Batman Grabs A Gun

Some heroes just don't carry guns. Each have their reasons, but the ultimate issue is the same: they forbade themselves from clutching a firearm whenever they can avoid it. As such, they work around this self-imposed limitations by any variety of means, such as technology (whether they are sane or otherwise), martial arts or a flat-out gimmick that saves them (ideally) from such a hindrance.

Naturally, this comes to a head when they are pushed to the limit and may actually need to, shall we say, get dangerous.

Welcome to the Batman Grabs A Gun moment, when all hell breaks loose and a character ignores his imposed ban on guns for the sake of fulfilling a goal. Note that he actually must actually possess a vow against using something on a fundamental level and not just somehow managing to avoid doing so due to coincidence. He has a rule, even if it would overlap with That One Rule metaphorically speaking when it comes to writing his character, and he will never violate it unless it hits the fans and pushes him to do so.

Note, also, that why 'gun' is part of the title, it needn't be firearms specifically. Killing is another example, allowing for characters such as Captain America as well as Batman to wind up in these moments. The basic point is that it is something they find so deplorable that they will not use it if they can help it.

As the trope page mentions, this is almost always a Crowning Moment of Awesome but never a Crowing Moment of Funny (though it can be, unfortunately, if handled inappropriately). It isn't merely a moment a hero's doing something he wouldn't normally get a chance to do - he is against doing so. It's very serious (making it justified and thus not a form of the more sarcastic Serious Business trope) and if done properly, people would say the same thing when it happens. Sometimes this can mutate into a Hell Yes moment so long as the hero (or villain, really) is in a situation where he's pulling the gun (or equivalent self-banned tactic, such

As such, it should be used sparingly and with all due consideration taken if you intend on keeping it a running concept. It is easy to fall into Narm territory, as mentioned above, since it isn't necessarily easy to write such moments (let alone act them, draw them, etc.). It is also possible to saturate this far too often, especially with long runners such as The Simpsons or Naruto.

It's also possible a character evolves to open up more to the idea of tactic he once loathed. As a hypothetical example, Batman may find that gun use isn't so bad after all and may simply find it an adequate means of fighting fire with fire. Obviously this depends on numerous factors and can lead to a 'they changed it now it sucks' attitude from the audience, particularly with such a long runner (remember, Batman debuted in 1939, a golden oldie alongside his compatriot, Superman).