History Main / BallisticDiscount

Even if you bring your own weaponry, well -- you're still robbing the one type of store in the entire world where the clerk is '''guaranteed''' to have access to firearms and '''know''' how they work. If you pay attention when entering a gun store, you'll see that more often than not the clerk will have a holstered pistol on his belt. Remember, the typical reason that somebody chooses to work at a gun store instead of some other retail sales job is that ''they like guns'', and probably spend more as much or more time on the shooting range as the average police officer.[[note]]Which is helped by the fact that many gun stores have their own in-house pistol ranges.[[/note]] Needless to say, in most real life stories the [[TooDumbToLive idiot robber]] gets nothing more for his trouble than a {{Darwin Award|s}} nomination, right up there with trying to rob a police officers' convention.

* There's one well known and [[http://www.snopes.com/crime/dumdum/gunshop.asp mostly true]] DarwinAwards winner who tried this. The story says the man went into a gun store and waved a gun around firing it into the ceiling and was promptly shot to death by the two armed clerks, the three armed customers, and the cop ''[[TooDumbToLive whose squad car was parked out front.]]'' In reality only the cop and one clerk shot him. The part about him [[FailedASpotCheck walking around the police cruiser to enter the store]] is true though.

* ''LuckyLuke'': In "Lucky Luke and the Ballad of the Daltons", the Daltons escaped prison and needed new guns. The salesman was stupid enough to let each Dalton get a pair of loaded guns.

* The titular character pulls a rather infamous version of this in ''[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]''. Though the clerk at least protests when the Terminator starts putting shells in the shotgun. It certainly helps that T-800 is {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le and stopping him was out of the question anyway. Also, the Terminator was smart enough to wait until the clerk was looking the other way before starting to load the gun.

* The Terminator in ''[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]''. Though the clerk at least protests when the Terminator starts putting shells in the shotgun. It certainly helps that T-800 is {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le. Also, the Terminator waited until the clerk was looking the other way before starting to load the gun.

* An AlanMoore-penned issue of ''The Vigilante'' featured a variation on this -- a fugitive enters a gun store and says he'd like the one at the bottom of the glass case. When the clerk looks down, he smashes his head into the case and takes the gun. More plausible than the typical use of the trope, especially if it's a small store with only one person working at the time.

* The [=UnSub=] in the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "Hanley Waters" already has the ammo and intends on simply purchasing the corresponding gun, but resorts to this trope when she learns that she can't purchase it today. With the gun still sitting on the counter, the clerk gives her the gun license application and walks off to deal with another customer, giving her time to load before he notices what she's doing.

-->'''Yuri''': Gentlemen, the new Uzi Machine Pistol. Big firepower in a small package. This little baby uses 9mm hollow points, 20 to 25 round extendable mags, rear flip adjustable sights, silencer comes standard, excellent recoil reduction, muzzle jump reduced 40 percent, 60 percent improved noise suppression. [[TemptingFate You could pump a mag into me right now and never wake the guy in the next room]].

* Played with in ''Film/TheFifthElement''. Zorg hires [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy the Mangalores]] to steal a special chest containing [[MacGuffin four mystical stones]], and in return will give them four crates of very powerful guns. (Guns that are also rocket launchers, [[KillItWithFire flamethrowers]], and [[FreezeRay freezing weapons]]). When the Mangalores return with the chest, Zorg demonstrates all the fancy special features then takes a look in the chest, only to find the stones aren't there. Angry, Zorg prepares to take all the guns and leave. The Mangalores are equally angry because that means they will have risked their lives for nothing, and pull their own guns to stop Zorg from leaving with the merchandise. Zorg leaves one crate as a goodwill gesture, but explains to his assistant that there was one thing he didn't explain about the guns he gave the Mangalores; he never told them [[WhatDoesThisButtonDo What That Little Red Button Does]]. Sure enough, one Mangalore soldier playing with the guns tries it out, and it turns out that the red button is a high-explosive self-destruct.

* In ''Film/TheJackal'', the titular assassin tests his new purchase on the gun dealer who sold it to him (this character is a combination of the maker of false passports and the arms dealer of ''TheDayOfTheJackal'' book and film: the former getting killed because he tried to blackmail the Jackal; the latter is smart enough to leave information as to what happened to him should he be offed by a customer and thus survives. Also, the latter is clearly a pro and may be useful again.)

* Rico in ''Film/JudgeDredd''

*** In addition, starting with Fallout 3, traders and shopkeepers replenish their goods and money every few game days, so killing a merchant also cuts you off a steady source of supply of ammo and stims, as well as less place for you to dump your VendorTrash in.

* In one of the recent ''MoonKnight'' books, Carson Knowles, better known as the villain Black Spectre, is buying a crapton of medieval weaponry and armour, and the dealer refuses to hand over anything until he sees payment. Knowles tosses a bag at his feet and begins picking up his weapons, while the dealer opens the bag and complains there's nothing in there. He promply says [[OhCrap "Oh @#$%"]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck when the penny drops.]]

Even if you bring your own weaponry, well -- you're still robbing the one type of store in the entire world where the clerk is '''guaranteed''' to have access to firearms and '''know''' how they work. If you pay attention when entering a gun store, you'll see that more often than not the clerk will have a holstered pistol on his belt. Remember, the typical reason that somebody chooses to work at a gun store instead of some other retail sales job is that ''they like guns'', and probably spend more as much or more time on the shooting range as the average police officer.[[note]]Which is helped by the fact that many gun stores have their own in-house pistol ranges.[[/note]] Needless to say, in most real life stories the [[TooDumbToLive idiot robber]] gets nothing more for his trouble than a {{Darwin Award|s}} nomination, right up there with trying to rob police officers' convention.

Decidedly ''not'' TruthInTelevision. For one, you're relying on the dealer to allow you to load the weapon in front of him, and the dealers [[GenreSavvy already know these stories themselves]]. Anyone who does try to load a weapon in a gun store outside of a shooting range will likely find the dealers and any customers will act more quickly than he will. To top it off, for the most part display guns don't have firing pins installed, so even ''if'' you manage to load the weapon and point it at the clerk without being shot, ''[[ItWorksBetterWithBullets the gun in your hands is harmless]]''. And yes, you'd still be going to prison.

-->-- ''[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} The Terminator]]''

* In ''TheJackal'', the titular assassin tests his new purchase on the gun dealer who sold it to him (this character is a combination of the maker of false passports and the arms dealer of ''TheDayOfTheJackal'' book and film: the former getting killed because he tried to blackmail the Jackal; the latter is smart enough to leave information as to what happened to him should he be offed by a customer and thus survives. Also, the latter is clearly a pro and may be useful again.)
* Something similar happens at the start of ''[[Film/RoboCop Robocop 2]]''. But in this instance, the criminals were already well into the process of smashing up the store, and the sales clerk was slumped down on the floor, bleeding. He says something to the effect of, "Please... take what you want and go." The criminal replies "Thanks," and shoots him.

* Averted in the video game ''Blade Runner'' where the gun store has a robotic gun that tracks the move of every customer.

Even if you bring your own weaponry, well -- you're still robbing the one type of store in the entire world where the clerk is '''guaranteed''' to have access to firearms and '''know''' how they work. Needless to say, in most real life stories the [[TooDumbToLive idiot robber]] gets nothing more for his trouble than a {{Darwin Award|s}} nomination.

* An AlanMoore-penned issue of ''The Vigilante'' featured a variation on this -- a fugitive enters a gun store and says he'd like the one at the bottom of the glass case. When the clerk looks down, he smashes his head into the case and takes the gun.

* A variation in ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Daenerys purchases an army of warrior slaves from their owner, then immediately orders them to massacre the former owner and his guards and recollect her payment.
** Another reason [[FanNickname Dany]] is successful in this? She'd included one of her dragons on a chain as payment to the slave owner- then promptly commanded it to breathe fire on him and his entire city. Did she forget to mention dragons aren't slaves and can't actually be bought and sold? Oops.

* A sign at a gun shop says, "We don't call 911." with a picture of a revolver.
** Other signs add "...we call .357"

* The Terminator in ''TheTerminator''. Though the clerk at least protests when the Terminator starts putting shells in the shotgun. It certainly helps that T-800 is [[NighInvulnerability Nigh Invulnerable]]. Also, the Terminator waited until the clerk was looking the other way before starting to load the gun.

* Something similar happens at the start of ''[[Film/{{Robocop}} Robocop 2]]''. But in this instance, the criminals were already well into the process of smashing up the store, and the sales clerk was slumped down on the floor, bleeding. He says something to the effect of, "Please... take what you want and go." The criminal replies "Thanks," and shoots him.

* The film ''MissingInAction'' features an on-the-run Chuck Norris buying a large raft-like speedboat made from "the same stuff that {{Bullet Proof Vest}}s are made of". The salesman demonstrates this by getting into his handy-dandy rotating turret machine gun and putting a few hundred rounds into it, not getting a scratch on it. Chuck Norris agrees to buy it, and they start haggling over the price. While asking to pay some measly sum for the boat he casually walks into the handy-dandy rotating turret machine gun and points it at the salesman. The salesman still tries to get him pay a bit more, but in the end he decides not to feed his starving family, just so Chuck Norris can be a badass.

* ''Literature/TheDarkTower: The Drawing of the Three'' has a variant of this as one of Roland's many [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments Of Awesome]]. He wants ammo for his gun (back in his world), but the gun store owner won't give it to him. And he has no weapon in our world. So he goes back outside, lies to the police, gets them to follow him back inside, knocks ''them'' out, takes their guns, and then ''pays'' for the ammo before leaving.

* Fugitive Jack Druggan guns down a gang of gun dealers with one of their own automatic rifles after they unwisely attempt to rip him off in the ''[[Series/{{ChaseNBC}} Chase (NBC)]]'' episode "The Comeback Kid".

* A variation was used on ''{{Monk}}'' when Monk was working undercover at a Wal-Mart-like megastore. In order to capture the fleeing criminals, Monk gets a gun from the store and demands that the employees give him the ammunition as well. When one hesitates, Monk gets his way by threatening him with the gun... only to have the second employee point out, after Monk has left the scene, that the gun wasn't loaded.

* When you're playing ''{{Nethack}}'', don't try to kill the shopkeeper. In the variant SLASH'EM, they have shotguns. In a medieval setting. Even in vanilla Nethack, they can still slaughter you in seconds.
** You can play this straight with the right item. One of the ways to reliably kill shopkeepers is with a wand of death. If there is one present, you can pick up a wand of death from the store and zap the shopkeeper with his own wand. Just [[IzchaksWrath don't miss]] (or kill Izchak).

* A variation in GameOfThrones: Daenerys purchases an army of warrior slaves from their owner, then immediately orders them to massacre the former owner and his guards and recollect her payment.

* Subverted in ''BreakingBad''. The Salamanca cousins are meeting an arms dealer to buy bulletproof vests. After the arms dealer puts one on and boasts of its high quality, the cousins shoot him in the chest. He gets knocked on his ass, but lives. They see that the merchandise is indeed high quality, take their vests and leave payment.