The problem with that movie was that their weapon/ammunition inventory control was inherently dangerous. And of course, Baldwin should have checked the weapon himself. And if he did, there wouldn't have been an accident.
In this case, as much as I hate the prosecutor, it seems like we're trying to make a lot out of a little. We can see there is no magazine. None of us know -- because we weren't there -- if that chamber was checked and shown to be empty in full view of the lawyers, jurors, and bailiff. If it was...then pointing it in a direction away from the jurors as a demonstration is completely safe.
We have so many perfectly valid criticisms of this prosecutor that it weakens those criticisms to add one that may not be valid at all.
A question for AR style rifle owners ( I can’t get to mine at this point in time)-
do these rifles have a magazine disconnect? Can a chambered round be discharged if the mag is dropped? None of my pistols have one.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I have grappled with this same issue over the years. I would call it the “Maintenance exception”. I have never attempted to write out the exception because the typical student needs to concentrate on the basic safety rules.
What I would say is that the Maintenance exception must be carried out in a manner which minimizes violations of the basic safety rules.
The DA had no justification for violating multiple basic safety rules simultaneously.