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Amongst all the huhbub and finger pointing, the actual first rule of guns is always check that the gun is loaded.
You check the chamber and you check the ammo.
At no point should there ever be live ammo on a movie shoot. Whether that Baldwin's fault for hiring a shitty armorer, I don't know. But there where many failures up and down the line. If the assistant director was also supposed to check, they also failed.
But at the end of the line, Alec Baldwin picked up the gun and didn't or couldn't identify that the gun was loaded with live ammunition and pulled the trigger while it was pointed at someone. And that person died.
You check the chamber and you check the ammo.
So actors, who aren't experts, should be disassembling and unloading/loading the guns they're using, after the armorer has declared the gun safe? Is that what you think will make this safer?
Same rules as climbing. Check your own gear, and check your partner's gear.
The armorer can unload, check, and reload the gun in front of the actor. Then the actor can unload, check, and reload the gun under the training and supervisions if the armorer. Any actor seeking to hold a real gun should also need independent, verified training that comes from outside the studio. We don't let actors fly planes or perform surgery to make the shot slightly more realistic unless they have valid training, why should guns be any different?
There is also no valid reason (cost is not a valid reason) for why there would be a real bullet that fits in a real gun (the lead projectile part) anywhere on set. Even if you need a shot with one, don't make it out of metal or anything strong enough to survive the blank going off.
Whoeve loaded the gun is partially responsible. Alec Baldwin the producer is the most responsible. And Alec Baldwin the actor is partially responsible.
Yes, if you're a rock climber.
If you're an actor doing a rock climbing scene in a movie, you don't know how the gear should be set up. You rely on the crew and rock climbing expert on set to check your gear. If you check or modify the gear to test it in some way, you may inadvertently make it unsafe because you don't know anything about Rock climbing gear and safety.
If you are climbing rocks in a movie, you are a rock climber.
If you are belaying someone fir a shot who falls and dies because their gear was not checked, then you are responsible in the exact same way.
If you have insufficient training to check it under the direct supervision of an expert without fucking it up, then you shouldn't be anywhere near it.
There is also no valid reason (cost is not a valid reason) for why there would be a real bullet that fits in a real gun (the lead projectile part) anywhere on set.
There is a valid reason: you can get a realistic kick back from firing a real bullet compared to a blank. There is a safe way to do those kinds of stunts, but the accident here happened because things weren't done safely.
You can crash a car by being unsafe; you wouldn't get a bunch of people up in arms saying "There is also no valid reason (cost is not a valid reason) for why there would be a real car that fits in a real lane (the space between the white painted lines) anywhere on the road"
They are actors. They can act. Movies break verisimilitude in countless other ways (many of them much stupider).
If the actor were driving the car directly at someone on the road without a license or any driving training or experience then you might have a point with the second part.
Look I don't know shit about acting or movie sets or armorer's or any of that shit but I check every weapon I've ever been handed or dealt with, I don't give a fuck what someone told me I check for myself.
"Hey check my new gun out", they hand it over to me, first fucking thing I do is check the chamber and safety status, and until I know that I'm not pointing that gun at shit but the ground. I don't care if someone told me it's unloaded, or safetied, not real, nothing. It's MY responsibility holding that gun to make sure I don't blast someone.
It sucks what happened to that lady and I feel for Baldwin I really do it's a shitty situation. But he shot that lady and he's responsible for it, in my mind.
I know nothing about guns. I've never shot a gun. If I looked at a gun and was even able to figure out how to look in the chamber without killing myself or someone else, I wouldn't know if the ammunition was live or a blank. And they use blanks all the time in movies.
Why expect Alec Baldwin to know about guns?
He's at fault for hiring the armorer, not firing the gun.
Look I don’t know shit about acting or movie sets or armorer’s or any of that shit but...
I'm going to give my opinion anyway.
"Well, George, the casting crew has gotten back to us. Your unique drawl, your frazzled look in an unshaven state, the way you delivered those lines - everything is perfect! You're the new star actor this studio has been looking for, and perfect to play the villain of our upcoming serial!"
"Well, that's incredible!"
"Unfortunately, since the character in question holds a gun in two scenes of the series, and you got 2 questions wrong on the firearms exam, we're going to have to turn you down. We take safety very seriously."
"Couldn't...someone else just check weapons for me?"
"They could, but that might involve relying on another person for tasks they're more suited for, and last I checked, this wasn't Communismerica."