Following the Alex Baldwin saga is frustrating. This is a man who claims that he bears no responsibility for killing another person because somebody else should have made sure his gun was safe to shoot at people.
The gist of the case: Alec Baldwin was an actor producer on a low-budget western called “Rust”. As the STAR, he demanded the biggest, baddest gun. He was a jackass during safety briefings. He failed to follow the safety briefings.
There is evidence that he engaged in horseplay with the revolver while making videos during his firearms training while using full load blanks
, displayed reckless behavior as it related to the use of a firearm, such as pointing it and firing a blank round at a crew member while using that crew member as a line of sight as his perceived target.”
He then, again, failed to follow the four rules. He pointed a gun at a person, cocked the hammer, and pulled the trigger. Killing the cinematographer.
He claimed he never pulled the trigger. The FBI tested the gun to destruction, and was unable to get the gun to fire without the trigger being pulled.
In other words, it looks like he is a lying sack of bull dung.
Now, the state is introducing new evidence:
After October 21, 2021 [he] was insistent that he not be required to follow safety recommendations made by film set safety experts on the continuation of the filming of Rust in Montana.
The “continuation of the filming” means after he shot and killed a person, the asshole was still disregarding his safety briefings and the safety rules.
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5 responses to “Alec Baldwin — Horrible Person”
He’s a genuine jack ass, has been for as long as I can remember. Baldwin has earned and deserves every bit of the tribulations he’s now receiving, he would insist on them for anyone else that used a firearm to kill or injure another person, even if it was in self defense.
I just hope he can’t manage to buy his way out of it.
Alec Badwin, and he alone, bears all responsibility for Halina Hutchins death.
I’ve seen a lot of people, even on pro-gun sites, attempting to explain away Alec Baldwin’s situation and offer excuses and reasons why he shouldn’t be culpable. Paraphrasing: “The actor isn’t responsible for the condition of prop guns, that’s the armorer’s job.” Or “There’s supposed to be no live ammo on-set or in the armory, so there’s no way he would have known.” Or “It’s a Hollywood-style movie set, not real life, so it’s different.”
Various iterations of “He’s just an actor, he’s not responsible for anything.”
I don’t buy any of it.
First, he’s not just “an actor” on the set of “Rust”. He’s the producer, and everything that happens during production is his responsibility. The proverbial “buck” stops with him.
Second, and more importantly in my mind, anyone who handles the guns — even if they WERE prop guns (which the revolvers on the set of “Rust” were NOT) — is responsible for verifying the condition of those guns. Anyone who handles the guns is responsible for following the Four Rules. Anyone who is mishandling a gun at ANY time should be tackled and kicked off-set until they can re-take the safety courses AND pass a comprehensive written test proctored by a certified firearm safety trainer (and I care not who it is; if it’s the leading actor and production has to stop until and unless this is finished, so be it — it should have been done right the first time).
I give zero sh!ts that “He’s an actor, not a gun expert, and can’t be expected to know all the safety rules.” (Yes, that’s a real excuse people have been giving.) Bullsh!t. There’s only Four Rules, and they’re dead simple for a reason; they’re written to be understood and followed by the lowest common denominator of a free society — hell, any Joe Schmoe who walks into a gun shop and asks to see a pistol or rifle is expected to follow them. (Or are Baldwin’s defenders implying his intelligence is well below what should be the lowest common denominator? If so, he’s far too unintelligent to be allowed near ANY gun, prop or not … and probably shouldn’t be out in public without a custodial caretaker.)
The armorer bears some responsibility, for sure — for failing to keep live ammo off-set and for failing to enforce the safety requirements — but at the end of the day she is NOT the one who skipped all the “required” safety meetings, and she is NOT the one who broke ALL FOUR RULES by pointing a firearm at another human being and pulling the trigger.
Alec Baldwin is. And he should be held culpable for it.
Just my $0.02, worth every penny you’re paying for it. 😉
Shortly after Baldwin killed his cinematographer, I did some searching and came up with an article by what appears to be an actual qualified movie armorer: https://theasc.com/blog/filmmakers-forum/filming-with-firearms . It makes it quite clear that the entire movie crew on “Rust” was fatally incompetent and/or negligent. And while Baldwin is apparently getting away with it (the judge ruled that his producer status cannot be brought up at trial) as producer he is responsible for hiring people like the gun bunny pretending to be an armorer who failed to control the situation.
Baldwin appears to be the classic example of an anti-gun loudmouth who (a) wants to have access to guns himself and (b) believes he has no need for safety procedures.