2 years of military service, (including reserve).

MOMMY LIEK!!!

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

I’d mount them on my car. I’d finally upgrade my armored starsuit with one of these slung on the shoulder. Fuck, I’d just have one for open carry!

Thug: BITCH! GIMME ALL YOUR MO- Me: BRRRRT!

The XM556 Microgun - For when you absolutely, positively, have to open carry a pocket sized A-10 for shits and giggles during the Antifa Zombie Apocalypso? Accept no substitute.

Does it come in pink to go with my signature violet tracer rounds?

You’re not a bother at all! I am honored by your interest in my blog. 

When I first read your question I was thinking you were talking about literal Fire Arms. You know, like Ming-Hua from LoK. The only reason I could think that there aren’t any ‘Fire-Arms’ in ATLA is that it might be hard not to catch your clothes on fire, or something. LOL 

In regard to your actual question, I think the answer is relatively nuanced and complex. I think one could easily make arguments for why the world should have had firearms and why it wouldn’t. I’ll try to break down my perspective (the only thing I can really give you) with these concepts: Innovation, and Military Tactics

Innovation “It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole.” -Iroh

Firearms would be a pretty significant innovation in the world so what circumstances would make it more likely for this type of innovation to happen? In this world innovation is driven by the collaboration between cultures. The earth kingdom refugees are able to learn about flight by living in the Air Nomad’s temple, and then they are able to innovate even more with the experiences Sokka brings them from his life. LoK exemplifies how quickly innovation happens when people from all backgrounds and perspectives are able to work side by side toward similar goals. During the 100 years before ATLA the Fire Nation is able to develop so many advancements, in part because their aggressive colonial imperialism exposes them to new resources (like coal) and technologies. However the Fire Nation’s ability to innovate is limited significantly by the fact that it does not respect any other source of inspiration. To truly learn and grow from other sources of inspiration one needs the humility to accept that their way is not the only or best way, but this is not how the Fire Nation thinks (by in large) at the time we meet them in ATLA. When would an influential member of the Fire Nation (Piandao being a possible exception) ever decide that creating a machine to throw earth, not fire, at great speeds, would be beneficial? Similarly, members of the Earth Kingdom would have little respect for a fire propelled machine that can do what their earth benders could do much less effectively? Simply put, the two most likely nations to develop this technology would likely not have had the humility or inspiration to invent firearms. Military Tactics Let's refresh on the first firearms for a moment. The first guns were painfully slow and ineffective, unwieldy, and resource intensive both to make and maintain. Yes, they become even more powerful later on but there still needs to be a good reason to get past the uncomfortable growth and development period of a new technology. Guns were hand held cannons, not necessarily extraordinarily accurate or deadly, and most useful against lines of marching men (essentially). Granted, we don’t see many of the battles that happened during the 100 years of war, the battles that we do see during ATLA are precision attacks or siege warfare, not a lot of traditional infantry warfare. In these specialized attacks non-benders are not as holistically outmatched on the battlefield as benders because they are able to contribute to the stealth, or support tactics most often used. As we can see a number of times in ALTA, non-benders are not limited in their abilities to contribute, so while firearms may be most useful for non-benders they likely don’t feel a particular need for a heavy weapon that would slow them down, and take forever to reload. Obviously, if firearms became more mainstream Military Tactics would adjust to implement this deadly tool, but in the meantime firearms don’t seem to fill as critical of a niche in the Avatar world as they do on our own.

Agent McManus (OSI)

“Women. You don’t deserve that.”

“Don’t Man, it’s too hard.”

“Because you’ll see this, the woman who loves you.”

Agent McManus was introduced during Red Death’s ‘attack’ on Ventech Tower. She was in a snipers position with Guild Agent S-464 to take out the Blue Morpho. She must be an excellent OSI sniper as she was in position all night and well into the morning. She developed a mutual like and respect for S-464.

*image season six

Kimberly McManus (OSI)

“It’s beautiful”

“Shall we ... patrol the compound?”

“Why do you have PP on your belt huh? Explain that!”

During the Summit at the Venture Compound, Kimberly ran into S-464 and decided to go into the Venture Hanger to hook up. She discovered he was a member of the Peril Partnership. Kimberly has strong values and believes in honour, something the PP lacks and she voiced this angrily. She must be a strong fighter because she sounded ready to throw down.

Trucker Woman (Alias)

“Oh fantastic, are you on daycare duty too?”

“The Peril Partnership are scum, honourless scum.”

“Your a double agent? You did all this for me? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Put on ‘Daycare Duty’ for leaving her post during the Summit, under the alias Trucker Woman, Kimberly stopped the local NYC traffic from entering dangerous space while an arch was in progress. She is excellent at espionage and embracing an alias, from the costume to the truck she looked the part. At the end of the evening, her rudeness nearly got her into a fight with Councilwoman One - Kimberly was lucky to leave with her life.