Prop masters explain how prop guns can be dangerous (CNN)

[ItsjustMe]

CNN speaks to two prop masters about how prop weapons can be dangerous, and what safety steps can be taken to avoid harm after a film crew member died and another was injured after actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set of the movie "Rust" in New Mexico, according to a law enforcement statement provided to CNN.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. How bout they simply remove all guns period from movies like they've done with cigarettes?!?!

[Irish_Dem]

2. Excellent idea.

Our society is way too violent.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Can just one shot hit two people? Or can we assume two shots were fired?

[Bucky]

4. The way the second expert described it, just the gas or powder from some loads can injure

...even from up to 25 feet away. That's eight yards. A powder charge that powerful would definitely be dramatic and tempting to use in a movie that intends to convey 19th century weapon violence

If there was a faulty projective from a high explosive dummy round, then an errant projectile (a part of the casing or a minute metal fragment from the gun itself) might've killed the DP while the discharged powder or hot gas might've burned or concussed the director. So, yes, unlike in Hollywood movies, an altered faux-vintage prop gun could potentially harmed two people, one fatally so.

This is just idle speculation, of course. We'll have to wait for the investigations to find out the deets. A terrible and meaningless tragedy. I'm still cringing at what the right wing noise machine will make of this because it was Alec Baldwin who was handed the faulty prop.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Thank you for the explanation.

I heard what the second expert said, but had a hard time believing it!
Your explanation makes sense to me.

Yes of course, it is all speculation at this point.
We will have to wait for the details and evidence.

Oh the right wing magats will have a field day.
Any tragedy is like raw meat to wolves.

[Bucky]

6. Elsewhere in this forum there's a link to an explanation

It's just one email with second hand info, so it's not reliable yet. But reportedly there was a live round in that gun's chamber.

That makes no sense to me. Maybe they need to test the weapons with live rounds before converting it back to prop status? That doesn't seem necessary. But there's obviously some reason, or explanation, why a live round was in a prop gun. I don't know the issues. Obviously someone screwed up very badly on a non-union set. It certainly must happen more often. It was only this time that the consequences occurred.

[Irish_Dem]

7. One email I read, said that blanks were considered live rounds?

Any type bullet that was ready for the actor to use would be considered "live." ???
That is what I thought it was saying.

Right, I cannot imagine why a real live bullet would be in a prop gun that an actor can access.
The gun should be prepped away from the set ahead of time.

Yes I just read it was a non union crew.
So to save some money they killed one person and injured another.

[Bucky]

8. Oh no, did the movie director die too?

I know this isn't really about Alec Baldwin, but I can't help thinking about what he's going through.

Did you see the pictures of him outside the sheriff's office? He looked devastated.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Oh I misspoke, he was released from the hospital.

Sorry.

I will change my post.

Yes AB looked absolutely stricken.

[markpkessinger]

10. It could happen . . .

. . . A single bullet could conceivably hit one person, travel all the way through that person, and hit someone on the other side of the person. Or a single bullet could fragment.

[Irish_Dem]

11. Thank you for this information.

I had not thought about the bullet breaking into parts and hitting a second person.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

12. Answer this question: why are live rounds EVER allowed anywhere NEAR a movie set?!