History Main / DefensiveFailure

%%* ''TrueGrit''.

* Spectacularly averted by the recent case of one [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8279929.stm Rukhsana Kauser in Kashmir]]. When six heavily-armed men burst into her home and began beating her parents, Rukhsana and her brother attacked the men with axes; Rukhsana stunned the bandits' leader, snatched his AK from him, shot him ''twelve times'', then she and her brother drove off his surviving accomplices after a protracted firefight.

** And reversed in an earlier episode. The Doctor is holding a man at gunpoint. He being the Doctor, he handles it differently when the man starts getting nervous...

* In ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'' Zeus (another Creator/SamuelLJackson character) is holding up the entire bad guy parade with a gun, at which point Simon Gruber walks up to him, promptly explains that Creator/SamuelLJackson of all people forgot to turn the safety off, then captures him.

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* In ''Film/TheBunnymanMassacre'', the final victim-to-be has the titular [[SlasherMovie serial killer]] at gunpoint. [[WhatAnIdiot For some unexplained reason, she turns the gun on herself]].

* Played with ''{{Lost}}'': Kate is in a bank during an armed robbery. After a skirmish, she ends up holding a gun on the ringleader, but the safety is on. As the other hostages call out to shoot the bad guy, she yells, "I don't know how to use a gun!" The bad guy takes the gun back and drags her into another room, ostensibly to beat her up. That's when we learn that [[spoiler:Kate ''masterminded'' the bank robbery, is playing the inside woman, and most definitely knows how to use a gun]].

* A version appears in ''[[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception]]'', where Drake points a gun at Sully, Drake's father figure, whom Drake had recently seen gunned down and killed, reappears and looking unharmed. Sully plucks the gun out of Drake's hand, and flicks him on the nose, telling him never to do it again.

* Double Suberted in ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' manga. Seras ''does'' fire her weapon at the vampiric priest - for all the good it does her. ''Then'' he disarms her.
* In ''{{Planetes}}'', Hachimaki is outrage at finding [[spoiler:Hakim]] [[TheMole sabotaging the Von Braun mission]], and trains an [[GrapplingHookGun armor-piercing anchor gun]] on him. [[spoiler:Hakim]] is utterly unfazed; he knows Hachimaki won't shoot, as he "doesn't have the eyes of a killer." He then delivers a devastating BreakingSpeech at Hachi, steadily walking towards him. The lecture climaxes as [[spoiler:Hakim]] walks past Hachi, who remains [[HeroicBSOD standing perfectly still]], and barely has time to scream at his betrayer's back before a bomb goes off.
* In ''Anime/{{Monster}}'': [[spoiler:Tenma]] has [[spoiler:Johan]] at gunpoint, but hesitates. The latter calmly approaches the former in a way that suggests this trope... then [[spoiler:he just stands there, points at his own forehead, and ''[[DissonantSerenity smiles]]'']].

* Subverted in the ''RurouniKenshin'' anime. Misao and a minor character, a young boy who's brother is taken hostage during one of Shishio's schemes, are attempting to sneak into the villain hideout and capture a nearby [[{{Mook}} guard]], with the boy holding him at swordpoint. The guard assumes it's a bluff and points out to the boy that [[YouWouldntShootMe it's harder to kill someone than an innocent would realize]]...rather severely underestimating just how desperate and angry the boy is. Misao barely manages to prevent him from killing the guard, who becomes [[OhCrap instantly cooperative]].

* Averted in ''WolfCreek''. [[spoiler:However, it doesn't kill the villain: the rifle bullet passes through his neck and somehow he doesn't bleed to death.]]
* ''Film/TheRock'': Just after Goodspeed and Mason's Navy SEAL teammates are all drawn into a trap and killed, Goodspeed tries to stop Mason from leaving Alcatraz Island by pulling his pistol on him. Mason replies that [[DefensiveFailure Goodspeed doesn't have what it takes to kill him]], and also remarking [[NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont "Besides, the safety's on"]], before grabbing the gun away.

* In ''TheSoundOfMusic'', Rolf becomes a Nazi soldier, but proves unable to kill Captain Von Trapp:

* Parodied in ''NationalLampoonsLoadedWeapon1'', where a character seizes up and -- rather than merely trembling -- begins to convulse in an exaggerated manner, wagging his pistol in every direction. Said character, by the way, is played by ''Creator/SamuelLJackson''.

* Oddly featured in ''{{Nation}}'' where Daphne points a gun at Mau. She seems so scared of it that he tries to take it from her to relieve her concern. She does actually fire it, but fortunately the powder had got wet, and he thought she was giving him a tool for lighting fires with. So easily could have been PoorCommunicationKills.
* Svidrigailov and Dounia in ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dounia has a defensive failure in front of Svidrigailov while Svidrigailov attempts to disarm her, laughing at her and taunting her to kill him. She doesn't, of course.
* A small but memorable scene in one issue of ''PerryRhodan'' has Pyon Arzachena, perpetually down on his luck interstellar prospector, threaten the [[HeelFaceTurn former]] [[BigBad galactic conqueror]] Hotrenor-Taak with his own weapon because he suspects the latter of being merely an impostor whom he wants to unmask. Turns into a NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont moment when Hotrenor-Taak calmly walks over and retrieves his gun -- which only works when held by its owner.

* {{Lampshaded}} in an episode of ''Series/DoctorWho'' - Martha has an enemy at gunpoint who says she doesn't have the nerve to fire - she replies that nervous people with guns are not a safe combination, and asks him if he wants to risk it.

** And played straight in the Doctor's Daughter where Ten makes a point that even if he has the villain at gun point, he never would shoot.

* Crichton's LoveInterest in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' falls victim to this. Scorpius holds Crichton hostage. Then the LoveInterest confidently walks in with a pulse rifle. Crichton laughs and tells her to shoot Scorpius. She then hesitates, and Scorpius calmly shoots her instead.

** In the first game Meryl points her rifle at Snake, and Snake taunts her about not being able to pull the trigger
*** Snake even points out that [[NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont she hadn't even taken the safety off.]]
** Near the beginning of MetalGearSolid3, Ocelot points his revolver at Naked Snake. Snake responds by calmly stating, "You don't have what it takes to kill me." An enraged Ocelot pulls the trigger, only to discover that Snake was speaking literally, and his gun is empty. Whoops.
*** There are implications that Ocelot [[MagnificentBastard intended for this to happen all along.]] [[spoiler:It's hard to maintain an image of being a Russian soldier if you refuse to shoot an American spy, after all. Emptying your weapon beforehand is a nice [[TakeAThirdOption third option.]]]]

* Happens in ''GrimFandango'' when Meche threatens Domino with a Sprouter.

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* A version appears in ''[[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception]], where Drake points a gun at Sully, Drake's father figure, whom Drake had recently seen gunned down and killed, reappears and looking unharmed. Sully plucks the gun out of Drake's hand, and flicks him on the nose, telling him never to do it again.

* A version appears in Uncharted 3, where Drake points a gun at Sully, Drake's father figure, whom Drake had recently seen gunned down and killed, reappears and looking unharmed. Sully plucks the gun out of Drake's hand, and flicks him on the nose, telling him never to do it again.

* Variant in Disney's version of ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}'': Tarzan doesn't fire the rifle because he can't figure out ''how'' to make it fire.

* Wendy Patrakas falls victim to this on ''{{Drive}}''. She's assigned to shoot Ivy to stay in the race. However, street smart Ivy easily disarms the Ohio housewife. After seeing what Ivy's capable of, Wendy tells her "I think maybe I should've shot you."

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Reportedly happened when Fidel Castro's lover, Marita Lorenz, tried to assassinate him.
* Spectacularly averted by the recent case of one [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8279929.stm Rukhsana Kauser in Kashmir]]. When six heavily-armed men burst into her home and began beating her parents, Rukhsana and her brother attacked the men with axes; Rukhsana stunned the bandits' leader, snatched his AK from him, shot him ''twelve times'', then she and her brother drove off his surviving accomplices after a protracted firefight.
* The possible reality of this trope is why all decent mandatory gun safety courses will emphatically point out that if one has drawn the gun and taken aim, they ''must'' immediately use it to shoot the aggressor(s) until they fall down. On such a gun safety test, mentioning that one would consider using the gun as a threat is grounds for immediate failure.
** To elaborate a bit further, [[http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/get_attacked.htm#challenge DO NOT BLUFF]] with a weapon. A person who is used to killing people (i.e. most violent criminals) will kill you right then and there if you pull out a weapon and don't attack immediately. Unlike you, they have ''no'' resistance to killing. This is where Hollywood sort of gets it right and sort of gets it wrong--a lot of people get killed by waving around a gun they're not prepared to use, but the killer rarely bothers to disarm, taunt, or otherwise interact with the victim before murdering him.
** Also, depending on your jurisdiction, it may be legal to ''shoot'' someone in self-defense, while at the same time being illegal to ''brandish'' a weapon, which is to say, displaying it openly or threateningly. Which means, [[RightHandVersusLeftHand due to an odd intersection of laws]], once you draw the gun in self-defense, it is illegal ''not'' to use it. Of course, firearms laws vary from place to place, in the case of the US, they vary wildly between individual states, so [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope become familiar with your local laws and act accordingly.]]

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* Parodied in ''NationalLampoonsLoadedWeapon1'', where a character seizes up and -- rather than merely trembling -- begins to convulse in an exaggerated manner, wagging his pistol in every direction. Said character, by the way, is played by ''SamuelLJackson''.

* In ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'' Zeus (another SamuelLJackson character) is holding up the entire bad guy parade with a gun, at which point Simon Gruber walks up to him, promptly explains that SamuelLJackson of all people forgot to turn the safety off, then captures him.

The armed victim has the killer in her gunsights and at her mercy (it's [[AlwaysFemale usually a woman]] in these situations) but the killer knows they have nothing to fear. The victim is either unable or unwilling to use her weapon as the killer walks up to her and plucks the gun out of her hands leaving her a tearful heap begging for her life. Often involves a BreakingSpeech. If she had captured him beforehand or otherwise cornered him but doesn't shoot then it's a HannibalLecture.

* ''Film/EightMM'': TheProtagonist has the director of a snuff film tied to a support bar in the building the film was made at, has his gun trained on him... but can't bring himself to fire, even as the director taunts him (to the point of ''licking the gun''). The hero then steps outside, [[spoiler:calls the mother of the snuff film's victim, and begs for permission to kill the man. He gets it. Five seconds later he pistol-whips the director to death.]]

* Variant in Disney's version of ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}'': Tarzan doesn 't fire the rifle because he can't figure out ''how'' to make it fire.

* Averted in ''WolfCreek''. [[spoiler: However, it doesn't kill the villain: the rifle bullet passes through his neck and somehow he doesn't bleed to death.]]

* Parodied in ''NationalLampoonsLoadedWeapon1'', where a character seizes up and -rather than merely trembling- begins to convulse in an exaggerated manner, wagging his pistol in every direction. Said character, by the way, is played by ''SamuelLJackson''.

The armed victim has the killer in her gunsights and at her mercy (it's [[AlwaysFemale usually a woman]] in these situations) but the killer knows they have nothing to fear. The victim is either unable or unwilling to use her weapon as the killer walks up to her and plucks the gun out of her hands leaving her a tearful heap begging for her life. Often involves a BreakingSpeech. If she had captured him before hand or otherwise cornered him but doesn't shoot then it's a HannibalLecture.

** Near the beginning, Ocelot points his gun at Snake Eater and Snakes laughs and says "You don't have what it takes to kill me." An enraged Ocelot pulls the trigger, only to discover that his gun is empty. Whoops.

* ''TheRef''. DenisLeary gets distracted, leading to the son of his two hostages grabbing his gun and demanding that Leary untie his parents or he'll shoot. However, Denis knows the kid's not a killer, and starts moving towards the kid. When the phone rings and momentarily distracts the son, Leary simply takes the gun back.

* Subverted in ''WolfCreek''. [[spoiler: However, it doesn't kill the villain: the rifle bullet passes through his neck and somehow he doesn't bleed to death.]]

* Played straight in TheRef. In it, DenisLeary gets distracted, leading to the son of his two hostages grabbing his gun and demanding that Leary untie his parents or he'll shoot. However, Denis knows the kid's not a killer, and starts moving towards the kid. When the phone rings and momentarily distracts the son, Leary simply takes the gun back.
* Subverted at the end of ''Film/{{Vibes}}''. Nick (Creator/JeffGoldblum) has the BigBad held at bay with an M-16.

* Nicely LampShaded and subverted in ''TrueGrit''.

* Subverted in one of the Track novels (by Jerry Ahern) when a neo-Nazi gives his revolver to a nun and dares her to pull the trigger. Of course, since the nun is the heroine in disguise he gets shot between the eyes instead.

** Subverted in "The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe". The titular widow manages to trick a group of soldiers and turn a gun on them. The leader tells her that he doesn't believe she'll shoot. [[MamaBear Then she informs them that her children are missing]]. He takes her much more seriously after that.
* Subverted on ''{{Lost}}'': Kate is in a bank during an armed robbery. After a skirmish, she ends up holding a gun on the ringleader, but the safety is on. As the other hostages call out to shoot the bad guy, she yells, "I don't know how to use a gun!" The bad guy takes the gun back and drags her into another room, ostensibly to beat her up. That's when we learn that [[spoiler:Kate ''masterminded'' the bank robbery, is playing the inside woman, and most definitely knows how to use a gun]].

** Subverted in Snake Eater, near the beginning when Ocelot points his gun at Snake, Snake laughs and says "You don't have what it takes to kill me." An enraged Ocelot pulls the trigger, only to discover that his gun is empty. Whoops.

* Subverted in Creator/LucasArts FPS ''VideoGame/{{Outlaws}}''. When he was a young boy, the hero was in this situation, holding the gun, trying to save his father, but failed. At the end of the game, he is one staring down the barrel, but is saved by his daughter.

* In an early episode of ''StargateSG1'' Samantha Carter has an ex-lover at gunpoint as he has been suffering delusions of grandeur. He even tells her to shoot him but she still cannot.

The armed victim has the killer in her gunsights and at her mercy (it's [[AlwaysFemale usually a woman]] in these situations) but the killer knows they have nothing to fear. The victim is either unable or unwilling to use her weapon as the killer walks up to her and plucks the gun out of her hands leaving her a tearful heap begging for her life. Often involves a BreakingSpeech. If she had captured him before hand or otherwise cornered him but doesn't shot then it's a HannibalLecture.

* Variation in the British anthology series ''Thriller'': the heroine tries to phone the police, but the villainess cuts the phone wire and proceeds to threaten the heroine. At which point the heroine is so shocked that she ''drops the telephone receiver'', never stopping to consider that it's a heavy blunt instrument with which she could have clouted the villainess.

* ''[[EightMM 8mm]]'': TheProtagonist has the director of a snuff film tied to a support bar in the building the film was made at, has his gun trained on him... but can't bring himself to fire, even as the director taunts him (to the point of ''licking the gun''). The hero then steps outside, [[spoiler:calls the mother of the snuff film's victim, and begs for permission to kill the man. He gets it. Five seconds later he pistol-whips the director to death.]]

The armed victim has the killer in her gunsights and at her mercy (it's [[AlwaysFemale usually a woman]] in these situations) but the killer knows they have nothing to fear. The victim is either unable or unwilling to use her weapon as the killer walks up to her and plucks the gun out of her hands leaving her a tearful heap begging for her life. Often involves a BreakingSpeech. If she had captured him before hand or otherwise cornered him but doesn't shot then it's a HannibalLecture.

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