Combat using guns or firearms, or the skill and practice of engaging in such combat; also used to describe the techniques and tactics of armed conflict with guns.
Present participle of 'gunfight,' from 'gun' + 'fight.' Emerged as a term in 19th-century American English as firearms became dominant in warfare and the Wild West.
Modern gunfighting techniques taught to military and police actually derive from Wild West gunfighter mythology, even though real historical gunfights were chaotic and unpredictable—sometimes we build science on false narratives.
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