I keep seeing that Baldwin should have checked the gun when he was handed it.
Does this apply just to Baldwin or to any actor being handed a gun?
Is a 25-year-old actress who’s never even held a gun before supposed to check the loading when one is handed to her on the set for the first time?
?
It’s one thing to check if a gun is empty, but an actor would not be expected to know the difference between a live round, a blank and a dummy round. Some of those would need to be checked by removing them from the gun, so, again, an actor would not be expected to have the expertise of unloading and loading a gun.
One thing they might be able to do is test fire a gun that is supposed to be empty or filled with dummy rounds into the ground. This would likely not be part of their official job instructions though. And that might require they and anyone nearby wear earplugs and have a safe spot to point the gun at, in case it fires. So they may not be allowed to do that either. One thing they supposedly are allowed to do is ask the armorer to show them that the gun is loaded or unloaded with the proper material.