firing line, on the

Idioms  

1. In the forefront of any activity or pursuit, especially a controversy. For example, At the sales conference they asked so many questions that Anne felt she was on the firing line. This expression originally meant the line of positions from which gunfire is directed at a target and is still so used in a military context. Today it is also used more loosely. [Late 1800s]

---

Example Sentences

"To wipe out food miles, just swap one day’s red-meat eating a week to white meat": Jay Rayner puts himself in the firing line on the buying local argument.

From The Guardian • May 25, 2013

They had gone right on to the firing line on the north bank of the River Sambre, where the Guards were advancing.

From Q.6.a and Other places Recollections of 1916, 1917 and 1918 by Buckley, Francis

The most thrilling experience you will have at a training camp will probably come when you step up to the firing line on the target range to fire your first shot.

From The Plattsburg Manual A Handbook for Military Training by Ellis, Olin Oglesby

After a while a plank was found sufficiently long to bridge the water, and the men crossed to form a firing line on the other side.

From The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 3 (of 10) by Parrott, James Edward

The regiment formed firing line on the right of the Fourth Infantry, facing a Spanish fort or blockhouse about half a mile distant.

From The Colored Regulars in the United States Army by Steward, T. G. (Theophilus Gould)