NM: Hand gun with trigger pulled by Alec Baldwin in rehearsal kills one injures one

[philip964]

The Union announced it was a live round.

So tragic.

[03Lightningrocks]

The Union announced it was a live round.

So tragic.

If this is true, I would like to know how a person can "accidently" put a live round in a prop gun. Seems extremely suspect.

[powerboatr]

The Union announced it was a live round.

So tragic.

If this is true, I would like to know how a person can "accidently" put a live round in a prop gun. Seems extremely suspect.

and why was LIVE ammunition on the set, or in prop wagon anywhere on set?

[03Lightningrocks]

The Union announced it was a live round.

So tragic.

If this is true, I would like to know how a person can "accidently" put a live round in a prop gun. Seems extremely suspect.

and why was LIVE ammunition on the set, or in prop wagon anywhere on set?

Exactly!

[Rafe]

Well, this didn't take long:

Petition Calls for Banning Firearms from Hollywood Sets Following Shooting Death of Halyna Hutchins
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/10 ... -hutchins/

“We need to make sure this never happens again,” reads the Change.org petition started by Bandar Albuliwi, supposedly a Hollywood filmmaker. “There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century. Real guns are no longer needed on film production sets.”

What we really need to ban are stupidity, complacency, and arrogance. But good luck with that.

[03Lightningrocks]

Well, this didn't take long:

Petition Calls for Banning Firearms from Hollywood Sets Following Shooting Death of Halyna Hutchins
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/10 ... -hutchins/

“We need to make sure this never happens again,” reads the Change.org petition started by Bandar Albuliwi, supposedly a Hollywood filmmaker. “There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century. Real guns are no longer needed on film production sets.”

What we really need to ban are stupidity, complacency, and arrogance. But good luck with that.

I won't be one bit surprised if they do exactly this. Hollywood elites are reactionaries. I do have to say though that it does seem they could film shooting scenes with non firing model guns. Especially when they are firing them at each other. With todays technology it seems they could easily insert firing sounds and graphics during the editing phase. Truth be told, pointing a real gun at anyone violates the top rule of gun handling. Never point any gun, loaded or otherwise at anything you do not intend to destroy.

[John Galt]

What was Baldwin doing pointing a prop gun or any gun for that matter at the director and pulling the trigger? It certainly wasn't in the script.

Exactly!!!

[RoyGBiv]

What was Baldwin doing pointing a prop gun or any gun for that matter at the director and pulling the trigger? It certainly wasn't in the script.

Exactly!!!

I heard a very good explanation of this today.... I'm sure I'll butcher it here...
Was from a guy that worked on movie sets for a number of years.

Depending on the technology (film or digital cameras), the DP (director of photog) and the film director are usually in the proximity of somewhere behind the camera. With digital, maybe they're close by looking at a monitor. With film, they may be directly behind, checking lighting, etc, making sure the scene goes as planned and the images captured meet their vision. How do you know to yell "retake!" unless you've seen it from the angle the camera is shooting. So, in a case where an actor is asked to fire a weapon towards the camera for whatever effect the director desires, it's completely plausible that the DP is lined up closely with the camera and the Director essentially in the Umpire (think baseball) position directly behind. With lighting in the face of the actor, he may have been shooting into the darkness as far as he could see.

Until more is known, I'm not inclined to pile on Baldwin. As much as I despise his politics and his hot head, elitist personality. Whoever is responsible for the gun being loaded with a real bullet is responsible for this homicide.

Would I check every round every time if I was an actor? Probably? Did John Wick?

[Rafe]

Fox News TV just now reporting that the prop gun in question had already "misfired" more than once, and that this week a half dozen of the crew on the "low budget" film had walked off the job due to working conditions. I did a little Googling, but can't easily locate a figure on exactly how low budget "low budget" means in this instance.

But from the website The Wrap.com:

Alec Baldwin is set to star in Joel Souza’s “Rust,” which he will also produce under his El Dorado Pictures banner, the Highland Film Group announced on Friday.

Baldwin will produce alongside Anjul Nigam and and executive producer Matthew Helderman. Souza will write and direct the action/western, based on a story by him and Baldwin. Anna Granucci is producing, while Elizabeth L. Barbatelli is executive producing.

Baldwin, Souza and Nigam are reteaming for “Rust” after previously collaborating on Souza’s “Crown Vic.” The Highland Film Group will launch international sales at the upcoming Marché du Film Online. CAA Media Finance is handling domestic rights. Bondlt Media Capital is financing.

There were evidently no A-list actors associated with the film, and I'll include Baldwin in that. From what I can tell, in addition to Baldwin the featured actors are Travis Fimmel, Jensen Ackles, Frances Fisher, and Brady Noon playing the 13-year-old boy. The reference to the Marché du Film Online tells me that there is no big-studio money behind the effort; the Marché du Film Online was created last year because the Cannes Film Festival did "not wish to abandon the field." It is a standalone, online venue "intended to mimic the market experience in Cannes... It will offer creative alternatives to facilitate business and networking for film professionals from all over the world."

[Rafe]

Until more is known, I'm not inclined to pile on Baldwin. As much as I despise his politics and his hot head, elitist personality. Whoever is responsible for the gun being loaded with a real bullet is responsible for this homicide.

Would I check every round every time if I was an actor? Probably? Did John Wick?

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Keanu Reeves did examine each prop firearm he was handed before he used it. Reeves has had a pretty fair amount of firearm training, mainly via Taran Butler at Taran Tactical Innovations. You can find a number of YouTube videos of Reeves shooting. I'm not saying he's anywhere nearly as experienced as some of our forum members, but he definitely knows which end of the barrel is the one that means business, and understands basic gun safety. I'm also not saying that it would be easy to evaluate all factors on a movie set like that (witness TAM's description of the Brandon Lee incident where, at one point, they were using primer-only loads with actual bullets seated and crimped; without a scale, I wouldn't be able to tell a live round from a primer-only). But after both Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum, you'd think that any movie crew would triple and quadruple check that sort of thing. Assuming there was someone knowledgeable on-set to check. And if it proves to have been a regular, live round...well, I have no explanation for that. I don't even permit a live round to be in the same room with me when I do any administrative maintenance or cleaning of a gun.

It will be interesting to see, as more news comes out, just how much firearm knowledge was on-set in New Mexico, and if a knowledgeable prop master was one of the people who walked off the production before this shooting occurred.

[anygunanywhere]

Maybe I am a little cold hearted. Certainly my thoughts and prayers for the one killed and wounded.

However, there is no excuse for any of this. It never should have happened. Those involved and responsible including Baldwin must pay whatever is coming to them and they deserve no special treatment.

Firearms are serious business. These anti-gun types are making us look bad through their misdeeds and negligence.

This was no accident. Baldwin was handling the firearm and it was his responsibility to ensure it was handled safely.

Personally I think Baldwin is scum. I hope he fries and goes broke. I know that isn't going to happen. His fellow commies are going to pat his poor widdle back in a big bear hug and bwess his widdle heart.

Disgusting.

[The Annoyed Man]

Insider details of what happened:

[Sport Coach]

This reminds me that an average of 7 things go wrong when an airplane falls out of the sky. Lots of people made bad assumptions.

[Ruark]

Could have been deliberate. Somebody could push a real bullet down deep into a blank so it wouldn't show at the case mouth. Then put it in a box of blanks, and eventually it'd be fired during a film shoot. Or maybe some idiot sneaked a live round into the gun when nobody was looking. Blanks, especially handgun ammo, look VERY different from real rounds. Hard to believe somebody didn't see it when the gun was being loaded.

[srothstein]

In the spirit of irony and hypocrisy (how many rabidly anti-gun actors and directors, like Baldwin

Speaking of hypocrisy,, irony, and the rabidly anti-gun Baldwin, you missed one act that he deserves to be remembered for. Being anti-cop as well as anti-gun, in 2017 Baldwin tweeted about a police shooting that he "wondered how it felt to wrongfully kill someone." This was brought back up quickly with people retweeting it now and saying now he knows. On the police forums, it was also quickly pointed out that he was wrong and the officer was justified in that shooting.