Firearm

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Just once I'd like to meet an alien menace which wasn't immune to bullets!Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart [Robot (TV story) [src]]

Firearm is a term encompassing a variety of weapons, generally which utilise a projectile fired from the weapon relying on chemical explosives to propel the projectile at high velocities away from the firearm.

General Description

Weapons that fall into the 'firearm' category are:

  • Handguns or pistols (small handheld weapons comprising a variety of designs)
  • Rifles (weapons with a long barrel; the name refers to rifling inside the barrel of the gun causing the projectile to rotate in flight)
  • Shotguns (weapons with long barrels that are usually but not exclusively smoothbore instead of rifled, and which typically use shells filled with numerous small projectiles instead of a single bullet)
  • Machine guns (large, sometimes multi-barreled weapons that use a mechanical action to continuously fire; usually ground or vehicle mounted weapons that were not easily movable)
  • Sub-machine guns (scaled-down variants of the machine gun, often designed to fire in bursts)
This list is incomplete, as the simplicity of the basic design allows for a wide range of variations.

Firearms are also sometimes classified by their loading mechanism. A single shot weapon such as a shotgun or musket must be reloaded after each firing, while a semi-automatic weapon reloads mechanically after each shot, but only discharges once with each trigger pull. An automatic weapon reloads and fires continuously as long as the trigger is held down and it has ready ammunition.

Often, these two systems of classification are used in tandem, e.g. semi-automatic pistol or automatic rifle. In this way, both the loading mechanism and the configuration of the firearm are described.

A common military weapon, used by armed forces such as UNIT, is the assault rifle. It it is a magazine-fed automatic firearm with a rifled barrel of varying length, and can be fired in single shots, in intermittent bursts, or continuously. As the name implies, it is designed for offensive combat, due to its versatility, amount of ammunition, and power with which it launches projectiles. A variant of the assault rifle is the carbine, a smaller and lighter version designed for greater portability or use in confined spaces.

Pistols typically are used as a more defensive weapon, to counter or discourage a personal attack, or as a back-up to a larger weapon. While primitive pistols are single-shot weapons, most carried by Humans following the 19th century are semi-automatic weapons of either a revolver or magazine-fed design. Fully automatic pistols exist, but are not as common due to cost of production, failure rate, and ammunition consumption. The advantages of a pistol come from its small size; it is easily portable and concealable, making them suited for use by organizations such as Torchwood, whose agents may not wish to advertise that they are armed, or may need to have a weapon with them at all times. Its disadvantages are its relatively low ammunition capacity, and lack of accuracy, power or range compared to larger weapons.

Shotguns and more primitive forms of rifle are often seen used by hunters, and can be pressed into service as combat weapons, but are generally less effective than weapons intended for military or self-defense weapons.

Generally, most types of firearm have been ineffective against armored alien races such as Daleks and Cybermen, though specifically designed bullets have been produced to utilise alien race's weaknesses (Gold in the Cybermen's case). (DW: Battlefield) Standard bullets are effective though against biological species that are similar to Humans, such as the Ood. (DW: Planet of the Ood)

Firearms, as a relatively primitive technology, can be neutralized by more advanced technology. For example, Sontaran soldiers have employed a cordolaine field that affects certain metals such as copper, causing weapons using copper casings on their projectiles not to fire. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky).

Technological improvements such as the Bastic bullet can make firearms more effective, to the point of being a viable weapon even against a Dalek. (DW: Revelation of the Daleks, The Parting of the Ways)

One practical limit on the use of firearms is that they are primarily lethal weapons, and while it is possible to use a firearm to incapacitate rather than kill, this can only be achieved by inflicting serious injury and pain. While there are forms of ammunition known as "less than lethal" intended for incapacitation, such as rubber bullets, they still inflict extreme pain, and can still be lethal under certain circumstances. For this reason, individuals such as the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith refuse to use them on moral grounds.

Despite their limitations, Humans are known to use firearms well into the 2001st century and beyond. Likely reasons for this are the fact that firearms are simple and cheap to produce and maintain, as well as being easy to use and generally effective. Their continued use may also be an example of sentimentality on the part of Humanity, as they have been seen to fetishize firearms to an unusual degree.

However, an appreciation of the usefulness of firearms is not limited to Humanity. On one occasion, a Dalek taskforce was seen to replace their standard armament with some sort of semi-automatic weapon in an environment where their energy weapons were ineffective. (DW: Death to the Daleks)

Instances of Assault or Automatic Rifle use

Instances of Handgun use

  • When the lone Dalek escaped The Vault, the security guards used pistols against it, to no effect. (DW: Dalek)
  • General Cobb intended to shoot the Doctor with a pistol but Jenny got in the way. The Doctor later almost shot Cobb as revenge for killing his daughter. (DW: The Doctor's Daughter)
  • The Doctor used an automatic pistol against a Dalek's eye stalk in Revelation of the Daleks.
  • The Fifth Doctor uses a Handgun against a Dalek mutant that has escaped from its damaged armour in Part 2 of Resurection of the Daleks

Instances of Machine Gun use

Behind the scenes

See also


Firearm
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