Final fantasy XIII weapons?

I know that apperntly Lighting has a type of gunblade weapon. But i heard from a friend that the weapons do not appear during actual gameplay.
Ive watched video and seen the weapons in gameplay, but he is still insisting that they do not appear.

Is he wrong??
Or is there really no weapons in gameplay?

I’ve seen them in Gameplay as well..

Most likely Lightning’s is in the actual gameplay, my reasons:

1, It’s on a next-gen platform, Square shouldn’t be lazy.
2, She has a holster on her actual costume. Epic fail if there is no weapon.