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Prop Guns and Blanks
Words have meaning. Any firearm capable of pushing a projectile out of barrel is not a prop, even though it might be used as a prop. Blanks are capable of causing physical injury, serious physical injury, and death.
The investigation into the accidental shooting involving Alec Baldwin, the death of Director of Photography Halnya Hutchins, and the wounding of Director Joel Souza is ongoing. I’m not going to comment on what the result of that investigation will be. Two statements that have been made have caught my attention.
There were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set of an Alec Baldwin movie being filmed in New Mexico days before he fatally shot the cinematographer, according to three former members of the film’s crew. – from the New York Times
Guns do not discharge themselves. Someone has to pull the trigger. Guns used as a prop should not have a modified trigger, or a hair-trigger. If the discharges were due to mishandling the weapon that calls for better training of the actor. If the actor is uncooperative he/she should not be allowed to handle a firearm.
If the armorer determines there is a mechanical problem with the firearm then it’s time to find a gunsmith.
According to the affidavit by the detective in the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office, the gun used in the shooting was set up by Hannah Gutierrez, the production’s armorer, and handed to Mr. Baldwin by Dave Halls, the assistant director. Neither Ms. Gutierrez nor Mr. Halls responded to requests for comment. – from the New York Times
According to the current story Mr. Baldwin was told the gun was cold. A firearm that can fire blanks is never cold. It’s either empty, or loaded.
There should be a chain of custody protocol on a movie, or television set. The armorer should hand the firearm to the actor. As a secondary check the armorer should check the weapon in the presence of the actor. The actor should not receive the firearm from anyone else on the crew.
All firearms that can fire a projectile should be considered hot. I treat my own firearms, and a firearm that belongs to anyone else as hot before I clean them, handle them, or if a friend would like to handle one. I follow that protocol at a gun store.
Published in GunsActors in particular are at serious risk of injury from blank cartridges used on movie sets. Several actors have been killed in such mishaps:
Brandon Lee was killed while filming a scene for the 1994 film The Crow when a .44-caliber S&W Model 629 revolver used as a prop that contained a squib load — a bullet accidentally stuck in the gun barrel — was fired with a blank cartridge, which propelled the lodged bullet down the barrel. As reported in the investigation and court records, the dummy round used during an earlier shoot was handloaded by someone other than a firearms expert, who removed the propellant powder but unknowingly left a live primer in place, resulting in a bullet being separated from the casing without enough energy behind it to exit the barrel. The gun was not properly checked for the retained bullet prior to the incident, and the squib load was then blown out of the barrel by the blast energy of the blank, fatally injuring Lee.
Jon-Erik Hexum was killed on the set of the TV series Cover Up, when he placed a blank-loaded .44 Magnum revolver to his right temple and pulled the trigger as a joke — the powerful shockwave from the blank cartridge caused a depression fracture to the skull, sending bone fragments deep into his brain and causing severe intracranial hemorrhage. He died a few days after the accident.
Johann Ofner, a professional stunt double, was killed in 2017 while filming a scene for Bliss n Eso music video “Dopamine” in the Brooklyn Standard bar in Brisbane.
A 17-year old was playing with a gun used in a St. George, Utah high school theatre program to be used in a production of Oklahoma!, and accidentally killed himself, thinking that “blank” cartridges were harmless. – from Wikipedia
nothing new under the sun- read about the death of Jon-Erik Hexum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum
I remember a few “Gomers” myself during BCT. Looking back on it makes me marvel that my D.I. didn’t kill some of those fools.
Which is why you don’t point a gun at anyone unless you are willing to shoot them. Even if it was blanks, it shouldn’t have been pointed at the camera person.
Its been kinda interesting watching this play out in the media. Everyone (or nearly everyone) is giving Alec Baldwin the benefit of the doubt that he would not every give anyone involved in a fatal accidental shooting.
There has been union troubles and financially related animosities on set – its been speculated that this could have been an act of sabotage — Not to excuse Alec Baldwin of the responsibility to check the weapon when he’s handed it – or the person who handed it off… They’d both have a hard time defending a negligence charge.
I give him the benefit of the doubt, in that at the very least he was play-acting like a child and shot at someone, not knowing the gun was loaded. But I don’t know, perhaps he sneezed and the gun went off, or perhaps the gun was loaded according to some nefarious plan.
Anything’s possible, but in this case stupidity really seems like the most likely cause.
Boo-Hoo. And I’m not buying it anyway. Aside from special affect, practical effects that mess the audience’s perception of alignment and distance are old hat. This is just laziness born of disrespect.
Do you think Bruce Willis actually gets punched and kicked because it “has to look realistic”?
Cause of death: Homicide by laziness, with underlying cause disrespect.
Depends how expensive the victim was I guess.
Not if you’re an untrained moron and decide to “fake” suicide by eating a shotgun blank during your lunch break.
Man, that would put people off their tucker.
They don’t figure on things like that, except to the extent they have insurance.
Except the zombies. “Brainsss!!!”
Will Smith demonstrates gun safety – from the production of Bad Boys 2.
Oi!
I suspect they’re going to start.
This is what I have been trying to find out about the cartridge in the prop gun. From what the NY Post presented this morning there is a wax wad that keeps the propellant in place. Now wax should turn to jelly under the acceleration, so I just can’t see being a the lethal mechanism. But I just don’t know. I have looked up other types of blank cartridge designs, and they may use plastic, which depending on the plastic could be more lethal. Other questions come to mind. How far away was she standing from the blast? Was there something inside the gun tube that got launched? Could the brass cartridge case have fragmented and pieces launched?
What a very tragic event. My heart goes out to Ms. Hutchins and her family.
Yes, but the gun was being fired at the camera. Often the director is behind the camera. Was that what happened here? Why else was Baldwin pointing a gun at the director?
Its looking like there was a real bullet in the gun. If that’s true, then we could be looking at something other than negligence. Why on earth would a real bullet be anywhere on the set?
Those very rare incidents are likely already figured into insurance. As are aged stars getting heart attacks halfway through, etc.
I agree. And one of my thoughts on this was, what do Liberal actors who are probably anti-gun to begin with know about safely handling guns? Probably not much, and once they get one in their hands all of a sudden channel John Wayne.
The same shot apparently went through one victim and into the other. That sounds like a real bullet.
That would definitely be a real bullet. But I did not hear that. Is that confirmed, the same projectile injured both? I took it as multiple frags sprayed out.
Which gun? The one Willis was firing was slightly to Willis’ right.
Which is what I asked originally. I’ve looked into New Mexico gun laws, and it is an open carry state. It is negligence on Baldwin’s part come what may. The replacement armorer had no motive to load a live round. I don’t think the assistant director or whomever handed Baldwin the gun had a motive either. Would the armorer who was forced off set have one? Has sabotage ever been a labor tactic? Heaven forfend!
If there had been “misfires” on the set previously, someone might have set up what they expected to be another “misfire” to sabotage production without any thought that someone might actually be hurt or killed.
The problem is – his experience. Alec Baldwin has been handling guns on movie sets since the 90s (Hunt for Red October) Its hard to claim that someone who has been safely handling weapons for 40 years has no experience or doesnt know how to clear a gun…
Has he had formal NRA gun safety training? Probably not – but he’s probably had numerous safety seminars and there are probably a host of people out there who could testify that he was a knowledgeable and experienced handler of guns.
I know this. A wax bullet will leave a muzzle only being propelled by a primer, but won’t have the force to even daze a baby rabbit. I don’t know how I know this.
A wax bullet under full charge, if it keeps it’s form, cannot do a though and through and injure a second person. Other types of blank have crimped shut ends and have no wadding at all. So, these were not standard blanks of any type.
And the imprecise language these people use makes my brain itch. “Misfire” means “failed to fire.” If someone pulled the trigger and the gun went off, that is the opposite of a misfire.
My wife asked, when I explained what the news story was, “So why was there live ammunition anywhere near a movie set?”
I imagine it’s possible for one of those crimped front ends to fragment off and propel. That’s about the only way I could picture this happening. As to the wax bullet, it’s not really a wax bullet. It’s a wax disk. There’s no aerodynamic or lethal penetrating shape. Like I said earlier, it would probably just spit out like jelly.
I’m beginning to believe it was a real bullet.
You’re either missing or ignoring the point.
Is that reported somewhere, or just supposition? I agree that it sounds plausible, but… etc
Those are not misfires. Not in the gun world. Maybe in the BS media world, where every time Kerry speaks, it’s a “misfire”.