History Main / EveryoneHasPistols

[[redirect:{{Handguns}}]]
So, Average Joe Rifleman has run out of bullets. However, somehow, despite being a {{Redshirt}}, he just has to reach to his side and pull out his handy sidearm, and bam, he's back in the fray. Indeed, it seems everyone, regardless of rank, service or training in any sort of military always has a pistol to go with the standard weapon (usually a rifle). Very common in video games, somewhat common in movies and anime.

Directors and game makers, as has been proven many, many times before, oftentimes [[{{DidNot DoTheResearch}} do not do the research]] or fall prey to the "Hey every other game has every soldier equipped with a pistol to go with his rifle, that must be standard military equipment!" effect.

However, in real life, it's almost universal that only officers and rear-line units are given pistols. Regular ol Joe Rifleman is just that - a _rifle_man. His only weapons are his gonads, his fists, his knife, and most of all his rifle. (This is exactly why most rifleman are taught to [[{{ICallItVera}}take care of their rifle like it was their wife]], because if that thing breaks or jams at a crucial moment, you've got nothing but a knife to fall back on.)

Naturally, nobody considers [[{{EasyLogistics}}the financial, logistical and training problems]] brought up by what it would take to arm every single soldier with two guns instead of one. It would be massively impractical in real life - the US military trains each soldier in how to fire every weapon in the service if neccessary, including pistols, but that doesn't change the fact that they would still bankrupt themselves. And poorer militaries can barely afford to train their troops in how to use their rifles - let alone cross-specialize them. Sometimes even machine gunners have nothing but a knife as a backup.

There are exceptions to this, of course - in many, many wars, soldiers have "scavenged" both friendly and enemy pistols off of officers, machine gunners, truck drivers, etc. In fact, many veterans of wars bring back guns they appropriated in combat as sidearms. In some cases this may be a [[Justified Trope]] for that exact reason.

Also justified if the [[{{PlayerCharacter}}Player Character]] IS an officer, for obvious reasons stated above.

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'''Examples:'''

[[AC:Video Games]]
* Almost every multiplayer FPS in existance. ''CallOfDuty'', Insurgency, ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}''... You name it, they're guilty of it.
* Subverted in Red Orchestra. No pistols for riflemen here! Same with it's free mod, Mare Nostrum.

[[AC:Anime]]
* {{Madlax}}. Even poor Average Joes in a civil war torn country have somehow managed to secure nice, shiny new pistols in shiny holsters, which are promptly used to their detriment when they're disarmed by an [[{{ActionGirl}} asskicking French maid]]. [[{{}} No, really]].

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<<|GunsAndGunplayTropes|>>

* Almost every multiplayer FPS in existance. [[{{CallofDuty}}Call of Duty]], Insurgency, [[{{BattlefieldSeries}}Battlefield]]... You name it, they're guilty of it.

[[redirect:Handguns]]