easy easy its just a suggestion for a game not saying its real life lol
but gunplay is a martial art. (martial meaning warlike) just because it does not have titles,belts, or sashes does not make it less of one.
a lot of systems do try and pass off kata as something you would do in a RL instance that why you see a lot of so called Black Belts getting the tar beat out of them because they have been taught a lie in a point system and never really got into the ring to 'grind meat'
I have seen "jam session" aka brawling (done by the un or under trained) and it isnt pretty lol
"fixed piece" to me is where you see a fighter completely in control of his actions and even the actions of his opponent. both in the ring and on the street.
I'm not the true martial artist my brother is, and even my brother is willing to accept Hollywood as a reason for why some things happen, but the whole rigid nature of Equilibrium's fighting was too much to accept. It was an example that kind of stretched my admittedly less tolerant suspension of disbelief in the situation
as to complete martial art, yes, guns and marksmanship is a martial skill...not necessarily an art....an art implies a more whole life approach to things, philosophy, attitude toward practice, etc
there aren't really any official complete gun arts, though I'm more than willing to bet that there are a handful of people out there that approach the skill with the same level of attention as some apply to things like tai chi or aikido.
As to the differences between "jam session" and "fixed piece", you're not using it in the same way I did.
brawling between two or more untrained or undertrained individuals, is not a jam session....its banging on the drums, plucking strings and blowing air through instruments in the vague hope that something will work
a jam session is what you get when you have two skilled fighters competing and the situation changes moment to moment and the eventual victor is decided by who can change their mind the fastest. there's no set "right" combination of notes or maneuvers, but for each situation as it comes up there are a selection of options which are more or less effective than each other and alter the situation slightly so that the other fighter also has to make a choice
an unskilled fighter basically understands a limited number of options at each decision point, and, in fact, might be unaware of the vast majority of options that exist and moving past decision points is clunky. The skilled fighter blends from one situation to the next more or less seemlessly and understands the short and long term consequences of choices far more as well as understanding that are a much larger variety of options available than the lay person assumes.
as to my ideas for a gun-centric martial artist:
From a Gunsmith Cats/Babylon 5 fanfic
It was some minutes later that Rally and Lennier came to the Vincent's quarters. Inside, Lennier found a decently sized set of rooms and saw Vivian reading a book while sitting at a desk. Shanti, meanwhile was kneeling in the floor, surrounded by obvious weaponry and holding a servicing kit as she was vigorously using a cloth to clean a large metal gun such as Lennier had not seen used before.
Shanti had changed to an old t-shirt and cotton skirt that was covered in oil stains.
"You're doing it wrong," Vivian said as she continued to read, and then looked up to see Rally and Lennier in the room.
"Shanti," Rally said. "Stop for a moment."
"Told you," Vivi said.
"But, Rally," Shanti protested. "They already pretty clean."
"Give me a moment, Mr. Lennier," Rally said.
"Of course," Lennier said, bowing as Rally moved to kneel down next to Shanti.
"Take a deep breath," Rally instructed, closing her eyes and inhaling before looking to her foster-daughter.
After a moment, Shanti humphed and then took a breath herself, rather perfunctorily.
"Shanti, any idiot can wipe a cloth over a gun," Rally said. "To properly clean and maintain one, you need to pay attention. You like shooting them so much, you have to respect them and maintain them. These are old weapons and not many people know how to keep care of them or make the ammo anymore. You have to be careful with them. Now, with me."
Rally took in a deep breath and waited for Shanti to do likewise.
"Take the weapon," Rally said and watched as Shanti leaned forward.
The teen took up the hand gun in front of her, much more respectfully than she had been doing.
"Remove the clip, check the chamber," Rally instructed from beside Shanti, watching as the girl did so. "A gun is always loaded until you have cleared it each time you take it."
The "clip" was an empty container that Lennier assumed normally held the metal slugs that Rally Vincent's weapons were known to use. The chamber was likewise empty.
"Break it down," Rally said. "Set down the pieces on the towel, barrel, stock, firing pin, so on."
Shanti quietly and calmly, breathing evenly, did as she was instructed.
"Now, clean each component thoroughly and put it back together," Rally said. "Take your time and do it right, I'll help you in a minute."
"Right, Rally," Shanti said, bending to cleaning the gun in her hand much more attentively than she had been.
Lennier noted the rather meditative nature of the task with interest, whatever Miss Vincent had said, she was certainly a warrior above and beyond just a simple soldier or even an assassin. There was a spiritual element to her practice, even if there was nothing overtly religious about it.
From my Zodiacs anthology (see sig)
The dozen or so bandits failed to notice the figure moving casual and unconcerned out into the open for the first few seconds. Several glanced past her, but the woman’s attitude made her fade into the surroundings.
She simply didn’t seem important at first.
“Please, this is just a small village,” the children’s chaperone pleaded. “We don’t have anything worth stealing. There’s no goods here but lumber.”
“Ain’t you listening, girl?” one of the bandits asked amidst assorted laughter. “You are the goods.”
Eventually, one of the bandits noticed the out of place clothing and took a second look at the woman just as she came into the middle of the largest group, within easy revolver range of many of the bandits.
“Whe – “
The woman’s knife slipped out of her sleeve and into her hand.
“– re – “
The knife slipped into the throat of a pistol carrying bandit while her free-hand grabbed the man’s pistol.
“– the –“
The woman emptied the stolen revolver into the bandits around her as her knife vanished into her coat.
A rifleman and two more pistoleers dropped before the three swordsmen closest to the gunslinger crumpled, various vital organs destroyed.
“– hell –“
As the first volley finished, she tossed aside the now empty pistol and drew her own pistol.
“– did –“
Six more shots fired, and several more bandits fell as they reached for their weapons.
“– you –“
As she reloaded, a bandit slashed down wide of her dodging form, only managing to take the hat off of her head.
“– come –“
Three bullets obliterated the swordsman that had just missed the woman and then another three bandits fell.
“– fr –“
The butt of the woman’s pistol slammed into the speaking bandit’s throat, crushing it. She walked past as he fell to the ground choking and gasping.
The young Ryouiki woman and her gathering of children looked about at the carnage in shock before the gunslinger stopped in front of them.
The upper half of her head was clearly visible now as she reached down for her hat.
Under the black, blonde and red hair, her face was framed by a light covering of similarly colored scales. Poison green eyes, with slitted pupils and irises that took up almost the entire visible part of the orb stared out with a tired, near expressionless stare as she dusted off her hat. Just under the inside corner of each eye were a pair of small holes, pits, that were matched across the bridge of her nose. What could be seen had the remnants of an semi-alien beauty that was diminished by long days on the open trail.
“S…s…s…” the woman chattered, now more terrified than she was before.
The lower portion of her nose was covered just like her mouth, and her voice continued to be muffled as she next spoke.
“Snake,” the woman noted. “Yes, now you and the brats get to cover.”
And I've described the Goddess training program (they use "Avatars" which are generally heavy firearms with reinforced frames to be used defensively and offensively in a fight and usually also possessing a retractable blade in the handle...though some prefer a sort of mini bayonet attachment) as sort of a mix of the knife-fighting in Hunted, standard pistol tactics the world over and aikido.
Also, while I dislike the "memorize these kata and you're invulnerable" bit of Equilibrium, I like the gunfighting in Ultraviolet (which also receives my brother's approval for that matter)
