Recently on the set of his newest movie, Rust, star actor Alec Baldwin had a tragic accident in which a prop gun was involved. Long story short, one camera woman named Halyna Hutchins died and the director is in the hospital as of this blog post. “A spokesperson for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to The Hill that a search warrant had been conducted on the set of “Rust” on Friday and said that no one had yet been arrested or charged.” (the Hill, 2021).
Alec Baldwin was told prop gun was safe before fatal shooting: reports https://t.co/EQsT7LoC8G pic.twitter.com/0YOwx4hTs2
— The Hill (@thehill) October 23, 2021
As a veteran with two combat tours and firearms training, many questions abound. Who was in charge of the guns on set? Why did Alec fire the rounds that he did? Why is a known anti-gun advocate making money off of gun use in the first place? Why wasn’t the warnings by cast and crew heeded? Why hasn’t anyone been charged yet? Did this bring up the Brandon Lee incident which should have changed movie-set protocols? Does firing union workers and replacing them with non union workers even matter? There are plenty of questions and the facts of the case have yet to have answered them all at this time.
I get that Alec Baldwin was an advocate for gun control and a staunch anti-gun liberal entertainer. The memes abound with his hypocrisy after police shootings and such. And we can make all kinds of blame go around and around. I even held him responsible initially because he was the one holding the firearm at the time. I am not an expert on how firearms training and their handling are supposed to go on a movie set to my defense. His defense at this time, is that he did not know the prop gun had live rounds in it. I don’t know how that matters in a legal sense but I want to use this as a chance to talk about a few things.
First, labeling the gun a prop means nothing to me. One should handle ALL firearms as if they are loaded with muzzle awareness and safety. At no time should the fact that it was a prop gun change any way that the actor handled the gun. Any firearms trainer with his/her head on straight will tell you how to handle anything that resembles a gun with care.
Secondly, where was the set armorer? According to some reports, the gun was fired previous to this incident. A story telling by actor Jensen Ackles of Supernatural fame, said that he was being shown how to handle the weapon. Although he was joking at an event that he already knows firearms handling, he showed that the armor did give him lessons. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that the armorer should not have went through the steps with him anyway. But did she help Alec in the same way? Did he listen? Training and retraining is always important with firearms. They are not toys, props or not.
Lastly, gun control isn’t just a slogan by people who want to disarm citizens. Gun control is also about the responsibilities of everyone involved. There are stories now surfacing about handling of the firearms on the set prior to this latest incident. Anyone with common sense after hearing how employees complained about conditions would suspect something like this not to be shocking. How many times does someone have to feel unsafe for those in leadership to do something differently? How important was it to those on set to keep everyone from getting hurt? And now so many lives are changed forever because of the lack of real action.
I am waiting to the more facts of the case come out until I assign full blame. My instincts as someone who has knowledge is to blame the person with the gun in their hand. But, we know that rushes to judgement is never the proper way to respond to a situation. Hopefully, when the investigation is finished and whatever trial comes next, the proper wrongdoing parties are held to justice just like any ordinary citizen would be.
There is a large segment of Hollywood that lives in a contradiction state. They are against civilian ownership of guns and not military. They like their own armed bodyguards but not citizen defense. They love to make movies that involve gun use but preach all day at the people who live in some of the most dangerous area in this country. Hollywood, the music field and even some of those in the democrat party love lecturing us about guns. And some of them are the most uneducated when it comes to firearms training. Maybe they should all be required to go through some courses before commenting on them.
There is a video of actor Will Smith going around when he responded to someone flagging him with the muzzle of the gun. That was bad. The after edit of him clearing the weapon properly happened later but the video was edit, those watching got the idea. This is going around to show that being an actor isn’t an excuse not to be properly trained. We seen this with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick training as well. If you want to handle firearms, you should understand and know the basics.
Many are afraid of firearms and think that this fear should transfer into policy. Most fear comes from lack of education, proper training, and historical context. Millions of bodies are laid to rest simply because people in power took firearms away from them. Bad guys won’t care about more of your gun control laws. They will do what they are going to do anyway. Gun control laws restrict law-abiding citizens.
Handling firearms are no joke and should always be treated with the respect they deserve. Even with my experience, one mistake from me can take the life of others and that of my own. But with proper training, proper maintenance of equipment, constant refreshing and proper respect, owning and using a firearm does not have to be that difficult. People just need to know what they are doing.
It saddens me that something like this can happen in an arena where those who seem to hate guns and want regular people not to have them, reside. The irony of this fact, is creating the uproar because gun enthusiasts, gun rights advocates and etc were called all kinds of bad names by a man that should know better. We aren’t the ones who just took a life though. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is a spiritual law and I cannot help but think that Alec Baldwins inability to be civil about guns help put him on a path were he would be tested about his own actions and principles. God has a way to humbling each and everyone of us. Not matter what consequences he faces, if any, he will have to live the rest of his own life with what happened and so does the families of those involved.
If you and someone you know are interested in learning about firearms, want to support firearms training and activity or just need refresher; check out Black Guns matter on YouTube/Twitter and they can get you squared away. Libertarian firearms teacher, expert and organizer Maj Toure’ also has an app that lets you know local laws and statutes to keep you up to date. This is not a sponsors paragraph, I just always try to keep my readers informed and hooked up with the right people so they don’t find themselves on the other side of a bad situation.
This piece is dedicated to my late cousin LeeAnn Parker who was murdered last year in a gun robbery in Milton, Florida.
Alec Baldwin was told prop gun was safe before fatal shooting: reports | TheHill
