# When did the 'blown away' gun myth start? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654 "2006-02-09T04:41:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/21 "2006-02-09T23:16:22Z")
While we’re at it . . . Every time I see news footage with gunplay, it just doesn’t seem “real.” Because the real-life guns make a sound that, compared with movie-gunfire, sounds like a faint, feeble little popgun. When did movie gunplay get so damned loud? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/22 "2006-02-09T23:18:02Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > One of the most realistic shootings I’ve seen in a movie was in _Grand Canyon_. Steve Martin’s character is confronted by an ill-tempered mugger. Martin offers his car keys, but the mugger only wants his wallet, and is so annoyed at Martin for wasting his time that he shoots him point-blank in the leg and walks away. Martin stands in shock for a split second, then collapses, vomits and passes out without being able to talk. Pees his pants, too. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/23 "2006-02-10T00:28:06Z")
I recall seeing footage shot from a helicopter of a guy who blows his own head off after a car chase. It must be a pretty good caliber round that gets him, because what I recall of the footage showed his head pretty much gone. He just fell right over forward, no recoil to him at all (like a puppet with cut strings), but what really hit me was the sheer volume of blood and how fast it pumped out of him. It really was as fast as if someone just threw out a bucket of red paint and it flowed, but didn’t spray. I think the exaggerated move gun deaths are pretty much like theater makeup and gestures–normal human type moves and features don’t show up well in the nosebleed seats. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/24 "2006-02-10T00:37:30Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I recall seeing footage shot from a helicopter of a guy who blows his own head off after a car chase. Errmm . . . was this a movie, or news footage? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/25 "2006-02-10T00:49:12Z")
[This famous photo](http://www.anselm.edu/academic/history/graphics/execution.jpg) from the Vietnam war also has a filmed version. The executed Viet Cong just collapses to the ground. (His head, BTW, moves toward the gun.) ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/26 "2006-02-10T01:40:14Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > … > > In fact, “hug his wound, grimace for the camera, and fall in a neat lump” is an almost exact description of Oswald, who was shot point-blank. > > … Of course, that was one example of someone being shot where there WAS a script. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/27 "2006-02-10T02:04:33Z")
> [@wolf in second hand clothing](#): > > He was using Butch’s bathroom, but takes about one step out of the door when the poptarts pop up and Butch blasts him back in. [slight hijack]Those with an eye for detail will catch an oops a bit before Vincent gets capped. When Butch goes back to the apartment to retrieve his watch, he softly slides the key into the knobset, and turns it clockwise as he opens the door. The only problem is, the knobset is a Kwikset Tylo, and the key must turn _counter_clockwise to unlock.[/sh] ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/28 "2006-02-10T02:09:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Errmm . . . was this a movie, or news footage? Live news…took place in LA a few years back. The TV stations there love to break in to normal programming to cover police chases. This one ended uglier than most. Much hand-wringing followed…I’m guessing LA stations now run their “live” car chase coverage on a delay. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/29 "2006-02-10T02:39:03Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Live news…took place in LA a few years back. The TV stations there love to break in to normal programming to cover police chases. This one ended uglier than most. Much hand-wringing followed…I’m guessing LA stations now run their “live” car chase coverage on a delay. No kidding–I was absolutely shocked at how sudden, graphic, and up-close-and-personal the footage was. The camera person had to have had some pretty amazing zoom on his lens because it looked like he was right over the guy but they don’t fly helicopters that close to guns that might go off–Jesus nuts are tough, but who really wants to take the chance? It’s an unusual piece of footage in that it is so very clear, well framed and professional, no herky-jerky camera moves and blurriness you expect in live coverage of traumatic events, and it can’t be argued that it’s an absolutely accurate depiction of the reaction of the human body to a point blank head shot with attendant spillage. And really quiet, too, very freaky and scary. That cartoony Hollywood “realism” of being blown back fifty feet by a popgun schtick is just so much whistling past the graveyard and window dressing, the reality is much more frightening for being so very uneventful. I guess we don’t want to believe that we can be snuffed out so quickly and with zero fanfare–just a pop and a sploosh of blood, game over. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654/30 "2006-02-10T02:40:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > While we’re at it . . . Every time I see news footage with gunplay, it just doesn’t seem “real.” Because the real-life guns make a sound that, compared with movie-gunfire, sounds like a faint, feeble little popgun. When did movie gunplay get so damned loud? I’m guessing the news microphones aren’t really designed to capture the essence of a sound that loud and short, because guns _are_ quite loud, generally speaking. “Faint, feeble little popgun” isn’t accurate for anything bigger than a .22. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-blown-away-gun-myth-start/343654.md?page=1)