"Put the gun down" - meaning
Dear italki users,

I wonder if "put the gun down" can mean "lower your gun", not put it literally on the ground.

In Terminator 2, John Connor said to the Terminator "Put the gun down", when he was about to shoot an innocent man. My guess is that John probably just meant "don't shoot", "lower your weapon", but the Terminator literally put (not dropped) the gun down. This is where the question comes from.

Question

"Put the gun down" - meaning
Dear italki users,

I wonder if "put the gun down" can mean "lower your gun", not put it literally on the ground.

In Terminator 2, John Connor said to the Terminator "Put the gun down", when he was about to shoot an innocent man. My guess is that John probably just meant "don't shoot", "lower your weapon", but the Terminator literally put (not dropped) the gun down. This is where the question comes from.

Answer

My impression is it means you are to either drop your gun to the ground or put it away so that you won't be able to shoot.

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