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Post by Lurkin McGurkin on Oct 29, 2021 8:58:50 GMT -6
I'm not going to get into his politics, but it's going to be interesting to see how he gets out of this.
From what I can tell, movies that have firearms in the film have an "armorer" that is in charge of all of them, and the ammo. On "Rust", this was Hannah Gutierrez.
The story goes that an assistant director, Dave Halls, handed Baldwin an Old West era revolver and said "Cold gun," meaning that there were no bullets or blanks in it.
While rehearsing, Baldwin pulled the trigger, killing the camera operator and wounding the director. It's been rumored/reported that crew members were using the set guns for target practice, meaning they had live ammo with bullets in the cartridge. Cops recovered a box of 500 rounds with blanks, "Dummy" rounds, and live ammo.
Now, who's at fault?
Obviously, the armorer failed to notice that there were live rounds in the gun. In fact, there shouldn't have been any rounds at all, even blanks, for a rehearsal. That is an epic fail on her part.
Halls assumed the gun was empty, and said so to Baldwin. He assumed the armorer did her job, and didn't check with her.. or did, and she told him wrong.
Baldwin didn't check the gun either, which violates the most essential rule of gun safety: No matter what, ALWAYS check to see if a gun is loaded when it's handed to you.
If you think Baldwin did nothing wrong, I heard a great argument: If the scene called for Baldwin to put the gun to his heard and pull the trigger, do you think he would have checked to see if it was empty? If your answer is yes, he's at least guilty of criminal negligence resulting in death. If your answer is no, he would be a lot dumber than I thought.
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Post by 00hmh on Oct 29, 2021 12:04:01 GMT -6
Good summary. I am not absolutely sure Baldwin did something wrong, but there is a good question about it. Given Baldwin is an actor, I don't know what the standard of care for ordinary negligence is for him. To actors on stage or set this might reasonably be treated as a "toy" gun. They live in fantasy land. We don't know his actual real world experience. Too bad what are thought to be "toy" guns kill people pretty often... His defense is probably that he works in an environment where he might reasonably rely on the "trained professionals" assigned to their tasks and who he counts on. Not so professional it appears... It's possible in that light he was careful enough, and did nothing wrong. I would imagine a well run production would give firearms training to everyone who would touch the "prop" gun.
The question whether it is "criminal" or not for Baldwin is hard. The standard is closer to knowingly reckless than to just merely being careless. There was plenty of careless on this set, but "reckless" might be a harder call, especially with a "beyond reasonable doubt" standard of proof.
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Post by williamtsherman on Oct 29, 2021 12:14:00 GMT -6
Was glad to see that they hired a female armorer, for what is such a stereotypical male role. Keep breaking those barriers, girls!
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Post by JacksonStreetElite on Oct 29, 2021 20:10:24 GMT -6
If you think Baldwin did nothing wrong, I heard a great argument: If the scene called for Baldwin to put the gun to his heard and pull the trigger, do you think he would have checked to see if it was empty? If your answer is yes, he's at least guilty of criminal negligence resulting in death. If your answer is no, he would be a lot dumber than I thought. Bad argument. Circular reasoning. |
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Post by sdacardinal on Oct 30, 2021 10:15:26 GMT -6
If you hand me a gun and say it is not loaded I am not taking your word for it. Baldwin should have checked it.
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Post by 00hmh on Oct 30, 2021 10:28:30 GMT -6
If you hand me a gun and say it is not loaded I am not taking your word for it. Baldwin should have checked it. I'd instantly agree if it was not on a movie set or on stage. In his mind he was handed a prop to use, not a "real" gun. And actors are centered and focused on performing, have an army they depend on and get used to depending on.
It's not exactly that a pampered spoiled star is the issue as much as the complexity and hustle of the environment. Good organization by the directors and production is critical and good people on that side of the cameras should have made this impossible.
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Post by BSU Card Fan in AZ on Oct 30, 2021 19:52:48 GMT -6
I guess if this is never happened before then you assume all protocol has been performed. I can see why he wouldn't check. If there has been another known issue then shame on him. I can't stand the guy, but you do assume things are handled properly if there is no bad history.
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Post by villagepub on Nov 1, 2021 9:46:26 GMT -6
I guess if this is never happened before then you assume all protocol has been performed. I can see why he wouldn't check. If there has been another known issue then shame on him. I can't stand the guy, but you do assume things are handled properly if there is no bad history. I believe the gun is supposed to be checked by the armorer, then handed off to the actor who will be using it, with a verbal acknowledgement of its status. The gun went from the armorer to another staff member before it was given to Baldwin, which sounds like a breach of protocol. |
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