Gripes About Guns in Movies from a Retired Law Enforcement Officer

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Scattergun Joe HefferonThis guest blog post is by Joe Hefferon, the author of Scattergun: A Reckoning in Two Acts, the forthcoming Alice and other crime fiction works you can check out here. He also served 25 years in law enforcement, which flavors his fiction with a heavy dose of realism.

Hefferon originally commented on my post about guns over at Jane Friedman’s blog, where he offered some interesting insights. I invited him to flesh them out with a proper post. Although he tells me he doesn’t want to be seen as a guy you can’t watch movies with, I think his gripes about guns in movies are worth the risk. Enjoy!

~Ben

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Bra Holsters for Female Characters

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Concealed Carry for Women

“Concealed Carry for Women” by Gila Hayes is a great resource for learning how female characters can pack heat.

Choosing a handgun for a female character (or a knife) doesn’t need to be entirely different from selecting one for a male. I think some writers get too caught up on how a female’s firearm should look and not on the basics, such as the character’s hand size and firearms experience. But there’s one area where gender definitely draws a line in the sand: holsters.

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Smith & Wesson Model 52: An Unusual Pick for a Character’s Pistol

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  • Type: Semi-automatic pistol
  • Caliber: .38
  • Ammunition capacity: 5 in a detachable magazine (not clip)
  • Year introduced: 1961
  • Effective range: 25 yards (greater for more experienced shooters)

Harold Courtright picked up a copy of The Writer’s Guide to Weapons and recently wrote to me about the Smith & Wesson Model 52 he selected for a character. This semi-automatic pistol sports a couple features that make it stand out from run-of-the-mill choices that typically pop up in fiction. I figured I’d highlight them here.

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Do Revolvers Use Clips?

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Do Revolvers Use Clips

Moon clips hold ammunition in place for insertion into revolver chambers. (Wikimedia image)

TLDR: Yes, revolvers use clips, but write them specifically as “moon clips.”

As covered previously, 99 percent of the time the right term for “detachable thing that holds ammunition” is “magazine,” not “clip.” That’s despite “clip” being used instead of “magazine” in about 99 percent of instances in fiction. It’s an easy fix – just write “mag” or “magazine” whenever you get the itch to use “clip” – but there are a few exceptions. One of those is with revolvers.

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Can a “Bulletproof Vest” Also Stop a Knife?

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Knives and Bulletproof Vests

At the risk of sounding like a condescending ass, knives aren’t bullets. The only exception is when I butter my toast with ammo in the morning. (Image by imaspy via sxc.hu)

TLDR: Most likely not.

Bulletproof vests on walls of corpses sparked the idea for today’s topic. But before I get into that, a point of clarification.

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