He is under the gun to perform..

I am under the gun to improve my spoken English. The interviews are scheduled next month and they want a guy who can communicate very well.

How do you feel when you are under the gun?

Obviously, not something good. You’d feel nervous and stressed because of the risk of the gun on your head.

And why would someone put you under the gun? Simply because he wants you to do something – hand over your wallet for example.

The students are under the gun to get good marks else they wouldn’t get admission in college

Thus, being under the gun has two parts – one is the nervousness and stress, the pressure and the other one is a task which needs to be completed. So, if you are under pressure to finish a task or do something, you’d say you are under the gun.

Let’s take some examples:

1. With the investors breathing down my neck, I am under the gun to finish the movie within the next two months. I have no idea how I am going to do this, though.
2. With his recent spate of low scores, Sehwag is now under the gun to hit a big score else he would lose his place in the team.
3. With his recent flops, Shahrukh is under the gun to deliver a hit. More so because the other two Khans have done well for themselves what with Salman delivering hits after hits and Amir charming everyone with Satyamev Jayate.

Simply put, being under the gun means being in pressure to deliver something or accomplish a task.

Some more examples:

1. Put your sales team under the gun. If they do not begin producing results, they would be fired.
2. The teachers are under the gun to produce 100% results. The management has decided they have to become the best school in the whole state and the shortest way to that seems to be to get all the students to pass the exam.