District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies. A graduate of University of New Mexico School of Law, Mary lives in Santa Fe with her wife Jo, a retired law enforcement officer, and their two energetic young children.
So I don’t know anything about how firearms are handled on movie sets, but I DO know a bit about single action revolvers.
I am assuming they used something similar to a Colt Model 1873 ‘Peacemaker.’ That seems to be the standard for Westerns.
To fire a single action revolver, you have to manually cock the hammer. This advances the cylinder to bring the next chamber into battery.
To load a standard Peacemaker (or faithful facsimile thereof), you half-cock the weapon and open the loading gate, then load rounds one at time through the gate. You can’t see which chambers are loaded from the rear; you have to check the cylinder from the side, or half cock the pistol, open the loading gate and spin the cylinder. Generally you load five and leave an empty chamber under the hammer, but there was only a single round in the cylinder.
Other information indicates that the armorer is an idiot almost completely unacquainted with firearms. She was hired for her looks and her family connections.
The revolver was supposedly used by the crew for target practice. So, most likely, the last person to fire it didn’t shoot all the rounds, and the single remaining cartridge was in the wrong place - ready to come into battery. The idiot armorer put it up loaded. Then she put it back out for the scene without checking it and said it was empty. The assistant director failed to check and told Baldwin it was a ‘cold gun.’ Baldwin (being an idiot) didn’t check the gun and holstered it. Tragedy ensues.
I think that is the most likely explanation.
I like this theory because it relies on good old reliable human stupidity.
If it was sabotage, it could have easily been prevented by one of three people, each of whom should have checked, actually checking the weapon.
So that makes it most likely an accident. A stupid, tragic, meaningless accident. Baldwin will most likely get off with a slap on the wrist, or maybe to the face. The movie doesn’t get made. His reputation as a producer goes in the crapper. He might get charged with involuntary manslaughter, maybe. Don’t expect any major charges against him, though.
HUH? Something happened concerning arek barwin and a gun on a movie production in New Mexico and a cinematographer? Should this be BREAKING!?
:-}
It explains how Alec will try to weasel out of pointing a functioning handgun at a woman’s chest and pulling the trigger slamming a live round clean through her chest killing her and wounding a second victim.
Let’s go Alec!
Anti gun liberals possibly, out enjoying the fun sport of target practice?
“...and engaged in a pastime called “plinking”..”
Who is the tenderfoot who wrote that?
I followed this story for a while and read quite a few articles. I came to the following conclusion:
The core problem was an incompetent Armorer, Hannh Gutierrez, or perhaps the assistant director, Dave Halls.
This is a damning statement from one of the articles:
“Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn’t carry live rounds by yelling ‘cold gun.’”
It’s possible it WAS cold when placed on the cart, but then a bunch of crew members loaded it for some fun target shooting and then put it back, and it was just “assumed” the gun was still unloaded. And, of course, that last part speaks to how a LOT of people are killed by “unloaded” guns.
It’s possible that a LOT of people could be culpable in this. Whoever last held the gun and was responsible for ensuring it was unloaded could be held responsible, but if AFTER that person handled it, someone else loaded it, that brings up a whole new problem.
There are a lot of details but what’s important is that Alec Baldwin and the armorer did not check to see if the pistol had only blanks in it. And then Baldwin purposefully pointed the pistol at a woman and pulled the trigger. That rates criminal charges. If some guy did this at a barbeque at home he would be in jail right now. This is worse. They are supposed to be professionals.
The young armorer won’t work again.
Set guns should be going in a gun safe at the end of the day, not out to target practice.
I’m not sure if true still checking but I read that the plot for the MOvie Rust was an accidental shooting.
and this would be because they don’t have any guns of their own???
In years past, big city folk wouldn't have had to have the word plinking explained to them...
Forty or more years ago I read that REAL AMMO was banned on all movie sets.
I guess some did not get the message or they were above paying attention to rules.
“Familiarity breeds contempt.”
Sounds like the authoresses have not fired a gun in their lives.