GoKawiilI recently finished a book by Steven Pressfield, 36 Righteous Men. Pressfield is one of my favorite fiction authors; if you haven't read Gates of Fire you don't know what you're missing. With that said, 36 Righteous Men wasn't my favorite Pressfield work. When I read a line about a character "flicking the safety off" her Glock I cringed†. I realized this wasn't the first book in recent memory with such a slip-up. Here are some common gun mistakes in fiction, as well as how to avoid making them.
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Please note, the appearance of a book in the featured photo above doesn't say anything about the quality of its gun writing, good or bad. I just don't own very many fiction books.
Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing
Some authors really, really nail firearms stuff. Probably my favorite is Jack Carr, author of the four-part "Jim Reece" series. Carr gets every little detail right. But that's because Carr is an insider, a former SEAL, and probably a serious gun guy. Some others are, too. Marcus Wynne is phenomenally accurate in regards to gun/ammo/holster/tactics stuff. Stephen Hunter (of Bob Lee Swagger fame) is said to be similarly well-informed about firearms but I admit I've read nothing he's written.
Most fiction writers aren't very versed in firearms. Still, with the wide array of information available on the internet it's shocking to see such obvious mistakes as the ones discussed in this article. If you are a writer and have a question about firearms, contact me. I'll try to answer anything, including how a particular firearm works to the choice of a plausible firearm for your character. If I can't answer it (and I probably can't answer historical stuff, like the period-correct-firearm for historical eras) I'll just tell you I don't know.
Let's get into it. These are some of the most common gun mistakes in fiction works.
Manual Safeties
One of the most common gun mistakes in fiction concerns manual safeties. Little jerks me out of the moment faster than reading that, "he heard the 'snick' of the revolver's safety..." Alternatively, this mistake is sometimes applied to Glock pistols, or other pistols lacking a manual safety. I get it. The safety coming off is another way to telegraph intent or ratchet up the tension. But if you know guns this kind of mistake is kind of a deal-breaker. Let's talk about safeties for just a moment.
Since this very often occurs with a handgun in hand I will limit this discussion to handguns. Let's look at some handguns that never have safeties, some that sometimes do, and some safe bets if you want your character to hear "the snick of the safety" in the final showdown.
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