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Alec Baldwin says fatal shooting was 'one in a trillion': TMZ

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TMZ stalker: “You met with the um the the um, I’m afraid I forget her name at the moment …”

Hilaria Baldwin: “Her name is Halyna. If you're spending this much time waiting for us, you should know her name."

Alec Baldwin: “You don’t know her name?”

These TMZ stalkers are disgusting.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

I can't decide: Either he hasn't yet found an attorney to represent him and assist him, out of this ugly mess of epic proportion . . . Or he has, and he's decided to show everybody how clueless he can be, and how he truly is a client from the inferno that Dante Alighieri wrote so elegantly about in the fourteenth-century.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

One in a trillion? Not from what I've read. Sounds more like an accident waiting to happen.

Is Alec Baldwin too much of an important celebrity to have a final check of the gun himself?

15 ( +20 / -5 )

Alec Baldwin the actor is probably not in jeopardy but Alec Baldwin the producer of the movie could be in big trouble.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Is Alec Baldwin too much of an important celebrity to have a final check of the gun himself?

A final check? The gun chamber would need to be completely emptied to confirm that the bullets are blanks. Then, should an actor be responsible for examining those bullets to determine that they’re all blanks and none are live cartridges? Or should an on-site expert be doing this check before the chamber is loaded and the gun is handed to the actor? I’m going to go with the expert.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

The person who is the last to handle a weapon has the final responsibility to determine if it is loaded, and if so, with what type of round.

That is an undisputed rule of firearm safety. No exceptions, no digression, diversion, or finger pointing, the onus for safety is on the end user.

Had Mr. Baldwin followed this simple rule , it would have lowered the odds from his exaggerated one in a trillion to absolutely nil.

3 ( +11 / -8 )

An actor handed a live grenade instead of a fake would not be considered responsible if that grenade exploded. Actors are not expected to be weapons experts.

1 ( +11 / -10 )

Immediately showing that baldwin has a poor understanding of statistics

0 ( +9 / -9 )

Calls have grown since the incident for better control of weapons on Hollywood sets, and Baldwin said the effort was "something I am extremely interested in."

The crew were using the weapons to fire live rounds during downtime, so there was obvious negligence.

Baldwin is not personally responsible for the shooting, though I suspect he will be target of civil suits as he was the Producer.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Baldwin is not personally responsible for the shooting, 

Lots of dancing around the elephant with this one.

Whoever pulled the trigger is responsible.

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

An actor handed a live grenade instead of a fake would not be considered responsible if that grenade exploded. Actors are not expected to be weapons experts.

Checking a gun to confirm whether it is loaded is not an advanced skill, anyone handling any type of gun should be able to do it with ease. Moreover, another basic skill is never pointing a gun at anyone - loaded or not. I learned these rules when I was 12. I don't think it's asking too much of Mr. Baldwin.

Evidently, lots of people at fault here, and any one of them could have prevented this woman' death. Somewhat the same problem with nuclear power. One can have lots of checkpoints and several fail-safe protocols, but every now and then they all fail at the same time. Usually because of chronically lax enforcement of the rules.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

It's just laughable how some here thing it is the actors job to check if live rounds are in the gun, and not blanks - like you could even tell the difference without unloading all the rounds first - or is that what you expect the actor to do - unload all the rounds and complete a visual inspection and then load them back in the chamber (which would against the rules!) ? There are people employed on the set whose sole job is gun safety - this is what they are paid to do, but no, it's apparently the actors responsibility using all their vast expertise in weaponry to give the final approval that everything is safe. LOL!!!

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

I'm sure Keanu Reeves checks individually the 1000 bullets he shoots in each John Wick film making sure each one is a blank - yeah, I'm sure he does...

4 ( +9 / -5 )

It's just laughable how some here thing it is the actors job to check if live rounds are in the gun, and not blanks…

That’s by far not laughable, but it’s a duty of every gun owner or user, especially before or when pointing the gun to others or himself and pulling the trigger. See for yourself in the related news what all may happen if it is not done every time. It’s just turning out rather deadly.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Only someone living in NannyState Twilite Zone could think the person pointing the gun and pulling the trigger is not responsible for the dead person on the other end.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

nonu6976 - the most common sense comments yet made.

In the 10,000s of movies made with guns, do the lead actors check before every trigger pull to see if there are blanks or live rounds loaded???

And the car rental analogy is spot on. We entrust the preparation of the car's safety to professionals. As we do when we have our Shaken inspections. We don't expect faulty brake or gas lines, so we don't have to check.

That's why experts with knowledge and expertise in niche areas exist.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Tell me browny1, if an “expert” handed you a gun, assured you he had triple checked it and it was empty, then told you to point it at your child and pull the trigger for money, would you do it without checking it yourself first?

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Can you imagine the armour / person whose sole responsibility is gun safety say it was the actors job to do a final check as he was the one handling the fire arm.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

No court is going to hold an actor criminally responsible for such a thing. People keep harping on this point but that line of thinking won't amount to anything. There's a reason why taking care of guns in movies is a specific job. Of course he may be open to liability as a producer but not as an actor. It's never going to happen that a court convicts an actor on a charge for firing a weapon that the crew hands him or her to use in a scene (or rehearsal). Whether he tweets or not is most likely well-considered and a "damned if you do/damned if you don't" kind of thing. Baldwin has no choice but to "be in the public eye" and I'm sure he'd rather be anything but that at this moment.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Can you imagine the armour / person whose sole responsibility is gun safety say it was the actors job to do a final check as he was the one handling the fire arm.

Yes indeed. It’s basic firearms safety. The people saying otherwise have never handled firearms and are living in a fantasy world.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

theloniusOct. 31 08:16 am JST

One in a trillion? Not from what I've read. Sounds more like an accident waiting to happen.

Is Alec Baldwin too much of an important celebrity to have a final check of the gun himself?

All of Hollywood can be considered too important, they know that.  Besides politicians, Hollywood “celebrities” tell the rest of us what to do, but don’t follow it themselves.  What has changed?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Trinity - thanks for your response.

But a completely false analogy that's even embarrassing to utter.

As nonu and I hinted - how many times did Keanu Reeves check his guns himself in John Wick? How many times did Peter O'toole check his guns in Lawrence of Arabia? Or John Wayne or Daniel Craig or any of 1,000s of other actors???

That is the question posted.

And that is why there are "Experts" employed in the industry to set, maintain and confirm safety standards.

Does the actor need to check the "safety" of a rope being used to pull someone up a cliff? Does the actor need to check him/herself that the explosive device in the car chase in which they are driving is not defective?

Do you want amateurs now being given the final say over-riding professionals?

Think about it.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Baldwin is obviously extremely distraught and in shock about what happened.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The director James Gunn tweeted this:

 “No one should be blamed for this until there is an investigation into what happened & saying otherwise makes you look like a moron.”

On October 16, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two rounds from a gun after being told it also had no ammunition.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Lots of blame to go around here. It isn't hard to check the cylinder of an old style revolver to see if there are any rounds of any sort inside. It is a simple mechanical procedure. Even if the armorer assures the actor that the weapon is safe, it is prudent to do a final check. These are deadly weapons here, so there is no such thing as too much caution.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

There really shouldn't be any reason anymore to even have live rounds in a production set. All guns in the set should be blanks. Anything else could be digitally added in post-production

But if they're gonna have dummies, don't rely on actors to spot the difference. That's what the professionals are hired for - that's most likely where the police investigation would lean on

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Learn beforehand next time from an eight yrs. old girl how to handle weapons. Autumn Fry, even with an own YouTube channel, has 23 guns, real and big and heavy ones and….yes, mostly pink. lol

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I beg to Differ:

You could quite likely have fatalities on every movie set if the Props are handled in the same manner as was here

1 ( +1 / -0 )

browny1, as Ray Liotta and other actors have pointed out, long-established practice is that after a series of stringent safety checks the gun is finally presented to the actor open and the condition of the gun and what it contain by way of “ammunition” is explained. A light is shone through the barrel to show there are no blockages or objects lodged there, the person/people the gun will be fired at also inspect the weapon as does the director and anyone else on the set who desires to.

Baldwin, in his long career, has experienced this many times. He knows what is correct procedure. That someone simply yelled “cold gun” and handed Baldwin a weapon from a tray which he then pointed at someone and fired staggers the imagination.

It’s no fluke that gun accidents on movie sets are so very rare. They only occur when there has been gross, criminal negligence.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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