Fewer than three weeks before actor Alec Baldwin is due to go on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors have said that he “engaged in horseplay with the revolver”, including firing a blank round at a crew member on the set of Rust before the tragic accident occurred.
Baldwin is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
In new court documents, prosecutors said they plan to bring new evidence to support their case that the 66-year-old actor and producer was reckless with firearms while filming on the set and displayed “erratic and aggressive behavior during the filming” that created potential safety concerns.
Prosecutors in the case, which is due to go to trial on 10 July, have previously alleged that to watch Baldwin’s conduct on the set of Rust “is to witness a man who has absolutely no control of his own emotions and absolutely no concern for how his conduct affects those around him”.
In the latest filing, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Erlinda Johnson allege that Baldwin pointed his gun and fired “a blank round at a crew member while using that crew member as a line of site as his perceived target”.
Modify the dang things so they can’t take real ammo. Make it keyed somehow or odd shaped. Problem solved.
This particular gun was an actual period gun, so it could prevent the use of the gun if it needed to be modified. But honestly, just like there wasn’t a real helicopter in films besides stock footage or military footage the production company didn’t film, because accidentally killing three actors two of whom were children being illegally treated, was enough for studios to forbid it, the people who’ve been shot accidentally on film should really make everyone unwilling to use anything but a prop that is explicitly and legally not at all a gun in any way.
But we all know the old adage:
Guns don’t kill people, helicopters do.
Then it’s time for the green polka dot gun that gets CGI’d after the fact.
It’s laziness. Automatics are modified in a way that prevents them from being fully operational as a gun, but not for safety reasons.
They won’t cycle with blank rounds because there’s no backpressure from firing a live round, so they obstruct the barrel to redirect some of the gasses back into the action.
For revolvers, bolt guns, etc that isn’t an issue because they aren’t cycled by recoil or gasses. You can just load a blank and use it.