From the LA Times:
‘Rust’ crew describes on-set gun safety issues and misfires days before fatal shooting
Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of “Rust” with a prop gun, a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the set to protest working conditions.
The camera operators and their assistants were frustrated by the conditions surrounding the low-budget film, including complaints about long hours, long commutes and collecting their paychecks, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment.
Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, the sources said. They said at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.
Three crew members who were present at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set that day said they were particularly concerned about two accidental prop gun discharges on Saturday.
Baldwin’s stunt-double accidentally fired two rounds Saturday after being told that the gun was “cold” — lingo for a weapon that doesn’t have any ammunition, including blanks, two crew members who witnessed the episode told the Los Angeles Times.
“There should have been an investigation into what happened,” said the crew member. “There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush.”
A colleague was so alarmed by the prop gun misfires he sent a text message to the unit production manager. “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by the Times.
The actor was preparing to film a scene in which he pulls a gun out of a holster, according to a source close to the production. Crew members had already shouted “cold gun” on the New Mexico set. The filmmaking team was lining up its camera angles and had yet to retreat to the video village, an on-set area where crew gathers to watch filming from a distance via a monitor.
Baldwin removed the gun from its holster once without incident, but the second time he repeated the action, ammunition flew toward the trio around the monitor. The projectile whizzed by the camera operator but penetrated Hutchins near her shoulder, then continued through to Souza.
Multiple accidental discharges, guns not checked, guns called cold when they were hot, this incident was going to happen on set.
This was a low budget film where every corner was cut until someone died.
Baldwin was a producer, so he may be legally culpable in this negligent death if he created the unsafe working conditions.
This whole situation was fucked.
There it is…..
That POS Skinsack is gunna get sympathy maybe even his own time on air like the DC bastard PIg that murdered Ashlee.
And Next will be GC or some shit.
Watch.
22 Sept 2017 Alec Baldwin twitter comment on Huntington Beach police shooting “I wonder how it feels to wrongfully kill someone “ careful what you wish for lefty fukup…
Clearly the pretend-armorers also need to be blacklisted and/or face charges.
I only took NRA 101 and I can do a better job on gun safety than those idiots.
The stunt double did something very similar on Saturday? If they didn’t do anything to learn and prevent this from happening again? Negligence? Is it Criminal Negligence?
I feel so sorry for that poor woman’s family. This should not have happened.
Ok I admit my background is in nuclear power. An industry that makes you more than a little bit paranoid about safety (not only is Murphy real, he actually hates me). If a similar “near-miss” let alone two, occurred at any plant I worked at, there would be an immediate stand down on all on-going maintenance, and all employees would be cycled through mandatory training on proper safety practices and procedures. Those directly responsible would likely be looking for new employment, or at the very least, had their qualifications pulled..
Nuke Road Warrior, I’m an accountant, but I’ve been involved in process improvement efforts for several years. There’s a reason why there are operational policies and procedures, whether it’s nuclear power, weapons handling or information security. What you said was exactly what should have happened, and a woman died because it didn’t. It makes me sad and angry. Totally pointless. Totally preventable.
Nuke, I’ve never worked in safety critical systems, but I’m a skydiver so I have some first hand experience with the concepts. “Check everything three times”, “check your buddy” as well as “you are personally responsible for your survival” are part of basic training.
But I was thinking: if I were to get a negligent discharge during an NRA “Basic Marksman” course, let alone two of them, do you think I’d pass that course? I rather doubt it. I’d expect to be summarily escorted off the premises after the first one, and would count on it for sure after the second.
I’ve been hearing about this incident all day long. I have no love for Alex Baldwin. He’s an ass.
At first I thought “Why didn’t he check it?”
Then I realized that they had multiple issues going on.
First, WHY the F*** was there live ammo on set?
Second, WHY didn’t he have the training to verify that the gun was “unloaded”?
Third, Why did he point it at anybody?
The first one seems to be lots of people taking short cuts and not being safety conscious.
The second might be related to using a revolver. It seems that this is a western. As a western they will be using wheel guns. They might have had “fake” bullets in order for the cylinders to look loaded when seen from the front.
As for the third, it seems that he might not have been aiming when he pulled the trigger.
When you watch _The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly_ you will see that for many scenes they use cap and ball revolvers. For most people, they can’t tell the difference. But from the point of view of safety it is very easy to verify that it is or is not loaded. Does it have caps?
It seems that as gun culture has gotten such a bad reputation, it has become easier and easier for unsafe gun handling practices to happen on these sets.
“Baldwin removed the gun from its holster once without incident, but the second time he repeated the action, ammunition flew toward the trio around the monitor.”
Triggers don’t just pull themselves when you draw your weapon. Ammunition doesn’t just fly out of the gun. Either Baldwin’s finger was on the trigger and he pulled it, or something caught on the trigger. In any case, why was his muzzle pointed toward people?
The earlier negligent discharges should have shut down production until they could clean up their security process and protect the safety of the cast and crew. Low-budget film? Wait until the wrongful death suit hits. Rust is going to be a very expensive film.
His finger was on the trigger. He pointed the gun at the crew. He hadn’t checked to make sure it was unloaded.
Baldwin made (bad) choices that led up to someone dying. Negligent homicide, manslaughter, whatever it’s called, he should have already been arrested.
As Stacy Washington said tonight (paraphrasing) “Baldwin is such an awful human being, it is difficult to feel sorry for him”
I agree.
OTOH, he does not know what it is that he does not know, and, if he were relying on incompetents to assure firearm safety on set, well, as producer he just ….er, “molested” himself.
Although, the cinematographer’s survivors will pay the cost of *his* (Baldwin’s) incompetence, through their loss.
Does not know what he does not know and is too stupid/egotistical to learn.
It is hard to believe that there was live amunition anywhere on the set. Since actors frequently point weapons and “shoot” others as part of the script, there should never be live ammunition for the theater weapons. The “propman” and Producer are responsible for everyone’s safety. Is it possible that a “hot” blank blew a barrel plug or broke a portion of the firearm?
Friends do some historical re-enactments for the Colonial period. Before an event or a photo shoot, they are frisked and their pockets are searched to eliminate any usable projectiles. How would a Hollywood set allow live ammo?
No one points real guns at anyone on a set. Shots are framed so the gun can be pointed in a safe direction, or the shots from each side are shot at completely different times.
They are extra unbelievably fucked. The widower is a lawyer, a Harvard Law School grad from before the woke shit ruined its credibility.
The cast of “Saving Private Ryan” attended an 8 week bootcamp so they would look more military.
Russell Crowe spent months learning to play the violin because his character, a ship captain, could in “Master and Commander.”
Donny Walberg spent weeks losing 43 pounds to play a psychotic mental patient for a 2 minute scene in “Sixth Sense”
There are plenty of examples of actors who spend weeks or months preparing for movie roles.
Baldwin, despite appearances in over a dozen movies where he handles firearms, couldn’t be bothered to take a 4 hour firearms safety course.
Actor prep depends on the shooting schedule and budget. Sometimes the production can afford to send the actor to intensive training, and sometimes the actor has the time available to go. Other times, it doesn’t happen. You get the guy for a total of two weeks, because he’s contracted to do another picture, and two weeks is all the time you can afford.
Then that actor shouldn’t be handling a live firearm. Let’s say that this movie involved a scene that presented a threat to the actor. Say, a skydiving scene.
If the actor didn’t have time for a skydiving class, would he jump anyway, even with no training? So why is gun handling any different?
Agreed, and there’s ways to work around that safely. I hate to admit it, but Hollywood has a better safety record than we do in the firearms community- which includes law enforcement.
I am just as hard on those from “our side”
The fact that Baldwin is an anti gun prick means he shouldn’t get to use a celebrity/ rich guy get out of jail free card
So this was a live round? An actual bullet came out of this gun? If so, how did live ammo even get on the set?
Alec Baldwin may be a self-righteous, gun-grabbing prick, but I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
That is a good question, and will likely be answered by the investigation. I don’t think that absolves Baldwin any more than you or I exclaiming “I thought it was unloaded,” but we all know that celebrities are above the law.
This isn’t all that different to ND’s at shooting ranges, Real Gun Fantasy Camp, FOF classes, or the all too common situation where Karl is fooling around with an unloaded gun and shoots his cat- pure complacency with disregard for the rules.
How many times have people done the classic “rack slide, drop mag, pull trigger, get unexpected loud noise” when cleaning a semiauto, or the “open cylinder, shake gun, close cylinder, pull trigger, make unnecessary hole” with revolvers- because they didn’t verify the gun was unloaded visually and by touch?
Or the classic situation post cleaning/ dry fire, where someone reloads, leaves the room, returns, and decides to do another round of trigger pulling?
We need to learn from this, and be safe. Take the proper steps to verify a gun is unloaded. No live ammo in the room if you are going to dry fire. Use dummy ammo that is visually distinct from the real thing, and kept in a separate location. Always have a safe backstop for dry fire and administrative clearing. And so on.