Basic Trope: A character is notable for their refusal to use guns.
- Straight: Bob is a professional killer who has absolutely no remorse when it comes to taking someone's life. However, he absolutely refuses to use guns in his line of work.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is an ego-maniacal dictator who's trying to take over a country, but refuses to use a gun and doesn't allow his soldiers to carry them either.
- Bob, a crazed dictator, is enraged if he sees someone so much as holding a water gun.
- Bob hates the very idea of a gun, but he's perfectly willing to use anything that's not projectile based.
- Bob hates the very idea of a weapon at all, but he's perfectly willing to use his fists and his fists only.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is a Technical Pacifist, and swears off all lethal weapons, and even most of the semi-lethal ones.
- Bob finds guns to be clumsy and inelegant, but will grudgingly grab one if he really needs to.
- Bob is willing to use a Ray Gun, just not a conventional firearm.
- Justified:
- Bob is supposed to act silently, and a gun would make too much noise.
- Bob prefers to use his hands/knives/swords/blunt weapons/whatever, as guns are noisy compared to those methods.
- Bob is a Proud Warrior Race Guy obsessed with honor, he sees using guns as a dishonorable act.
- Bob has Super-Senses and can't stand the sound of gunfire or the smell of gunpowder, and walking around with earplugs and a gas mask would be suicide in an environment where it's important to avoid being snuck up on (not to mention opening him up to all the reasons you shouldn't hide the hero's face).
- Carol, Bob's daughter, was killed when a gun he was handling accidentally went off. This scarred Bob for life. Alternatively, Bob's teammates have a trauma of firearms.
- Bob is an Actual Pacifist: a weapon in general would not fit with his ethos.
- Bob thinks he has bad aim (which may or may not be true) and feels that giving him a gun is sure to fail.
- Bob has hoplophobia, an irrational fear of firearms.
- Most of the time, Bob’s enemies are Immune to Bullets so he doesn’t see the point of using guns against them.
- Bob has autism and/or sensory issues, as guns are loud weapons, and loud sounds are horribly triggered him, Bob doesn't use guns.
- Inverted:
- Bob is completely helpless without his gun. When he's disarmed, he's toast.
- Bob uses a gun to be more humane than his opponents who cause horrible deaths with toxic weaponry.
- Gun Nut
- Bob is okay with guns and uses them often when he gets into fights, but dislikes the idea of using literally any other weapon.
- Subverted:
- Bob seems like the kind of guy who would refuse to carry a gun... but he does.
- Bob pretends to hate guns so that people think he's unarmed. He carries a hidden gun with him at all times.
- Double Subverted:
- That gun is only for show - it's unloaded and is only used as a Weapon for Intimidation.
- He still despises guns, and only uses it as an absolute last resort.
- Parodied:
- Bob is a police officer, or military officer, or some other profession where a gun is standard.
- Bob uses crossbows, grenades, rocket launchers, and tanks, but he refuses to use guns.
- Bob despises the use of guns. He has no problem hacking someone into pieces with his BFS however.
- Bob has no problem with using guns - as long as they're known as "lead propulsion devices".
- Bob is a hyper-competent sorcerer who has no problem with firing a swarm of magic missiles and dropping nuclear magic spells over his enemies, and yet when he tries to grab a gun, he immediately becomes traumatized by the thought of using a gun.
- Bob is a Gun Nut who loves assembling and customizing airsoft guns for his friends, and yet he hates the thought of actually killing someone with a gun.
- Bob likes playing with his friends every weekend, but emphatically refuses to participate when they decide to play with their water guns.
- Zig Zagged: Bob carries a gun, but it's just for show. But the second one he's hiding on his person isn't...
- Averted: Bob carries a gun and has no qualms about using it.
- Enforced:
- "The Moral Guardians won't let us show guns! Wait, I just thought up the perfect workaround..."
- Alternately, "Most folks think guns are evil. If we want to make our villain sympathetic, let's make him choose other methods. Should make him be seen as honorable."
- Lampshaded: "You're a professional killer...shouldn't you carry a gun?" "I guess I should, but I don't."
- Invoked: Bob's friend Charlie is killed by someone using a gun. This causes him to disavow the use of guns.
- Exploited:
- Unsurprisingly, Bob is regularly outclassed and held up by those who are willing to carry glocks around, and many of his foes have begun doing so.
- A monster Immune to Bullets attacks the city. Bob is sent to deal with it because he's the only one who specializes in other kinds of weapons.
- Defied: "I may not like the use of guns, but anything that people are gonna throw at me is something I've got to throw back."
- Discussed: "I swear, every time someone I know dies in a fight it's a gunshot wound. Most people in my place would've started avoiding guns by now. I mean, if that one book I read is anything to go by."
- Conversed: "So...he doesn't have a problem killing people, but he has a problem using a gun? Interesting."
- Implied: Bob looks at a Wall of Weapons, and seems to be disgusted at the guns, settling instead for a Katana.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob doesn't use guns and that's noble. Unfortunately, the people he faces aren't so noble and they shoot him down.
- Alternatively, Bob is forced to use a gun - which causes him great distress, and he misaims, shooting the wrong person.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob refuses to use guns, so he finds other ways to disable his opponents.
- After a close call, Bob decides to abandon this approach and carry a firearm. He still hates guns, but he's willing to use one in case of it being absolutely necessary.
- Played For Laughs: Bob not only refuses to use guns but refuses to use tools that look remotely gun like. He's perfectly fine with using white phosphorus grenades with impunity, even on innocent targets.
Back to Doesn't Like Guns
