History Main / ItWorksBetterWithBullets

** Played straight in "Chuck vs The Push Mix", when Volkoff tries to shoot Chuck with gun Chuck brought with him, only to realize it's unloaded.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Played for laughs in "Chuck vs The Ring 2", when Casey, Sarah and Morgan are able to apprehend the senior members of the Ring.
-->'''Morgan''': Reach of the sky! You people are the disease, I'm the cure!\\

** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E11ThePathOfTheRighteous The Path of the Righteous]", James Wesley kidnaps Karen Page and threatens her into backing off in her pursuit of Fisk. He leaves a gun he procured from Fisk's lead bodyguard on the table within reach to scare her. When his phone picks up an incoming call from Fisk, Karen takes the opportunity to grab the gun and point it at him, much like she tried to do with Bullseye in the comics ([[MythologyGag the cinematography even being very similarly staged]]). But unlike in "Guardian Devil", where Bullseye meant it when he said the gun was empty, here, the gun is ''loaded''. Wesley still bold-facedly tries to bluff her into think it isn't, but there is something he hadn't counted on...

** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E11ThePathOfTheRighteous The Path of the Righteous]", James Wesley kidnaps Karen Page and threatens her into backing off in her pursuit of Fisk. He leaves a gun which he procured from Fisk's head of security on the table within reach to scare her. When his phone picks up an incoming call from Fisk, Karen takes the opportunity to grab the gun and point it at him, much like she tried to do with Bullseye in the comics ([[MythologyGag the cinematography even being very similarly staged]]). But unlike in "Guardian Devil", where Bullseye meant it when he said the gun was empty, here, the gun is ''loaded''. Wesley still bold-facedly tries to bluff her into think it isn't, but there is something he hadn't counted on...

'''James Wesley:''' ''[begins to stand]'' [[KilledMidSentence Miss Page--]] ''[Karen shoots him in the right shoulder, knocking him back into his chair. As he stares at her in shock, she empties six more bullets into his chest, killing him instantly]''

* When Dr. Hail suffers his VillainousBreakdown during the PrisonRiot in ''Film/BootCamp'', he draws a gun and attempts to shoot Sophie, Ben and Jack, only to discover that his wife has unloaded the gun.

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' story, Bullseye -- who can [[ImprobableWeaponUser use anything as a deadly weapon]] -- is hired to kill someone and decides to take no chances whatsoever by using a gun. After he's fired it (and killed his target), Daredevil is so pissed that [[BatmanGrabsAGun he grabs the gun and turns it on his foe]]. The problem? [[MeaningfulName Bullseye]] only needed one bullet... and only brought one bullet. This happens again with Bullseye in ''ComicBook/GuardianDevil'' when Karen Page picks up a revolver he had tossed aside and tries to shoot him in the head. "First rule of the 'cleaning' business: Never discard a ''loaded'' weapon." However, he does admit that he's impressed that she had the guts to [[YouWouldntShootMe pull the trigger]].

** James Wesley kidnaps Karen Page and threatens her into backing off in her pursuit of Fisk. He leaves a gun which he procured from Fisk's head of security on the table within reach to scare her. When his phone picks up an incoming call from Fisk, Karen takes the opportunity to grab the gun and point it at him, much like she tried to do with Bullseye in the comics ([[MythologyGag the cinematography even being very similarly staged]]). But unlike in "Guardian Devil", where Bullseye meant it when he said the gun was empty, here, the gun is ''loaded''. Wesley still bold-facedly tries to bluff her into think it isn't, but there is something he hadn't counted on...
--->'''James Wesley:''' [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner Come on. Do you really think]] [[TooDumbToLive I would put a loaded gun on the table where you could reach it?]]\\

'''James Wesley:''' [[KilledMidSentence Miss Page—]] ''[Karen shoots him in the right shoulder. As he stares at her in shock, she puts six more rounds into his chest, killing him instantly]''

** Maroni pulls this on Penguin in "The Fearsome Dr. Crane". Penguin pulls a gun he stole from Maroni on the crime boss. Maroni tells him the gun is loaded with blanks. Penguin doesn't believe him and pulls the trigger. Maroni wasn't lying.

Depending on how this is used, it can be a case of research failure that takes advantage of the audience's [[RuleOfPerception inability to conceive of what's not visible on screen]], as most handguns without loaded cartridges will have a noticeable imbalance and difference in weight when compared with a fully loaded weapon. (This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d quite often in most modern-day usages of the trope — a professional who is familiar with the weapon being used can immediately notice the difference.) In addition, the lack of a magazine in a pistol or of rounds in revolver chambers is clearly visible. Additionally, many automatic and semi-automatic weapons pre-load one cartridge into the chamber before firing, so removing the magazine still leaves one live round in the chamber. A few handguns are designed so that removing the magazine disables the trigger, however, most notably the FN Five-[=SeveN=] and most versions of the Browning Hi-Power.

* ''Series/ASmallLight'': The gun the Resistance [[spoiler: gives Jan to assassinate the Nazi officer wasn't even loaded, a fact that the inexperienced Jan doesn't notice. This was done on purpose, since the point of the mission was a test to see if Jan could really kill, as his target was just a resistance member posing as the aforementioned officer.]]

* Gloriously defied in the Taiwanese drama, ''The Kid from Heaven''. Da-Gui, the friend of protagonist Xing-he, decide to confront the loan shark who's making their lives hell with a BriefcaseFullOfMoney meant to pay off their debts. The loan shark agrees to meet Da-Gui alone in his penthouse, but had a gun with him; when the villain puts down his gun to open the case, Da-Gui then snatches it and point it at the loan shark, only for the latter to take out a magazine and gloat to Da-Gui that the gun is empty. After a moment of disbelief, Da-Gui instead pulls out a switchblade and stab the loan shark.

* ''Film/JonahHex'': HookerWithAHeartOfGold Lilah keeps a Colt Theur Derringer in her room for protection. She pulls it to get rid of her obsessed client, Grayden Nash, who later sneaks it from its hiding place and fires it at her. Missing once, he puts it to her head and fires again, but she informs him that it is a single-shot weapon.

* A ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode plays the SecretTestOfCharacter version pretty straight: mob boss tells Ryan to [[ShootYourMate shoot his ex-girlfriend]], hands him a gun. Ryan says he can't shoot her, but has no problem shooting him instead. Gun was jiggered so it wouldn't fire.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer is holding Snake at gunpoint. He looks away to apologize to Marge for not getting rid of the gun, at which point Snake snags it out of Homer's hand and takes aim. Homer then holds up a box of bullets and taunts Snake with the knowledge of the gun being unloaded. Snake then aims again and demands that Homer hand over the bullets. Homer promptly forgets his taunt and surrenders the ammo…. also saying "Okay! Don't shoot!"

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Andrew Hussie remembers far too late that Doc Scratch only ever loaded one bullet in his deadly gun. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Hussie, Lord English's super-deadly machine gun has plenty of bullets.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'' Fedya gives a boarder guard pointing an AK 47 at him some [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/?p=647 friendly advice.]]

* ComicBook/TheFlash does a variation in ''ComicBook/BatmanGothamAdventures'' #25, which opens with a mugger demanding money from his victim. She asks "Weren't you holding a gun just a second ago?" while looking at his empty hand positioned as if he had a gun in his hand -- Flash has used his SuperSpeed to disarm the mugger without his even realizing it. [[spoiler:Batman appears and chastises Flash for interrupting a police sting.]]
* In one ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' story, Bullseye -- who can [[ImprobableWeaponUser use anything as a deadly weapon]] -- is hired to kill someone and decides to take no chances whatsoever by using a gun. After he's fired it (and killed his target), Daredevil is so pissed that [[BatmanGrabsAGun he grabs the gun and turns it on his foe]]. The problem? [[MeaningfulName Bullseye]] only needed one bullet... and only brought one bullet. This happens again with Bullseye in "Guardian Devil" when Karen Page picks up a revolver he had tossed aside and tries to shoot him in the head. "First rule of the 'cleaning' business: Never discard a ''loaded'' weapon." However, he does admit that he's impressed that she had the guts to [[YouWouldntShootMe pull the trigger]].