MovieChat Forums > Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) Discussion > Why did John leave the saftey on Zeus gu...

Why did John leave the saftey on Zeus gun?


When they're on the boat, John's giving Zeus a gun/submachine gun and leaves the saftey on his gun for sure, with purpose.. Why?

If he didn't leave the got damn saftey on Zeus could shot Simon when he sneaks up on him.. but instead the damn saftey is on and Simon shoots Zeus in his foot...... Thanks John!

Why?

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I wonder the same thing


The stupid have one thing in common.They alter the facts to fit their views not the other way

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Don't know. I'd assume he just didn't notice. It wasn't his gun, it was taken off a thug. He's so eager to find Simon and put an end to his plot that he's not noticing details. He's shown to be anxious and distracted earlier in the film when he's complaining about being tasked with running around town solving riddles and Zeus has to yell at him to pay attention to the task at hand, so it's not implausible.

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Yeah, I agree. Maybe he didn't know there was a safety catch on it. It could be possible. It wasn't a police gun, but a thug's.

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It must have been an oversight, but he did tell Zeus to not be a hero and come get him if he finds Simon. Still, he was obviously given the gun for protection, and if one of the terrorists saw him and attacked, he would have been screwed.

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Yes, that's what I thought. Maybe he figured that Zeus might try to shoot his ass anyway.

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Zeus still thought there was a bomb in a school at that time, so he couldn't just kill Simon, because if he did, they would never get the code to disarm the bomb.

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But he tried to shoot him anyway. Just couldn't do it because of the safety latch

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Yeah, just seeing the film again tonight, when it got to that point, I thought about it. Maybe he didn't trust Zeus and thought he would shoot him anyway. Remember he said to call him when he found Simon? That is not what Zeus did, so John didn't want a Samaritan to kill Simon without getting the code. Also, he shoots Zeus in the leg, not the foot.

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It's standard procedure when you give someone a gun to leave the safety on. Minimizes the chance he might shoot either of them by accident while handing it off.

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But Zeus even said he wasn't familiar with guns. McClain was setting him up for failure if he was assuming he'd know about the safety.

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What McClane said was:"Just yank that and pull the trigger", "That is it", when Zeus clearly didn't know how to use a gun.

So either McClane didn't know guns have safeties, which is impossible as a policeman, or he was not telling Zeus about the safety switch of the gun on purpose.

But the thing is that gun was firing before the owner was killed, so the safety switch should have been off.

However you look at it, it does not make sense.

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Everything with Zeus was racism and he hates white people. Would you give Zeus a loaded gun and say “shoot whoever you want”?

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The movie would have been over a lot sooner if that hadn't happened. Simon, his girlfriend, and one of his henchman would all be killed by Zeus.

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