Rust film armorer gets maximum sentence

[Mr645]

I never said I dislike the man, but bottom line is he failed to confirm the firearm was safe and as a result of his negligence a person was killed, another badly injured.

Even 15 minutes of basic gun safety education would have prevented this fatality.

[pdq]

AP:

Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

Said the judge:

“You were the armorer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone,” the judge told Gutierrez-Reed. “You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother.”

Soooo, blame the actor, that was handed a gun described as “cold” (ie unloaded) and the actor believed the people whose central responsibility was insuring the safety of such props?

“Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator Dave Halls last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm and completed a sentence of six months unsupervised probation. “Rust” props master Sarah Zachry, who shared some responsibilities over firearms on the set, signed an agreement with prosecutors to avoid prosecution in return with her cooperation.

Looks like the prosecution is going to the max with a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter (after the same prosecutor dropped charges against Baldwin earlier). And has come out loudly and publicly saying that the shooting occurred because Baldwin had ”no control over his emotions” on the set.

:dunno:

[RAMd®d]

I remember both of those incidents. Saw "The Crow" soon after Brandon's sad death.


Likewise.

Both of those tragedies would have been presented had an armorer or property master done their job correctly.

I may be misremembering, but I think Cover Up had only a property master and not an armorer.

Regardless whichever it was, in both cases they didn't do the job they were charged with and needless deaths resulted.

Another aspect of the Rust shooting that bothers me is the 1st Assistant Director's role.

I believe this is the one who actually put the gun in Baldwin's hand.

Typically the 1st AD is the head safety guy on set.

As such, I think he would also be responsible for checking the firearm before handing it over.

To that end, I say that's why he was charged in the shooting death, but later give a plea deal.

That deal should never have happened.

I speculate the deal was to help get enough wood to build a bat to use on Baldwin.

Baldwin never should have been charged either time, and I hope his attitude doesn't get him convicted.

[Mr645]

basic rules of gun safety include

Always assume the gun is loaded until you have personally checked it.

A typical example is let's say you're looking at a gun at a gun show, it's new in the box. The dealer carefully locks open the slide, opens the bolt, pulls the cylinder (depending on the type of firearm) and checks that it is clear. Hands the gun to the customer, who will repeat these checks. The customer tries the trigger, operates the action, get's a feel for the firearm, hand the gun to his friend to check it out, that friend will once again open the slide/bolt/cylinder to make sure the firearm is safe before handling it.
Every single person handling ANY firearm takes responsibility for its safety.

I certainly believe Baldwin did not murder anyone, but he handled the firearm in a negligent manner and his actions caused the death of another. No different than if a gun owner is cleaning his gun and accidentally shoots a family member. Intentionally criminal act? No

[wurm]

…said that using live ammunition helped the actors get the feel of a firing a gun, so they would know how to do the recoil during a scene.

These are professional actors. Learn the feel on a firing range if you have to, then ACT on set. Jeebus, actors pretend to react to monsters by acting in front of a green screen. The FX folks are going to embellish the sound anyway.