Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crew Member With Prop Firearm on Film Set, Authorities Say

New York Times ^ | October 21, 2021 | Alyssa Lukpat and Michael Levenson

[grundle]

Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set of a Western he was making in New Mexico on Thursday, killing the film’s director of photography and wounding the movie’s director, the authorities said.

[minnesota_bound]

A Alec Baldwin production... it took on his personality.

Just hours before the fatal Thursday accident, in which Hutchins and director Joel Souza were shot, seven of the film’s camera crew packed up their personal gear and walked off the job, citing a wide range of complaints. Several of those who quit wrote letters of resignation.

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“We cited everything from lack of payment for three weeks, taking our hotels away despite asking for them in our deals, lack of Covid safety, and on top of that, poor gun safety! Poor on-set safety period!” a member of the camera crew wrote on a private Facebook page. After the walkout, “They brought in four non-union guys to replace us and tried calling the cops on us.”
https://deadline.com/2021/10/rust-movie-gun-internal-review-safety-issues-production-camera-crew-walkout-1234860497/#comments

[MercyFlush]

Sorry. This is basic firearms safety: Regardless of who hands you a weapon you treat it as lethally loaded and you don’t EVER point it at anyone.

Because you might still hurt/kill someone.

Which is exactly what happened, isn’t it?

The law will probably let this liberal cuck get away with something they’d hang you for. So far as I’m concerned this is all on Baldwin.

The gun hating puke treated a pistol like a joke and killed someone. I’d hang the bastard for the hypocrisy alone.

[damper99]

if it was you or me we would have fired a round into the ground just to make sure because we’ve been told a thousand times never trust what someone tells you about a gun being loaded.

No, you don't "fire a round into the ground". You inspect the weapon and ammo and clear it if necessary. You need some firearms training.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree with you to a point. I won’t point a gun at anyone
unless it’s a time when it’s me or them. And yeah, I come
first in those situations.

I’ve actually given up shooting with some groups for the way
they run things. Folks can wave a gun around through planes
with people in them, no problem.

Walking around with a spent magazine in your weapon pointed
at the ground. Now that’s a problem.

I was raised on a farm. I’ve been carrying a rifle through
very thick brush. I learned to carry the rifle with my
hand over the trigger guard so brush couldn’t hit the
trigger, even if the gun was on safety.

In his situation, where he was asked to point the gun at
someone and pull the trigger, I would have objected.

Still, in this situation, he was not pointing the gun at
another actor. He was pointing it at other crew members.

That right there is going to cost him. Why would he
point at one of them and pull the trigger?

A sane judge or jury should contemplate that. I don’t
think there’s an acceptable response to a question why.

A guy like Baldwin isn’t likely around guns much. You
and I know not to point the gun at someone, but that’s
because we have been around them.

If he had been pointing at the other actor in a scene,
I might have a lot more sympathy for him. At this
point he is going to have to explain why he took a
‘real gun’ and pointed it at someone he was not supposed
to, and then pulled the trigger.

There should be a law that there are no exceptions for
movie crews, when it comes to pointing a gun at anyone
at any time to shoot a scene.

If they are caught, it’s a massive fine. If someone
dies, some folks will go to prison for a long long
time.

[zeestephen]

Re: Stephen Baldwin

Thanks for the correction.

I actually looked that up a year ago and completely forgot it.

[MercyFlush]

Indeed. Movie making no longer needs actual gunfire. Computers can do it all.

[DoughtyOne]

That’s true too.

If you had a good looking prop gun, it wouldn’t have to be a
real gun. You could add in the flash and sound by CGI.

Just move the gun a bit as a cue for the effects, and leave
it at that.

[Whyfor]

Stephen seems like a good guy.