History Main / BlastingItOutofTheirHands

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/{{Kage}}'', Jade uses her new Ninja Shadowkhan abilities to make two of her enemies drop their weapons by throwing shuriken at their hands, injuring them only enough to cause superficial scratches.

* ''Literature/JackRyan''

** Subverted in the novel ''The Cardinal of the Kremlin'', when the head of the HRT unit used to rescue a scientist kidnapped by the KGB uses his [=MP5=] to shred the bad guy's gun arm. A few sentences later, there's an internal dialogue about how he would chew out anyone on his team who did that, themselves.
** Commented upon in ''Patriot Games'' when the main character is asked something to the effect of "why not shoot the gun out of his hands?" during the trial after he foiled [[spoiler:the assassination of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.]] Ryan points out that you have to be a really good shot to even try such a feat, and the lawyer had just claimed that he'd just tried and failed to kill another man (whom Ryan had deliberately given an incapacitating but not immediately lethal wound) from three feet, which would suggest that Ryan was a bad shot, and the lawyer can't have it both ways.
* Creator/StephenKing's ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series:

** Further played straight in the second novel when Roland shoots a gangster's gun and the magazine in the gun ignites and explodes.
** He also managed to ''shoot the blade of a knife'' a random thug was holding.
** Stephen does this to Roland in the fourth book. The gun in question is ruined by the shot.
* Subversion : ''Literature/KinosJourney'' features the main character attempting to blast a shotgun out of another fighter's hands. She aims, however, to blow most of the digits on his left hand off, and the man's cybernetic hand is ImmuneToBullets.

* In Creator/TimothyZahn's ''[[Literature/TheCobraTrilogy Cobra]]'' trilogy, the Cobras can aim the lasers built into their smallest fingers with enough accuracy to do this. They ''are'' Super Soldiers with built-in combat computers.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse:
** Supergirl uses her heat vision to blast a gun out of Luthor's hand in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. In this case his hand ends up in bandages.

** Mal tops this in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' by {{Quick Draw}}ing, and shooting The Operative's gun out of his hands [[ImprobableAimingSkills from the hip]]. He Quick Drew on someone already with a gun out, and managed to hipshot their gun away '''before they could fire'''. And he did this against '''a SuperSoldier'''.

The one on the receiving end on this trope almost [[OnlyAFleshWound never gets hurt]] past a brief scream.[[note]]Although in particularly more violent works the poor schmuck gets a case of {{Fingore}} instead.[[/note]] Indeed, this technique is often used by [[TheCape heroic]] [[TheGunslinger gunslingers]] (who may have an aversion to just shooting the enemy) to [[ThouShaltNotKill subdue their enemies without killing them]], and to [[ImprobableAimingSkills establish their skill with a gun]] in a [[RuleOfCool flashy and awesome way]]. In fantasy and PeriodPiece stories, it may be done with a [[ArcherArchetype bow and arrow or crossbow]]. In science fiction, it may be done with a [[RayGun laser blaster]].

TruthInTelevision, although this isn't a common practice given how it's much easier to simply aim for centre mass (i.e. the target's torso). After all, the hand is a much smaller target than [[BoomHeadshot even the head]], and depending on the situation may be moving around much more rapidly and unpredictably. Miss the shooter's hand or their gun, and they've still got a weapon they can use to shoot back at you. Police and military snipers have been known to shoot at the firearms of their targets on occasion.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBadBlood'', Batman is brainwashed and wields a gun. He manages to fight off the effect and shoots Talia's sword before she can stab Nightwing in the back.
* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Wolfwalkers}}'', Robyn uses her father's crossbow to shoot the Lord Protector's pistol out of his hand before he can [[spoiler:shoot her father's unconscious body with it]].

* Exaggerated in the episode "Operation: V.I.R.U.S." of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Numbuh One is confronted by Cree Lincoln and pulls out a handgun, which she shots out of his hand with her [[ArmCannon Arm Blaster]]. Then he pulls out ''seven other guns'' from [[{{Hammerspace}} various spots on his body]] which she blasts out one by one. Thus Nigel is left with only... a comb, which Cree also shoots from his hand.
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'''s "False Start": Jim Morales is running out of energy, raising his nail gun against Kankrelats when one of their lasers shoots it out of his hand. His hand is intact and the gun is a few inches away.

** Olèander does this to Jigen and Lupin before revealing her identity to them.

--->'''Bandito 1:''' ¡Ay! ¡Mi revolver!\\
'''Bandito 2:''' ¡Ay! ¡Mi revolver's hammer!\\
'''Bandito 3:''' ¡Ay! ¡The finger I use to shoot mi revolver!\\
'''Bandito 4:''' ¡Ay! ¡[[ExplosiveBarrels The tequila reserve!]]

* ''Fanfic/BoldoresandBoomsticks'': Butch starts to monologue about Team Rocket's new, super-strong Pokéballs that can steal Pokémon from trainers before Ruby shoots the one he was holding.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'': Ethan can disarm [[TheGoomba Moroaicǎ]] by shooting their weapons out of their hands.

* Subverted in ''Series/{{Castle}}'': "Hell of a shot, Castle." "[[AccidentalAimingSkills I was aiming for his head.]]" Which is even funnier when you realize that this is a direct ShoutOut to [[Series/{{Firefly}} another show Fillion worked on.]]

In the case of the gun being shot (not the target's hand), if the gun is somehow still usable despite having been hit by a slug of lead and copper traveling in excess of 800 feet per second, then it's a case of MagicBullets.

* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' after Balalaika gets a sniper to blow out Hansel's kneecap when he refuses to [[KneelBeforeZod kneel before her]] he tries to retaliate by hurling his axe at her. Balalaika simply has the sniper blow his hand off.
** And in "Roberta's Blood Trail", Balalaika has her snipers shoot the weapons from three {{Action Girl}}s. Two Hands is noticeably pissed given her liking for GunsAkimbo means she's now useless until the wounds heal.

* ''Film/{{Total Recall|1990}}'' (1990). As Lori is about to stab Melina to death, Quaid shoots the knife out of her hand.

A character shoots a weapon out of another's hand, or shoots their hand in order to force them to drop the weapon. The one on the receiving end on this trope, however, almost [[OnlyAFleshWound never gets hurt]] past a brief scream.[[note]]Although in particularly more violent works the poor schmuck gets a case of {{Fingore}} instead.[[/note]] Indeed, this technique is often used by [[TheCape heroic]] [[TheGunslinger gunslingers]] (who may have an aversion to just shooting the enemy) to [[ThouShaltNotKill subdue their enemies without killing them]]. In fantasy and PeriodPiece stories, it may be done with a bow and arrow or crossbow. In science fiction, it may be done with a laser blaster.

TruthInTelevision, although this isn't a common practice given how it's much easier to simply aim for centre mass (i.e. the target's torso). Miss the shooter's hand or their gun, and they've still got a weapon they can fire at you. Police and military snipers have been known to shoot at the firearms of their targets on occasion.

* Series/Hunter1984''. In "Fagin 1986" the title character shoots an underage crook and is asked by a reporter why he didn't do this -- Hunter ridicules the idea, yet "High Noon in L.A." has Hunter challenged to a duel and using this trope to win without killing his opponent.

* In TheEighties TV cop show ''Series/{{Hunter}}'' the title character shoots an underage crook and is asked by a reporter why he didn't do this -- Hunter ridicules the idea, yet a later episode shows Hunter doing this to a man who challenged him to a duel.

* The ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'' games allowed you to do this, as well as shooting off hats and sunglasses even. A disarmed foe would either cower or run away. (Not disarm as in blowing their arm off, which you could also do. Then they just scream and die.)

* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'': In the {{Animated Adaptation}}s, Luke always does this when not shooting the belt's buckle of the villains to reveal their underwear. Some examples stand out, however. Like that time he went up against the Daltons, who had just ransacked a weapon store and were armed with two pistols for Joe, a double-barrel shotgun and a gatling gun for William and a {{BFG}} and 4-barrel shotgun for Jack, and then proceeded to turn all six weapons into piles of scrap with a single shot. Or that time when he "missed" a shot during a fight with the Daltons in a mine and, a couple of minutes later, when Joe had Luke cornered, disarmed and at gunpoint outside of the mine, did a FingerGun and said "bang"... cue the still riccocheing bullet coming flying out of the cave and down the barrel of Joe's pistol, ''completely disassembling it.''

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/LaBalladeDesDalton https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucky_luke.png]]]]

* ''Film/InvitationToAGunfighter'': When Jules forces Brewster to KneelBeforeZod, TheSheriff starts to draw on him from behind. Jules spins and shoots the gun out of the sheriff's hand--leaving his hand injured--because he respects him. the same is not true of Crane, the next man to draw on him, and Jules shoots him dead. No one else tries to draw after that.

* Used in more or less every single western comic book in the '60s. If the writers were feeling edgy enough, the hero might occasionally shoot the villain in the hand or shoulder, but shots intended to kill or seriously harm were a big no-no.

* The Disarm Shout in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' will send any equipped weapon flying. Rarely useful for the player (disarmed opponents won't yield, and few enemies have weapons good enough for disarming them to be a better strategy than attacking them, although it can be handy for melee fighters to get close to an archer), but very annoying when used ''on'' you to send your painstakingly hand-crafted InfinityMinusOneSword soaring off to the Divines know where.

* In ''VideoGame/RedSteel'', the player can perform this after receiving {{ninja}} training. Enemies will grab up their guns after a few seconds, but while they're disarmed, they can be made to surrender permanently. [[MercyReward This is advantageous]].

* {{Inverted}} in ''VideoGame/{{SiN}}'', it is possible for enemies to shoot your gun out of the player's hands (but apparently not vice-versa), which only has the effect of forcibly switching you to another weapon; you can switch right back. Also a subversion in that it does as much damage to the player as it would hitting them anywhere else.