Our club traveled to Silsbee, TX yesterday to shoot with our parent club.
That is the Louisiana contingent. The rest of the shooters, abut 50 of us, were from all over Texas.
No injuries, no problems, nothing but fun, fellowship, and camaraderie. All while running "prop guns" as hard as we knew how to run them.
There was a lot of talk abut Alec Baldwin, and lots of talk about how to avoid such tragedies, which we do every time we meet. Even our pre-teen shooters know more about gun safety than the members of that cast. From what I'm reading this morning, the set was extremely un-safe.
Who is to blame for the Rust tragedy? I'm sure that there will be a raft of incriminations, from the prop company to the gun wrangler, but ultimately, it is Baldwin himself. He violated several universal rules f gun safety, any of which would have caused him to be ejected from our competitions. Perhaps he should have taken a couple of days from his extremely busy, hyper privileged life and taken an NRA basic safety course.
In Louisiana, Baldwin might be guilty of a crime. I canot speak for Arizona law. Ultimately, his hand was holding the gun, his finger pulled the trigger. This was no accident. It was negligence, plain and simple.
6 comments:
If it happened around Santa Fe that would be New Mexico.
What I dont understand is was Baldwin in fact shooting a " real bullet"? If so, why??? In what movie do they shoot live ammo? I can see providing direction and saying the gunslinger should do this move or similar. Then being a bit of a weenie he pulls the trigger. I would think countless movies, whether John Wayne, or....well hundreds of stars...pointed guns in the general direction of another character. Some did so at close range. Yet they didnt use a live round !!! What exactly went through the person who was killed and then wounded someone behind them. Sounds almost like full metal jacket. I just can't picture any reason for having that on the lot.
My first reaction about the incident was: "Baldwin, you fool!". But: there is a blogger I used to follow for years who calls himself AESOP, his blog is named "Raconteur Report". He is a nurse (actually at a hospital) who spent 15 years as a set medic on countless TV and Movie productions.
Being also a gun nut with extensive training, the armorers frequently asked him to assist.
Which makes him THE person to provide extensive background information. Please read, because his way of fisking the "know-it-alls" in the Blogosphere is hilariously entertaining. And he has a lot to tell & to fisk....
The only fact still unknown is if it really was ball ammunition or a freak accident with blanks.
Aesop lays the blame squarely at the feet of the Armorer and the Prop director.
https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2021/10/where-it-stands-with-tragedy-of-rust.html
I agree that the armorer screwed up. But I also think that an actor should have some basic knowledge of the tool that he is using. I have read both that Baldwin's pistol was an old cartridge weapon and that it was an old "cap abd ball" weapon. I don't know what was in use but since my eyes and fingers would be at risk, I would want to know enough to check for "brass" (cartridges or caps). if the firearm was presented as "cold" (i.e. unloaded, empty). That is usually pretty easy to verify in a revolver without manipulating or changing anything that the armorer has done. There might be scripted and choreographed "shooting" at another actor, but otherwise, any firearm is ALWAYS loaded and never should be pointed at any other person. Here, the azrmorer screwed up but a glance at the pistol woule probably revealed the problem and, in any event, Baldwin should have never pulled the trigger with others around.
I don't know where the border is between "legal" and "common sense", but it looks like Baldwin was far beyond the line of responsible and common sense. I's argue that if he wanted to practice technique, he should have gone off by himself. I guess that we will see. .
Good looking group! The whole Rust thing is a tragedy... And plenty of blame to go around.
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