Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Alec Baldwin’s revolver

It wasn’t a “prop master”, it was an inexperienced young female “armorer” and she should be held every bit as responsible as Alec Baldwin. They should both be prosecuted.

An investigator would definitely rule in favor of foul play, in this case. If not, they are not much of an investigator. Someone wanted this to happen. It's pretty obvious. The whole set seems like a clusterfu ck of negligence. This was no accident, I can assure you of this..

Do all actors then get a free pass? Can anyone else ever get a pass by claiming they didn't know the gun was loaded?

People are hired in movie and TV production precisely to see to that, under the understanding that actors know little to nothing about firearms safety, and are being asked to handle things they know little if anything about. Since folks are hired for precisely that purpose, those folks are liable, not the actors, unless you can prove intent on the part of the actor, or that they intentionally disregarded specific instructions by the professionals on set.

The differences between a 5-in-1 blank cartridge and a live .45Colt cartridge are very obvious in appearance and weight. However, a dummy cartridge, meant to achieve a loaded gun appearance when a muzzle-on camera angle is to be used, would be of similar weight and overall appearance, but would have obvious indicators, such as a clearly distinguishing marking or at least the absence of a proper primer. The likelihood that the live cartridge was purposely inserted is just too great to ignore. The gross negligence of the actor significantly contributed to produce the extreme consequences. But remember, the original wrongful act results in its perpetrator being fully liable (both civilly and criminally) for any reasonably foreseeable consequence of that wrongdoing. Obviously, the later gross negligence of an an arrogant and stupid actor is reasonably foreseeable (and quite possibly a certainty).

Very cogent analysis. Refreshing to read a post that doesn’t sound like an old Western lynching party.

Rick

Yes, it is "standard protocol," but there are some dumb (and very arrogant ) actors in Hollywood, who do not follow on-set filming protocol. I believe Baldwin knew not to cock that revolver, aim it at the woman, and pull the trigger. I certainly do not believe he knew it was loaded with a live round.

L.W.

So only actors get a pass for acting irresponsible. Glad we are clear on that.

Incorrect. Add politicians to the list of those who get a pass for irresponsible/illegal acts.

Do any of us think Baldwin shows any remorse for what he did, I don't, tried to lie his way out of it.

Only because people are hired to maintain safety on set under the recognition that the acting talent isn't familiar with firearms or their safe handling. It's a general legal principle that goes beyond TV and movie sets.

OK ,you seem to know more about it than I do. In what other profession- situation could someone shoot someone and not be held responsible because it was somebody's else's responsibility to check the gun? Can you think of any situation other than Baldwin?

Good though!

Liberals want citizens to pass ever more rigorous background checks to buy a gun. Potential hunters must take safety classes before being allowed to purchase a hunting license. Isn't it about time that actors who handle firearms are required to pass a firearms safety class? This incident with Baldwin isn't the first time an actor has died from a supposedly unloaded gun.

Brandon Lee was killed by an "unloaded" gun on a movie set.

"Lee, who was the son of martial artist Bruce Lee, died after his co-star, actor Michael Massee, fired at him with a prop gun during filming on March 30, 1993, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Although the revolver was loaded with blanks, the gunpowder in the blank cartridge ignited, leading Massee to unknowingly fire a bullet fragment at Lee, who later died in surgery.

While Massee did not face any criminal charges, Lee's mother did successfully sue filmmakers for an undisclosed amount."

I’ve never read a summary of Brandon Lee’s s death that made sense, including this one - “The powder in the blank cartridge ignited?”.

So I did a search and found this.

Brandon Lee

Seems like what happened is this. Someone on the crew tried to make dummy rounds that didn’t have powder, but did have live primers. The gun was fired and the primer pushed the bullet out of its case and it got stuck in the barrel. The next scene used squib loads that did have a small amount of powder.