A non-fighter (we'll call her Alice) gets the drop on Bob, a bad guy who is threatening her or another sympathetic character. Bob is usually [[YouWouldntShootMe undeterred since he doubts she could actually do it]] and will often try to talk her down or simply step in and [[DefensiveFailure take the gun away]]. But Alice holds fast, pulls the trigger, and shoots Bob.

Immediately afterwards, she feels the emotional weight of what's just happened. Perhaps a horrified or sickened expression settles on her face. She may go into a full HeroicBSOD, dropping the gun and bursting into tears. Sometimes she collapses. Alternatively, she may just stand there holding the weapon until someone more battle-hardened comes over to her and takes it out of her trembling hand. Sometimes that other is Bob, merely wounded and ready for Round 2 -- even though ''she'' is not.

The usual meaning of this trope is to signify that the person holding the gun has never shot anyone before (perhaps has never even held a gun before) and is emotionally unprepared for this moment. It is more likely to apply to female characters, who may act [[HystericalWoman shaky and hysterical]] even before the act. Where a man would look down the barrel and coldly say "IllKillYou", a woman in fiction will point the gun with a hand quivering in rage/fear and scream "I'LL KILL YOU!" with tears running down her face.

This doesn't seem to be as prevalent as it used to be, possibly because there's less emphasis now on [[DoubleStandard women being the 'weaker' sex]] and there are more '{{badass}}' female characters around.

If a similar thing happens to a male, it's generally portrayed as a RiteOfPassage, something that makes a man out of him (see Upham in ''SavingPrivateRyan'', the son in ''AHistoryOfViolence''). He may feel just as traumatized, but he doesn't drop the weapon and he doesn't cry. See ARealManIsAKiller.

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

* ''Manga/BattleRoyale'': Noriko Nakagawa bursts into tears when she shoots Kazuo Kiriyama, even though he had slaughtered thirteen people previously.
* In ''HighschoolOfTheDead'', Saya Takagi breaks down for a moment after killing her first zombie.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'': Shooting a North Korean is an extremely traumatic experience for fighter pilot [[Comicbook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], who blames himself for not remembering how to say in Korean that the war was already over.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Seen in the JohnWayne movie, ''Rio Lobo''. Amelita (Sherry Lansing) shoots a corrupt sheriff repeatedly (and [[PreMortemOneLiner very coldly]]), then breaks down sobbing afterwards, making the point that enduring physical pain and overcoming the emotional trauma of killing someone are very different things.
* ''{{Shooter}}''. Kate Mara repeatedly shoots Elias Koteas, who is implied to have raped her earlier. Koteas' character was able to get the drop on her ''after'' she blew his mook away with a sawed-off shotgun--and [[PostVictoryCollapse went into shock over it.]]
* ''The Eye of the Needle'' (1981) ends with Kate Nelligan shooting Donald Sutherland (a Nazi spy who became her secret lover, only to murder her crippled husband and threaten the life of her young son when his cover was blown) to prevent him rowing out to a U-Boat with info about the impending D-Day landings. "I had to do it," she sobs, when reinforcements finally arrive (in a helicopter).
* In ''TheGetaway'' (1972) , Ali [=McGraw=] stares aghast after emptying a Colt Model 1903 into the BigBad. There are factors influencing her emotions: she had been sleeping with him, and was supposed to have killed her husband.
* The JeanClaudeVanDamme movie ''Film/HardTarget'' contains something of an aversion to this trope: Yancy Butler shoots one of the bad guy's henchmen and is admonished by the Van Damme character's Uncle Douvee (Wilford Brimley) for doing a man's work. He attempts to take the gun off her but she takes it back and walks grimly away.
* In ''{{Legion}}'' there's a gender-flipped subversion. Jeep desperately ''wants'' to be able to shoot the bad guy because he wants to protect the MacGuffinGirl. But he can't. He ends up in the rest room sobbing and puking just from coming that close to firing a gun at someone.
* In ''Ride Lonesome'', Karen Steele's DeterminedWidow character points a rifle at the protagonists and tries to shoot, but Randolph Carter takes the weapon from her and convinces her that they're on her side.
* In the Rob Zombie version of ''Film/{{Halloween 2007}}'', Laurie hoots Michael in the face, then proceeds to scream like a crazy person over his body for a really long time.
* In ''Film/BladeRunner'', Rachel is very shaken after shooting Leon off Deckard.
* In ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'', the Schofield Kid breaks down crying (in a somewhat delayed reaction) after killing Quick Mike while the [[CampingACrapper latter was using the outhouse]]. While he talks tough about his reputation as a stone-cold killer, this is actually his very first kill.
* Inverted in indie Western ''Shroud'': the heroine is understandably panicky when she is attacked and threatened with rape by a cowboy--but after she manages to snatch his gun from its holster, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome she grows visibly calmer with each shot as she empties the gun into him.]]
* Inverted and Lampshaded in ''{{Bound}}'': the feminine Violet seems reluctant to shoot Caesar. He lampshades this trope in a most patronizing manner, telling her that she does not have the resolve nor the will to fire the gun. Violet does fire, but not before delivering a calm and collected PreAsskickingOneLiner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* A variation exists in ''{{Foundation}}'' and ''Empire''. A woman shoots a friend in order to stop him from talking (ItMakesSenseInContext). Then she cries for the first time since her childhood.
* Antoinette in ''ThePrisonerOfZenda''.
* Some ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' books have a rare male example: when he's new to the Rebellion and to killing people, Luke Skywalker can handle shooting people down in his X-Wing or a firefight but has a lot of trouble after the fact when he kills someone at close range without giving them a chance to fight. StarWars/ChoicesOfOne has him, after doing this, passionately think that doing this tears a fresh line across his heart every time, and he suspects it always will. ''Rebel Force'' heavily implies that he cries after unleashing [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke monsters designed to take out infantry]] on unsuspecting Imperials.
* Jerin in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice''; it's not stated if he cries, but he stands in utter shock and horror for several minutes. The novel has a StereotypeFlip of most gender roles; the much more violent woman he's escaping with winced earlier at exposing him to what she does and apologizes that he has to be there for her killing people. It's only the need to save her that got him to shoot.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/TheProfessionals'' episode 'Runner' ends when a female character, played by Barbara Kellerman, shoots a bad guy (who killed her boyfriend earlier in the show) just before he kills one of the CI5 agents. She weeps mascara tears.
* In an episode of ''{{Sharpe}}'', a woman begins the episode by taking a boat from Ireland, riding on horseback across war-torn Europe up to the front lines, bullying her cousin Wellington into letting her stay at the camp, and beating everyone except Sharpe himself in a marksmanship contest. Then, when forced to shoot a man in self-defense, she bawls like a baby (and makes out with Sharpe). Furthermore, when Sharpe tries to tell her she "proved herself," she protests that women prove themselves when they have babies.
* In one episode of ''CharliesAngels'', one of the Angels loses her memory. A group of men attempt to steal her bag; she fights them off, eventually finding a gun in her struggles and pulling it on them to convince them to back off. Although she doesn't shoot anyone, as soon as the danger is over she drops the gun and runs crying down the beach.
* Kimberly Bauer of ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'' breaks out in tears when she shoots the man who attempted to kill her. More tears ensue when her father instructs her to shoot him ''again''.
* A ''TargetWomen'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdjk0sviTHo segment]] parodies an "intervention"-themed clothing commercial by having Sarah shoot a friend to stop her from buying the wrong outfit, freak out, accidentally shoot the other friend she brought with her and then casually step over to the rack and start browsing.
* Tessa does this in ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' after she takes out a serial killer with her car.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* When [[TheHero Michael]] is knocked unconscious during the battle at the end of ''WereAlive''[='=]s first season, [[DoesntLikeGuns Pegs]] is left defenseless when [[BlueOniRedOni Latch and Scratch]] come looking for them - or so we think, until she picks up Michael's SMG and kills Latch with it, leaving Scratch emotionally scarred (they ''were'' twins, after all). So far, Pegs is still being haunted by what she had to do that night to save Michael.

----