Thursday, April 28, 2022

One more thing before I give up for the night, and that is something on Alec Baldwin's mess

However, it does provide critical information on how the negligent discharge likely happened. The video shows Baldwin repeatedly drawing his gun while rehearsing a scene. It shows Baldwin clearly had his finger on the revolver’s trigger as he practiced the draw. In the last take of the video, he can be seen pulling the hammer back and releasing it while he has his finger on the trigger. The hammer clearly falls forward after being released.
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As I said back in December, this was always the most likely scenario to explain how the gun fired. On a single-action revolver like the one Baldwin used, the hammer will catch on a series of sears when pulled back. However, depressing the trigger while pulling the hammer back will cause it to bypass those sears. If pulled back far enough before being released while the trigger is depressed, it could cause a live round in the cylinder to fire.

Baldwin has claimed he “didn’t pull the trigger.” However, his description of the shooting makes that hard to believe.

“I cock the gun. I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’” Baldwin told ABC. “And then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off. I let go of the hammer of the gun, the gun goes off.”

This is not possible without a severe mechanical defect in the gun or, more likely, the trigger being depressed. While it’s possible Baldwin kept his finger off the trigger during the shot, the video strongly suggests it’s unlikely. He had his finger on the trigger in these takes. He probably did during the final shot as well.

It's been warned, over and over, 'What you do in practice/training is what you'll do under stress'.  Sounds like Baldwin had a well-developed bad habit and followed it during the critical time.  Throw in either the prop master or someone else allowing live ammo on set, and disaster was pretty much certain.


5 comments:

Dan said...

He should not have pointed the gun at the victim. She wasn't an actor and therefore should never have been in front of a gun.....make believe or not. Baldwin is guilty of involuntary manslaughter and MUST spend time in prison.....if our legal system is to ever be trusted again.

Aesop said...

Take out the weapon handler loading live ammo on set, and disaster is pretty much impossible. Just like on every other set for the last 26 years.

Now guess whose job it is on set to load all weapons, and check all weapons, every. single. time. And to never, ever, ever, ever have any live rounds on set.

The Chain Of Disaster on this set was short, it had nothing to do with whose finger was on a trigger, and it began and ended with one person, who broke 60 of about 75 specific weapon and ammo black-letter safety rules for productions, in print since before she was born, and her name wasn't Alec Baldwin.

True no matter how annoying it is to those of us in the pro-2A crowd. No amount of wailing or gnashing of teeth will ever change that. She should already be on trial for negligent homicide, but six months later - nothing.

dug said...

Stupid asshole makes excuses for murder.

riverrider said...

its a fracking movie set, not a range. i despise alec baldwin and he is culpable in this but not for the reason most think. his action during the REHEARSAL of the scene was entirely reasonable. its a movie. his finger has to be on the trigger, he has to point it at the stand-in for proper effect. the gun was supposed to cold. the fault is he as producer hired a dip-shit loser relative of a family friend in an important job of armorer. THAT was negligent, especially since she screwed up several times prior, on this set alone. its important that if we are to fry somebody that we fry them for the right reason. and frying the right person helps too, lol.

Firehand said...

Yeah, movie/tv set rules are different, I've been told that it's a strict rule NOT to do anything, including check for loaded, when the prop guy hands it to you. For that he can't be blamed.

Agree that you want to nail the right person/people on this. For what they actually did wrong.