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The gun was to be loaded with dummy rounds, not blanks, and reportedly had at least three dummy rounds in it.

Actors are not going to have the expertise to load and unload every kind of gun out there, and tell the difference between live rounds, dummy rounds and blanks. The actor supposedly has the right to ask the armorer to show him that the gun is properly set up.

In the case of an empty gun, or dummy rounds, part of the armorer’s or AD’s check could be to fire it into the ground to confirm it will not fire anything. Can the actor test fire it too? They’d basically have to watch the armorer do it, or have the armorer watch them, to confirm conditions are right so that no damage is caused if the gun does prove to fire unexpectedly.

If an actor happens to be an expert on all of this stuff, they could certainly unofficially check the gun themselves. But that would not be something that they are trained to do or told to do as standard practice.

Now, the question of should Baldwin have ever pointed the gun at another human being is a valid one. No one yet knows if he pulled the trigger on purpose or accidentally, or if the gun somehow fired on its own. We don’t know if he was instructed to hold a pose for the camera, while other people were walking around and passing in front of the gun. If someone told him to point the gun in another person’s direction and pull the trigger, he still arguably shouldn’t have done it, and should have demanded that person move out of the path of the gun. Certainly IF he was required to point the gun at someone for the shot, that would’ve been a great time to ask that the gun be double-checked in his presence.

“The gun was to be loaded with dummy rounds, not blanks, and reportedly had at least three dummy rounds in it.”

The reporting is moving fast on this story, but that’s news to me. Was that included in the press conference with the Sheriff and the DA, or in a separate media story?

Thank you. However, if I took ANYONE to a gun range with a range master, loaded the firearm for the guest and then handed it to them as described, I would expect to be immediately be kicked off the range. If I were a member, I would expect to have my membership (best case) temporarily suspended.

You are probably correct about the actors not being expected to understand how to load or properly operate a fire arm. That unfortunately is probably why so many in Hollywood favor gun control.

Thank you again for your comments