So the second guard gets tired of Ray Charles doing the fighting and decides to take matters into his own hands. He runs up and plants a nice smack in the middle of Cloud's stomach with his nightstick. Cloud, of course, has rock-solid abs,
"Why didn't they use a Life spell on Aeris?" Answer: "Because she had a large sword run through her spinal column, silly."
For the most part, we all know how guns work. Pulling the trigger harder will not make a rifle any more powerful (try all you like, though).