one in the chamber with the hammer down. The gun slipped out of the holster and fell, hammer-side down on my foot. In doing so it -cocked itself-. Fortunately I must instinctively know better than to pick it up with a finger in the guard, but when I picked it up it took a second to then notice that it had become cocked. It was frightening... And served a valuable purpose of making me -very- sure to double check the thumb release security every single time.

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

lol

[Billthedrill]

Yeh - my first day on the range I was devastated to learn that you had to reload the things. I thought that's what the prop men were for. What, no prop men? Cheap range.

They still look at me strangely when I blow the smoke out of the barrel and twirl the piece a few times on my finger before holstering it. I guess you're not supposed to do that with a .45. At least not with a full mag, a round chambered, and the safety off. Who knew?

[TheOldLady]

Indeed. Where's ApplegateRanch? Surely he would be with us on this.

We're brothers? Who knew? But it's cool.

[itsahoot]

Don’t forget, hiding behind a car door protects you from AK’s and other military full auto weapons.

Mac 10’s never hit anyone, and a single round from a Sig always results in a kill.

Most important, if you over power the man with the gun and he drops the gun, always stop hitting him, and never pick up the gun before you run away.

no believing in guns will protect you from people that do.

[ApplegateRanch]

Too busy over here—> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2872686/posts ,when I wasn’t outside tilling up the new tater patch.

Read the comments; it’s amazing what can pass for “Conservative” these days. And some people wonder why we don’t particularly like or respect lawyers.

[Brett66]

Ping for after work....

[irishtenor]

I’ve always loved that one.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

That’s my pet peeve with movies - the obligatory noise with chambering a round - if you watch sometimes it happens more than once. Not saying that the noise doesn’t occur in real life - more saying that the characters in the movie would probably have already had a round in the chamber.

[Arrowhead1952]

#1
Guns NEVER RUN OUT OF BULLETS

I'm glad my 10 gage 3 1/2 inch magnum only holds three rounds. I've sent 45 rounds into the air after geese and ducks in a day. Hamburger shoulder that night.

[ApplegateRanch]

Not saying that the noise doesn’t occur in real life - more saying that the characters in the movie would probably have already had a round in the chamber.

If they don't, they certainly should have one in it & cocked after the third time they jack it.

Joe: "Why didn't you shoot him, when he ran?"

Moe: "I was out of ammo."

JOE: "But, you never fired it! How could you be out of ammo?"

Moe: "I had to jack the slide & put the barrel against his head every time he smart-mouthed me, to show him I was serious. By the time he ran, I was empty. Didn't even have time to cuff him; it would have interfered with the dialog."

[Mariner]

"Proof? Because that would be a stupid tactic..."

Mr Rogers

The only proof I have is my cousin who graduated from the FBI academy reported this to me.

I suppose he could have been lying.

[Brass Lamp]

Friends, don't discount a man with a sixshooter in an antiquated kind of rig.

Yeah, I agree with the initial point, but that kid's guns are all slicked up and short-stroke-kitted out.

[andyk]

Pulling back the slide on a semi-auto or auto way more times than necessary

I think that's the most prolific, most obvious, and most deceptive of all the firearm myths.

[andyk]

Haha, nice. And please add me to your kitty ping list. :)