Runaway

With that I do agree 100%, but Baldwin is not more or less negligante, when he wasn't supposed to pull the trigger. Since he was under the impression, the gun wasn't dangerous, it just doesn't matter if he was supposed to pull the trigger. It's not like actors get handed loaded guns all the time and they have to keep up, if pulling the trigger is dangerous or not.

Hazel Motes

Whether or not Alec was supposed to pull the trigger is almost irrelevent to what happened. IMO Alec is more culpable as a producer than he is as the person who fired the gun. If the gun wrangler had done his job a squirt gun should have been more deadly than what Alec had in his hand.

Jaymole

Baldwin was not negligent. He would be negligent If they had said there were real bullets inside so do not pull the trigger.

Troy Stiffler

This is a rare and tragic freak accident. Compensation should be made. Nobody should be charged with a crime. Do completion bonds or general insurance also insure stuff like this?

Josh-da-man

I was always under the impression that when actors have producer credits they're not really involved with the actual production, they either pulled some strings to get it made in the first place, put up some money, or it's just an extra paycheck.

If Baldwin does get sued or finds himself in legal jeopardy due his status as a producer, it could have a huge impact on Hollywood going forward if anyone with a producer credit is going to held legally and civilly responsible for on-set accidents.

I would assume that the producer contracts for those who have no involvement in the hands-on production have some kind of liability waiver, otherwise, they could be huge targets for on-set mishaps. (IE, the Weinstein brothers have production credits on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings even though they had absolutely zero to do with Jackson's films.

Draven

My understanding is that he’s a pretty involved producer, not just a “producer in name only” vanity credit.

Runaway

In the end it's the production company('s insurance) which will have to pay. It's a work accident.

d2cheer

Believe what you want. IF he was told not to fire and did anyway he is negligent.

Draven

Why would he be told not to fire when he was told it was a cold gun?

TomOpus

Maybe they had a limited number of blanks. I have no idea how much a blank round costs.

Runaway

If you blast out such a statement a reason would be appreciated.

Count Dooku

I would imagine that if it was standard practice on movie sets to tell actors that they shouldn't pull the trigger on a gun even if they have been told the gun is not loaded, that information would be very public by now.

Koby

Blanks wouldn't cost more than a regular round. The only difference between a real round and a blank is that the blank doesn't contain a projectile bullet; instead they're loaded only with gunpowder to create a bang and a fiery flash at the end of the gun's barrel.

Depending on the caliber of gun, ammo could be anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars per shot, unless it's some rare as shit round that isn't made anymore.

A movie set shouldn't have the issues affording it in any case.

Draven

A “cold gun” is a gun with nothing in it. A “hot gun” has blanks.

It’s like if I give you a glass of water in a scene and say it’s water, and you drink it (even though that’s not called for in the scene) and it’s actually poison, that’s on me for telling you it was safe and not on you for drinking it.

Josh-da-man

The thing is, a lot of people want Alec Baldwin punished for mocking donald trump on Saturday Night Live.

Michael Massee was not charged for shooting and killing Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow with an accidentally loaded gun. (In that case, the hun round in the barrel and the blank became, in effect, a real bullet.)

Nobody was charged for Brandon Lee's death even though there was negligence on that set as well.

Nick Danger

According to the video from Legal Eagle, prop revolvers can have bullets in them because the camera can see them. The gun looks loaded, but the cartridges have no powder or cap. It's not anything that a non-expert would be able to spot. That's why an actor has to rely on the expert who says the gun is cold. It's also why there is no point in actors checking to see if a gun is loaded when they are handed one by an expert.

I suspect that the real question is why there were real bullets within a mile of the set. Holy cow!

GoldenJCJ

That’s how I understand it as well. It’s also my understanding that those dummy rounds (the ones that look real on the outside) have a small BB in them so you can shake them and hear the rattle knowing that there’s no gun powder in them. Again, it’s nothing that someone looking at the gun would be able to tell unless they knew beforehand. Which is why the armorer is there.

Draven

Yep - IIRC, that was what happened with Brandon Lee - there had been a close-up of the gun with the dummy bullets in it so it would look loaded, and a piece of one of those got lodged the chamber. When the gun was loaded with blanks, it drove the piece out of the barrel.

Sonic

jjcool

And now he's claiming that he didn't pull the trigger.

RichC2

I don't think anyone has really claimed otherwise. The Assistant Director also backed that statement.

Apparently it had already happened twice on the set when this incident occurred, not sure if it was the same equipment or not though.

Barth

If that's the case it's a bit strange that he didn't say "I didn't even pull the trigger" right after it happened instead of "why was I given a hot gun".

GoldenJCJ

Which is weird in itself but then when you think of the type of gun he was using (think old west 6 shooter), those have hammers that need to be pulled back to fire. So even if he didn’t pull the trigger, was the hammer pulled back in a “ready to fire” state? Why would he be practicing drawing his gun with the hammer cocked back?

And honestly, the position of the hammer is a lot more important than whether he pulled the trigger or not. If it’s a shitty old gun, it can accidentally fire without pulling the trigger but the hammer would have had to be cocked back. If it wasn’t cocked, Baldwin could have pulled the trigger to his heart’s delight and the gun wouldn’t have fired.

There’s a lot about this whole incident that doesn’t add up.

Noonan

I think it makes sense. Cocking the hammer is visual the viewers of the movie. Doing that during practice runs seems like something they'd do.

GoldenJCJ

I edited my post to add a few things but I think you’re right. He could very well be telling the truth that he didn’t pull the trigger but if it was cocked, it could have accidentally discharged without the trigger being pulled by anyone.