Alec Baldwin

[BlueTiki]

Go on then, try to explain to a foreigner. Why should any film set ever have a real handgun on it? What benefit is gained over a decommissioned handgun? If we can get past that we can then look at why there needs to be an armorer.

Probably to add to the realism, to strive to be as authentic as they can be. That's only my opinion, I don't know anything more than anyone else who has taken the time to read about it does. It is the armorer's job to ensure the safety of all the weapons on the set, they are hired specifically for that. They have one fucking job and that's it.

Yeah . . . well .. . I mean . . . the armorer (tasked with strict responsibilities), was undeniably careless . . . ignoring standard and established protocol regarding all aspects of firearms safety and industry specific mandates. 

Did I miss something in the documents that "lead" to charging Baldwin (shooter), Gutierrez-Reed (armorer) and Halls (assistant director)?  Didn't ANY US media outlets cover this?  FFS!  This is a domestic shooting incident!

In case they didn't, let's look at an article from the BBC, dated  . . . YESTERDAY!

"Mr. Baldwin was "distracted" talking to family members on his mobile phone during training on how to operate the prop gun, Robert Shilling, a special investigator for the district attorney's office, wrote in a statement of probable cause filed with the manslaughter charges."

"The charging document outlines at least a dozen "acts or omissions of recklessness" leading up to the shooting, including:

• Not using a replica firearm for an unscheduled rehearsal
  
• Letting the armourer leave the set against protocol
  
• Deviating from the practice of only receiving the gun from the armourer
  
• Not dealing with safety complaints on set
  
• Not performing required safety checks with the armourer, who was hired without adequate certification "
  

Here's a bit from Yahoo "news":

“A training session for at least an hour or more in length was scheduled, but the actual training consisted of only approximately 30 minutes as according to (Gutierrez-Reed), Baldwin was distracted and talking on his cell phone to his family during the training,” Robert Shilling, a special investigator for the Santa Fe district attorney’s office, said in the probable cause statement.

"Baldwin also failed to demand safety checks between Gutierrez-Reed and himself to confirm the gun didn’t contain live rounds", prosecutors say. “Baldwin’s deviation from known standards, practices and protocol directly caused the fatal death of Hutchins,” Mr Shilling added.

But . . . Gutierrez-Reed wasn't the one to hand the weapon to Baldwin.  It was Halls . . . the ASSISTANT director.  Halls agreed to plead guilty in the negligence use of a deadly weapon. (Yeah . . . instead of "career advancement by murder"!)

Additionally, there is video of Baldwin practicing gun-play ("cross-draw"), with his finger on the trigger of a weapon.  

So . . . plenty of blame, and not much shade, for ANY of these assholes.