Fire on

[Allen165]

"These things happen? You often fire on him with a paintball gun?"

I heard the above on Boston Legal, which is a show about a law firm. Shouldn't it be "fire at him"?

Thanks!

[5jj]

I would use 'at' here, when one person is attempting to hit one other person. For me, one person with a machine gun (i.e. with a lot of bullets), or several people with any kind of guns, can fire on a group of people.

If you fire at somebody, you intend to hit that somebody. If you fire on a group, you don't necessarily intend to hit any specific person.

That's just a personal view.

[billmcd]

"These things happen? You often fire on him with a paintball gun?"

I heard the above on Boston Legal, which is a show about a law firm. Shouldn't it be "fire at him"?

Thanks!

I would prefer "at" (for a person) but "on" is also possible as in "They fired on the enemy".