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.
Even painting this in the light most favorable to Baldwin, it’s hard to see how he could escape criminal liability, aside from being a wealthy and well-connected Hollywood liberal.
New Mexico’s version of involuntary homicide reads “Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to felony, or in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection.”
I’m not a lawyer, but he seems to meet the following elements:
1) “lawful act which might produce death” and “without due caution and circumspection”.
It’s the sort of thing that usually gets applied when a car is operated recklessly, but I don’t see why it would not apply in this case.
Frankly, the person who placed the loaded gun on a prop cart would also seem to meet those elements. But it’s not either Baldwin or the prop master , they both were unconscionably negligent.
Everyone that I know who is familiar with guns knows this in his bones, but the “hey, it’s just a prop and he’s just an actor how could he have known” media spin does seem to be convincing to the masses.
Within the first few hours, I created the same scenario in my mind. High probability of actions leading to a needless death. Good job painting a picture in other’s minds.
There’s a fair chance that they were drinking beer, as well.