Handgun

[High prince of geeks]

SIMple IDea, david doesn't like handguns because his father was killed by one.

[Quiver]

Haven't read Steelheart but, as a huge comic nerd, I feel obligated to mention that, from a meta standpoint, dislike of guns is a fairly common trope in comic books.

See: Batman.

It's probably not got anything to do with the actual book, but in the 20th Century, a character who eschews firearms seems somewhat more...noble or iconic in a way. Heroes such as the Punisher who use guns have a sense of being 'less' than those who don't. This might be Branfon playing/invoking that particular trope.

[High prince of geeks]

He uses guns a lot, he is just practically phobic of using handguns, from my view at least. 

[Left]

Yeah, he quite likes guns really. He just seems to avoid handguns to stupid extremes. I can see that being a possible reason, deep deep down, for his dislike of them. But at the same time that seems kind of....ordinary.

[Mailliw73]

Secretly, David is an Epic and admitting that handguns are better than rifles is his weakness.

[Lightsworn Panda]

I think my mouse broke from upvoting you, Malliw.

 

The reason protagonists don't like guns is simple: Guns would make everything too easy. There'd be nothing to write about. David doesn't like handguns so we can get awkward grapple fights since rifles don't work well at close range.

[Mailliw73]

Well, shucks, thanks, Panda.

[Two McMillion]

Actually, my thinking on David is that he- and Steelheart as a whole- is something of a parody of "Noir" style books. David's bad metaphors, for example, are similar to the classic "noir" way of narration, and yet with David it's almost deconstructed as something he does poorly. Noir settings famously emphasize darkness, so Newcago is eternally dark thanks to Nightwielder. And while noir heroes aren't afraid to go in guns a'blazing, David dislikes them and prefers to use he brain. So it all makes sense to me.

[High prince of geeks]

 

Secretly, David is an Epic and admitting that handguns are better than rifles is his weakness.

and of course his power is bad metaphors

[Swimmingly]

I'm guessing that he just really sucks at aiming handguns, and his dorky personality churns out a simple lack of skill into a point of pride.

[Fifth of Daybreak]

SIMple IDea, david doesn't like handguns because his father was killed by one.

 

 

I really like the thought process behind this idea, but I can't fully back it for one simple fact:

He wields the gun that killed his father in the end, and seems to have no emotional backlash from doing so. 

 

Still, upvote, because that's a whole side of it I never thought about. 

[king of nowhere]

I really don't think his father has anything to do with it. and anyway, he wasn't killed by a handgun. when steelheart punched him, he was already deadly wounded. the bullet merely ended his suffering.

 

I think many people here simply don't realize how right david is. a handgun really has very poor accuracy compared to a rifle. it takes a real champion to hit a man at 50 meters with a pistol (standing still, and with time to aim), while pretty much everyone can do it with a rifle, and it takes only little training to double that distance. My father was in the military and is quite expert in guns, and he never cease stressing how unreliable handguns are in real life every time the argument turns up. so, david has a point.

of course, handguns are much faster to pull out, and much handier in close quarters, so they have their advantages.

 

I think it has more to do with david being a perfectionist. he wants a job well done, he want everything taken into account, so he instinctively dislikes something as unreliable as trying to hit with a handgun.

I feel exactly the same when, playing civilization, i refuse to take chances in combat, attacking only when i have a big enough advantage that i am sure to win. I always say, this is a game of strategy, if you want to have random chances decide the outcome go play dice. I believe david would say something similar about shooting.