Alec Baldwin did what?

Every story reveals more ineptitude on the set

www.nytimes.com

Loose and Boxed Ammunition Found at Scene of Alec Baldwin Shooting (Published 2021)

Court papers did not specify what kind of ammunition detectives recovered from a movie set where the actor had fatally shot a cinematographer with a gun he was told did not contain live rounds.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

The armorer did a poor job making sure the guns were secure and properly handled

Mike Tristano, a veteran professional armorer based in Los Angeles, said the inventory was vague and gave scant information about the type of guns or bullets found. But he did point to the reference to loose ammunition and spent casings as unusual. Typically, ammunition would be kept in a clearly labeled box, he said. “The fact that there is loose ammunition and casings raises questions about the organization of the armory department,” he said.
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And why did the Unit Production Manager and Line Producer hire and retain this First Assistant Director given his recent shitty record?

Mr. Halls, an industry veteran who worked on films including “Fargo” and “The Matrix Reloaded,” has been the subject of complaints about safety on previous productions. On Monday, a production company, Rocket Soul Studios, said in a statement that Mr. Halls had been fired from the set of a movie, “Freedom’s Path” in 2019 after a gun unexpectedly discharged, causing a minor injury to a crew member. The statement was reported earlier by CNN.

“Halls was removed from set immediately after the prop gun discharged,” the statement said. Mr. Halls did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that situation.
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From one of my groups about an interview with Rust armourer Hannah Reed on 9/22/21:

"This is pretty eerie to listen to this podcast. She doesn’t know what she wants to do. An actress, a pa, a model…
Voices of the West - Armourer Hanna Reed 9/11/21

At 21:30 the host asks how she would instruct an actor who needs to use a firearm but has no experience with guns. Not a single word about safety."

Hannah herself:

Armourer--696x503.jpg


I personally haven't been able to make it through the interview.
 
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I am speechless.
Investigators said they believe they have recovered the gun that fired the shot, as well as about 500 rounds of ammunition, including blanks, dummy rounds and potentially live rounds.
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Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said at a news conference on Wednesday that the lead projectile Alec Baldwin fired from a revolver on the “Rust” film set, killing the film’s cinematographer and wounding its director, was recovered from the director’s shoulder, and added that investigators believe they recovered more live rounds on the set.
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A lead projectile was recovered from the director’s shoulder, and investigators believe more live rounds were on set.
 
Unbelievable that a "professional" would be so careless in their job. The producers and production company were too cheap and inexperienced to do better. I almost wrote "know better" but there are enough veterans amongst the producers to be cognizant of what is needed. They just focused on the bottom line. Even though there wasn't an "official" report about previous accidental gun discharges (two or three according to production staffers), the producer receiving the email about Baldwin's stunt double incident should have looked at the situation urgently. This tragedy was just waiting to happen.

I hope there is significant repercussions for all those deemed negligent. I fear that the large impact of the film industry in New Mexico will influence the ultimate outcome.
 
ronntaylor said:
Even though there wasn't an "official" report about previous accidental gun discharges (two or three according to production staffers),
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This was a western. Meaning the guns should have been revolvers. Unlike Glocks and other semi-automatics, which can fire accidentally very easily, you have to try to fire a revolver. If it is a single action (which to be authentic should have been used for a movie set in the 1880's as Colt didn't come out with a true double action until 1889), you have to pull the hammer back manually. So very hard to accidentally discharge.

A double action means the trigger can replace the manual cocking, but the pull is much harder. Very hard to accidentally fire a double action revolver.

Sounds like some clowns were in charge of the weapons.
 
Herdfan said:
This was a western. Meaning the guns should have been revolvers. Unlike Glocks and other semi-automatics, which can fire accidentally very easily, you have to try to fire a revolver. If it is a single action (which to be authentic should have been used for a movie set in the 1880's as Colt didn't come out with a true double action until 1889), you have to pull the hammer back manually. So very hard to accidentally discharge.

A double action means the trigger can replace the manual cocking, but the pull is much harder. Very hard to accidentally fire a double action revolver.

Sounds like some clowns were in charge of the weapons.
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People are using the term accidental discharge, but I think that's clearly the wrong term here. It's clear that Baldwin believed he was handling a "cold gun," but that weapon was apparently, not only capable of firing, but loaded with a live round due to an unfortunate series of fuck-ups.

The very fact that they were using live ammo to target shoot is by itself such a constellation of screw-ups that an accident was almost fateful.
 
One of the actors said the crew had shields in front of them and it caused several of them to question why. Doesn't sound like it did much good in this case but it was an interesting fact.
 
Eric said:
One of the actors said the crew had shields in front of them and it caused several of them to question why. Doesn't sound like it did much good in this case but it was an interesting fact.
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That's interesting. Like a plexiglass shield to block fragments from blanks? Some productions will add plexi or thin plastic shields to keep dust and debris from hitting the cameras—no one wants to clean out a Red camera because it's on lease and is crammed with grit.
 
hulugu said:
People are using the term accidental discharge, but I think that's clearly the wrong term here. It's clear that Baldwin believed he was handling a "cold gun," but that weapon was apparently, not only capable of firing, but loaded with a live round due to an unfortunate series of fuck-ups.

The very fact that they were using live ammo to target shoot is by itself such a constellation of screw-ups that an accident was almost fateful.
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I was referring to the previous accidental discharges that @ronntaylor mentioned.

And yes, having live ammo anywhere in the vicinity of the set is a huge problem. Seems like a lot of safety steps were either missed or ignored creating as you said, a fateful accident.
 
yaxomoxay said:
That’s a plexiglass cover to protect the camera and the crew from the discharge of powder and possibly heat. That thing wouldn’t stop a bullet from a nerf gun.
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Yes. Of course. That's why I referenced the post's thread. The OP posted "To be clear: I'm well aware this would only protect against blanks. Of course, if real bullets were involved this wouldn't do anything to protect the crew. "

I shared the plexi post because of @hulugu 's post that I quoted. Plexi shields do have their uses. We used several to cover four cameras and protect the camera crew when we blew up the exploding bridge (miniature) for Anna & the King.
 
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shadow puppet said:
Yes. Of course. That's why I referenced the post's thread. The OP posted "To be clear: I'm well aware this would only protect against blanks. Of course, if real bullets were involved this wouldn't do anything to protect the crew. "

I shared the plexi post because of @hulugu 's post that I quoted. Plexi shields do have their uses. We used several to cover four cameras and protect the camera crew when we blew up the exploding bridge (miniature) for Anna & the King.
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Oh yes, I understand. My reply was to the tweet.
 
DT said:
Yeah, that's probably not accurate, this was indicated as a "prop gun", but with blanks, it's has the potential for the same force as a "real gun". Generally, I think actual, real firearms are only used for specific scenes, but in some productions they are present on set. So closeup, real, firing - prop, but with blanks that release significant pressures (which is what has happened, the blank wadding, or a part of the prop shattered and it was projected as high velocities).

[edit]

Though this is interesting from the Wiki on Brandon Lee:




Note the bold part.
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If I remember correctly, the gun that killed Brandon Lee had discharged improperly leaving something (a bullet?) in the barrel. So the next time it was used with a blank, the obstruction was propelled hitting and killing him. I think he died on the operating table.

Refarding this incident, a report yesterday said Baldwin was handed a gun, described as “cold” by the Armorer (in charge of weapons on a set) so he could practise drawing it from a holster to shoot it. He just happened to be pointing it in the direction of the cinematographer. What got my attention, according to Hollywood Set Rules, there is to be no live ammo on a set. This will probably weigh on him. Now if I had been him, I would have checked it myself before pointing it in anyone’s direction. 🤔

I would suggest in prep for a scene the Armorer on the set would check the weapons for proper loads and then keep those weapons in their custody until they were needed. However based on the description of guns being checked and put into a safe until needed it sounds like either the Armorer did not do what she said she did, was incompetant, or someone with access to the safe sabotaged the gun. And yes , the actor could easily flip open the magazine and observe if the gun was loaded or not. No need to be loaded if practicing quick draw. 🤔
 
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