I love a good read. I hate to find errors in said read, however, because it makes me have difficulty trusting the author. A factual error I have seen more than once brings me to write this post. I am reading an urban fantasy I like by an author I like. In it, she has a character place the safety on on the Glock handgun she was carrying. WHAT??!! Fact, peeps: Glocks do NOT have safety buttons*, and they do not have decocking levers. (More below.) But a simple check with a gun dealer or on the net would have told her that. (If there is a Glock out there that has a safety or a decocking lever now, please let me know, as I have apparently missed out on that change!)
Guns.
Remember this about guns, writerly peeps: Just because you know that such-and-such is true about some guns (pick your saying or idea) doesn't mean it is true for all guns. And, while I am NOT an expert in these matters, I know some stuff. And here are a few places that writers step on it and trip.
The two most common spots I've seen errors related to weaponry in fiction are 1) nomenclature, vis automatic versus semiautomatic; and 2) use of the terms 'gun,' 'weapon,' and 'firearm.' There's an old Army thing where they used to punish soldiers for calling their rifle a gun: "This is my rifle, this is my gun, this is for fighting, this is for fun." (I'll let you figure out the visuals.) But that illustrates the perceived difference in the military use of the terms. You always call your M4 or SAW your weapon. Knowing what jargon to use, what it means, and how that changes the characterization or perceptions about your character makes this sort of thing really useful. For example, calling something a weapon can indicate a military situation, a gun a civilian one where the character isn't familiar with firearms or the nomenclature. And firearms is a bit generic and clinical, but is as likely to be used in a gun shop as anywhere else. But terminology is largely (as you know, being writers) dependent upon the era, situation, people involved, and what the writer is trying to convey to the reader by the word choice. Point being, know what you are saying by your word choice.
Safety buttons & empty chambers. Not all guns have safeties. And--ask anyone who knows guns--the real safety is keeping your idiot finger out of the trigger guard. Modern semi-automatic guns cannot, literally can not, fire unless you pull the trigger back, releasing the mechanism to fire. (Unless you have the hammer back, in which case dropping it might have an extremely slim chance of setting the thing off, generally due to a mechanical failure.) One common error is the assumption that all semi-automatic handguns have safeties that you have to take on and off, and whether or not cops/military have their weapons on safety. I have on at least 3 occasions seen a writer err by saying a character took their Glock handgun off safety,. That is patently incorrect.
Then there's the concept that no gun is safe unless the chamber is empty. This is was standard for revolvers, as it is impossible for a dropped gun to accidentally fire if the chamber is empty. But it's not true for semi-automatic (magazine fed) handguns. Writers often have people jack rounds into the chamber before going into a trough situation, nd that's probably not SOP (standard operation procedure) with modern law enforcement or military in a war zone. And a cop or soldier isn't going to go on patrol with their weapon on safety. To my knowledge no cop in the country is required to have the chamber empty and jack a round in it before engaging. It would be a quick way to die.. In the military, however, I was required to have an empty round in the chamber of my M16 and the rifle on safety unless we had a shooting situation. But we weren't expecting incoming fire, either. We were guarding an installation in the continental US.. Big difference.
Keep your fool finger off the trigger unless you're planning to shoot. If you've been in a firearms safety course (such as the ones make first time hunters take), you already know this drill. For the rest of you, you may have developed a misperception by watching the Hollywood heroes on tv. If there is the immanent likelihood of shooting (they have unholstered their guns) someone would have their finger on the trigger. That makes good sense, as they are expecting to need to shoot. But you also see these same tv heroes casually handling their firearms with their finger inside the trigger guard when they aren't clearing a building or in some other situation where they expect they might shoot. No. Nononononono, that's dangerous and stupid. Your finger is straight, next to the trigger guard if you are, for example, holstering a gun, or anytime you are at a firing range, where safety is paramount. I think that how you address the finger on or off the trigger both is a useful character indicator and a distinction. Very useful for a writer.
Automatic versus semi-automatic. Seems like most of the 'automatic' firearms on the news (usually in gun control stories) are not automatic. There is a profound lack of knowledge about the difference between the two, so that in many minds the 'automatic' is any firearm which has a magazine holding ammunition. Here's the diff: Semis require a trigger pull for every shot that is fired. Automatics will multiple shots per single trigger pull. Automatics can fire single shots based on duration of trigger pull. Smaller automatics (personal weaponry like the M4) are governed by a selector switch which designates whether the weapon will fire auto or semi-auto. A semi-automatic rifle, can closely resemble the automatic assault rifle version...but it's the function that defines the thing. (Check out the civilian AR15 versus the M16, which to the uneducated eye are twins, with the AR15 being only semi-automatic.)
Machine guns are essentially bigger automatic weapons, differentiated by the size of the ammo they shoot. They are usually full auto only, as was the old-school M60 (which I'm quite familiar with as I carried one on a reaction team, go me.) The M60 shot 7.62mm ammunition as does the current Army machine gun, the SAW [Squad Automatic Weapon.] Both fire 7.62mm, but the SAW, like the M4, is limited to a 3-round automatic burst (again, to save overuse of precious ammo.)
Fire hosing. FYI, military weaponry changed a bit since Viet Nam. The old M16-A1, which I used in the Army over 25 years ago, had a full auto selector switch that let you keep firing downrange so long as you held down the trigger. (Back then, we called it fire hosing, for obvious reasons.) Now the personal weapon is the M4, which replaced the M16. It has a only a 3-round automatic fire burst and single action settings, limiting the dispersal of ammo in high-adrenaline situations. Fire hosing is out, selective fire is in.
Semi-automatic versus revolver handguns. Semi-auto handguns are magazine-fed, where a revolver has a cylinder that you must open to drop the rounds in. Semi-automatic means this: you pull the trigger and one bullet fires without you having to cock the hammer. Like with long arms (rifles), one shot per trigger pull always means semi-auto.
Machine pistols. These are mini-machine guns. Quite literally mini, as they are not much larger than a handgun. You pull the trigger, they keep spraying bullets. They are magazine fed, and they run out of bullets faster than you'd think...which is why people are trained to fire 3-round bursts. (That is actually pretty easy to do, so long as you don't get all adrenaline poisoned and forget to lift your finger off the trigger.) Info tidbit: it takes a lot more strength to hold one on target than you would think. Even Arnold vis the scene in the Terminator couldn't hold those two Uzis he's shooting level like that if the thing weren't shooting blanks. Check out the things, they have semi-auto and auto versions, the semi versions being longer barrelled. There are also restrictions as to the magazines, and I believe for the folding or collapsible stocks that can be used to configure them to fire like a rifle. I'm not up on these puppies, but they are used by tactical squads, are sometimes carried in tactical holsters which are strapped to the thigh, or slung crosswise for instant availability.
Single action versus double action in revolvers. Single action means you always have to cock the hammer back before you can shoot the gun. The first revolvers were all single action, which is why 'fanning' of the hammer was done, so you could snap off rounds faster. But with double action revolvers, the trigger pull first moves the hammer back so it's in position to drop, and a complete pull releases the hammer and fires it. NOTE: You can stop the trigger pull at the point where the hammer is cocked, locking the hammer back for a future single action shot. This takes practice, and, if you do it wrong, you have an accidental shooting. Might be useful for your writerly toolbox.
Decocking/uncocking a revolver. [I've heard both terms used; not sure which is more common or appropriate.] Once the hammer is back on a revolver, the gun is literally poised to fire. Just dropping some revolvers (particularly early models) can set them off even without the hammer back. So, for safety, you have to decock the hammer, returning it to the static and safe upright position. The most common and safe way to do this is to stick a finger between the hammer and the cylinder, then pull back on the hammer to release it, then slowly let it move forward until you let it rest gently against the finger, letting it slide along your cushioning finger as you bring it forward. The finger cushions the hammer in case you lose your grip on it. And, in case you haven't guessed, the stupid way to decock the revolver would be to pull the trigger, firing the gun.
Decocking levers and semi-automatic handguns. Semi-automatic handguns can be fired single-action. If you have cocked the hammer back to fire semi-automatic, that means you only have to pull the trigger a small amount in order to fire, and the safety is off, so just dropping the thing has an extremely remote possibility of misfiring. Not as likely as with an early model revolver, though. But it's dangerous that way, mostly because it takes just a small trigger pull to fire it like that. Now, why would someone do this besides grandstanding, which is how the movies use the move? Well, it can give steadier aim as you don't have to apply as much pressure to the trigger. This is a move not done often, 1) because it's stupid in 99.99999% of any shooting situations, merely grandstanding; and 2) because if you have the kind of time to do that, you have time to fire carefully without that maneuver and you should be able to shoot just as well!
But if you do have a hammer pulled back, you have three choices for putting the hammer back down so the gun won't go off. 1) use the means described for revolvers. Not the safest method. 2) drop the magazine, jack the slide back to eject the round in the chamber and pull the trigger. A stupid idea as it renders you with a non-functioning gun until you reload. And 3) use the decocking button. Built in safeties make this the safest means. However, not all guns have them. And not all guns by the same manufacturers have them. NOTE: Some handguns do not have an exposed hammer (the Glock.)
NOTE: many semi-auto handguns, such as the Glock, allow you to have a similar advantage of the low trigger pressure for follow up shots if you do not entirely release the trigger, just enough so you feel a click, which means the firing mechanism is reset. It reduces the amount of pull required for the next shot and will improve your aim, as the trigger doesn't have to travel so far, giving you less chance of screwing up the shot.
Ownership of fully automatic weaponry. It's illegal to own fully automatic weaponry without very specific Class 3 weapons licenses issued by the govt, specifically the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). Semi-automatic weaponry is not affected by these federal government permits. State law, however, varies on what is legal (just as it does for any weaponry.)
Importation & exportation of weaponry. The rules for importation of any firearms into the US are also restrictive and require permits, although hunters can take their weapons outside the US (subject to importation laws of the destination country) and bring them back easily, so long as they have registered them with Customs & Border Protection before they leave, or have the proof of sale with them. (Again, living on the US/Canadian border provides lots of personal experience.) Note: Military goods are not allowed in or out without a Department of State permit. Even really old surplus stuff. Likewise, explosives, certain technology deemed risky and other items deemed important to national security are controlled and involve permits from their governing regulatory agencies. Lots of room to create problems for your characters here.
Conversion to automatic. It's illegal to convert a gun to automatic without an ATF permit. Not sure you can actually get a permit to even do it any more, but back 20 years ago, I was informed you could get one. What's worth a mention here is that, for the purposes of writing a story, you should know that the conversion can be done...but the parts are illegal to own unless you have the required permit.
Civilian long arms, explosives, and et cetera. Not touching this one. Shotguns, rifles, yada yada ya. Too many to go into. Depends what or who you are hunting. And as I am really only truly familiar with the police or military uses of these deadly implements, you are on your own. Explosives? I'm not going to discuss them, as the world has enough of that info out there. No offense, but go buy The Anarchist's Cookbook or subscribe to S.O.F. magazine or whatever and research it yourself if you are that interested.
Shooting situations & ammo, e.g. shoot/no shoot. Vis the situation where a character is in a shooting situation, there are a couple of things you might consider researching. First, consider the area around the target. By this I mean bystanders or things that can go boom (and other hazards). If there are other people around, a cop/good guy would not want to shoot them. If there is a hazardous substance that a bullet might ignite or release, that can make it a no shoot situation.Therefore that character needs to consider that it's pretty difficult, really, to hit a person at even ten yards if you are adrenaline poisoned and aren't a practiced shooter. You can shoot the wrong person. Even for practiced shooters, if they've never been in an actual fire fight it can be easy to screw up in this manner.
Second, consider your field of fire and the ammunition you are using. If you are shooting fully jacketed rounds, they will penetrate drywall or standard house walls like a hot knife through butter, and you can kill someone you cannot even see if you are unlucky. Many law enforcement agencies specify ammo that breaks up on impact (variations on wad cutters) partly so that the first person the bullet strikes is the only one who is injured...but also because these bullets disseminate all their energy on impact and thus have vastly more stopping ability, e.g. make big entry and even bigger exit holes. Lesson? Shooting someone isn't nice.
Third, consider your surroundings. Cops or soldiers can sometimes get excited and engage in what is called crossfire, where they are essentially shooting at each other with their target in the middle. This occurs when they are too focused on the need to shoot the target (adrenaline poisoning and lack of experience at work, giving them tunnel vision) and they don't see there are friendlies or non-combatants/bystanders in the line of fire. This coud be useful in a story.
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An observation. You want to read an author uses firearms and tactics excellently? Read the first four Anita Blake books by Laurel K. Hamilton. That lady has it nailed. Every time a gun is used, she KNOWS it. She knows how and why it should be used tactically for the given situation, and she knows its limitations, and she knows the types of ammunition police use and why they use them. Her research in these early books impresses the heck out of me.
*NOTE: I have found a reference for a specially designed model of Glock with a thumb safety. Basically, however, this is not applicable to Glocks in general, as these haven't been released except to the Latvian police! Models for sale in the US have no thumb safety, and I doubt that's going to change, because these handguns are basically bomb proof.
I hope this post gives you some direction on what to think about if have to have a firearm of some sort in your story. I'm not trying to be the definitive source here, and there are likely going to be divergent opinions regarding some of the points I make. But as writers you know to double check what you think you know!
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