Cocking hammers and big red noses

I was watching Dexter last night (which is a series I enjoy greatly, and would recommend to anyone) and there was a scene where two former Army rangers drew pistols into a Mexican Mexican-American stand off. One had a double-action Beretta M9 style pistol, and the other had a 1911 single-action. While the scene was meant to be quite intense, I couldn't help but notice that the Ranger with the 1911 neglected to cock the hammer. The trigger was very clearly a single-action, so I couldn't even excuse it as possibly being one of those blasphemous double-action 1911s.

I immediately slipped back into gunny mode and mentioned matter-of-factly to my significant other that the hammer was not cocked, which made the offending pistol about as useful as a large squeaky toy.

Of course, immediately after I said this, I realized that it really didn't matter because it was just TV.

After thinking about this I've decided it's OK to be bothered by it. All forms of cinematic entertainment requires you maintain some level of suspension of disbelief. It is the job of the directors, actors, and writers to make you believe what is happening on the screen, and thusly, be emotionally affected by what's happening. Any glaring inconsistencies disrupt this, and remove emotional attachment to the characters on the screen by reminding the audience that what they are watching is not real.

While it is possible to simply ignore inconsistencies like this, it's still a distraction.

For example; suppose a main character was about to go off to fight the climactic battle, one which he was unlikely to return from, and a supporting character suggested he wear a big red clown nose for luck.

The story wouldn't change, and when he's on his deathbed soliloquizing about his life, you may still be moved, but that wouldn't keep your eyes from darting between this dying grip on his loved ones and the silly red nose on his face.

The most annoying part of all this is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know this stuff. I don't know everything about guns, in fact, I only started really learning about guns a few years ago, but I still know this stuff. It wouldn't take much for of the crew members to pool their acquaintances and find someone who knows something about guns and just have them sit around and remind them that single-action guns need to have their hammers cocked, or that a glock doesn't make a hammer cocking sound because it doesn't have a hammer.

Of course, this can extend beyond entertainment.