gbclarkson said:
Story today is Baldwin was handed a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition and was told it was safe for the scene.
Other reports say there was
one live round in the gun -- which seems to make no sense whatsoever. It's going to be awhile before the actual facts have been firmly established. And why was an assistant director handing out guns rather than the movie's armorer?
Why oh why is live ammo anywhere near a movie set?
Good question. It's a definite violation of what most sources say have been movie industry protocols since the Brandon Lee incident. There is no valid reason to have any live ammunition on a movie set.
However -- that still begs the question of how the bullet struck two behind the camera people. There's one thing that can't be changed (although, so far, it's being swept under the carpet): Alec Baldwin pointed a firearm at someone -- not as part of the script action -- and pulled the trigger. And, since it's a western, that means it was a single action firearm, so he had to manually cock the firearm before he pulled the trigger. That makes it an intentional discharge, not an accident.
I'm 77 years old, which means I grew up in the heyday of the television westerns -- the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Lash LaRue -- all of 'em. I have no idea how many cap guns I had as a kid. We were taught that you don't even point a cap gun at a person, because it develops bad habits that can translate to when using real guns. How is it that Alec Baldwin, who has starred in multiple movies and has obviously been on a lot of sets where guns were present, failed to observe that simple rule?
NRA: "ALWAYS Keep The Gun Pointed In A Safe Direction."
Cooper: "NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY"