Posted on 10/27/2021 11:21:37 AM PDT by Avalon Memories
SANTA FE, N.M., Oct 27 (Reuters) - Actor Alec Baldwin fired a 45 caliber Colt pistol loaded with a live lead bullet in last week's accidental fatal shooting on the New Mexico set of his movie "Rust" where filmmakers showed "complacency" toward safety, authorities said on Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The earliest reports said the victim's husband didn't blame Baldwin and that they were "in touch." I suspect that will change once lawyers get hold of the husband. He has the future of his young son to consider.
The gun aimed and fired itself?
Very common, probably the large majority.
A dummy round cannot be fired. It is inert. A blank can be fired, but they are not dangerous unless safety protocols are ignored. The Reuters headline makes it clear that the round was live.
According to a search warrant, Gutierrez-Reed told authorities she had checked the pistol used by Baldwin before putting it on the prop table.
and
The warrant says she felt the gun was ready for use. The assistant director David Halls told a different story. Halls is the person who took the gun off the prop table and handed it to Baldwin.
Yet, we are also told:
He admitted not fully checking all the rounds as Gutierrez-Reed passed it to him.
This could just be sloppy reporting, but chain of custody is important. Was the gun left on the prop table where the AD picked it up, or did the armorer hand it to him? I suspect the former.
https://radaronline.com/p/alec-baldwin-shooting-rust-armor-hannah-gutierrez-reed-denies-negligence-sheriff/
Yes, obviously the round that was fired was live. But was the intent to load dummy rounds, or was the intent to load blanks?
Each has a different safety and handling procedure.
So someone got shot and the sheriff declares it was by a live bullet. Geez, what else good have have been?
There were two “misfires” previously. Though unlikely, two “stuck” bullets could have left the barrel upon firing a blank.
There was a complaint against the armorer that she was loading blanks into guns while they were on the ground, which could have allowed a pebble or gravel to get into the barrel. This eliminates that possibility.
Checking the barrel has been a standard procedure since the Lee incident. Missing over skipping that step would be gross negligence.
yes
I would expect that the load for a shot at the camera, these days, would be 5 dummies and 1 properly positioned blank. With the high resolution today’s movie-viewers expect, the dummies have to be there. The blank will give all the reality you need without stupid CGI.
With this kind of load, the actor could not realistically check without ruining the shot.
Baldwin was, no-doubt, lazy. For a rehearsal with what should have been empty or all dummies, he could check - click, click, click 6 times.
Of course, anyone there watching would know how he operates, and there is the final, filmed shot, where as I said, I don’t think he can check.
Actually, the pistol in the picture is a replica of an 1851 Colt .36 cap and ball revolver converted to .38 cal. I have one just like it. Very common in the Old West. I have read that the shot fired was a .45, so if it was a converted cap and ball revolver, it would likely be a .44 1860 Colt Army converted to take a .45 long Colt cartridge.
After it was fired, Halls picked up the gun from a pew in the church set and took it to the armorer. Gutierrez Reed was told to open the gun so he could see what was inside. Halls said there were five rounds in the gun, at least four of which had"dummy" casings, as indicated by a hole on the side. There was one without the hole. He advised this round did not have the "cap" on it and was just the casing. David advised the incident was not a deliberate act, according to the affidavit.
Gutierrez Reed, meanwhile, said she checked the "dummies" and ensured they were not "hot rounds" prior to the cast and crew breaking for lunch.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/alec-baldwin-assistant-director-rust-safety-lapse
So, the intent was to use dummy rounds, not blanks. Dummy rounds are what is used when the gun is pointed at the camera. If blanks are used, there are specific protocols - not pointing at people within a certain distance, shields around crew and equipment.
Those are not required when dummy rounds are used.
By the way, dummy rounds come in different types. Some have a hole in the side. Some don’t have primers, or have a rubber plug where the primer goes (to give the hammer something to hit) Some look exactly like real rounds.
What is being described here are 4 rounds with holes in the side (which can’t be identified when the round is in the cylinder, they must be removed to see the hole,) and one round without a primer.
It was described as a “bullet fragment”, suggesting there was not actually a complete live bullet in the gun.
That was used by the media to give Alec Baldwin ‘cover’, as in it wasn’t his fault. It was the gun’s fault. Also the media stated the ‘gun misfired’. If it had misfired there would not have been anyone hurt.
Keep in mind also that this is a double action pistol, in that it must be cocked by pulling the hammer back before it will fire. It was not fired by accident.
2. If, as has been alleged, that some people on the site used the guns that are also used on the movie for live fire, that would a huge violation of safety and culpable negligence. It is interesting that they were using weapons that were capable of loading live ammunition, since Hollywood guns usually have "short chambers" to prevent live ammo from being chambered.
3. Revolvers are very easy to examine if their cylinders loaded with live ammo: all anyone had to do was look at the face of the cylinder (with the barrle pointed away from your face) with the hammer at half-cock to see if there were any bulleted cartridges in the cylinder.
4. Has anyone considered the likelihood that as disgruntled, just-fired union technician intentionally loaded that pistol and placed it into the cart tp "get even"?
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