Article: "Alec Baldwin Shot and Killed Female Cinematographer, Injured Director on Movie Set"

[Branden88]

Been following this since Thursday, extremely interesting, the trial of armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

The key moments for me personally, FBI and independent testing concluded that the "Baldwin Revolver" could NOT have fired / gone off without pulling/ squeezing the trigger.

As what I understand, about 6 live rounds of ammunition was found on the set in total.

Gutierrez in my opinion was very negligent, unprofessional and didn't really care for safety, after seeing evidence and listening to witness testimonies.

As for her defence, they're trying to shift the blame, responsibly, accountability of what happened, by claiming that Assistant Director David Halls was the person who handed the "Baldwin Revolver" to Alec before the shooting, and she wasn't even in the church at the time.
She had two jobs, and had a lot of stress and too much work load as she was a Prop Assistant as well.
She was only hired as a part-time Armourer.
She was not responsible for overall safety on set, and there wasn't safety briefings everyday.
Her defence is trying to create a narrative to say the camera crew members that in the morning walked off the set, were disgruntled and planted the live ammunition on
set.

I must say the State Prosecutor Kari Morrissey has made her defence Attorney Jason Bowles look like an amateur on several occasions, very witty and funny comebacks from her as well during.
Always intriguing to see, how they "dress / present" the defendant for the Jury, now the purple, yellow hair is all gone.
FYI: It was determined that the round that was fired, was the following, HSM Cowboy Action Ammunition 45 Colt (Long Colt) Round Nose Flat Point-Hard, 250 grains.

https://hsmammunition.com/cowboy-action/

Anyways here some interesting links that will reveal a lot,

[Branden88]

After deliberating for just over two hours, the jury in the Alec Baldwin ‘Rust’ movie shooting trial handed down a guilty verdict to the movie’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez for involuntary manslaughter. Gutierrez was immediately taken into custody and awaits sentencing for this conviction.
Jurors found her not guilty of tampering with evidence in the case.

Penalties for involuntary manslaughter are generally less severe than other forms of homicide. However, in New Mexico, it is still a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison and up to $5,000 in fines. The following is a quick summary of New Mexico's involuntary manslaughter laws.

https://www.findlaw.com/state/new-me...0%20in%20fines.

[Heath Robinson]

I have watched a few of the videos, though not nearly all. And obviously I must first admit to having never been on a film set of any description.
My abiding impression is one of utter chaos and lots of very inexperienced people in key positions, and I can't help but wonder if a movie directed by a "gun person" like Clint Eastwood would have looked different.

But leading from that I have a couple of questions/concerns. Firstly, the scriptwriter/director mentions that he once created a cop-movie in which firearms were used for only about three days, and that this was only his second experience of a movie with firearms.
I can fully understand that limiting the use of and access to firearms on a movie set would appear to make that set a safer place, but at the same time you are reducing the exposure and experience of all involved, and I just wonder whether that is not detrimental to safety in the longer term?
Secondly there is mention of documentation that the armorer needed from the administration so that she could submit it towards getting her qualification. Does this then mean that there was not a qualified armorer involved in the movie at all?
Thirdly, there is a lot of mention of dummy cartridges being "shaken" to determine whether they were in fact dummies. But the stated requirement for them is to look correct in a gun-belt (several times it was stated that those used in gun belts are actually made from wood?) and to make the firearms look "loaded". Why then aren't they all cross-drilled, or even better, not just empty cases?

And then the two major questions:
1) Why was a person who apparently had not consented to receiving training in firearms, and who had already proven to be unsafe in his handling of such (and I am speaking specifically of Baldwin) even allowed anywhere near one?
2) Why was there live ammo on set, and where did it come from? Guessing we'll probably never find out.

[Andrew Leigh]

Grinding away / removing the firing pin will remove all eventualities perhaps?

Either way very sad. The problem is that you have people on set that probably don't know the first thing about firearms.

There should be some censure for Alec, surely it was still his ultimate responsibly to check said firearm?

[Heath Robinson]

The guns (or at least some of the guns) still need to be able to fire blanks.

It is my understanding that charges against him were dropped, but then re-instated when two firearms experts (the FBI and a private contractor hired by the prosecutor) produced reports stating that the gun couldn't go off unless the trigger was pulled, and he will be having his day in court around the middle of the year.

My original opinion was that this was 100% his fault as in the world I inhabit the gun handler is responsible to know what state the firearm is in and what he does with it, but apparently in movie-world things work differently.

As an aside, I was very disappointed in the private contractor. Most of what he said and did was pretty good, but towards the end he said that if the gun was somehow fired from half-cock the shooter would have a very bad day as the cartridge would not be aligned with the barrel. No problem with that (although I fail to see how it could be accomplished without adding heat or extreme violence), but later he said that if the trigger was held back the hammer could be dropped from half-cock to cause this.

Totally ignoring the fact that in such a situation the firing pin would not be aligned with the cartridge...

[Messor]

Firearm folk should not watch any action movies, since they all break our safety rules, there, problem solved.

[Andrew Leigh]

In the wonderful world of movie making you can do pretty much anything to simulate a firearm firing.

[Andrew Leigh]

In the wonderful world of movie making you can do pretty much anything to simulate a firearm firing.