The manslaughter charges Alec Baldwin faces after a fatal on-set shooting revived questions about who’s responsible for gun safety on film productions. “We are not actual cowboys,” an actor noted.
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By Graham Bowley, Julia Jacobs and Marc Tracy
The news that Alec Baldwin is facing manslaughter charges for killing a cinematographer with a gun he had been told was safe had the actor Steven Pasquale thinking back to the filming of “Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem” more than a decade ago, when he and other actors were handed military-style rifles and told to start shooting.
He felt safe, he said, because he relied on the professional props experts and the armorer who had checked and shown him the gun.
“We are artists — we are not actual cowboys, actual cops, actual superheroes,” Mr. Pasquale said. “We are not Jason Bourne. I can’t even begin to imagine an actor having the responsibility of now needing to be the safety person on the set regarding prop guns. That’s insane.”
The charges being brought against Mr. Baldwin for an on-set shooting had many actors recalling their own experiences with guns on sets, and discussing safety measures and who bears primary responsibility for them.
The actor Michael Chiklis, who has starred in television police dramas including “The Commish” and “The Shield,” called the shooting “a tragic accident” and said that “moving forward there is absolutely no reason to use a real firearm on set ever again.”
The case, in which prosecutors in New Mexico maintain that Mr. Baldwin bore responsibility for ensuring that the gun he was handed on the set of “Rust” was safe, has prompted a debate within the film industry over gun safety and protocols. SAG-AFTRA, a union representing film workers, said the responsibility lay not with actors but with trained professionals. Actors and armorers described varying experiences with guns on sets, with some actors exercising a higher level of caution than others.
Mr. Baldwin faces two charges of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on Oct. 21, 2021, when the revolver he was rehearsing with — which he had been told was “cold,” meaning it should not have contained any live ammunition — suddenly fired.
The district attorney for Santa Fe County, Mary Carmack-Altwies, said in an interview on Thursday that she planned to argue in court that Mr. Baldwin did not take “due caution or circumspection” when he drew an old-fashioned revolver from its holster, that he should have ensured the gun did not contain live rounds and that he should not have pointed the weapon at the cinematographer. She said forensic evidence showed that Mr. Baldwin had pulled the trigger; Mr. Baldwin has denied that, saying the gun discharged unexpectedly after he pulled the hammer back and let it go.
As the case moves forward, the norms and practices in the film and television industry will quite likely take center stage. Industry standards say that no one should be issued a firearm without being trained in safety, but that the responsibility for checking guns before each use lies with the prop master or designated weapons handler.
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