Sheriff: Baldwin movie set showed 'some complacency' with weapons

Much of the ineptitude in the world is bolstered by nepotism. Growing up around guns and having a father as a famous armourer is not enough.

Firearm safety is no accident.

Every able bodied American male and female knows that responsible firearm safety is the onus of the end user.

Alex Baldwin is an irresponsible fool at best. Unworthy of any amount of respect.

Some complacency ???

Reckless stupidity more like.

Perhaps murder

I do feel a measure of sympathy for Baldwin. He is another Hollywood creature, has lived his life protected by men with guns yet probably knows little to nothing about firearms himself. Still...

... an old style revolver is among the simplest of weapons to use and to make safe. A cursory visual inspection of the cylinder that holds the bullets is all that is needed to ensure the weapon is not loaded. It is at the least negligent on Baldwin's part to not even check if the weapon was loaded, no matter what the film crew told him. Rule 101 of firearms safety is to assume that ANY weapon is loaded until you learn otherwise by inspecting it yourself.

The utter lack of control of weapons and ammunition on this movie set is another story entirely. Completely and totally irresponsible.

Real guns and prop guns mixed together? Live weapons & ammo being used on staff’s downtime and then mixed with prop guns? I’d be pretty excited to be a lawyer involved in this case.

Stormcrow, from what I heard there really is no such thing as a "prop gun". Most firearms used in movies are actual working guns. Perhaps they have the firing pins removed or are disabled sometimes. But most are real guns- the "prop" aspect is in the ammunition that is used. Blank rounds etc.

The problem lies in the handling of the weapons. Hollywood in general is very anti-gun, yet somehow has no trouble making millions in profits by using guns in movies. I think this breeds a culture of contempt for firearms and also leads many actors (like Baldwin) to treat them as if they were props. There needs to be a healthy respect for all kinds of weapons that is divorced from whatever political position a person may have.

@Bradley Perhaps he's a Trump sympathiser and has it in for Baldwin. It certainly seems like he's trying to make a case without evidence. That's a Trump type tactic.

You cannot be serious. “Some complacency” is putting it extremely mildly.

Please change the pictures. Yes the Jukujo woman was brilliant and beautiful, but stop showing the same Baldwin picture on the phone trying to look like Jeremyer Johnson on a Star Trek Episode.

Guns are fun by the way, but someone loaded one on purpose and put it in the cart with the other two, and probably nice looking handle…and loaded.

Some complacency ???

Reckless stupidity more like.

Perhaps murder

Yes, I think we must entertain the though that live ammo being left in the firearms was a deliberate attempt to cause, if not a murder, then certainly mischief.

Yes, complacency. We do it everyday.

Do you check your brake cables every time before you start your car? Maybe someone cut them deliberately so you’ll be guilty of vehicular manslaughter. Ask the bus driver to show his driving license and take a breathalyzer?

We trust people everyday to do what they are supposed to be paid to do, safely. Baldwin was the end of a chain of screwups. Blaming it on his perceived lack of gun expertise is unfair.

I can't see how Alec Baldwin can be held responsible for this. Actors are hardly responsible for the props they use in their acting. If a stunt goes wrong, no-one blames the stunt performer but those who set the stunt up, yet Baldwin shoots someone in a freak accident and all of a sudden it's his fault for not checking the gun? That is the armourer's job.

There is no need for real guns on set - replicas, air soft or totally inert dummies can be used. Any flashes from the barrel can be achieved with flash-bang technology or added in post production. Some can also use small gas bottles to create the flash.

Live and dummy ammo intermingled. Use of live ammo between takes to “plink” things on set. Live ammo on set in the first place. Use of real guns anyway. (yes Attila; there is such a thing as a prop gun. It won’t even accept real ammo.) Poor blocking of scenes. A rookie armorer who was out of her depth. And a dead person.

Someone has to be held to account.

I think it starts at the top. Somebody tried to do this on the cheap. Somebody failed to institute multi-layered safeguards. Somebody hired and retained staff with a history of safety issues and kept them on staff even though a portion of the crew felt strongly enough to walk off.

That someone may very well be Alec Baldwin. He’s a producer and as the star, especially as an A-list star on a low-budget film, I’d be willing to bet he sets the tone.

But Baldwin or not, someone needs to be held to account.