Today cops nearly used guns, booking waster (2-4)
I believe the answer is:
no-show
'booking waster' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'today cops nearly used guns' is the wordplay.
'today' becomes 'now' (synonyms).
'cops' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are caught or copped).
'nearly used guns' becomes 'sho' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'now' placed around 'sho' is 'NO-SHOW'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for no-show that I've seen before include "Failure to appear" , "One not keeping an appointment - who's on (anag)" , "One not turning up" , "Person who fails to cancel -- who's on (anag)" , "Someone who neither keeps nor cancels an engagement" .)