%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1348082143001760100
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JustShoot.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold Where's the fun]] [[VillainSong in that?]]]]

-> '''One-Armed Man''': I've been looking for you for 8 months. Whenever I should have had a gun in my right hand, I thought of you. Now I find you in exactly the position that suits me. I had lots of time to learn to shoot with my left.\\
''[Tuco kills him with the gun he has hidden in the foam of his bubble bath]''\\
'''Tuco''': When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.
-->-- ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''

Villains frequently find themselves in conundrums that could easily be solved by [[MundaneSolution finding the right person and]] [[BoomHeadshot putting a bullet in the offender's head]]. But for whatever reason, some villains continue to refrain from taking the [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic approach]] and won't put said bullet in said offender's head.

There may or may not be some [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Watsonian/in-story justification]] for this failure to take the direct approach. However, the Doylist/real-life explanation can always boil down to "because if he ''did'' just shoot him, the story [[AnthropicPrinciple would be much shorter]] and [[TheBadGuyWins the bad guys would win]]."

[[SubTrope Sub-Tropes]] include:
* BondVillainStupidity: The villain has the opportunity to kill the good guy, but leaves the good guy alive anyway, sometimes for no adequately explained reason.
* ComplexityAddiction: The villain ''does'' try to kill the hero, but employs some ridiculously elaborate (and thus easily-foiled) method, rather than just shooting them.
* EvilGloating: Even when the villain intends to kill the hero in a straightforward fashion, they still feel the need to start bragging about it immediately beforehand, thus giving the hero time to escape or fight back.
* FairPlayVillain: The villain deliberately gives the hero a way to survive, specifically because they think shooting the hero on the spot would be dishonorable, unsporting, or less entertaining.
* JustHitHim: When a physically imposing villain does try to kill the hero in a hands-on fashion, he opts to pick the hero up menacingly and throw them across the room a bunch, even though he could crush him or kill him with a few punches.
* MookChivalry: A group of villains have the numerical advantage over the hero, and would surely win if they all decided to fight them at the same time, but instead choose to take their turns, during which everyone else waits for them to finish, giving the hero a chance to pick them all off one after the other.
* NoSneakAttacks: The villain never attacks from stealth without some kind of warning sign, and never attacks at times where the hero would be vulnerable (such as while they're asleep or knocked out).
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: The villain refuses to let the hero die in any way except by their hand, and even ''saving'' the hero from certain doom, even though the other villain would just as easily dispose of their nemesis otherwise.
* SimpleSolutionWontWork: When challenged, the villain provides a sound reason for not Just Shooting Him.
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Someone in the story [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that the above options are stupid and that a simpler, more direct solution exists -- namely, by just shooting him. The villain may or may not take their advice.
* WheresTheFunInThat: The villain gets so much glee from tormenting the hero that killing them right then and there wouldn't be as exciting.

Compare ThirdActStupidity, ContractualGenreBlindness and KillHimAlready (when the good guys are urging a quick kill). Someone might invoke this trope by using a ScheherezadeGambit. Contrast CombatPragmatist and NoNonsenseNemesis. Not to be confused with JustEatGilligan, although there can be overlap. Also contrast OnceIsNotEnough when the hero KO's the villain and then chooses to flee instead of finishing him off.

'''No examples, please.''' If you, the viewer, are wondering why someone won't just shoot someone else, {{Headscratchers/Headscratchers}} is the place to ask.
----