starting gun

plural starting guns

1. athleticsA gun fired to start a race.

   No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun

   1973, Roger Waters, “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd

   Synonyms: starting pistol, starter pistol

2. figurativelyA signal to start or proceed; something that triggers an event or situation.

   Innocuous as it sounds, this note was a starting gun for a resource race on the planet’s last vast frontier: the abyssal plains that stretch between continental shelves deep below the oceans.

   2021 September 27, Jonathan Watts, “Race to the bottom: the disastrous, blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   “In the fight for voting rights, this vote was the starting gun, not the finish line,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “We will not let it go. We will not let it die. This voter suppression cannot stand.”

   2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times

   We have waited a very long time for the Railways Bill to see the light of day. The starting gun was fired as long ago as May 2021, when the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail was finally published, after its own gestation period of nearly three years.

   2025 November 26, Sir Michael Holden, “Good and bad in the Bill”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 15

   Synonyms: starting signal