I got sent this and I need to share. Author Unknown but kudos to him/her.
Ok, this has been driving me crazy for seven movies now, and I know you’re going to roll your eyes, but hear me out: Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.
Here’s why:
Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol’ American hot lead.
Basilisk? Let’s see how tough it is when you shoot it with a .470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You aren’t looking at it–you’re looking at a picture of it.
Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12.
And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe it’s because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
Now I know what you’re going to say: “But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun!” Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies). But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger?
Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.
Imagine Harry out in the woods, wearing his invisibility cloak, carrying a .50bmg Barrett, turning Deatheaters into pink mist, scratching a lightning bolt into his rifle stock for each kill. I don’t think Madam Pomfrey has any spells that can scrape your brains off of the trees and put you back together after something like that. Voldemort’s wand may be 13.5 inches with a Phoenix-feather core, but Harry’s would be 0.50 inches with a tungsten core. Let’s see Voldy wave his at 3,000 feet per second. Better hope you have some Essence of Dittany for that sucking chest wound.
I can see it now…Voldemort roaring with evil laughter and boasting to Harry that he can’t be killed, since he is protected by seven Horcruxes, only to have Harry give a crooked grin, flick his cigarette butt away, and deliver what would easily be the best one-liner in the entire series:
“Well then I guess it’s a good thing my 1911 holds 7+1.”
And that is why Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.
“The Horcruxes just mean you’ll keep on living. With how many holes, and in how many pieces, is up to me John Moses Browning.”
“…me AND John Moses Browning.”
Drat the lack of an edit option!
This topic actually came up at work last week. Compared with magic, firearms and other modern weapons are ridiculously powerful.
It reminds me of a quote from one of Terry Pratchett’s novels:
Many an ancient lord’s last words had been, “You can’t kill me because I’ve got magic aaargh.”
— Magic armour is not all it’s cracked up to be.
I needed some humor and I love this. Thank you. I’ve bookmarked it
Well IIRC, Rowling actually stated that the reason none of the characters use guns (even the muggle born ones) was because it would be horribly one sided.
Reminds of the Dresden Files when the titular character asks a mercenary gunman how he’d fight a wizard, “I’d put a rifle bullet through the back of his head from a mile away.”
Also, this: http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20080425
Hey guys, I’m the one who wrote this. I wrote it last November and put it on my Facebook page. I had no idea this had been posted all over the place until someone linked me here.
I’m glad you guys liked it!
Will, you did a hell of a job! Congrats!
Will Hudson, you win the internet.