The Gunsmith Thread

In my mind anyone who handed off a loaded gun to the next person is in the wrong. Certainly the most blame falls on the shooter who decided to fire a gun at someone else without being certain it was a prop.
 
Skipper07 said:
Certainly the most blame falls on the shooter who decided to fire a gun at someone else without being certain it was a prop.
Click to expand...
Legally wrong. An actor on a movie set has a legal right to rely on the prop department and the armorer on the set. I don’t believe the actor has a legal duty to unload the gun and examine the ammunition before firing it. Many would not even know how, nor should they be expected to. I would much rather defend Baldwin than prosecute him. Of course, as stated above, we don’t know all the facts yet.
 
CNN said:
An assistant director handed Alec Baldwin a prop firearm and yelled "cold gun" before the actor fired and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, according to a court document.
The "cold gun" remark was meant to indicate that the weapon did not have live rounds, according to an affidavit for a search warrant for the movie set filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and obtained by CNN affiliate KOAT.
According to the affidavit, Baldwin was handed one of three prop guns by assistant director David Halls that were set up in a cart by an armorer.
Halls did not know there were live rounds in the gun, the affidavit said.
Click to expand...
Wow. The stupid just keeps piling up.
 
Why is there a live round anywhere near a movie set ? Live rounds serve one purpose...to shoot whatever you happen to be shooting -- whether it be paper, andanimal, or a human threat. I don't get it ..

(And I just saw a news report that they are calling for the ban of guns on movie set -- its not the gun folks....the gun did exactly what it was designed to do).
 
I agree with everything y'all wrote. Especially the part where Baldwin is a piece of..., work.
 
The armorer was 24 years old and apparently VERY inexperienced. The production company will have big liability. I think Baldwin had a financial stake in the company, so he will likely be dealing with this in Court for a while.
 
justdoit19 said:
Still cannot understand why LIVE ammo was even on the set. At all. Period.
Click to expand...
The armorer is responsible for making sure it is not. She should have checked everything. Maybe she even inadvertently brought the live round on the set herself. We do not know yet. The full story will eventually come out. My guess is that the armorer prepared the blanks and is the one who brought the live round mixed in with her other gear. I heard part of an interview with her that was done sometime ago. She sounded like an idiot.
 
In today's computerized age, there is no need for even blanks to be fired. All of those effects can be added post-production.
 
This is a helpful overview of the relevant laws.

Note, however, that the interviews were done before the news came out that (1) an actual live round killed the victim, and (2) there were two prior NDs on this production, under the supervision of this armorer. The prior NDs may change some of the lawyers' conclusions.
 
raimius said:
I kind of enjoy movies that aren't all CGI, with the actors just shaking their guns. It's actually hard to make recoil by yourself.
Click to expand...
I agree that it is difficult to create recoil by yourself, but why can't computer enhnacement do that in post-production? It's amazing what special effects they have in movies these days.

I do a lot of dry-fire practice. Even knowing with no doubt that I have an unloaded weapon, I always point my guns at an empty concrete wall in my basement when dry-firing. If you never point your firearm at a person, you can't shoot a person. This event last week shows the importance of the fundamental firearm safety rules.
 
Soooo….the AD that handed Baldwin the gun, and told him it was cold, had been let go from filming in 2019 for another ‘gun incident’, where someone was injured 🤔

Also, there was an incident with gun safety concerns on this set, prior to the live shooting accident. And workers had walked off the set for safety reasons. Something is certainly off with all of this.

EDIT: just reported that the gun he used, had been used by crew members firing for ‘fun’ earlier in the day, ‘target practice’. Also that a bag with live and blank ammo was retrieved. It’s all starting to come together. And the gun wasn’t the problem….
 
Last edited:
justdoit19 said:
Soooo….the AD that handed Baldwin the gun, and told him it was cold, had been let go from filming in 2019 for another ‘gun incident’, where someone was injured 🤔

Also, there was an incident with gun safety concerns on this set, prior to the live shooting accident. And workers had walked off the set for safety reasons. Something is certainly off with all of this.

EDIT: just reported that the gun he used, had been used by crew members firing for ‘fun’ earlier in the day, ‘target practice’. Also that a bag with live and blank ammo was retrieved. It’s all starting to come together. And the gun wasn’t the problem….
Click to expand...
The gun is never the problem. It did exactly what it was supposed to do.
 
Skipper07 said:
In my mind anyone who handed off a loaded gun to the next person is in the wrong. Certainly the most blame falls on the shooter who decided to fire a gun at someone else without being certain it was a prop.
Click to expand...
John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Chuck Norris always cleared their prop guns themselves? I kind of doubt it.
What concerns me is a lack of humanity in most of what I am bombarded by in the media right now. Not a shred of compassion for Alec Baldwin. Think what you will of him as an actor or celebrity, but I will assume he's still human, and is due a little compassion. He's got to be feeling like hell right now.
 
OldAFRet said:
John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Chuck Norris always cleared their prop guns themselves? I kind of doubt it.
What concerns me is a lack of humanity in most of what I am bombarded by in the media right now. Not a shred of compassion for Alec Baldwin. Think what you will of him as an actor or celebrity, but I will assume he's still human, and is due a little compassion. He's got to be feeling like hell right now.
Click to expand...
I have some sympathy. It is definitely reduced by the incompetence shown by all involved and his past statements (I don't appreciate people saying "you shouldn't own that" when they display a lack of knowledge on the topic that I have studied for years.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top