Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crew Member With Prop Firearm on Film Set,

[Seshmeister]

It will probably end up being an unlikely combination of 2 or 3 fuck ups in a perfect storm of shit.

Literally hundreds if not thousands of low budget movies with firearms have been done since the last time this happened with Brandon Lee almost 30 years ago in 1993.

It's unlikely IMHO that one of those fuck ups will be the fault of Baldwin but everyone will jump on that for political reasons.

The other shitty thing apart from the death is that is will further extend that BS Hollywood crap about how making movies is the absolute pinnacle of human achievement and how what they do is impossibly amazing and important with a new addition of how impossibly brave they are playing dress up for millions of dollars a time...

[Kristy]

Labor trouble had been brewing for days on the dusty set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe. As the camera crew — members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — spent about an hour assembling their gear at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, several nonunion crew members showed up to replace them, two of the knowledgeable people said.

That alone explains a lot. Seems the producers of this film - of which Baldwin was one - went with non-union workers to complete their shitty film after numerous complaints about safety concerns on set. Union workers would not be there without safety protocol. I can only guess Baldwin will face manslaughter charges.

[ashstralia]

Hmmm…
Rare indeed

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/24/bliss-n-eso-shooting-johann-ofner-killed-by-gun-that-was-loaded-with-blanks

[ZahZoo]

A million comments on this online before anyone knows what happened.

Also surely that doesn't apply to prop guns where the idea is to point at people and fire at them when you don't want to kill them?

Actually any weapon that can fire blanks is a real gun... calling it a prop gun doesn't make it safe if it has a firing pin and can be loaded with live cartridges. Then the cartridge load of gun power can be quite dangerous depending on the amount used as it varies from very small amounts no louder than a popped balloon to amounts equal to a full lethal load. The percussion blast of a typical bullet even without a projectile can injure or serious harm humans.

Current press claims the gun used was claimed/announced to be a "cold gun" (unloaded) on set, prior to Baldwin picking it up. Clearly this was a real firearm... not a plastic toy. Why there would even be any live real rounds/bullets even present on the set should be the key question asked...

[Nitro Express]

I used to participate in those fake cowboy shootouts they do for tourists. We used real pistols loaded with movie blanks. Blanks are dangerous and can harm or even kill someone if fired too close. The proper way to do a fake shootout with guns loaded with blanks is to aim slightly to the side of the person you are shooting at. We used black powder blanks and with all the smoke and noise people don’t notice you aren’t actually aiming at each other. Our shootout would start with a poker game going bad. The first shot would blast all the cards off the table. This caused a nice distraction and effect and then following shots would happen. Blanks are used all the time safely. The number one rule is you don’t aim your gun at anyone or at anything you don’t want to hit. An experienced actor should have known this and the armorer should have gone through the gun to make sure it was loaded with blanks and a safety instructional session should have been done. Fake shootouts need to be well planned especially if you have a crowd of people watching.

[Nitro Express]

Actually any weapon that can fire blanks is a real gun... calling it a prop gun doesn't make it safe if it has a firing pin and can be loaded with live cartridges. Then the cartridge load of gun power can be quite dangerous depending on the amount used as it varies from very small amounts no louder than a popped balloon to amounts equal to a full lethal load. The percussion blast of a typical bullet even without a projectile can injure or serious harm humans.

Current press claims the gun used was claimed/announced to be a "cold gun" (unloaded) on set, prior to Baldwin picking it up. Clearly this was a real firearm... not a plastic toy. Why there would even be any live real rounds/bullets even present on the set should be the key question asked...

I suspect they were probably doing some plinking with live rounds because they were on a ranch and they never cleared the gun. Movie blanks are usually crimped on the end and shorter. I assume the gun used was a Colt single action probably in 45 Long Colt. You can’t tell the difference just opening the loading port and rotating the cylinder. Both types of rounds look the same from the back. You need to see the front. Someone got complacent and lazy and then Baldwin made the mistake of pointing the gun directly at someone.

[Nitro Express]

I guess there were complaints about how poorly managed the shoot was. Apparently so. How many movies have been made safely using guns? A mind boggling number.

[Nitro Express]

It will probably end up being an unlikely combination of 2 or 3 fuck ups in a perfect storm of shit.

Literally hundreds if not thousands of low budget movies with firearms have been done since the last time this happened with Brandon Lee almost 30 years ago in 1993.

It's unlikely IMHO that one of those fuck ups will be the fault of Baldwin but everyone will jump on that for political reasons.

The other shitty thing apart from the death is that is will further extend that BS Hollywood crap about how making movies is the absolute pinnacle of human achievement and how what they do is impossibly amazing and important with a new addition of how impossibly brave they are playing dress up for millions of dollars a time...

I think Hollywood is just about over. The Chinese bought it up and started making pro China propaganda and you have on line streaming now. Nobody cares about The Accademy Awards anymore and Hollywood right now is a dead town. That whole culture is in the grave.

[Nitro Express]

Given the technology available these days, there's really no need to have a gun that actually fires on a set anyway, blanks or otherwise. Just get a fake gun that looks reasonably real for the shot, and add whatever video & audio effects are needed to "sell" the scene in post production.

CGI doesn't kill anybody, as far as I know.

Gun powder is cheaper. This was a low budget flick. CGI ain’t cheap.

[Nitro Express]

Well RUST hit the dust.

[Seshmeister]

It seems a real stretch to say that because an actor who wanted more regulation of guns as he thought they were dangerous accidentally kills someone with a gun then that somehow proves he was wrong all along...

A real stretch but an argument Trump junior and many others are trying to make on Twitter. Not a hugely classy move no matter what your politics are surely.

The other argument I've seen attempted is that Baldwin is a hypocrite because he makes money from being in movies with guns in them which again is just nuts.

[FORD]

Gun powder is cheaper. This was a low budget flick. CGI ain’t cheap.

Probably cheaper than wrongful death lawsuits. Or possible criminal trials.

[Seshmeister]

Latest is that there was a single live round in the gun.

Maybe it was an elaborate murder but I have watched too many Columbo's too many times.

[FORD]

MAGAtts really hate Alec Baldwin because of his Cheeto character on SNL. Since they aren't the most rational people on the planet, I wouldn't put it past one of them to try to set him up that way. It's a Hell of a stretch, obviously, because there's either prints on the gun, or somebody would have been seen wiping a gun or handling it with gloves, which would be very suspicious. I hope they seriously investigate this thing, because while it might not be as conspiratorial as what I just described, it's obvious that somebody really fucked up here, and the only two options seem to be complete incompetence or criminal intent.

[Seshmeister]

It's a bit depressing the delight taken in the death of this woman because Baldwin plays for the other side.

Some of the joke memes are super darkly funny but I can't really post them here after complaining about people being dicks about it.