Tips for writing about alternative or unusual weapons in fiction.
Smart guns use a variety of tech to prevent unintentional use. This German-made Armatix iP1 will only fire if its accompanying watch is within range. The semi-auto pistol itself holds 10 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition. (Armatix photo)
TLDR: Smart guns use emerging technology to limit their use to pre-approved people and/or places. Feel free to explore them in fiction, but don’t expect to see them in reality all that much.
A trench knife is a like a combination between brass knuckles and a fixed blade knife. This type of knife has been around for quite a while, but it’s only recently that something like this comes along:
Silencers (aka suppressors) usually receive some goosing up in the physics department when they’re used in fiction. But what about the old pillow-as-silencer trope? Is there any truth to that?
Short answer: no. Pillows do a bad job of containing the explosive gases released by a gunshot. Hell, they can barely contain snoring.
Didn’t want you writer folks to miss out on this article by Massad Ayoob over at GunDigest.com, The Dangerous Myth of Hierarchy of Lethality. Ayoob, one of the world’s foremost authorities on firearms and self-defense, details the situations where a firearm is not the most deadly weapon on the scene. Although his article his aimed at the gun crowd, there’s plenty in here to think about for writing. Continue reading
The Writer's Guide to Weapons 