History Main / ATeamFiring

* In ''D20 Modern'', automatic weapons get the shaft. 2 feats are required in order to properly use an automatic weapon, one for proficiency with guns, the other to not suffer a penalty when firing full-auto. And even if you have those feats, you target a 10-by-10 area with a AC of 10, to make the opponents have to make a DC 15 reflex save (fixed, with no way to modify, at least to this troper's knowledge) to take no damage; you use 10-rounds to attempt to hit at most 4 halfling-sized enemies with 1 bullet each. A third feat is required for you to be able to burst-fire, which is actually not useless. Without that third feat, you can target a single target with auto-fire, but it is a senseless waste of ammo because only 1 round (of the 10 fired) can hit. Some guns even have a 3-round burst mode, but if you don't "know" how to burst-fire, then tough luck, you can't use that mode (you can, but much like auto-fire against a single opponent, it's a waste of ammo). To summarize: Without building your character to fully use automatic weapons, you will quickly get to the point to where you can't do anything ''but'' spray-and-pray with automatic fire.

* Kaori Makimura from ''Manga/CityHunter'' is horrible at shooting, with her bullets flying randomly and never hitting anyone. [[PlayingWithTheTrope Though she's lucky enough]] to hit ''something'' which results in her putting down the bad guys anyway.

* During the takeover scene in ''AirForceOne''. The Chechen terrorists kill Marines and Secret Service agents without one of the terrorists being killed or, at least wounded, by governments agents, who are supposed to be the best-shots in the business.

* In ''Film/PulpFiction'', a random gunman takes the lead characters by surprise and unloads a large-caliber revolver at them, only for him to miss every shot and get gunned down after a {{Beat}}. [[SamuelLJackson Jules]] interprets this unlikely scenario as divine intervention, and decides to give up the life of a gangster and WalkTheEarth.

** Taken to ridiculous, possibly parodying lengths in ''BattlefieldHeroes''; unless using the scope, the Commando's sniper rifle can actually hit things ''behind'' the gun's barrel.

* The American M2 Carbine (a full-auto-capable version of the WorldWarII-era M1 Carbine) was still a standard-issue weapon during the Korean War. Soldiers who used it were suddenly very critical about a supposed lack of stopping power - in reality, most soldiers were simply missing with the majority of their shots, firing in full-auto beyond the weapon's effective range[[note]]that is, the range at which a weapon can reliably hit what its user is aiming at; compared to ''maximum'' range, which is as far as the bullet itself will fly before air resistance steals its lethality and gravity forces it into the ground[[/note]].

* In the Battle of Manila Bay during the SpanishAmericanWar, the American fleet fired some four-thousand shells at the (stationary) enemy ships, and only about eighty of them actually hit their targets, due to a lack of training and effective fire-control. However the Spanish still lost.

** This trope was [[InvertedTrope inverted]] during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar when the new rifles actually tended to hit what they were pointed at, with disastrous consequences. This was the result of infantry weaponry recently becoming more advanced and deadly, but the doctrine of their use was still based around that of massed volleys of musket fire.

** This trope was [[InvertedTrope inverted]] during the AmericanCivilWar when the new rifles actually tended to hit what they were pointed at, with disastrous consequences. This was the result of infantry weaponry recently becoming more advanced and deadly, but the doctrine of their use was still based around that of massed volleys of musket fire.

* ''{{Trigun}}''. Because the main character can [[DodgeTheBullet dodge bullets]] and refuses to kill or seriously injure his enemies, 99% of the bullets fired in the series accomplish nothing besides property destruction. In fact, in the teaser to the first episode, a bunch of criminals unload countless rounds of ammunition into a restaurant. When they stop, the whole building's been demolished except for Vash, the stool he's sitting on, and the little bit of counter in front of him, which are all completely unharmed.

* During the climax of ''DumbAndDumber'', [[spoiler:one of the protagonists survives a shot to the chest and empties a pistol at the villain from a few feet away, prompting the quote: [[LampshadeHanging "Harry! You're alive!... And you're a terrible shot!"]] Justified, as Harry was at the time working for the FBI. They were only trying to arrest the villain, so might as well hire a complete idiot to do the job.]]

* Seen in ''{{Literature/Malevil}}'' when the castle comes under siege and discipline fails for both the defenders and the attackers. Malevil opens fire when the gates are breached but before the enemy enters the DeathCourse, the invaders go prone and open fire despite not seeing any of the defenders. Both sides waste precious ammunition firing at ''nothing'' before their commanders can get them back under control.

* ''SuperSmashBrothers Brawl''. The CPU players tend to do this when armed with the Cracker Launcher.
* Intentionally invoked in ''ShadowTheHedgehog''. The two fighting forces you find on each level will shoot at each other, but none of them will hit anything. Of course, the second they turn their guns on ''you...''

* Inverted in Homestuck : Caliborn is able to shoot and hit Gamzee repeatedly with his machine gun. Justified because Rule of Funny
* In ''BobAndGeorge'', [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000429c Megaman complains that Roll is moving too much, he can't hit her.]]

* {{Lampshade}}d in ''StrokerAndHoop'' where Hoop explains that he "always aims just slightly above the head" to avoid actually killing someone. This lampshade then leads to a ''{{subversion}}'' where Hoop manages to actually kill someone despite aiming slightly above their heads.

* This trope runs rampant in the animated ''GIJoe''. The only exception is when shooting at a manned vehicle, wherein the people inside get to escape before the vehicle is destroyed... often making their escape before even coming under fire, let alone the vehicle actually taking any damage.
** ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' parodied ''GIJoe'' in [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/cheatcommando.html a commercial for the Cheat Commandos]]. The Commandos and their perpetual enemies, Blue Laser, are lined up only a few feet from each other and firing like crazy, but no gets hit.

** This has been somewhat improved upon in recent years over the varying versions of the franchise, often through using robot parts for GettingCrapPastTheRadar. ''TransformersEnergon,'' though, had [[MoreDakka copious amounts of laser-dakka]] getting sprayed all over the place to no effect.

* In ''{{Warmachine}}'', any [[CorruptChurch Menoth]] unit with a ranged attack is guaranteed to have laughable accuracy. This is most notable in the case of the [[SuicideAttack Zealots]], whose whole strategy is throwing remarkably unstable explosives at ludicrously short range.

* Ryutaros, who controls ''[[KamenRiderDenO Kamen Rider Den-O's]]'' Gun Form, has a tendency to [[GangstaStyle hold his gun sideways]] and [[DanceBattler dance while fighting]]. This causes a lot of property damage and very rarely hits the MonsterOfTheWeek it was supposed to.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''TropicThunder'', where the protagonists, being [[EnforcedMethodActing actors in a movie]], have all their guns loaded with blanks.

* The gunfight in ''SupportYourLocalSheriff'' demonstrated this trope.

* Play ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar'' for long enough and you'll be solidly convinced the Creative Assembly are fans of this trope.
** Which is a fair criticism, since in real-life muskets were noted for their extraordinary accuracy....
*** Try using cannons. They're so horribly inaccurate their only use is to break down walls. In this era roughly 50% of casualties came from artillery, in the game you'll be lucky if a battery kills half the number of enemies as a single (much cheaper and faster) infantry unit.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', bullets fired at Fortune always miss.

* Bullit in ''WesternAnimation/{{COPS}}'' fits this to a T, at least according to his toy's bio. He's a gun nut in the extreme, wanted on illegal weapons charges for his love of powerful belt-fed machine guns, but he doesn't have any actual violent crimes on record because he's a really, ''really'' crappy shot.

* The two Michael Mann films ''PublicEnemies'' and ''Film/{{Heat}}'' have action scenes where the characters use lots of suppressive fire and fire and movement.
* In the climax of ''{{Robocop}} 3'', both the good guys (Detroit Police Dept.) and the bad guys (private corporate army and street punks) fire a crapload of ammunition at each other with maybe two people getting wounded.
* The Somali militia members in ''BlackHawkDown'' employ this tactic, relying instead on [[ZergRush overwhelming numbers]] and an abundance of ammunition to get the job done. (not to mention TerrorTactics, as the Americans are visibly

* ''KnightAndDay'' has a shootout where the protagonists [[CasualDangerDialogue even manage to have a loving moment]] as the mooks are so bad shots.

Since soldiers stopped lining up and charging the enemy head on, it has become much harder to actually hit your opponent, even with well-aimed shots. Targets that move quickly and stay behind cover are naturally harder to hit, and when they are returning fire one's own ability to concentrate, aim and shoot will be seriously impacted. Today small arms tactics revolve around [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppressive_fire suppressive fire]] and maneuver, which use aimed shots to suppress, or pin down the enemy, to allow other elements to move in close for the kill. Back in the late 1950s, in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' he points out that military histories show that it takes several ''thousand'' rounds ''per person'' to kill an enemy soldier (in today's era of machine guns that shoot hundreds of rounds of suppressing fire, it takes [[http://web.archive.org/web/20100211140025/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-forced-to-import-bullets-from-israel-as-troops-use-250000-for-every-rebel-killed-508299.html at least 250,000 rounds to kill one militant in Iraq!]][[hottip:* :It should be noted that a large portion of those bullets were used in target practice and otherwise outside of combat.]]), even under normal circumstances; in combat, accuracy with small arms goes ''way'' down. Way, way down. It should be noted that long before machineguns and semi-automatic rifles like the WWII M1 Garand were developed, artillery was the big killer on the battlefield and still is.

** With the re-introduction of the assault rifle in Halo 3 (it got temporarily replaced by the SMG in Halo 2), that weapon became considerably more accurate. Halo: Reach further improved the AR's accuracy even more, and added the so-called "bloom" mechanic; weapons quickly become rather inaccurate if you keep spraying instead of using controlled bursts. While bloom indeed has a negative effect on spraying, the AR's massive bullet magnetism (a function of the game's aim assist that directs bullets towards the target if your aim is off) made players who prefer single-shot and burst-fire weapons loath the AR. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbvHYSnDaOk This short video]] demonstrates exactly why the AR was loathed that much. [[hottip:* :Explanation: It takes exacly 16 rounds from the assault rifle to kill an opponent. In the first attempt (full-auto fire), more than half of the 32-rounds magazine miss and the opponent survived. In the second attempt (burst-fire), a total of 22 rounds where fired and the opponent dropped dead after 20 rounds (the last two-rounds burst was fired when the opponent was already dead). This means that the AR's massive bullet magnetism turned 16 of the 20 rounds fired into hits ''even though the outside of the reticle barely touched the opponent''.]]

The real reason, of course, was the fact ''[[Series/TheATeam The A-Team]]'' was nominally a kid's show in prime time, and [[BloodlessCarnage killing was a network no-no]] (similar rationale can be given for the original animated ''G.I. Joe''). At the time, it was overlooked due to the RuleOfCool.

* In Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/{{Batman}}'' there is a rather campy scene where Batman goes into a dive in the Batplane and [[MoreDakka unleashes a hail of bullets]] at the Joker, who simply stands in the open, and completely misses. Otherwise, Burton's Batman has no problem killing.

* Averted in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra''.

* ''Series/{{Alias}}'' used it for the first season and a half -- then Sydney started killing people. It's not that Sydney missed her shots, though; in general she used tranquilizers.

* In ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' (the American, CGI version), the military does this to the extent that they do more property damage to Manhattan than the monster does.

* ''Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'': "Bullets fired: 999. Human casualties: 0."
** Echoing a scene in ''{{Terminator 2}}'', where John orders the Terminator to not kill anyone. Which leads to a scene where the Terminator fights off a small army of police with a ''[[GatlingGood Minigun]]'', firing thousands of rounds and killing no one. The Terminator could have easily killed quite a few people, but he deliberately aimed to miss.

* In TimBurton's ''Film/{{Batman}}'' there is a rather campy scene where Batman goes into a dive in the Batplane and [[MoreDakka unleashes a hail of bullets]] at the Joker, who simply stands in the open, and completely misses. Otherwise, Burton's Batman has no problem killing.
* Battle sequences in various incarnations of ''StarWars'' are filled with rainbows of laser fire, but rarely do any non-clone/non-stormtrooper/droid characters get hit. This sometimes leads to particularly ridiculous moments where multiple Jedi characters [[TalkingIsAFreeAction casually converse with each other on ground zero]].

* The {{Diniverse}} version of {{Batman}} frequently swung down to kick automatic-weapon-toting enemies, inexplicably not being hit by the massive amounts of lead coming his way. Bullets coming his way seem to vanish into the aether milliseconds before they should rightfully swiss-cheese him.

* The submachine gun in ''{{Quake II}}'' has recoil-induced muzzle climb, forcing you to fire in bursts and "walk the burst"(aim lower than where your shot will be).

* Play ''{{Empire}}: Total War'' for long enough and you'll be solidly convinced the Creative Assembly are fans of this trope.