An experienced police officer like Kurtis Mazhari would know instantly that he had picked up an unloaded gun - the weight and balance would be far different to what he would expect.
Captain Pantalone laughs heartily when Angie threatens her with a flare gun. As an experienced seafarer she would be well aware that being shot with a flare gun at a range of just a meter or two would be agonizingly painful, would cause severe and debilitating injuries and could easily be fatal. A flare gun has a muzzle velocity of about 120 meters a second, the cartridge weighs about 250 grams and it burns at around 300 C. Nobody laughs at that. .