I thought I read Baldwin had shooting or gun experience. What if the actor doesn’t have the knowledge to check the gun? If the movie industry wants to make an effective change, they should train everyone who might handle the gun on gun safety. I keep hearing people who know gun safety saying Baldwin should never have pointed the gun at a person.
A lot of people seem to have forgotten pretty much every shoot 'em up movie they have ever seen, including westerns. Actors point (and fire) guns at other actors and at cameras on sets every day. This is why it's so critical that additional safety procedures are used to ensure a live round is NEVER on set, and that actors understand that even blanks can be dangerous. The armorer should have checked the gun and personally handed it to Baldwin, who should have checked again, verifying every round was an inert dummy as was required for the scene.
Better yet, just have a “mature double” stand in whenever one of these Holleyweird idiots has to do something that requires a functioning brain. I have little doubt this moron was simply horsing around with this firearm with no forethought of the potential consequences. The “armorer” probably got her job after applying on Baldwin’s casting couch.
“I keep hearing people who know gun safety saying Baldwin should never have pointed the gun at a person.”
That’s Rule Number 2.
Rule Number 1: Always assume a weapon is loaded. Treat it as such and VERIFY that it is unloaded.
Rule Number 2: (As we were taught) Never point a weapon/muzzle cover an area that you are unwilling to destroy. I.e., never point a weapon at a person unless you intend to shoot them.
Rule Number 3: Never put your finger on the trigger until you have the target in sight and intend to shoot.
Rule Number 4: Always know what is behind the target and the potential consequences of hitting beyond the target.
A single action weapon does not go off ‘accidentally’ as the hammer has to be cocked back into the firing position before the trigger can be pulled.
This is pure speculation on my part, but my guess is the hammer was cocked during the rehearsal and would have been for the live take. Someone who is unskilled at quick firing a single-action revolver, such as an actor in a movie, would likely have the hammer cocked so that it would appear realistic for the scene without fumbling to cock the hammer.
I have done some cowboy shooting for fun, and I’m not very good. I have two friends who cowboy shoot in tournaments, and it take a lot of practice and skill to get good at operating a single shot revolver with accuracy and safety in a hurried manner. I have never felt unsafe around them - those tournaments are operated with an abundance of safety, knowledge and respect for the weapons.