Movies and television: good guys with guns

[John Smith]

Maher made a point of this last night, but it's something I've been concerned about for a long time.

We see constantly good guys with guns stopping bad guys with guns in the movies and on tv. Might be more bad guys, and they may have more powerful weapons, but the good guys almost always win the battle.

It is RARE to have one of the good guys killed.

In real life, I'd expect the side with more people and more powerful weapons would usually win. At least, one would expect some on both sides to be killed.

Then, some of whom we see as 'bad guys' with guns probably believe themselves to be 'good guys' with guns.

[L.W. Baxter]

i prefer good guys with swords

[Flying Orca]

There is a persistent idea in the USA that problems can be solved by shooting people, and it manifests itself everywhere from foreign policy (e.g. Iraq) through homogenized entertainment product to the promotion of guns for self-defense. It ranks alongside the easy availability of guns, and possibly the ready supply of aggrieved white males, as a primary contributor to gun violence in the USA.

[wizbang 13]

Has a bad guy ever hit anything with a machine gun on TV?

[Jim Bow]

And, while we’re at it, have you actually ever seen a traffic accident in which at least one car flew through the air, spinning, and exploding mid twist?

[Andrew2]

Think I saw that many of the action movies with cars lurching through the air and exploding are funded from the East and they expect that. Bit like explosions are always very fiery (lots of gas used) when in reality high explosives don't go off like that. Of course, the mandatory 'good guys' diving away just in time.

A lot of this comes from the 'Cowboy' era and the movies/TV shows filled with scores being settled with guns. The gunfight at the OK corral was famous mainly because such events were rare, not common place.
Most cowboys could not afford a pistol, not to mention the ammo to practice. Anyway, a rifle was far more use.

[Andrew2]

And, in the opening scene of the Hannibal Lecter book where Clarice is joining a tactical bunch for a raid, the remark about 'If you take part in such events, sooner or later it will go badly, which it did for at least one of the police involved.

[ahp]

In real life the good guy probably would not see it coming.

[John Smith]

Has a bad guy ever hit anything with a machine gun on TV?

That's kind of the point. Maybe four good guys with hand guns of some sort are faced with maybe 8 bad guys with some sort of assault rifles. Almost without exception, the outgunned and outnumbered 'good guys' win the gun battle.

There are very rare times when one of the good guys gets killed. Or even wounded.

[Hugh MacD]

Huh...are we talking, ABC, CBS or FOX news here? Seriously, I've quit watching TV programs. Tired of seeing the only conflict resolution ending up with firearms.

[skuthorp]

I stopped watching or reading fiction many years ago. Life is brutal enough without the help of Hollywood et al. There is enough actual footage of people being killed to satisfy any sick mind without needing to sanitise or glorify or fictionalise it.
But it has been part of 'American Culture' for a very long time.

[Paul Pless]

It is RARE to have one of the good guys killed.

[Paul Pless]

[Paul Pless]

[Paul Pless]

[Paul Pless]

[Paul Pless]

[Tomcat]

That's kind of the point. Maybe four good guys with hand guns of some sort are faced with maybe 8 bad guys with some sort of assault rifles. Almost without exception, the outgunned and outnumbered 'good guys' win the gun battle.

There are very rare times when one of the good guys gets killed. Or even wounded.

Didn't we just have a woman with a handgun shoot a goblin with an assault rifle, and stop a potential mass shooting? If we are talking real life, with an armed populous, the possibility someone will place a gun at the back of a mass shooters head and pull the trigger is not to be discounted. The figures seem to show that large number of people do succeed in killing assailants, and in particular, deterring them by the mere sight of a weapon.

I do wonder how many criminals save their own lives from predation by other criminals, in society. Back when stand your ground was being actively discussed, in Canada we were surprised to discover that stand your ground was fine here. And to prove the point there was a case in Newfoundland were a drug dealer was attacked by two other dealers, in his home, and shot them. Criminal lives mater!

[Tomcat]

That's kind of the point. Maybe four good guys with hand guns of some sort are faced with maybe 8 bad guys with some sort of assault rifles. Almost without exception, the outgunned and outnumbered 'good guys' win the gun battle.

Well, we don't probably waste a 300 million dollar budget on a movie where the hero gets killed in the first minute of the movie, and that is all there was to it. There is a bias against reality in stories, that they need to be a story worth telling. Most of our stories are not worth telling. Would you want to read all kinds of posts about screw ups here? Not for humor, instruction, or advice. Just cock-ups doing what they do best. Kinda like that friend some people have who constantly drones on about their personal disasters and grievances.

Plus despite all the hardship, what was the ratio of kills in say Afgahnistan, between US forces, and the "Bad Guys".

I read the other day that 4 bad guys in a car in the US, engaged in a mass shooting, and killed each other. This was included in the "mass shooting" events stats. So it was claimed. More than 3 dead. For sure, Hollywood could have filmed that with automatic weapons and at least someone would have walked away...

There are very rare times when one of the good guys gets killed. Or even wounded.

I think we all know, you can tell from early one in most older movies, which "good guy" is going to catch a bullet!

[Tomcat]

Has a bad guy ever hit anything with a machine gun on TV?

I hate that, particularly movies that spend the last 20 minutes on people blasting away at each other, in the open, full auto, short range.

That said, despite the definition of an assault rifle being that it is selectively full auto/semi auto, everyone now should know they use semi auto almost all the time, cause full auto is not the super power of such weapons.

[Too Little Time]

In real life, I'd expect the side with more people and more powerful weapons would usually win. At least, one would expect some on both sides to be killed.

I suspect those who select the venue are more apt to prevail. Training also helps.

Having any type of weapon against an unarmed group gives one a very good advantage. Hence the choice of school classrooms.

A good sniper in a good location, should do well against a disorganized better armed mob.