Mr Baldwin faces two involuntary manslaughter charges, and up to 18 months in prison if found guilty.
An assistant director grabbed one of three prop guns that the film’s armorer had set up outside on a gray cart, handed it to Mr. Baldwin, and, according to an affidavit signed by Detective Joel Cano of the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office, yelled “Cold Gun!” — which was supposed to indicate that the gun did not have any live rounds in it.
When Mr. Baldwin fired the gun, law enforcement officials said, it struck and killed the film’s cinematographer and wounded its director — and raised new questions about firearms safety on film sets.
The assistant director “did not know live rounds were in the prop-gun” when he gave it to Mr. Baldwin, according to the affidavit, which was made as part of a search warrant application. The affidavit did not specify what kind of ammunition the gun had been loaded with. –NY Times
When you take possession of a firearm you, and you alone are responsible for ensuring the weapon’s status.
This is fundamental to every firearms safety brief I’ve ever been given.
The clear incompetence of the weapons safety staff on the set of Baldwin’s movie, Rust, does not excuse him from any personal responsibility when handling a real firearm that ended up killing one person, and wounding another.
It’s that simple.
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