Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-4784525-20131010155204/@comment-17732608-20131011002615

Or rather, Yang is punching forward before every shot, because she needs to absorb the recoil with her arm, otherwise it'd just send her flying.

It's actually quite similar (though the scale of effect is totally different) to the technique for absorbing recoil from revolvers. Which is likely how Ember Celica operates, too, by revolver-action. It is the most reliable function method for a semi-automatic firearm, God-forbid Yang used blowback-action and got caught limp-wristing.