The Baldwin Break

[Fetch]

Baldwin pops a cap in a co-worker and kills one and injures another and says oops. Did he get arrested on manslaughter charges or does he just walk?

[DoomBuggy]

Give it a break and have some fucking empathy. He was handed what was supposed to be a prop gun and was told it was loaded with blanks, he is an actor not a fucking military vet or armorer. Now the question is the armorer who loaded it, what was she thinking.

[ncmc47]

Everyone should know to always check a gun to see if it's loaded, even if the 10 other guys in the room checked it before it was given to you! If he wasn't such a libtard he would have known. He was a complete pig to his own daughter, a few years ago. In general he's a complete scum bag. My sympathy to the family of the victim and the woman who may have made a mistake. Baldwin will play the victim to the hilt, and try to use it to pass liberal backed laws, until he becomes a liberal martyr. He has taken a life because of his ignorance!

[DoomBuggy]

Wow, so much hate here for someone you never met and who has done nothing to you or yours, just wow.

[ncmc47]

You believe what you want, around here most 8 year olds know you don't point a gun a gun towards anyone and you don't place your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

[rockman96]

Wow, so much hate here for someone you never met and who has done nothing to you or yours, just wow.

The whole event is really tragic, and I feel sorry for all involved... even Baldwin. As big a POS as he is, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Talk about messing with your mind.

I don't think ncmc47 was spewing hate at all, he was just stating his opinion based on facts.

[Dragstews]

On a film set, a real-life tragedy has happened.

Police say US actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on a film set in New Mexico. They were working on the film Rust.

Tributes have been paid to Ms Hutchins, 42, while Mr Baldwin is said to be distraught. One local paper found him in tears outside Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.

An investigation is under way and we don't exactly know yet what went wrong. A spokesman for Mr Baldwin said there had been an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun.

Court submissions later showed an assistant director, Dave Halls, had handed the gun to Mr Baldwin. It contained a live round but Mr Halls said he did not know that, and indicated it was unloaded by shouting "cold gun!"

An incident like this is rare and the news has stunned the film industry. The use of firearms on set is subject to stringent safety standards.

"On the film I recently made, even my plastic gun, I had to sign out, sign in every day," said Australian actor Rhys Muldoon. "So that's why this particular case is so incredibly baffling."

Despite sounding innocuous, both prop guns and blanks can be dangerous. Here's what we know about them.

What is a prop gun?
Blanks are used in the film industry to imitate live ammunition.



The reason they are so convincing is that blanks are essentially modified real bullets.

While the term "bullet" is commonly used to describe what is loaded into weapons, more properly it is a cartridge that is loaded: a self-contained ammunition package made up of a casing holding an explosive powder that when fired, blasts out a projectile, or bullet.

Blanks differ because although they use explosive they don't use a projectile.

Graphic explaining how blank cartridges are different to live
A prop gun could mean a range of items, from non-functioning weapons to cap guns.

But it can also mean a real weapon, or one adapted for firing blanks.

Together they add authenticity to productions - fire a blank using a prop gun and you'll get a loud bang, a recoil and what's known as a muzzle flash, the visible light created by the combustion of the powder.

Has this kind of incident happened before?
Yes. You may remember Brandon Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

Brandon Lee died aged just 28 in 1993 while filming The Crow, when a prop gun which mistakenly had a dummy round loaded in it was fired at him.

Dummy rounds contain no explosive charge and in this case were used to film a close-up. When blanks were loaded part of the dummy round remained in the gun.

After Lee was shot, the cameras kept rolling. It was only when he did not get up at the end of the scene that those on set realised something was wrong.

In another incident, in 1984, US actor Jon-Erik Hexum started joking around on the set of a television show after being frustrated by delays in filming.

He loaded a revolver with a blank, spun the chamber, put the gun to his temple and fired.

Unlike Lee, he was not killed by a projectile, but rather the force of the blast was strong enough to fracture his skull. He died days later in hospital.

How can blanks and props be used safely?
Hexum's death highlights a problem with blanks - even without a projectile they pack enormous power.

Adding to the risk, some film sets use extra powder to make the visual impact stronger.

Film sets usually have strict rules about the use of prop guns. Specialists provide weapons for use on film sets and advise on their use.

"There's basic safety measures on every set," said Mike Tristano, an armourer who has worked with Alec Baldwin in the past.

"You never point a gun, even if it is not a firing gun, at anyone else. I'm at a loss how this could have happened and how it could have done that much damage."

A common shot in film shows an actor firing into the camera and Steven Hall, who has worked on films such as Fury and The Imitation Game, says it only happens with safeguards.

"If you are in the line of fire... You would have a face mask, you would have goggles, you would stand behind a Perspex screen, and you would minimise the number of people by the camera, " he said.

"What I don't understand in this instance is how two people have been injured, one tragically killed, in the same event."

Others working in film wondered why, at a time when gun effects can be cheaply added using computers, blanks are still being used at all.

"There's no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore. Should just be fully outlawed," tweeted Craig Zobel, an actor and director whose credits include Westworld and Mare of Easttown.

"Prop guns are guns," TV writer David Slack tweeted. "Blanks have real gunpowder in them. They can injure or kill - and they have. If you're ever on a set where prop guns are treated without proper caution and safe handling, walk away.

"No show or shot is worth risking people's lives," he added.

[Fetch]

Give it a break and have some fucking empathy. He was handed what was supposed to be a prop gun and was told it was loaded with blanks, he is an actor not a fucking military vet or armorer. Now the question is the armorer who loaded it, what was she thinking.

Actors shouldn't play with real guns and the media should report without bias language. My empathy for the liberal elite is about empty.

He didn't shot an actor while filming, he shot the crew and director. I was raised using firearms, never had an accidental discharge, nor have anyone I've been shooting with. Accidents do happen, but a accidental firing should not hit anyone. Rule # one, only point at what you intend to shoot.

[DustyDave]

Showing the union hands that you can and will hire scabs to replace them regardless of results or consequences, sounds more like the entitled rich that you support so reverently Step n Fetch it.
Dusty

[70fatster]

Anti-gun actor shoots director on set of movie glamorizing gun violence.
I'm supposed to have empathy for this hypocritical idiot?
When a gun kills someone there is only one person responsible, the one who pulled the trigger.

[confab]

I saw the headline and immediately thought he finally snapped and went on a shooting rampage..

A little surprised to find out it was an accident.

[Hoghead]

you don't point a gun a gun towards anyone and you don't place your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

^^This totally, regardless who is holding the gun.

[rockman96]

you don't point a gun a gun towards anyone and you don't place your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

^^This totally, regardless who is holding the gun.

And even if you know that you know that the gun is unloaded. Never ever.

[DoomBuggy]

My understanding is they were either shooting a scene or rehearsing a scene in which he discharges the weapon toward the camera. TWO professionals checked and approved the weapon before handing it to him.

Yes he is a douche bag, but give it a break already, this was a movie set. The real change needs to be no firearm discharges allowed, CGI is good enough they don't need them.

[confab]

Nothing is going to happen to Baldwin on the criminal side unless he did something completely outrageous.

He's an actor.. So, waving guns around in the context of a movie scene is a reasonable thing for him to do.

If he went off script? Or there wasn't a scene or a rehearsal involved? If he loaded the gun? That's a different matter. But they're not going to punish him, otherwise.

He may get raped on the civil side of this, though.

Whoever was responsible for loading that gun is going to get absolutely hammered flatter than dog shit, though. They may have both criminal and civil problems before this is over.

PS: I think it is odd how long the investigation is taking. I mean, this should be a relatively simple thing, right?