{"id":4627,"date":"2015-07-22T08:02:49","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T12:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4627"},"modified":"2015-07-22T09:04:15","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T13:04:15","slug":"hes-got-a-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4627","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s Got a Gun!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"gun,

(photo: r. nial bradshaw, creative commons license)<\/p><\/div>\n

The late Elmore Leonard advised budding crime-writers, \u201cwhen your story starts to drag, have someone pull out a gun.\u201d Maybe too many of us have been following that advice, because several recent books aim to inject more accuracy into the portrayal of guns (and other weaponry). Errors make some readers swear off a writer and, as the introduction to The Writer’s Guide to Weapons: A Practical Reference for Using Firearms and Knives in Fiction<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/em>explains,<\/em> \u201cno wrath is greater than that of firearms enthusiasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a recent post in Jane Friedman\u2019s excellent \u201cResources for Writers<\/a>\u201d blog, written by Benjamin Sobieck<\/a>, who also wrote the Writer’s Guide<\/em>, above, here are key points about guns that writers should keep in mind to avoid those credibility-shattering results:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Clip and magazine are not the same. A clip holds cartridges that go into a magazine. Most modern firearms don\u2019t require a clip. But it sounds good, no? Clip: Manly. Magazine: Better Homes & Gardens<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Bullet is not the same as shell, round, or cartridge. You never find empty bullets on the ground after a shooting. Casings, yes.<\/li>\n
  3. The whole pumping of a shotgun or cocking the hammer of a handgun is a sound cue from the movies, intended for intimidation, but, as Sobieck says, \u201cless to do with looking tough and more to do with being stupid.\u201d These extra and in most cases unnecessary pumps\/cocks just \u201cdump unfired ammunition onto the ground.\u201d Why would anyone intimidate another person with a firearm, if it weren\u2019t ready to fire? Good question. Ask your author.<\/li>\n
  4. While this would seem to be an \u201cit goes without saying\u201d kind of thing, a character should never <\/em>look down the barrel of a gun to see whether it\u2019s loaded. Who\u2019d be that stupid? I had a clip showing a tv character actually doing this, but it has disappeared. Sorry!<\/li>\n
  5. And, perhaps the most pervasive of all gun errors in both news and entertainment media currently, the term \u201cassault weapon.\u201d This actually is meaningless. ANY weapon can be used for assault. The industry doesn\u2019t use it. Sobieck says \u201ctactical rifle (or shotgun), machine gun, submachine gun, fully automatic rifle,\u201d or even \u201cgun\u201d are more meaningful than \u201cassault weapon.\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. The term \u201cautomatic weapon\u201d is often elided to mean either a semi-automatic weapon (which shoots one time with each trigger pull) or a \u201cfully automatic weapon\u201d which fires many times with a single pull. The idea of \u201cautomatic\u201d weapons needs to be well defined. Fully automatic weapons are not very accurate after the first few shots because of recoil, so long, Rambo-inspired bursts of fire are actually useless if the goal is to hit anything.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Finally, in his book, Sobieck includes \u201cTen Golden Tips for Writing about Weapons,\u201d which includes this advice: \u201cIf it\u2019s in a movie or on television<\/a>, it\u2019s probably inaccurate.\u201d
    \n