Lethal prop gun fired by Alec Baldwin had misfired before

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The prop gun used in the fatal shooting of the cinematographer of the movie Alec Baldwin was producing had misfired before on the set, sources familiar with the situation told NBC News Friday.

Just a few hours before Baldwin fired the shot that killed the highly regarded cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and also wounded the director, Joel Souza, several members of the crew walked off the set of “Rust” because of safety concerns, the sources said.

The disclosure came as investigators probing the tragedy at the Bonanza Ranch in New Mexico were seeking to question the three workers who were supposed to make sure Baldwin was firing blanks, sources said.

The production company said in a statement Friday that the "safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company. Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/lethal-prop-gun-fired-by-alec-baldwin-had-misfired-before/ar-AAPQBeu

[dchill]

1. I'm thinking that no gun should ever misfire twice.

[ManiacJoe]

4. Misfires are normally an ammo problem, not a gun problem.

Especially for revolvers.

[rsdsharp]

8. I agree, although a failure to fire (a type of misfire) could be a light primer strike,

which can be caused by a faulty, or too light, hammer spring — a gun problem. It could also be caused by a hard primer, or a bad primer — ammo problem.

I do have a problem with the headline saying the gun misfired “before” which implies it misfired when the women were shot. As near as I can tell, it fired the way it was designed to if live ammunition was used in it. A tragedy to be sure, but not a misfire.

[texasfiddler]

2. I wonder if someone was trying to find out if it was the gun or the blank rounds causing the problem

and put a live round in the gun as a troubleshooting method to eliminate the gun's firing pin as a cause. If so, that was stupid and tragic.

[markpkessinger]

3. Misfire or not . . .

. . . that doesn't explain why there was a live round in the gun in the first place. The gun was supposed to have been loaded with blanks, not live ammunition.

[Act_of_Reparation]

14. I think we're going to find out this armorer is incompetent.

[ManiacJoe]

5. I have seen unconfirmed reports that

the prop master and/or armorer were previously using the revolver for target practice with live ammo earlier in the day.

It will be interesting to see if there is anything to that rumor.

[roamer65]

11. If they did, they should be charged with manslaughter.

[Sneederbunk]

6. Labor dispute. Don't rule out sabotage.

[Chainfire]

7. It would not be difficult to alter movie prop guns so that they could not possibly take a live round

but could continue to fire blanks. If that does not happen then they need to just point their fingers and yell bang.

[ManiacJoe]

9. Some guns do need the alterations, some do not.

Revolvers don't need the alterations to fire blanks.
Some semi-autos do need the alterations as not all factory guns will correctly cycle the blanks.

[hunter]

12. You know what? All the gun fetishists can go fuck themselves.

Ban all guns from movie sets, even the guns modified to only fire blanks.

Use plastic guns and add the CGI bang and flash later in post production, just like the phasers of Star Trek.

Cowboy gun fuckery needs to be shoved into the ash can of movie history, just as animal abuse was.

There ought to be a big notice at the end of every movie, similar to the one that says no animals were harmed, saying that no actual guns were used, modified or not.

[Chainfire]

13. About 44% of American household have at least one gun. There are more guns than people in the US.

Now, I have no problem with fucking, in fact, I have enjoyed it myself on occasion, but to follow your prescription would lead to a whole lot of self-fucking. The country needs more sensible gun laws, and a whole lot of people have guns that shouldn't, but tugging at your hair and screaming in protest accomplishes little.

There are bonified liberals, like myself, that own firearms. I live in the second most violent county in the second most violent state in the Union. I live, with my elderly wife, in a wooded area and my house is not visible from the public road. In the last 20 years, there have been three murders within 1000 yards of my house, and this in a county of only 45,000 people.

Our poor county has very limited policing, and that is based 12 miles from my house. After midnight there is one deputy on duty to cover the entire county of 530 square miles. If he is working a case on the other side of the county, emergency response times may be measured in hours. I am too old to fight and too feeble to run. I have a shotgun in my home because I would rather be a hammer than a nail. I see the shotgun as a tool, no different than a car, a hammer or a butcher knife. So far, I have harmed no animals or people with the gun, but I am only 70 years old, so it still may be in the cards. If you believe that I have a gun fetish, so be it.

Of course, during conversations like this, I have had people suggest that I move, rather than own a gun, and I could always relocate to a city, next door to a police station, abandoning the land that has been in the family for five generations. If moving to avoid gun violence, perhaps the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cuba, India or S. Korea, would be a better choice than any American city, so, no thank you, I will stay. If we all lived next to the police station, we would be damn hungry.

[kcr]

15. Huh. In other words, a majority of households have no gun.

Which is a good thing for them. Guns bought for self-defense are far more likely to harm the owner than any criminal. Tugging your hair and screaming that you need it for self-defense doesn't change that fact. People who are convinced they need them remind me of people who won't wear their seatbelts because they think they'll be trapped in an accident.

[Hangingon]

17. Thanks Chainfire

Great post

[hunter]

20. Gun fetishes are disgusting.

I live in a place where the cops are plentiful and often as trigger happy as armed criminals. I always think twice before I call the police and usually don't.

I've lived in places like that for forty years, at least. I've seen the police shoot people. I could do a walking tour of shootings, especially in the neighborhoods where my wife and I used to live when we were young, our children small, and our income not quite adequate.

But I never let anyone I'd care to shoot live in my head. I don't have any desire to arm myself in "self defense."

Most people in the U.S.A. don't care enough about guns to bother owning one, and those who do are not so foolish as to keep them handy as dangerous security blankets.

My family is hard core, matriarchal, U.S.A. Wild West. So is my wife's family. The old traditions here are that fools and their guns are soon parted.

I'm not grabbing any guns today but I'll happily deride made-in-Hollywood gun machismo and cosplay until it fades away.

And yeah, I've hunted, but not in the 21st century. There are too many fools with guns out there.

[BootinUp]

10. This company is a hazard that spouts lies. nt

[Maeve]

16. There has been repeated confusion in the reporting on this over the term "cold gun"

Baldwin was supposedly told it was a "cold gun"---That is not supposed to mean "loaded with blanks" but "not loaded at all"

Blanks can still wound or even kill.

[MineralMan]

18. It wasn't a misfire that killed that cinematographer.

It was a live round with a bullet that should never have been loaded into that firearm. That's what killed her. It fired just fine. There was no "misfire."

What was missing was a proper check of the weapon to make sure only blank rounds were loaded into it.

[ripcord]

19. There is no reason to have guns that can fire live ammo on movie sets

Since they are there everyone who handles these deadly weapons, including the actors, should practice safe gun handling required by law of everyone who handles firearms.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

21. This...and guns dont "misfire" on their own, somebody loads them and pulls the trigger