Accidental/negligent shooting death on movie set

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Reports today are saying that they had been using that very gun earlier, to shoot at a pyramid of cans.

Idiots. The AD or Armorer - whoever allowed that foolishness - should be charged with manslaughter.

[ghostrunner]

Best explanation I’ve seen on Alec Baldwin’s role in it.

TLDR- actors aren’t supposed to check guns and producers aren’t always producers. I wondered if his title was more honorary or just an extra title and it seems that’s likely the case.

[Socnorb11]

I don't know if he was directly responsible, but I think he was negligent, at best. Several crew members had already walked off the set, because of safety shortcuts and working conditions. There had been a couple of accidental gun discharges previously on that set. Baldwin was one of the producers. He's at least partially culpable, in my opinion.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Plus Alec Baldwin is a dip [expletive] at heart so ... being comfortable with a gun and not knowing if it’s loaded or not are very contradictory statements.

[ghostrunner]

I’ve read up on this a lot and the problem is it can reasonably be loaded, but with blanks or dummies. Blanks make the pop and the sound and can be shown exiting the weapon. Dummies have nothing inside, aren’t crimped like blanks and are meant to look real in a close up so you don’t see an empty chamber. So it’s not the actors job to suss that out. That’s the whole reason the armorer exists after Brandon Lee died. They and the AD are accountable for what’s in it.

The producer thing is explained in the thread. Basically it’s an extra in the contract. Actors can be legit producers, like if their company made it. It seems likely Baldwin just had a nominal producer credit and no responsibility for the production or the on set issues. The director in that thread mentions she’s had the same credit and it’s meaningless and they should stop doing it because it creates a false impression.

A couple weeks ago I was fairly sure he’d be charged with something because of that credit. Now I’m almost certain he won’t be.

[Socnorb11]

He's filthy rich, and famous. I never expected him to have any accountability.

He knew of the issues that had been going on there. Several people walked out because of it. He continued to grab guns and handle them carelessly, non the less.

[ghostrunner]

To me the structure they have in place to protect actors and stuntmen from liability/responsibility makes sense. The money they make isn’t relevant. They don’t have the expertise, and there’s a specific expert on hand for this reason. You don’t want unqualified people trying to identify bullets.

It doesn’t seem clear to me he did mishandle it. Realistically these guns are pointed at people all the time. If the hammer slips and falls at the wrong time it usually won’t matter. This time it did because live ammo was in the gun. Can’t really pin that on Baldwin.

Also unclear to me who knew about the misfires and target practice. Was that set-wide knowledge? Baldwin is saying he had recently arrived on set.

The crew that walked off apparently did so for a variety of reasons. Hotel accommodations was a big one. From what I’ve read they knew about the misfires. Not sure they knew about the target practice.

All of this is likely to come out in court but legally it’s hard to see him being found responsible.