The finger gun is a hand gesture in which a person will use their hand to mimic a handgun, raising their thumb above their fist to act as a hammer, and one or two fingers extended perpendicular to it acting as a barrel. The middle finger can also act as the trigger finger or part of the barrel itself. Also, an optional clicking of the fingers or making firing sounds with the mouth can be included when forming the "gun" as to emphasise the gesture. The gesture can be intended to be a threat, or simply a friendly gesture.
Variations
The single "finger gun" is sometimes used to indicate a strong desire to be put out of one's misery, either from boredom or exasperation, or to express one's dislike for a situation. It can be used as an insulting gesture, as to suggest that another person's brain should be blown out of the back of their head. (It is generally used as an insulting gesture or as a means of intimidation.)
Another form is the use of two finger guns to express a greeting, or to acknowledge something as funny, clever, or insightful, like Gotcha! or What's up?[1]
Children, teenagers and teacher's assistants have occasionally been punished or removed from school for making the gesture. In some cases, this was because authority figures interpreted it as a signal for threatening real violence, while in others they interpreted it as unacceptably supportive of gun violence in general.[3][4][5] These have often been labeled as "ridiculous" by most commentators.[6]
In 2006, Fahim Ahmad allegedly made the gesture when speaking about the possibility of Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents coming to his apartment, which was used as evidence of his conspiracy to commit terrorism by a police informant.[7]
Former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro usually makes the finger gun gesture alluding to his ideas of changing the gun control laws to make weapons more accessible to the regular citizen.[8][9] This gesture became a symbol of the Bolsonarism, being used by supporters of the ideology.[10]
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