Nick's Shooting
Okay so everyone else probably guessed this already but I just realised, the reason Nick tends to shoot often is because he felt he's to blame for his mothers death and that if he 'shot quicker' he may have saved her. Thus in order to prevent another loss like that again, he tends to be a 'trigger finger'.
This is showcased when he almost shoots Clementine (thinking she would turn and attack him/someone else), if you choose to go with him instead of Pete, he rapidly reloads and shoots the walkers attacking Pete. He shoots Matthew thinking he was 'holding up' Luke and Clementine, possibly thinking he would kill them.
It's somewhat sadistic and grim, sorry for all these observations if they're bothering anyone by the way. I'm just going through the games and trying to find any cool things I can. :P
Comments
I can see that definitely being a factor, but Pete says that Nick almost shot him when they were hunting when Nick was Clem's age, so I think he's always just been really panicky with guns. But I think his mother's death definitely contributed to him being overly protective and more willing to kill strangers.
I'm all for clever observations, and wow, you're right with this. Luke recognises that because after the Matthew incident Luke starts with 'I know Pete was close to you nick' implying he thought that's what set him off
Eh, a lot of characters in the game have had some pretty impressive/unrealistic shots from time to time. It's a video game, after all.
We see Nick fumbling with his gun a lot at the river, and earlier Pete outright says, "You're lucky my nephew can't shoot for shit" when Nick tries to shoot you if you try to run away, so honestly I kind of feel like despite having a handful of sharp moments, we're generally supposed to view him as not very competent with firearms.
Also, after he shoots Matthew he comes over and says, "Did I get him?" so I'm not sure how well he was actually aiming, there.