Thread: Should movie stars be allowed to outsource personal responsibility?

From Baldwin's tweet he seems to believe that checking firearms is somebody else's job...

Getting handed a loaded gun is a unfortunate. That's happened to me and i'm sure its happened to many who have worked in the firearm industry. Customers used to courier in loaded guns every now and then. Its a dick move yes, but that's the reason we treat all guns like they're loaded. Are there separate gun laws for movie stars and for plebs in the USA?
I fail to see him as blameless here. He's had lots of training so he should know to clear the gun and not to point it directly at anyone...

It was his finger on the trigger…

There were three people at fault there.

The star for not che king it himself.
The person who passed it to him.
And the person who had it pointed at her, she should have also checked.

Nobody here seems to have ever heard of that other actor who got shot on set...

Originally Posted by 40mm

There were three people at fault there.

The star for not che king it himself.
The person who passed it to him.
And the person who had it pointed at her, she should have also checked.

Nobody here seems to have ever heard of that other actor who got shot on set...

On a movie set, where you could have lots of actors shooting at lots of other actors - sometimes both ways - and you may have several retakes to get it right, it probably is not feasible to get every actor to check every gun and every round in every mag. They will have to rely on some specialist to check instead. I am not saying it is the best practice, just saying these are practical concerns.

Also, not every actor who acts with a gun is necessarily a firearm owner and user. if there was a live round in a gun by mistake, it could be just as dangerous to rely on someone who do not what they are doing to identify and remedy the situation.

It is for this reason when you fly Jetstar, they do not let you inspect the plane. You rely on some aviation technical whom you do not know and never met to make sure the plane is airworthy.

Originally Posted by 40mm

There were three people at fault there.

The star for not che king it himself.
The person who passed it to him.
And the person who had it pointed at her, she should have also checked.

Nobody here seems to have ever heard of that other actor who got shot on set...

Bruce Lee's son I think. Brandon

Originally Posted by T.FOYE

From Baldwin's tweet he seems to believe that checking firearms is somebody else's job...

Getting handed a loaded gun is a unfortunate. That's happened to me and i'm sure its happened to many who have worked in the firearm industry. Customers used to courier in loaded guns every now and then. Its a dick move yes, but that's the reason we treat all guns like they're loaded. Are there separate gun laws for movie stars and for plebs in the USA?
I fail to see him as blameless here. He's had lots of training so he should know to clear the gun and not to point it directly at anyone...

I get what you're saying, but the job of checking the firearm belongs literally with the set armourer. The nature of the business means firearms WILL be routinely pointed in the direction of other people, and fired. It's the armourer's job to make sure that happens safely.

Originally Posted by Rush

I get what you're saying, but the job of checking the firearm belongs literally with the set armourer. The nature of the business means firearms WILL be routinely pointed in the direction of other people, and fired. It's the armourer's job to make sure that happens safely.

So you’d be happy to take a “safe” firearm off a person, point and fire it at another person. I always check every firearm handed to me and will ask the person giving it to me to physically show me it’s safe.
I also go off if a firearm is pointed at me, at anytime, accidentally or not.

Originally Posted by T.FOYE

Are there separate gun laws for movie stars and for plebs in the USA?
.

dont worry the lawyers will be feasting on this for a long time (the only winners here).....the cops will likely charge baldwin and the prop guy , months will pass copious amounts of money will change hands and eventually everyone will carry on ......except the poor woman who died and the bloke that got wounded and their families.....

It has happened previously and it will no doubt happen again. We would check thoroughly no matter which of the positions we were in but clearly there are many that would not.

Definitely the fault of the set armourer who has total responsibility for the firearms and blank ammunition on set. Actors, by and large, are nothing more than presentable monkeys who perform as the script instructs them. I have had a fair bit to do with some of them over the years while performing the duties of set armourer, and neither worldly intelligence nor common sense is the forte of many of them.

Originally Posted by gundoc

Actors, by and large, are nothing more than presentable monkeys .

i like this description........pretty well sums it up

Originally Posted by scotty

i like this description........pretty well sums it up

Nz herald is reporting 2x UD on the set before this happened. Armourer needs to be held responsible

Originally Posted by gundoc

Definitely the fault of the set armourer who has total responsibility for the firearms and blank ammunition on set. Actors, by and large, are nothing more than presentable monkeys who perform as the script instructs them. I have had a fair bit to do with some of them over the years while performing the duties of set armourer, and neither worldly intelligence nor common sense is the forte of many of them.

Totally.
BUT, everyone including the dumb bastards out there know all about 'Murphy's law' and that old saying "if it can happen, it will happen"

I reckon the armourer is rightfully going to get the whip for this. But everyone else who touched that gun or had it scripted to be pointed at them is a dam fool for not personally checking it.

Just another example of shit happening.

Poor lady. Hope it was quick.

Intetesting huh. Im glad they put the these rules in place, they seem to be working great. A production team can literally walk off set 6 hours (in disgust) and the senior management claim they didnt know??? How is that possible either? How does that make them look MORE responsible in how they were overseeing things?

Originally Posted by gundoc

Definitely the fault of the set armourer who has total responsibility for the firearms and blank ammunition on set. Actors, by and large, are nothing more than presentable monkeys who perform as the script instructs them. I have had a fair bit to do with some of them over the years while performing the duties of set armourer, and neither worldly intelligence nor common sense is the forte of many of them.

This.
It's the Armourer & Safety's job to make sure it's safe. End of story.
Please don't think of this like some abstract hunting trip gone bad. The Actor may have never seen a firearm in their life before. That's why it's called acting.