There is a lot on the media with regard to the firearm incident that occurred on the set of Alec Baldwin's Rust movie. It is very distressing and I am deeply saddened that the Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and Director Joel Souza was seriously injured. Also at least two other people were directly involved with the handling of the loaded weapon prior to Mr. Baldwin firing the fatal shot. That would be the Armorer who was responsible for setting up the weapons and an Assistant Director who obtained the weapon and delivered it to Mr. Baldwin prior to the incident. A lot of lives will be changed forever.
There is something else about this whole sad incident that disturbs me; the exceptionally poor media reporting of what happened. I read multiple accounts that all seemed to be parroting the same source and misrepresented a rather serious issue that is highly pertinent to what happened.
In multiple media accounts there was mention about a concern regarding a weapon (possibly the weapon used in the incident) that had "misfired" a couple of times before the fatal shooting. I read account after account and was puzzled why this was such a big issue. Why? Because a misfire is a "failure of the weapon to fire when it is SUPPOSED to do so." A misfire in itself is not dangerous, but how you handle a misfire IS important. A misfire can be the result of a number of factors. The trigger and firing pin mechanism may have become jammed and failed to strike the primer, the primer may simply not have been struck hard enough to initiate a fire, or the primer can be faulty and incapable of firing.
A misfire is first handled by "not doing anything" for at least 60 seconds in the unlikely event that the firing mechanism may "un-jam" and fire late. So during the 60 seconds you keep the weapon controlled and pointed in a safe direction. After this a person with adequate experience or qualifications may proceed to unload the weapon and determine the nature of the problem. This can all be done safely and is not terribly difficult.
So I kept wondering how a gun "misfiring" was pertinent to shooting someone with a live round. Then I read this...
"New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of “Rust.” The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didn’t have any ammunition.
"A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members."
Did you see what the actual safety concern was? I did. The concern was not about a gun that "misfires" it was about either two or three "accidental discharges" of a loaded firearm on the set. That's a whole different situation and one the media could not even report correctly when staring a quote right in the face while writing their article, "We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe.”
This ranks up there with CNNs use of the terminology "Full Semi-Automatic" to describe a mode of weapon use that DOES NOT EXIST. This is possibly hoping to get viewers to conflate this with fully automatic weapons (i.e., machine guns).
This absolutely atrocious reporting is why I have little to zero respect for those who would like to consider themselves to be journalists.
So, what should have been done that might have prevented this. First, there is no way in the world any live ammunition should have been anywhere on or near the set (i.e., completely banned from the premises). After the first incident (if the reports are true), the whole set should have been shut down and everyone in the cast and crew should have been handed their heads if they were found to have brought any live ammunition onto the set. Their career should be over on that day with every director in the industry notified what happened and who was responsible. Who should have done this? The Producer. Second, everyone handling a firearm should have been well trained in how to check and clear a firearm properly. In this case the Armorer, the Assistant Director, and the cast member handling the gun for the scene (Alec Baldwin). Third, the very first "accidental discharge" of a weapon should have been immediately reported to authorities for a full investigation. Who should have done this? That would be the Producer.
The producer, or in this case producers, would appear to bear a lot of responsibility for mis-operation of the production leading directly to the fatal event. It is literally their job to be responsible for the production. The producers are: Allen Cheney, Ryan Donnell Smith and Alec Baldwin.
What should be done now? The movie should be shut down with no prospect of a restart. All investment money that has not been spent should be returned to investors. All the people involved should be indicted and tried in a court of law. Then civil lawsuits should be filed for damages by the Director and the family of the Cinematographer.
Will the courts get it right? Why should this time be any different than the court case involving John Landis and the Twilight Zone movie? By that I mean, probably not.
