“Baldwin was grossly negligent.”
How’s that? An employee, the “armerer” was in charge of the weapon that was given to Baldwin. Why would Baldwin think he was given a loaded weapon.
The only bizarre aspect of this case is that Baldwin says he didn’t pull the trigger.
Suppose I hand you a real gun. And suppose I’m a firearms expert. I assure you that the gun is safe, and you can aim it at someone and pull the trigger. You do so, and kill someone.
I’m surely at fault. But so are you. I handed you a real gun. The instant you accepted it, you had a duty to check it on your own. In a way, it’s like a nurse who is to give a powerful pill to Mr. A in room 200.
That nurse has a duty to check that it’s really Mr. A in room 200. But suppose she just gives the pill to whomever is in room 200. After all, it says Mr. A on the chart. And the patient is not Mr. A. The pill kills him.
In either situation, it’s not murder. But as I see it, it’s negligence to a level that deserves a criminal charge. Of course a jury will make the final call. So who knows?