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Everyone is armed all the time and that's normal, but to draw a weapon is an overt hostile act. A standoff therefore is a game of chicken because both want to kill each other and you want to draw first to have the highest chance of surviving, but even a bandit will hesitate to add a felony murder charge to their rap sheet. The whole town serves as witness when there is a pair of eyes behind every shuttered window. The hero always draws second, both demonstrating his superior skill and speed by defeating the opponent even at a disadvantage, and getting away with murder scot-free.

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[-] blarco@lemmy.world 66 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

You're overthinking it. They're both just trying to shoot the other guy first.

[-] iyaerP@lemmy.world 41 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
[-] TauZero@mander.xyz 41 points 10 months ago

So what does this mean for Western gunslingers? Is it always better to draw second? Well, not quite. Welchman also found that the 21 millisecond benefit of reacting quickly was totally overwhelmed by the 200 milliseconds it took to react in the first place.

[-] EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works 31 points 10 months ago

Of course, ethics committees might frown on scientists duelling with the pistols in the name of discovery, even if the people in question were graduate students.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months ago

Seeking volunteers with iron deficiency.

[-] Especially_the_lies@startrek.website 4 points 10 months ago

But... Han shot first?

[-] FleetingTit@feddit.de 26 points 10 months ago

Yeah, nah. A standoff looks cool, adds tension, gives the goodie and baddie time to talk or to be silent (menacingly). But apparently they weren't used much irl. From Wikipedia:

The image of two gunslingers with violent reputations squaring off in a street is a Hollywood invention.

[-] TauZero@mander.xyz 8 points 10 months ago

That's what I used to think as a kid - westerns standoffs are an outgrowth of Old World duels, a formalized custom performed by traditionalists, even the baddest bandit secretly being a gentleman at heart. The showerthought here is that the order of events is also perfectly explained by taking legal considerations of justified self-defense into account.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

They're holding down the right trigger to charge up their Deadeye

[-] xuxebiko@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Talking of cowboys, have y'all heard of quick gun Murugan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-mYzNbaRrU

You're welcome.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 1 points 10 months ago

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[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago

What about the high noon duels? That's a case where it's just a race to react first

this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
165 points (90.6% liked)

Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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