I know that this wiki currently only allows wiki pages to be created for Japanese anime rather than western animation, because so far the Japanese currently have shown a more consistent respect for realistic depictions of the appearance of firearms (if not necessarily their physical capabilities), but in reality, all that separates Western animation and Japanese animation in terms of depicting realistic-looking firearms is simply a matter of budget and the animation teams' priorities. There is also the fact that in Japan, there are an inordinate amount of military-focussed otaku who regularly drool over military hardware and small arms (the latter usually in airsoft form), especially if the user is a "hot babe," so animation studios over there have another incentive to pander to them and thereby broaden their customer base that way.
If you look at Walt Disney's older work (such as
"Two Gun Mickey") you'll see that the guns are serviceably modelled, if sadly bound by the laws of "cartoon physics," given the fact that the short was meant to be kiddie entertainment (minus the implied imminent rape that would have happened to Minnie had Mickey not intervened near the end). So the kiddiness is clearly a result of its time and its goals.
At the other end of the spectrum we have a title like
Todd McFarlane's Spawn, which, despite occasionally showing its comic book roots in terms of how some of its violence is portrayed (somewhat unrealistically bloody, but well-grounded in its depiction of ballistic trauma) and how certain guns are depicted, actually pays a fair bit of respect to the realistic depiction of firearms at times. Anyone who hasn't seen the series should do him/herself a favour and buy the series on DVD, and aficionados of firearms in audio-visual media should
definitely watch the last released episode (#18) and see just how much a Western animation team put into realistically depicting the workings of a snub-nosed revolver, for instance.
If we want to effect a "sea change" in the depictions of firearms in Western animation, all we have to do is make ourselves heard. We can buy genuine copies of Todd McFarlane's Spawn and its upcoming animated sequel. We can write to animation studios and ask that they not be so averse to depicting realistic small arms. We can help to defuse the moral panics that result whenever "shows meant for kids" (normally taken to mean almost anything animated in the West) show too much violence or too-realistic guns. I'm sure that well-made Western animation series like the
1994 animated Spider-Man TV series, or
Batman Beyond, or even
the original Batman animated series could have depicted realistic-looking firearms based off of real-life models, IF the possibility of moral panic among concerned parents AND the silly perception that "animation is for kids!" were NOT so entrenched in Western culture.
If nothing else, I'd definitely like to see a page for Todd McFarlane's Spawn to be made for this wiki by someone who has the DVDs.