One more thing: you'd think the bad guys would figure out eventually that the Hornet's odd-looking gun only fires sleeping gas, but they kept acting as though they were looking down the barrel of a revolver. "Don't shoot! I'll talk!"
Sure, nobody wants to get gassed, but I'm not sure why armed gangsters would surrender so readily whenever the Hornet got the drop on them.
What would really happen:
Hornet: "Stop where you are! And drop your guns!"
Racketeer: "Or what? You'll put me to sleep for a few minutes? We've got real bullets! Plug him, boys!"