First, what is trigger discipline, and why is it important for cosplay?
Trigger discipline is holding the gun properly, without your finger on the trigger, which helps prevent accidental misfires.
Its connection to cosplay is very simple. If you are cosplaying a character who knows their way around guns (think Winchester brothers, Jade Harley, Solid Snake, etc.), they’ll be holding the gun properly, since they’ve been trained to do so. It adds to the feel of the character. It’s also a good habit to have if you ever pick up a real gun at any point in time. That’s called “committing to muscle memory.”
A lot of the cosplay I’ve seen involving guns have the cosplayers posed with their finger on the trigger. In the real world, this is incredibly dangerous, and you shouldn’t have your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
So, what does good trigger discipline look like?
Ta-da! It’s that easy!
Even itty bitty Dean can do it!
It’s such a simple change that can make a huge impact on the appearance of your costume and posing.
Happy cosplaying!
Reblogging this here because I HAVE A PET PEEVE OKAY
(I blame my fiance)
This is a great tip! I’m still grateful to Tally Justine for teaching me this one. (Unfortunately it was after the Black Widow shoot I just got around to posting. Oh well, next time.) Thanks, lady!
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!! (sorry, daughter of a cop/police commissioner means this was drilled into my head at a young age)
Yes, this! Thank you! This is a big deal that gets overlooked too often. Hubby actually runs a panel at our convention(s) about this very thing, as well as general gun safety, and how it /needs/ to carry over to costume weapon uses. Not just for accuracy, and for the noted point of muscle memory (and thus safety going forward if dealing with real weapons), but also – people not involved with your event, or your cosplay /may not know/ you don’t have a real gun; if you come at someone, pointing the barrel at them, thinking you’re just having a bit of in-character fun, you run the very dire risk of being treated as if you’re pointing a real weapon at them. That effects your safety, as well as the poor person you just surprised.
TL;DR – Even if the weapon isn’t ‘real’, it is /very/ important to use proper handling and safety rules. If you don’t know them, learn them before you cosplay.
through the eyes of a dreamer: Today, we are going to talk about trigger discipline.
Lady Karasu 