Alec Baldwin - guns

Baldwin is a Democrat and anti gun. Trump Jnr seems to find this amusing and has been tweeting about it. Disgraceful.

Yes, it is a dreadful tradgedy and it is to be hoped will lead to firing blanks on film sets or on the stage being banned.

However, accidents do occur. Recently, a performer was killed at the Bolshoi theatre:

edition.cnn.com/2021/10/10/europe/bolshoi-theatre-performer-killed-intl-hnk/index.html

Accidents with handguns aren't unheard of. There is a well known stage actor in Britain, David Birrell, lost his eye in 2010 while on stage at the Donmar Warehouse. A gun he was firing literally backfired and some of the debris hit him in the eye. He is still working but there is no doubt that the damage and the disfigurement will have affected his career. And I dread to think of the horror the audience must have felt.

I cannot believe that some of you are even thinking of suggesting that because Alec Baldwin has "anger management issues" he shot the poor victim on purpose!! Just listen to yourselves! A whole raft of things went wrong here. Perhaps if H&S hadn't been so poor some of the experts wouldn't have walked off set. If they hadn't done that the responsibility wouldn't have been left to a young inexperienced girl who handed a loaded gun to Alec. So just where does the buck stop?

Oh my goodness.

So many people know what happened that you should probably all phone up the Santa Fe Police Department and let them have the benefit of your knowledge.

Now we've got a conspiracy theory about how she was probably assassinated and doesn't Baldwin have anger issues and surely he must have shot twice??

This thread is the definition of dangerous gossip.

Amazing that these so called prop guns are allowed to be used at all.
So very sad and heartbreaking for all concerned..

Apparently the director was begind the photographer and the bullet went through her and into him.

The had an armourer on set (24-yr-old woman, only 2nd time working on a film). There was a single live bullet in the gun.

Lots of reports about this from authoritative sources such as court records. AB was handed the gun aby an assistant director who said it was a 'cold gun', i.e. contained no live bullets.

Surely if TWO people were shot he fired twice.

As my hubby has just pointed out Alec Baldwin wasn't pointing the gun at the photographer or director he was just in a scene shooting the gun randomly and the "bullets" accidentally hit the photographer and director. i.e. he wasn't aiming at them at all

I did read that it was a low budget film, so maybe safety corners were cut. Terrible tradegy.

Things that occur to me. Widely reported in the past that Baldwin has "anger issues" - but he is not only an actor but also a producer on the film, so he could do what he wants. Have read one report that the previous armourer had left after disagreements over safety issues (which is why a 24 year old was in charge of the guns). Halyna Hutchins was Ukraine and brought up on a Soviet military base - so the suspicion of more to this death than an accident has to be taken into account (which I'm sure the police are doing). And, yes, as others have said, with so much that CGI is doing now, what on earth are real guns doing on sets? Absolutely ridiculous. I hope Baldwin & Co get sued by her family - and that others learn the lessons as a result (the lessons clearly weren't learned when Brandon Lee died back in 1993.

Why was there a need to actually shoot at the woman anyway - prop gun or otherwise? Camera work is good enough these days to persuade the viewer that a person has been shot without there being a need to go through the real actions.

Plaster of Paris in each chamber and the long, firey bit. Boom! Or rather... not boom!
(I don't have Blossoming's knowledge of firearms, btw.)

We cannot make a judgement without knowing the full details. I know blanks are generally used because of the recoil which is spontaneous and cannot be faked. I feel for all that were on the set. It must be heartbreaking.

If we watch a sci fi movie there is no way any of the actors are using real laser guns but we still enjoy the movie. There is no need to use real guns or fake guns that fire things when making a movie.
I am assuming they use them to get the bang and the recoil but I am sure that in this day and age a safe option can be found.
I do nit have a problem with guns in movies but I do have a problem with “props” that have the potential to kill.

I was discussing this tragedy with someone who works in film. The unfortunate Director of Photography would have been doing the filming, standing behind the camera watching the action probably on a little screen. That’s her job. The projectile passed through her and hit the man standing behind. Alec Baldwin would have aimed his shot towards the camera in this case. Poor man whatever his history, and shocking the numbers of people on here implying with no reason that he shot her on purpose.

I saw a photo of Alec Baldwin in tears outside the police station. Poor, poor man - how must he feel and what a terrible thing he has to live with now, however innocent this situation. There must be several people who feel the same way - anyone involved with this firearm.

People trained to use guns, which I expect a lot of people in the USA have been, are told never to point a loaded gun at anyone unless you are going to use it. I honestly cannot understand why this happened.

Its just awful. Thought go to her family and friends and anyone that witnessed it.

BigBertha1

I wondered why an actor needed to point a gun ,stunt or otherwise, at the Director of Cinematography rather than another actor. poor unfortunate woman.

Personally I'm sick of guns in films the new James Bond has far t0o many guns and banging going off all the time.

Probably pointed the gun at the camera the cinematographer was using to film the action. But yes, "poor woman". Dreadul accident.

On the news we heard, it was stated 6 people walked off set just before this happened, because they weren’t happy about the safety side of things.

My husband said if there was any debris in the gun, the blank could cause this to shoot out and shatter....much like a real bullet, so therefore hitting more than one person....potentially.

I can’t imagine how poor Alec must be feeling. It’s completely devastating.

Luckygirl

Very hard to understand why live ammunition was used.

But for me it also highlights the number of films featuring guns. Why I wonder?

I wonder about that, too. Why do people want to watch things about guns? I don’t.

“It names a head armourer, the crew member responsible for checking firearms. Hannah Gutierrez Reed is in her twenties and had recently worked in this role for the first time, on the movie The Old Way.
In a podcast in September she said she almost turned down that job "'cause I wasn't sure if I was ready... but doing it, like, it went really smoothly".”
BBC news

Did I hear rightly that it was a young lady of 23 and quite inexperienced who was in charge of the guns I heard her speaking ( before the event) saying she was nervous but had learnt everything from her Dad and had been around guns all her life I didn’t catch her name
It was also reported this morning that some of the crew had been doing target practice for entertainment in between shots etc !!! I can imagine the wrong gun could easily have been handed to her and without checking passed on

I understand it’s speculation but it is making more sense

was probably a series of acts or omissions, not merely a single mistake.
very tragic altogether.
health and safety can never be taken for granted.
constant vigilance and diligence is needed.
in any activity or workplace.
the mocking of health and safety concerns/regs became fashionable in some quarters; probably by people who did not understand the issues, and potential suffering.