Straight shooter is an idiom that may not be as old as you think. We will examine the meaning of the common saying straight shooter, where it came from, and some examples of its idiomatic usage in sentences.
A straight shooter is someone who is honest, upright, forthright, ethical, and sincere. A straight shooter is straightforward and will state what is on his mind in a truthful and unembellished manner. Someone who is a straight shooter does not have a hidden agenda; his actions and words are dependable. Intuitively, one would think that the expression straight shooter came into use in the American Old West; however, the phrase doesn’t appear in the literature until around 1920. Perhaps the phrase was in use in the Old West before this time and did not appear in the mainstream until the 1920s, or perhaps the phrase was popularized in Western fiction. Straight shooter is an American idiom, and the plural form is straight shooters.
Examples
He said Crane was a “straight shooter” that would tell you bluntly what he thought about things in a way that was “pretty accurate.” (Atlantic News Telegraph)
Across multiple roles in government, including stints in the White House and the State Department, Psaki has earned a reputation for being an unflappable straight-shooter — a welcome approach after a succession of combative press secretaries under former President Donald Trump that included Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany. (Hartford Courant)
Phelan, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is described among colleagues and other Capitol observers as a straight shooter who knows the legislative process inside and out and who has a track record of being hardworking and accommodating. (Texas Tribune)