'Rust' armorer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter?

[rwj]

If the gun had been a prop stick of dynamite that went bang, would you fault Baldwin for throwing it?

He would bear the same amount of fault as all the others in the chain of custody.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

He would bear the same amount of fault as all the others in the chain of custody.

At least! It would be easy to make the argument that he is MOST responsible from several aspects. The buck stops where?

 

[Rset]

Reading through these comments, I am amazed by the difference in thought by many of the members here. It is clear without looking in many cases where they reside. Even among gun enthusiasts, it amazes me the difference in opinion as to where the fault lies. Only reinforces my belief that the current trajectory of the country is toward collapse as it as has been known. Those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.

 

[Steveb]

When this happened, I got the impression that they were checking on camera angles for shooting the scene. I understood that Mr. Baldwin assumed a position targeting a foe and Ms. Hutchins stepped directly in front of his position to view the scene from a camera looking straight down the business end of the pistol.

My personal assumption followed that Baldwin, thinking the gun was safe, playfully pulled the trigger just playing around with a friend. Crap like this happens when the less gun people get together. This very nasty and unfortunate incident happened.

Just my unsubstantiated take on things. People don’t know what they don’t know and many won’t/don’t ask.

If what you (MislMan) have said above is true which I do not know to be or not to be then the actor could have been in the performance of his job, ie acting, at the time of the discharge and the person who just shot was not where she should have been normally resulting in a tragic accident. All the multitude of above negative comments while valid in certain circumstances may not appear in this one. I simply do not know. If he was acting or practicing acting before the filming then he possibly was doing his job assuming the firearms was "cold" as he was told. In this case, I could not find fault with his behavior. He was doing a job which has been done a million times previously without incident. How many movies have scenes where the actor is holding a handgun and pointing directly at the camera? I see dozens every month!!
This does not release him from responsibility for the overall safety of the job site and he should be held accountable fully for that. A person died under his watch as the owner/manager and that could have been prevented as I see it.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Sounds to me like typical liberal bs. They want us to be very trained in order to exercise our 2nd Amendment but that doesn't apply to Hollywood liberals, just acting. How bout if the shoe were on the other foot, though?

Doesn't change guilt or not...just pointing out obvious hypocrisy is all.
I'm done with this for now, as it just really makes me mad to think about all that is wrong about it...so far. Time will tell how wrong it really was in the eyes of a jury, twisted by lawyers to refrain from using common sense and applying it to law.

 

[jelenko]

playfully pulled the trigger

I don't know what he actually did, but anybody caught pulling the trigger while the gun is pointed at someone needs some serious disciplining.

 

[jelenko]

I could not find fault with his behavior

NO.
Pulling the trigger on a gun while pointing at anyone violates the first three rules of gun safety.

 

[jelenko]

I'm done with this for now, as it just really makes me mad to think about all that is wrong about it.

Amen

 

[Rset]

the actor could have been in the performance of his job, ie acting, at the time of the discharge and the person who just shot was not where she should have been normally resulting in a tragic accident. All the multitude of above negative comments while valid in certain circumstances may not appear in this one. I simply do not know.

If you are negligent in the performance of your job, you are liable. This is simply the way way laws are written. Due to bias, the only time this appears to be enforced is against the company, which in this case was his. In most cases, regardless of how much training is involved the company is always held liable for employee performance. But, lets not discuss employee performance because that would just be the rich praying on the poor.

 

[dgeesaman]

I would venture that 75% of this country wouldn't know what to do if handed a weapon. So, there's that.

I’m not ashamed to say that when I shopped for my first handgun, I had to say to the store clerk: please show that the chamber is clear and exactly how I should check that for myself. (I could watch but they do it quickly and you can’t see what levers and whatnot they are touching). I’ve never seen anyone else ask that question although it seems perfectly reasonable when handling a model of weapon you haven’t handled before.

Imagine being a mega-actor or any actor who is “supposed” to be well studied for their new role, I can easily imagine that kind of thing never crossed their mind.

Both ignorance and hubris can abound when everyone is pretending to be an expert. Gun store counters or movie sets.

 

[Thauglor]

Not to defend Baldwin, but it wasn't his job to load the pistol with blanks, that was the armors job. It also wasn't Baldin who brought live ammunition to a film set. I am even more surprised they used a real firearm and not a blank only shooting replica with a narrow or blocked bore so nothing could come out the front.

Whoever brought real ammunition onto the set and loaded the gun is the guilty one

 

[rwj]

Whoever brought real ammunition onto the set and loaded the gun is the guilty one

What accountability should be born by the person that last handled the firearm that fired the fatal shot? Without them, nothing happens…

 

[Infrequent Shooter]

I bet 90% of actors don't check to see if there are real/live rounds in a revolver or semi auto. The percentage is probabaly higher. that shoot was about as dangerous as can be imagined by the sound of things. The older guy got off super light. guilty as shit IMO. Guys were using the revolver to shoot live rounds during breaks.

 

[Thauglor]

What accountability should be born by the person that last handled the firearm that fired the fatal shot? Without them, nothing happens…

True but they were given a supposedly cold gun, it depends on a lot of things

I think people here are pretty biased against Baldwin and want to have him pay cuz he is anti gun and pretty woke. But I bet a lot of minds would change on guilt if it was their son/daughter who was the actor instead

 

[rwj]

True but they were given a supposedly cold gun, it depends on a lot of things

I think people here are pretty biased against Baldwin and want to have him pay cuz he is anti gun and pretty woke. But I bet a lot of minds would change on guilt if it was their son/daughter who was the actor instead

He was intimately engaged in the event and should be accountable for his acts. If I gave you a gun, told you it was cold, would you point at your head and pull the trigger? My bias is towards those that try to blame everyone but themselves.

 

[Eagle Six]

True but they were given a supposedly cold gun, it depends on a lot of things

Who are 'they'? Only one person fired the gun.
'supposedly' there you have it!
Please list all these 'lot of things'. I am curious what they are and how that changes the homicide.

I think people here are pretty biased against Baldwin and want to have him pay cuz he is anti gun and pretty woke. But I bet a lot of minds would change on guilt if it was their son/daughter who was the actor instead

Why limit it to son/daughter, why not also include mother/father, brother/sister, uncle/aunt, etc.? If your safe gun handling skills are based on relationship or if you like a person, you have no business handling a gun as your handling will be bias by your emotions. The fact Baldwin is an asshole doesn't change the fact he is guilty of homicide. How I, or you, feel about him doesn't change his guilt.

 

[Murray Brook]

But I bet a lot of minds would change on guilt if it was their son/daughter who was the actor instead

I understand what you are saying. Even if your child murdered someone you would try to find an excuse. This is the reason that in all democracies judicial system there arn't any relatives on the jury.

 

[M-61]

It also wasn't Baldin who brought live ammunition to a film set.

Has that been established?

 

[Richard308]

"Armorer" really ?

 

[Xerothermic]

I’m not ashamed to say that when I shopped for my first handgun, I had to say to the store clerk: please show that the chamber is clear and exactly how I should check that for myself. (I could watch but they do it quickly and you can’t see what levers and whatnot they are touching). I’ve never seen anyone else ask that question although it seems perfectly reasonable when handling a model of weapon you haven’t handled before.

Imagine being a mega-actor or any actor who is “supposed” to be well studied for their new role, I can easily imagine that kind of thing never crossed their mind.

Both ignorance and hubris can abound when everyone is pretending to be an expert. Gun store counters or movie sets.

Well put.