History Main / BallisticDiscount

In reality, [[StupidCrooks trying to hold up the one kind of store]] where you ''know'' [[BullyingADragon the clerk has access to guns is generally a bad idea]]. Gun sellers obviously understand the risks of handing firearms over to strangers and will be on alert for all the signs of shady dealings. In addition, most gun store clerks are armed themselves, and any other customers in the store have a higher-than-average chance of being armed as well. Meanwhile, the display pieces often have their firing pins removed, and clerks are unlikely to let you load a gun in the store. So, if a new would-be robber [[TooDumbToLive tries this]], you can at least expect them to be [[KarmicDeath killed in a hail of gunfire for their efforts]].

* Shortly after ''Film/TheTerminator'' arrives in the present, he stops by a local gun store to arm himself. He picks out and loads a shotgun, shoots the clerk dead when he tries to protest, and makes off with the weapon.

* When you're playing ''VideoGame/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 [[ShopliftAndDie don't miss]] (or kill Izchak).
*** Or halfway-straight by summoning your pet Balrog with one of the shopkeeper's magic whistles.
*** Or polymorphing into a dragon.
*** Or polymorphing the shopkeeper into a brown pudding. (This can backfire spectacularly though.)

* The page quote is from ''Film/TheTerminator''. Somewhat more justified than usual, as the clerk at least tries to protest when the T-800 starts loading the shotgun, but the {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le cyborg has little reason to fear his response.

** The chain Range USA has a rule that new customers cannot rent firearms if they're visiting the range alone. When pressed, they'll admit the rule is prevent suicidal individuals from using their facilities and equipment to do the deed.

** The chain Range USA has a rule that new customers cannot rent firearms if they're visiting the range alone. When pressed, they'll admit the rule is prevent suicidal individuals from using their facilities to do the deed.

'''Clerk:''' You can't do that.\\

* In ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', after surviving a trek through the desert, Tuco goes to a gun store, customizes a gun, tries it out on their firing range, then uses it to hold up the store. He doesn't kill the owner, though, and even leaves him a bottle of whiskey to drown his troubles in. The twist: Tuco wasn't trying to hold up the store, the clerk misunderstood him, and Tuco just rolled with it. He was initially just angry that the price was too high.

* ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' (1931) may be the TropeMaker for film. The gun shop owner is so dumb he even loads the gun for Tom, while the gun is in Tom's hand.

* ''Freehold'', by Michael Z. Williamson. A thug from a police-state world, where average citizens never carry guns, tries this on Freehold, a libertarian's utopia. He gets the first shot off because the gun store owner wasn't expecting anyone to pull something ''that'' stupid, but then the owner (who was wearing a bulletproof vest) and ''[[EveryoneIsArmed every other customer in the store]]'' open up on him with their own weapons, and he never gets a second shot.

'''T-800:''' Wrong. ''[shoots him]''

* A ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'' episode did this with swords. An Immortal walked into an antiques shop that sold assorted bladed weaponry. He asked the proprietor to show him an authentic sword that could stand up to the stresses of combat. The Immortal tested and took a Toledo sword by stabbing the proprietor with it.

In reality, [[StupidCrooks trying to hold up the one kind of store]] where you ''know'' [[BullyingADragon the clerk has access to guns is generally a bad idea]]. Gun sellers obviously understand the risks of handing firearms over to strangers and will be on alert for all the signs of shady dealings. In addition, most gun store clerks are armed themselves, and any other customers in the store have a higher-than-average chance of being armed as well. Meanwhile, the display pieces often have their firing pins removed, and clerks are unlikely to let you load a gun in the store. So, if a new would-be robber [[TooDumbToLive tries this]], you can at least expected them to be [[KarmicDeath killed in a hail of gunfire for their efforts]].

In reality, trying to hold up the one kind of store where you know the clerk has access to guns is generally a bad idea. Gun sellers obviously understand the risks of handing firearms over to strangers and will be on alert for all the signs of shady dealings. In addition, most gun store clerks are armed themselves, and any other customers in the store have a higher-than-average chance of being armed as well. Meanwhile, the display pieces often have their firing pins removed, and clerks are unlikely to let you load a gun in the store.

* Fully averted in ''VideoGame/DreamWeb'': try to pull your gun on the illegal weapons dealer after buying the plasma pistol and you will find that he is ''fully'' aware of this possibility. His hired muscle will drop you with a MoeGreeneSpecial if you so much as accidentally select 'use' on the gun in your inventory.

*** In addition, starting with ''Fallout 2'', traders and shopkeepers replenish their goods and money every few game days, so killing a merchant also cuts you off from a steady source of supply for ammo and stims, as well as less place for you to dump your VendorTrash in.[[note]]''Fallout 2'' merchants never get rid of items the player sold to them, which can make it difficult to ''find'' the new goods.[[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' this trope runs in both directions. It works in the sense that Leon is capable of killing the Merchant that sells him weapons but doesn't work in the sense that once you kill the Merchant you don't get to take any of his guns off of his body or from his store. The decision not to kill the Merchant is helped by the fact that once you kill the Merchant he stays dead in that particular area forever, though he re-spawns and meets you in the next available spot in the storyline even if you did kill him in an earlier area. Except in [[KilledOffForReal Professional dificulty]].

* In the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series attacking or stealing from the Keckleon brothers' in-dungeon shops will not only cause the incredibly powerful shopkeeper to attack you, but an infinitely spawning army of them to chase you until you leave the floor. In the earlier games [[ViolationOfCommonSense this is the only way to get Keckleon to join your ream]].

* In ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' some criminals selling guns out of a van have one of their customers turn a bit of their wares on them when he doesn't like the price tag. In this case, the attempted thief ends up dead and one of the "clerks" and a bystander end up injured since the people he pulled the gun on were all armed themselves.

* The eponymous character pulls a rather infamous version of this in ''Film/TheTerminator''. 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.

* An Creator/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 elderly clerk looks down, his head is smashed into the case by the fugitive, who leaves with the gun. More plausible than the typical use of the trope, especially since it was a small store with only one person working in it.

In reality, people who sell guns will almost never fall for this. They obviously understand the risks of handing firearms over to strangers and will be on alert for all the signs of shady dealings. In fact, most gun store clerks are armed themselves, and the display pieces often have had their firing pins removed.

* Using your own, already loaded gun, [[SubvertedTrope does not work]] in ''VideoGame/DejaVu''. The gun salesman is quicker on the draw than you are...with a shotgun from under the table.

** In ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', Bond questions a gunsmith about a custom bullet he made by, in part, threatening to shoot him with a rifle the man is making for a customer who has lost two fingers on his right hand and needs something custom balanced. Apparently, the rifle fires one inch below the target for people with all their fingers. Bond proves this by shooting at, and missing, the gunsmith's wedding tackle.
-->'''Bond:''' So talk now...[[BondOneLiner or forever hold your piece.]]