Hacksaw Ridge : Why couldn't he touch a gun?

Why couldn't he touch a gun?

His whole philosophy is based entirely on the Ten Commandments. There is no commandment that says "Thou shalt not touch a weapon", and it doesn't say anything like that anywhere in the Bible either. So why couldn't he have just held a gun without firing it? He actually did touch a gun to wrap it in the sheet to help get Vince Vaughn out, even though he could've easily just carried him or dragged the sheet with his hands. So if he could touch a gun then, why couldn't he carry one?

Re: Why couldn't he touch a gun?

What's the point in touching the gun if he ain't gonna use it? It's only a weapon if he uses it otherwise it's just an object with no purpose.

Re: Why couldn't he touch a gun?

Him not wanting to actually hold a weapon goes beyond his religious beliefs. He explains it when he and Smitty are eating. He's ashamed over almost killing his father when he grabbed his gun and he's worried of what he'd do if he let himself hold and train with a weapon. The film deliberately leads us to think, "Well why doesn't he just train with the thing but not actually carry one into the war?" until the reveal with Smitty. Holding a weapon isn't against the Commandments, he knows that, it's his own fear of what he might do if given a gun.

He uses the rifle to drag Vince Vaughn's character because dragging him backwards with both hands would be a lot slower than a makeshift stretcher. Plus it means he can return fire on the Japanese. Even he looks shocked for a moment when he realises he's holding it, but in that moment the situation/adrenaline just override his conscious inability to hold a gun since he was more focused on making a stretcher and he just grabbed the best thing around him.

Re: Why couldn't he touch a gun?

Why couldn't he touch a gun? Didn't you watch the movie? It explains it quite simply.

"check the imdb cast list before asking who portrayed who in movies please"

Re: Why couldn't he touch a gun?

Learn to pay attention when watching films. Cheers.

Re: Why couldn't he touch a gun?

Although holding a gun wouldn't violate a commandment, he made a promise to God to "never touch a gun". He then touched a gun anyway when he used it as a handle to drag Vince. That part negated the whole first hour about not being able to touch a gun (said unless it was character develoment.)

Please excuse any typos, this was typed on an iPad
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