Last time I watched this particular show, the reenactors told the audience that even though blanks were being used, they were still dangerous. Then proved it, by firing a blank at a sheet of cardboard 10’ away. The plug/wad left a hole in the ‘target’ as it passed through.
But another poster up-thread made the money comment - the shooter arrived late and managed to bypass the safety check.
Tombstone’s mayor Dusty Escapule released a statement within a couple of hours of the incident stopping all gunfights in Tombstone until more stringent safety procedures are drawn up and put in place.
***by firing a blank at a sheet of cardboard 10’ away. ***
I remember an old PERRY MASON episode in which he fires a blank cartridge in the courtroom and no hole appears in the paper he was aiming at. He had secretly replaced the plug/wad with a piece of chalk which disintegrated and left no hole.
For some reason he needed to “prove” that the wad would not leave a hole.
I would not let anyone shoot at me with a blank, a wax bullet, or a chalk plugged bullet.