shoot from the hip

1. Speak or act recklessly or impulsively, as in Steve isn't very tactful; indeed, he's known for shooting from the hip. This expression transfers the fast shooting accomplished by drawing a gun from a holster and shooting without raising it to quick speaking or acting. [Slang; mid-1900s] For a similar transfer, see shoot off one's mouth.

Example Sentences

Writing in English, their dominant tongue, allowed them to “shoot from the hip,” as he puts it.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“But to exercise my discretion properly, I’m not going to shoot from the hip right here on the bench,” Ho said on Wednesday.

Read more on Salon

A tendency to shoot from the hip was not new for Robertson, who declared in 1992 that feminism caused women to “leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But, he added, “let’s not shoot from the hip because then the people who really pay the price, regulatory-wise, are the ones who have been using it in a responsible manner all along.”

Read more on New York Times

"He is thoughtful, he does not shoot from the hip, and will be seeking to design an optimal sustainable policy framework rather than looking for big, quick wins."

Read more on BBC