Shootout

This article may contain excessive or irrelevant examples. Please help improve the article by adding descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. (September 2023)

A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a armed confrontation entailing firearms between armed parties using guns, always entailing intense disagreement(s) between the fighting parties. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to describe combat situations primarily using firearms (generally excluding crew-served weapons, combat vehicles, armed aircraft, or explosives).

Shootouts often pit law enforcement against criminals, though they can also involve groups outside of law enforcement, such as rivalling gangs, militias, or individuals. Military combat situations are rarely titled "shootouts", and are almost always considered battles, engagements, skirmishes, exchanges, or firefights.

Shootouts are often depicted in action films, Westerns, and video games.^[1]