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About Rodney McKay and firearms....
It feels to me that Rodney's reputation for weapons inadequacy is undeserved, so I went through all the episodes I could remember him using a gun.
The Defiant One: We were not given reason to believe that he couldn't hit the Wraith; rather, he did appear to hit it each time -- if he hadn't, there would have been a hazard to Sheppard, since he was directly behind the target. This did not seem to cause Rodney to hesitate.
Rodney had to be reminded to reload.
Siege, Part 3: Rodney is ready to fire on the approaching Wraith, but accidentally ejects the clip, probably instead of disengaging the safety.
Runner: Rodney's skill was disparaged by Ford -- not his aim in particular, but the likelihood of accidental discharge. Then Ford disarms McKay. Later, Ford returns the weapon when they appear to be under threat, without any demeaning warnings one might expect toward a crappy shot. Then, in a face off, Rodney shoots Ford in the shoulder -- which makes sense if a) Rodney would aim for the shoulder in an attempt to incapacitate rather than kill (as implied by his statement immediately prior, and later while hanging upside down), and b) Rodney can hit where he's aiming. When that doesn't have the expected effect and Rodney flees, shooting into the air looks pretty silly, but it is effective as far as establishing location and danger is concerned, and he's already established that shooting Ford doesn't do a lot of good.
The Long Goodbye: Out of everyone in and near the room, Sheppard turns over his weapon to Rodney. Shortly thereafter, under fire, Rodney shoots 3 times toward Sheppard's body controlled by a hostile alien consciousness,but doesn't actually hit him and hits him once in a non-vital but non-disabling place. Beckett tells him not to shoot, for fear of him hitting Sheppard.
Sateda: Beckett discounts Rodney's skill, saying "And you're a terrible shot." Rodney doesn't deny it.
Common Ground: Spooked, Rodney opens fire with a P-90 on what turns out to be a mouse. Or perhaps a rat. At any rate, afterward, it is a dead mouse. Hitting a moving target that size is not as easy as it looks. Trust me.
My biased opinion: Rodney has the background, the hand-eye coordination, and enough experience to be a good shot, even an excellent one. A site picture is a site picture, and Rodney hits what he aims at, when he bothers to aim. However, he's not experienced enough with firearms or combat to keep his cool under pressure (failure to reload, clip ejection, losing skill when under fire) or be considered an expert. Knowing that safeties and ejection buttons exist is not the same as knowing instinctively and reflexively which to use when. He may not correct Beckett's misconception about his skill because a) he may feel that if he's not the best in the field, his skill is not worth pointing out, b) protesting too much gives the opposite impression, or c) he gets enough crap from Beckett already from exaggerating his ailments and he'd rather not expose himself to more mockery. I think he gets too much flak in fandom for being a crap shot because a) we're taking Carson's word for it, b) we're equating general weapons expertise with the ability to hit a target, or c) we're being blinded by McKay's own unease. For all that he's never missed when he's aiming, he's also never displayed any significant confidence with weapons.
Details gathered from transcripts at Gateworld, where it's way too easy to see spoilers for much of Season 3. However, I'm not particularly sad about this.
The Defiant One: We were not given reason to believe that he couldn't hit the Wraith; rather, he did appear to hit it each time -- if he hadn't, there would have been a hazard to Sheppard, since he was directly behind the target. This did not seem to cause Rodney to hesitate.
Rodney had to be reminded to reload.
Siege, Part 3: Rodney is ready to fire on the approaching Wraith, but accidentally ejects the clip, probably instead of disengaging the safety.
Runner: Rodney's skill was disparaged by Ford -- not his aim in particular, but the likelihood of accidental discharge. Then Ford disarms McKay. Later, Ford returns the weapon when they appear to be under threat, without any demeaning warnings one might expect toward a crappy shot. Then, in a face off, Rodney shoots Ford in the shoulder -- which makes sense if a) Rodney would aim for the shoulder in an attempt to incapacitate rather than kill (as implied by his statement immediately prior, and later while hanging upside down), and b) Rodney can hit where he's aiming. When that doesn't have the expected effect and Rodney flees, shooting into the air looks pretty silly, but it is effective as far as establishing location and danger is concerned, and he's already established that shooting Ford doesn't do a lot of good.
The Long Goodbye: Out of everyone in and near the room, Sheppard turns over his weapon to Rodney. Shortly thereafter, under fire, Rodney shoots 3 times toward Sheppard's body controlled by a hostile alien consciousness,
Sateda: Beckett discounts Rodney's skill, saying "And you're a terrible shot." Rodney doesn't deny it.
Common Ground: Spooked, Rodney opens fire with a P-90 on what turns out to be a mouse. Or perhaps a rat. At any rate, afterward, it is a dead mouse. Hitting a moving target that size is not as easy as it looks. Trust me.
My biased opinion: Rodney has the background, the hand-eye coordination, and enough experience to be a good shot, even an excellent one. A site picture is a site picture, and Rodney hits what he aims at, when he bothers to aim. However, he's not experienced enough with firearms or combat to keep his cool under pressure (failure to reload, clip ejection, losing skill when under fire) or be considered an expert. Knowing that safeties and ejection buttons exist is not the same as knowing instinctively and reflexively which to use when. He may not correct Beckett's misconception about his skill because a) he may feel that if he's not the best in the field, his skill is not worth pointing out, b) protesting too much gives the opposite impression, or c) he gets enough crap from Beckett already from exaggerating his ailments and he'd rather not expose himself to more mockery. I think he gets too much flak in fandom for being a crap shot because a) we're taking Carson's word for it, b) we're equating general weapons expertise with the ability to hit a target, or c) we're being blinded by McKay's own unease. For all that he's never missed when he's aiming, he's also never displayed any significant confidence with weapons.
Details gathered from transcripts at Gateworld, where it's way too easy to see spoilers for much of Season 3. However, I'm not particularly sad about this.
Re: mckay and guns
McKAY: See how I almost stunned that guy?
SHEPPARD: I must have missed it.
McKAY: Yeah, but if he was, like, a step to the right, I would've stunned him for sure.
Which sort of implies that the possibility of hitting someone he was aiming at would be a big, exciting thing for McKay, I guess because he's usually off by more. I don't know, I find the whole thing baffling; he basically seems able to shoot a target when the plot requires it, and not when it would be harmless and (theoretically) funny for him to miss. Maybe you could make a case for it being psychological -- when he's desperate enough that it *really matters* if he hits his target or not, he gets out of his own way and does it on instinct, but otherwise handling a gun makes him nervous and insecure so he blows it. Either that, or the writers are just making it up as they go along *g*
Re: mckay and guns
I think it likely that you are right about the writers giving him skill only when the plot requires it -- I'm hoping that whole statement can move into past tense any day now -- but I'd prefer explanations that are coherent with the universe. For example, different weapons handle differently -- IRL, being a good shot with a rifle doesn't necessarily map to being a good shot with a handgun, which may not map to being a good shot with a crossbow, which often doesn't map to being a good shot with a compound bow. OTOH, it does feel just a little ad hoc to shrug away the incident you cited with "it's a different weapon."