Posted on 04/02/2011 6:03:41 AM PDT by marktwain
TOM Selleck has quite the temper!
The actor apparently flew off the handle when an extra on the set of his TV show Blue Bloods picked up a real gun and started pointing it at people!
The extra — who was playing a cop but had never held a real gun — was horrified when Tom, a lifelong gun enthusiast and board member of the National Rifle Association, spotted him and yelled, “Hey, YOU! What the HELL are you doing? That gun’s NOT a toy — stop waving it around!”
“Look at you…your finger’s STILL ON THE TRIGGER!”
According to American tabloid the National Enquirer, the extra then squirmed, “Is the gun really loaded?”
Selleck replied, “No, it’s not loaded. But when you handle a gun it’s common sense to assume it IS loaded, and NOT point it at people!”
Exactly!
He not only educated the moron holding the gun, but he also educated everyone who was there to see it!
I doubt that any of them forget that lesson!
“the weapons safety guy was an incompetent or careless moron”
IIRC, the round had been lodged in the barrel the day before when the other scene was shot and the weapons guy neither checked nor cleaned the weapon over night.
Gross Incompetence. I mean really gross incompetence.
An unnecessary tragedy.
One thing I remember about his death, from a blank, is that Hollywood usually doesn't even use real blanks, at least in revolvers. The use fractional power blanks, hardly more than the primer, that make enough just enough noise for the actors to all react to the "gunshot," and for the sound mixer to know where to add in the KA-BLAM sound effect.
Occasionally it goes wrong. On the set of the TV show “Cover Up”, actor Jon Eric Hexum was clowning on the set with a .44 Magnum revolver. Hexum thought the pistol was either unloaded or all the blanks had been fired, He put the pistol his temple and squeezed the trigger. The pistol fired and drove part of the blank cartridge wadding through his skull and into his brain. Hexum was rushed to the hospital on October 12, 1984, but there was no hope. Life support was removed and he died on October 18 at age 26.
ahh, thank you, Joe.....I was hoping a picture of Selleck would be posted! Tom’s one of the good guys!
I’ve also been known to have “quite the temper” when people are mishandling guns.
lol. thanks, workerbee!
They missed a golden opportunity - they could have called him a bitter clinger!
Tom’s a class act and his reaction was completely appropriate. Good for him!
I’ll tell an embarrassing story on myself.
Nearly a year and a half ago, I bought myself a home defense shotgun. Prior to that, I had not owned or handled a firearm for more than 40 years, back when I was a teen.
Before I bought or loaded any shells in the Maverick 12 gauge, I tried dry firing a few times. Suddenly, I realized with horror that MY finger was resting on the trigger as I moved the shotgun from “target” to “target” in my bedroom.
OMG, I forgotten Rule 1. I chastised myself most severely. Then I arranged for an hour or two of New Gun Owner Training at a local range, and presented myself as a gun dummy to my trainer. A broken and humble idiot, that’s what I was.
I’m better now.
He knows how to handle a real gun, he plays a cop on TV.
Just like the many actors who play President in the movies think they're experts on foreign/domestic policy.
I learned safety from my father, and you are a whole lot more gentle than he was. The extra punishment for a first violation was a year without touching firearms, and he was nowhere near as gentle with his warnings as you were (but it was not a business for him, so he didn't have to be tolerant).
Oh jeeze, I remember that.
Actually there have been several instances, Bruce Lee’s son Brandon died from the same thing, as I recall.
Selleck is in the right on this one. Good for him for educating the extra.
Tom’s a class act and his reaction was completely appropriate. Good for him!
I guess there has to be something "wrong" with an actor who actually knows how to responsibly handle a gun and is at least suspected of owning one or an arsenal (more than one gun= an arsenal, in media terms).
Off topic, Tom Selleck still looks pretty darned good, doesn't he!
Selleck is absolutely right. Good for him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.