How should Batman feel about guns?

[MessiahDecoy123]

He's gone from using guns as Batman in the Burton movies to hating guns since childhood in the animated series to simply consdering gun use during the years leading up to his Batman days in Nolan's first movie.

Which attitude do you consider definitive Batman?

 

[frodawgg]

i guess this might be biased because i hate guns, but i always liked him hating them as well.

 

[Brother Jack]

He never used guns in the Burton movies. He killed people, but never with guns.

I've always thought it made more sense for Batman to be sort of anti-gun. His parents were killed with a gun, so naturally it would leave him with a negative connotation with firearms. It also serves as a symbol of him rejecting lethal means for crime fighting. There can be few exceptions however.

 

[akfj]

He never used guns in the Burton movies. He killed people, but never with guns.

You're correct that he never killed anyone with guns, but he did use them in Batman '89. He used them in the Axis Chemical factory with the Batmobile, and he used them to try to kill the Joker with the Batwing.

 

[Brother Jack]

You're correct that he never killed anyone with guns, but he did use them in Batman '89. He used them in the Axis Chemical factory with the Batmobile, and he used them to try to kill the Joker with the Batwing.

True, but when you say guns I tend to think of Batman wielding a rifle or a pistol to kill or maim someone. And technically he also had guns on his vehicles in the Nolan movies, he just didn't try to kill anyone with them.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

I just cannot see Batman gunning down regular thugs. Not everyone of them is bad to the bone, would you really want to see Batman shooting down mentally disturbed people in THE DARK KNIGHT?

I don't know if he should hate guns... he just shouldnt use em.

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

I've always felt that while Batman shouldn't use guns, any story featuring him absolutely hating them and thinking they are a sin goes down a notch in my book. Whatever you thoughts on citizen gun control are, there's no denying that they are used in an appropriate manner in the hands of law enforcement and are pretty critical for such a job. And Batman works very closely with the police after it became a lot less corrupt with Gordon (until it was stupidly retconned back into being absolutely corrupt again).

That's why the Deadshot segment of Gothma Knight to me was great, he picks up, loads and points a gun, while talking about how he'd never use one but can appreciate the attractiveness of a gun.

Batman is smart enough to realise that its the criminal usage of guns that killed his parents, it wasn't a floating gun like that The Batman episode (out of context I know )

 

[El Payaso]

would you really want to see Batman shooting down mentally disturbed people in THE DARK KNIGHT?

No. In a more suitable version maybe? But TDK is simply THE worst version to have a Batman with a gun.

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

No. In a more suitable version maybe? But TDK is simply THE worst version to have a Batman with a gun.

I don't see how. Don't get me wrong, he'd still be bad with a gun anyway, but he's hardly depicted as disturbed or as anti-gun prejudiced as many Batman interpretations.

 

[IBRAH08]

I think that Bats should treat gun like Obi Wan Kanobi feels about blasters. He isn't against them,but kind of... looks down on them, like his tools require more skill and are of a higher nature

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

I think that Bats should treat gun like Obi Wan Kanobi feels about blasters. He isn't against them,but kind of... looks down on them, like his tools require more skill and are of a higher nature

I agree with this, there's a fantastic comic one-shot where a man on a boat is about to kill someone and Batman is far away on the dock. Having just taken out a sniper, Batman grabs the weapon realising that no Batarang could make half the distance and shoots the gun out of the boat assailants hand. He doesn't feel great doing but neither does he feel terrible either, he just does it because its the only thing that would've worked.

A similar thing that doesn't happen with killing is why I'm becoming increasingly disenchanted with how juvenile so many DC/Marvel stories are. The Shadow Pact is the only DC group that had the right approach I can think of. They don't kill, unless an innocent is in direct danger of being kill,ed in which their life takes priority.

 

[Brother Jack]

I agree with this, there's a fantastic comic one-shot where a man on a boat is about to kill someone and Batman is far away on the dock. Having just taken out a sniper, Batman grabs the weapon realising that no Batarang could make half the distance and shoots the gun out of the boat assailants hand. He doesn't feel great doing but neither does he feel terrible either, he just does it because its the only thing that would've worked.

Yeah, I agree with that.

 

[theMan-Bat]

In Sam Hamm's interview in the 1989 Comics Interview Super-Special on Batman Sam Hamm says "I was at the World Science Fiction Convention and they were showing slides of Batman's various weapons and gadgets, and the batwing -- our version of the batplane -- came up on the screen, Jeff Walker, the Warner Brothers publicist, mentioned that it was outfitted with rocket launchers, machine guns, etc., etc., so somebody jumped up in the back of the room and said, 'Do you mean Batman is going to be using a gun!?' As if to say, 'Uh-oh, the canon has been violated.' The thing I said to the guy was if you want to go back to the roots of the character, back to when he was created, he did carry a gun. In the early comics there are scenes where he's pulling out the old .38 automatic and popping guys."

Even in Nolan's Batman films he carries a gun. As in the Burton Batman films, the gun he's carrying isn't firing bullets, but it's still a gun.

And the Tumbler is armed with machine guns. http://www.chickslovethecar.com/Tumbler.aspx?Comments=All
And the Batpod is also armed with machine guns.
http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batpod

Even though Batman has used guns in the comics and on film, he's certainly not a gun lover. Of course he shouldn't like guns. After all, a gun was the weapon that was used to murder his parents. However, he wouldn't be able to avoid using guns for effectiveness, because, after all, there are limits to a batarang.