Gun or no gun?

Ok so I have this scene where one of the heroes cracks a minor villain over the back of the head with a tree branch (bastard totally deserved it, he was attempting to rape the hero’s friend). Anyway the bad guy is dazed and when he opens’s his eyes. The hero is standing over him with one foot on his chest.

From here it can go one of 2 ways

1)The hero has pulled a gun and is pointing it directly at the bad guy’s face.

or

2)The hero is still brandishing the tree branch

I have been debating weather to give this charter a gun for a while. This is the first scene where if he had one there’s a good chance he’d draw it. I not sure I want to give anyone a gun, but the work is semi-post-apocalyptic and I don’t want my heroes to end up bringing a knife to a gunfight. I have one character who expressly doesn’t like guns, but that doesn’t mean her friends can’t carry.

The work takes place in lawless, plague-ravaged New England sometime in the near future.

So what do you think? Should he have a gun?

Note: The girl was ok, understandably upset, but ok. Also the hero doesn’t end up killing the bastard. Instead he ties him up, robs him, takes his shoes, and leaves him more or less defenseless in the woods.

Gun. There is nothing more conclusive to ending a confrontation such as that than pulling a pistol on the motherfucker.

Wait, he wakes up at all? I'd be thinking in that setting that he'd be shot dead while unconscious. Or have his throat slit...

Or he simply wakes up with a splitting headache, his shoelaces gone, his pockets emptied and left to fend forhimself in the wilderness.

Have him holding the gun while the girl holds the tree branch, ready to beat the bad guy over the head again. Irony is a dish best served cold.

Yeah. What pvtnum said. Why would the character wait for him to wake up at all? It'd take at least a few minutes. During which the character could easily at least tie him up. Would make more sense to do do while he's knocked out, anyway. Less struggling.

And also, if he has a gun, then why use a tree branch? Pistol-whipping him would be more effective.

edited 29th Dec '10 8:34:30 PM by Mukora

Or perhaps when the hero arrives on the scene holding a gun, his presence manages to distract the bad guy enough for the girl to grab a tree branch and club him so that when he wakes up, the hero is still holding his gun.

Absolutely gun, because of your setting. Everyone will do things in times of adversity that they wouldn't do in times of peace. Even the character that's opposed to gun use should be packing heat, or at least carrying something with which to fend off armed bad guys.

On a side, it sounds like you have the right idea for the issue: one character in favor of gun use, one character opposed to gun use, and the rest are neutral on the issue. This set-up works best because every audience member has a character to which they can relate. If this is what you did, I tip my hat to you.

Ok first off thank you all. It’s awesome to be able to discuss my writing and get actual feedback instead of a blanket “that’s disturbing” (which is what I get at home, to tamer stuff).

Looks like T.J. gets his gun. However considering how early it is in the story, and who he used to be, he’s still pretty inexperienced with it.

I read somewhere that pistol-whipping someone improperly can break the gun and your hand. I like the idea that he first goes for the weapon of opportunity and then half a second later he remembers “hey I’ve got a gun”.

An execution would be really out of character. Though I have toyed w/ the idea of him offering (ie “would you like me to kill him?”). I don’t know though.

Tying the bad guy up before he opens his eyes makes a lot of sense, especially since the heroes use zip ties. It would probably only take seconds.

I was planning on having the girl help rob the bastard (specifically taking the shoes) but you’re right Arm her first.

I like the idea of distracting the bad guy and having the girl club him herself. I’d like to use it later after she takes a level in badass.

Oh and yeah I plan to express several opinions on this and other issues.

I’d love to hear more thoughts.

edited 30th Dec '10 7:47:09 PM by HistoryMaker

If you have the girl wait till after she's taken a level in bad ass to strike the guy, then she must have some really bad luck concerning men if she's had two attempted rapings within the same story. If you had her do it the first time, it could actually act as foreshadowing to indicate that she is capable of taking the levels in bad ass she needs. And you don't have to have the girl club the guy in a particularly bad ass way; just have it be a kind of panicked, on the spot moment of opportunity when the guy gets distracted by the arrival of her boyfriend. Like the moment the guy looks away she spots a nearby branch, grabs it, and hits him with all her might (this scenario has her flat on her back with the bad guy hunched over her). And if you want the hero to be able to do something, have the hit merely knock the guy off the girl thus allowing the hero an opportunity to put the guy in a sleeper hold. Now that's Bad Ass.

edited 30th Dec '10 8:53:11 PM by SandJosieph

Good point I’ll have to think about that. I do already have her trying to fight back. I mean she at least bites his hand so hard it breaks the skin.

Side note: Not that it matters much, but T.J. is not her boyfriend. He’s her mentor (he sees her as a sister) and this isn’t supposed to be a rescue romance, just a rescue. He is happily engaged to a friend of hers and extremely faithful and devoted. She isn’t interested in that sort of thing, at least not right now.