If you’re reading this, there’s a 100% probability that you know why Alec Baldwin is in the news right now. But I’ll spell it out, anyway.
There was an accident on the set of his production, “Rust,” he fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
I don’t normally comment on tragedies. A family lost a wife and mother and I can’t imagine their pain. I also can’t imagine what Alec Baldwin is thinking at this point. I’ve no doubt that this was an accident and that he had no intention of hurting anyone.
The reason I’m writing this is not to try to dissect the incident, but to clear away some noise. Because there’s a lot of damn noise around this and I feel a need to say something. All of the following headings are headlines I can find on page one with a simple search.
Table of Contents
Union people walked off the set.
And they were replaced by other, non-union people. So what? It doesn’t mean a damn thing. This is someone injecting politics into places it doesn’t work.
I have no idea if the union people would have been more competent than the non-union people. Nor do I care. Why? Because it doesn’t matter in the slightest. I’ll explain that at the end.
Assistant director fired after 2019 mishap.
Since it was another “unloaded” gun thing this one almost makes sense. But in the end, this means just as much as the union one. Why should we assume that the AD didn’t learn something and get better at his job?
Also, is it the AD’s job to be checking into the firearms? Maybe it is; I don’t really know the answer but I thought they had armorers to handle that stuff.
“Gun not thoroughly checked…”
Really. No shit. At least I hope that’s the case. If not then there’s some big time, Columbo-type conspiracy stuff going on here. As I said above, I don’t think this was in any way, shape, or form deliberate.
I don’t know how many people handled the gun and how many were supposed to check it before it was given to their star. And I don’t really care; it doesn’t matter.
“Prop firearm”
Are you kidding me? I’ll admit that I’m not really clued in to how movies or TV shows are made, but I can tell you this: if it can fire real bullets it’s a real gun. I can find blanks online and order them. Putting them into a magazine and then putting that magazine into one of my guns doesn’t suddenly turn it into some kind of fake gun.
Alec Baldwin is anti-gun.
That is true. Although, technically, I’d say that he’s against us having guns. He thinks it’s just fine for him. Although one would hope he has now been disabused of that notion. Honestly, I kind of doubt it.
His political views, no matter how abhorrent I find them, still don’t matter. Another way to inject politics where it doesn’t fit.
Conclusion
So. The fact is that any accident like this normally has any number of places where it could have been stopped. Note to anyone screaming about “negligence” at their screen now. Yes. There was negligence. That doesn’t make it any less of an accident. Just a few more sentences and I’ll get there.
Maybe the union people would have checked the gun better. Maybe the AD didn’t learn anything last time. Maybe some moron really did think the gun wasn’t “real.”
And none of it means a thing. Because Alec Baldwin pointed a loaded gun at another human being and pulled the trigger (see update below.) It doesn’t matter that he intended no harm. It doesn’t matter who gave him the gun and who told him it was “cold.” It doesn’t matter how experienced — or not — his armorer was. The crew could have consisted of the most incompetent people ever involved in a film shoot and it is irrelevant.
Because, had he simply checked the damn thing himself then Halyna Hutchins would still be alive. And yes: that was negligent of him.
Alec Baldwin broke literally all four of the primary gun safety rules and this is the result. I’ve seen some indications that taking someone else’s word for the condition of a gun on a movie set is commonplace. If so, I don’t understand that attitude and I’m glad that I don’t.
I don’t know if he’ll face charges. I don’t know if his career is over or if Hollywood will surround one of their own and protect him as best they can. I don’t know if there will be any procedural changes on sets or if they’ll just shrug it off to incompetent people and continue business as usual.
Take away the noise, and all that’s left is that Alec Baldwin failed to handle a gun safely and someone died as a result.
Update 12/04/2021.
Baldwin just did an interview where he claims he didn’t pull the trigger. Sure. Look, I’m not an expert on antique single action revolvers. And I’m just assuming he was using one of those given that it’s a western production.
We know it was common practice those days to not let the hammer rest on a live round so it may not have been drop safe. But he didn’t drop it; he was practicing drawing. Did he pull the hammer back but not far enough to engage the sear? That could, theoretically, cause a shot being fired without the trigger being pulled.
Or maybe the trigger was so light he didn’t realize he’d pulled it.
Guess how much either of those possibilities changes who’s responsible. Zero. His hand still pointed it at another person.
