Memo to Hollywood

Dear Hollywood directors, producers, sound editors, whoever.

For years I have put up with your firearm inaccuracies. Guns that never have to be reloaded. Shotguns that can send a 200 pound man flying 20 feet across the room. Automobile gas tanks that can explode on contact with one magic bullet.

I've put up with these mistakes (and many others) because I know you know nothing about guns. I put up with your blunders because it's only entertainment and I shouldn't let it bother me. In certain cases, like mindless action movies, it probably even makes for a better (or at least shorter) film.

But there is a new one you're using that does bother me. In fact it's killing me. I feel I'm going to go mad every time it happens. I don't know if it has just now become popular with you guys or I just now noticed. I've seen it used in numerous TV shows and movies recently and it is driving me nuts. I'm talking about this asinine practice of inserting the sound of a gun being cocked with a striker fired pistol.

Listen, I know you probably won't get this. I don't know if you care to get this or are even smart enough to get this. I'm going to try anyway. Striker fired pistols can't make that sound. That sound you're editing in is made by a gun with a hammer. It is an entirely different kind of mechanism from a striker fired gun, which cannot make that sound. The absolute worst example, the one that nearly causes me fits, is when someone takes their striker fired gun (usually a Glock), puts it to the head of our hero, then you hear that distinctive clicking sound of a single action revolver. I'm not even going to go into why the guy has to constantly cock his gun every minute or two. But when said guy is using a modern auto pistol and it's making the sound of a revolver that dates back to a hundred a fifty years ago, well it's just too much for many of us.

So here's a simple rule that will make your production a little more real. It might even save gun nuts like myself from having a stroke. Check your bad guy's gun for a hammer, if it doesn't have one it can't make that sound!

Thanks for listening.