Would KR have been better if Michael carried a weapon?

[chin-up-27]

I always wondered why Michael never carried a weapon.

He did have a gun in a couple of shows, and he also made "use" of a stun gun in Knightlines.

It was always said it was illegal for him to carry one. I always felt this made him very volunarble. Can only protect him outside, not when hes in buildings and such.

At least in regards to the comlink, they used it as a tool for picking locks, videoing things and such. I wonder why they didn't incorperate a stun gun into the comlink or something like that. Could have added some value to the series later on instead of SPM etc.

What do y'all think?

[KITTfan]

Probably Michael didn't like guns because he was shot in the face in Pilot episode and again in Scent of Roses. Bulletproof vest (or MBS coated jacket ) might've been a good idea for Michael when he was away from KITT.

Sometimes he did use gun though, for example in Hearts of Stone when Michael pointed a gun against the girl and the guy who stole the money from him. I don't know where Michael got that gun, did he have a gun after all perhaps somewhere in KITT where he could get one when necessary?

[Skav]

I don't think so, no. The primary focus of the show was KITT and if you bring in guns and all that stuff, then that would take away it's primary focus.

I didn't mind Mike having a gun in KR 2008 because shows have got more darker now so it fit the show. But back then shows were quite camp and were shown in a more light-hearted world.

[MrSmith]

My thoughts are that Michael Knight is like MacGyver,

he is smarter than just a guy with a gun

he can out smart people

anyone can use a gun, point and shoot

but it takes brains, intelligence,

good always triumphs over evil

and of course KITT is his sidekick there to help him when he gets into trouble or danger.

[Micaela Knight]

That's what I think too, Mr. Smith. I think Michael probably carried a gun in the first few eppys for a couple of reasons: one, he's a former cop, and so it would have been second nature for him (i.e, he's more comfortable having it), and two, he didn't trust KITT yet. But as the relationship between him and KITT grew, he realized he really didn't need it anymore, and started thinking of other ways to evade the bad guys, even when KITT wasn't readily available to help him. I notice that Michael rarely, if ever, actually fires his gun; I think he uses it more to get the bad guys' attention. KITTfan makes a good point, too: after the trauma of being shot, I can definitely see Michael being leery of guns.

I do wonder sometimes whether the creators of MacGyver ever saw KR... there are quite a few similarities between Michael and Mac, and even some of the plots are along similar lines.

[vespurrs]

I agree with Mr Smith and Micaela Knight. Having Michael carry a gun would detract from the focus of the show, the friendship and teamwork between Michael and Kitt that kept Michael from NEEDING to use a gun.

[Knight Racer]

I once read a fan fic a few decades ago that put why Michael never carried a gun in a new perspective for me.It was Rusted Trust.Its prologue had described a scene of Wilton Knight and Devon miles hosting an exhibition of new Knight Industries technology.The project was called K.A.R.R.It showed all the great abilities the knight 2000 vehicle could do on auto pilot by its cpu Karr.It passed all its tests with flying colors except when they put a small childlike maniquin in the road.To everyone's shock it plowed through like it wasn't worth slowing down for.The point of the story was that Wilton Knight wanted to show off a new weapon that could perserve human life by giving it a command of self survival at all costs to protect the driver with.He wanted a weapon that couldn't be copied by industrial espionage sabotours.Which is why kitt in many ways was better than any gun.