MovieChat Forums > Alec Baldwin Discussion > prosecutorial overreach.

prosecutorial overreach.


this won't go anywhere.

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I agree. The armorer was truly at fault.

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The armorer did not point the gun at the victim nor did she pull the trigger. Baldwin did that.

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I disagree. Actors rely on experts to hand them guns that are not loaded with live rounds. I dont understand why this is incomprehensible to you and people like you? This will be the last time I speak on this.

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Excusing negligent handling of a firearm for any reason is bad.

You don't understand why a shooter is responsible for the bullets they send downrange? Then your opinions on the safe handling of firearms is worthless.

Yeah, go find a safe place to hide from integrity and truth you snowflake.

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Just never going to agree with you. Call me whatever names you want. Its not the army, its not the marines it’s not even a public or private shooting range or some rednecks backyard. Its a movie set and armorer’s are employed to guarantee safety and are experts in their field. There is no way there should have been live rounds on that set or even loaded into a gun for a scene in which it is fired or not fired. Therefore it is not reasonable to expect an idiot actor to think otherwise. I am a gun owner and I know all the same safety rules of which you speak and I follow them but again and you seem to really not be comprehending the fact that this was a movie set where a professional, expert armorers main function was to guarantee safety and where no one including idiot actors expect a gun to have live ammo loaded. And btw no charges were ever filed against the actor that shot Brandon Lee making The Crow. Your just wrong about this.

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A friend of mine is an actress who has had to handle guns for roles. She was in a Western and had to handle a revolver. The gun goes through a number of hands, and if they're security-conscious -- they weren't on Baldwin's set, which is why a number of the crew walked off the set protesting the lack of safety -- but if they ARE security conscious, everyone handling the gun checks it. Last of all the actor checks it. If they're not even supposed to be firing it, as Baldwin said, he should have handed all bullets -- blanks or not -- to the armorer and asked why he was handed a loaded gun. If he was supposed to shoot it, he should have checked to see all the cartridges were blanks. My friend told me it was easy to tell blanks from real bullets.

The reason the actor checks the gun is because they're going to have to be the one trying to sleep at night if live ammo is fired from that gun while they're holding it, killing somebody.

For pity's sake! If everyone in the world was let off for killing someone on a movie set, would that make it okay to do it the next time it happens? No. So enough with "Brandon Lee! Brandon Lee!" 🤦🏼‍♀️

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Well clearly there are very passionate positions regarding this issue. There are thousands of movies with thousands of gunplay scenes and I can only recall 2 within my lifetime where actors were killed and both were because of the negligence of the armorer. I doubt in all those thousands of films and thousands of scenes with gunplay did an actor check or test a gun once it was handed to them and they were told it was safe. I guess we will all have to wait and see what comes out in the trial and what the result is. I may even change my mind about Baldwins culpability but for now I dont see any evidence that he was negligent in his capacity as an actor. Now if as a producer he was negligent regarding safety and cut corners to save money than that is a different story. But I still dont think, regardless of the actor, it is the actor’s responsibility to guarantee a firearm is safe or cold or whatever after it has been handed to them and they have been told it is safe. Most actors probably know next to nothing about firearms and ammunition.

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It takes little time to check a revolver. And blanks aren't hard to detect. But you do have a point, there, with your last line. People who aren't used to guns probably have no business being around them, even in the movie business.

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So even if Baldwin admits that he was negligent and should have checked the revolver himself, you would never agree with me. Dealing in absolutes is stupid.

How is it that you are refusing to understand the basic rules of gun safety?
1. Always point a firearm in a safe direction.
2. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
3. Treat every gun as if it were loaded. Keep it unloaded until you’re ready to use it.
4. Know your target and what’s around it, including beyond it.

Baldwin violated all of them. Had he adhered to a single one of those rules, he would not have killed anyone. everyone with a gun in their hand needs to follow these basic rules, they cannot give the responsibility to anyone else.

Baldwin is trying to blame others when he pointed a loaded gun at a person and discharged it. He should not do that.

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These are the same people who think Kyle Rittenhouse is a hero

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He is a hero. He removed scum from this planet and seriously vibe checked another scumbag.

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It's basic firearm safety. You don't point a firearm at someone you don't want to kill/injure. Even if you're sure it's unloaded and you certainly don't pull the trigger. No one is above this rule. Not even Alec Baldwin.

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https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/why-wasnt-anyone-criminally-charged-090036355.html?soc_src=yahooapp

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Baldwin didn't do a single safety check.

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Most actors don’t.

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Well maybe this death will change that.

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Steve, actors are just as capable of learning how to minimize risk as anyone else, guns fire bullets, and bullets kill people, like that first grade teacher who was just blown away by her 6 year old student. I take it you feel the child’s parents shouldn’t be held accountable either because they’re not professional soldiers and since they have no formal training in armed combat should be cleared of any wrong doing what so ever.

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I disagree. Actors rely on experts to hand them guns that are not loaded with live rounds. I dont understand why this is incomprehensible to you and people like you? This will be the last time I speak on this.

We have all been round and round on this countless times on this page .
I'm with you , when filming the rules need to be different .

But!!!
Baldwin wasnt filming , he was just pissing around with the gun, so he should have been observing all the everyday gun safety rules same as he would in his house.

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Baldwin knew that it was a REAL firearm. That alone seals it all.

If you are negligent enough to point a real firearm at people while being unaware if it is loaded or not, you need to face the consequences.

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If actors rely on experts, why didn't Baldwin rely on it then? He relied on anyone NOT an armorer apparently when handed the revolver.

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not at all correct. The armorer didn't pull a trigger that wasn't supposed to be pulled.

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I disagree. Actors rely on experts to hand them guns that are not loaded with live rounds. I dont understand why this is incomprehensible to you and people like you? This will be the last time I speak on this.

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i would bet most canadians actors don't know anything about guns. we don't have the gun culture that the usa has.

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Exactly. I would be surprised if it moves forward after the preliminary hearing. And the prosecutor stating that it's the actor's job to ensure the firearms used on the set are safe. That's crazy.

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Actor or not, anyone holding a gun is not suppose to point it at something or someone and pull the trigger unless they intend to destroy the target.

This is one of the four basic gun safety rules that everyone should know. Ignorance or stupidity is no excuse.

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This is nonsense! The armorer ensures that: a) Guns are loaded with appropriate blank rounds. b) Actors understand that blank rounds can only be safely discharged at targets beyond a certain range.

In making films, guns loaded with blanks are pointed at things and persons that are intended to appear to be destroyed.

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All persons need to understand that the bullet they discharge from a firearms are theirs. They are responsible for where the bullets go. This is a rule that is taught to, or should be taught to anyone who ever handles a gun, period.

Baldwin pointed a gun at a person who was at point blank range and pulled the trigger. Everyone should be held accountable for this kind of negligence.

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No they're not, otherwise actors like Michael Massee would have been charged for the manslaughter of Brandon Lee.

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They were not charged back then, but it seems they are now. You think nothing changes? 100 years ago it was safe to lynch a black person.

Human life is slowly becoming more precious. Why would you object to this happening?

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Cops can easily shoot and kill black people without repercussions just like they did 60 years ago with fully loaded guns and assault rifles.

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So, anyone who would give Baldwin a free pass to kill someone would do the same for the police? You should not do that.

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He was not just the actor who fired the gun. He was the Co-Producer. Someone has to take responsibility.

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That makes zero sense since there are other producers and executive producers attached to this movie and they're not being charged.

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because they didn't point the gun and pull the trigger, which Alec wasn't supposed to be doing at the time.

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Yup. She's clearly reaching for a piece of fame.

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someone trying to make a name and run for governor or something else.

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laughably incorrect. Any average joe would face the same charges.

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An average Joe certainly would face the same charges if he was at home with his own weapon and killed someone. The question (that won't be answered until after the case is settled) is whether this same Joe, if handed a weapon a professional on a movie set (or say even a police station) told him was safe to handle shot someone.

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That's just it, it didn't happen like that. Baldwin was doing it of his own accord. They weren't filming, and he wasn't supposed to be handling the gun or pulling the trigger at the time. I don't doubt that happens all the time, but just because poor gun safety on set is often overlooked on set, it doesn't give that person a pass when an accident happens. Regardless, I think a lot of people are confusing proper movie protocol with actual laws. I could be wrong, but I doubt the laws say a gun handler can point a weapon at someone and pull the trigger without any repercussions just because someone else said it was ok. That's why other actors have stepped forward and pointed out that they always inspect weapons themselves.

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The way I read it was that while they weren't actually filming, Baldwin was slowly pulling the hammer back so they could frame the barrel of the gun rotating for the camera. According to Baldwin, he let the hammer go and the hammer fired the round without him pulling the trigger. Is that possible with a vintage Colt? I don't know - I don't own one nor have I ever fired one, but I know for a fact that a gun can fire with just the hammer (my dad was almost killed by one).

I wasn't there and unless the cameras were rolling, we don't know if his story is correct or not.

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You raise an interesting point in my mind. Did Baldwin have specialized experience in vintage revolvers from years of acting with such weapons and will his possible criminal liability be determined by comparison to how a reasonably prudent actor with such experience would have handled the weapon (as opposed to an ordinary person without such experience)?

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The armorer goes over that with you (if you allow them), or is supposed to.

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Good point , it would be remiss of the armourer to allow the gun to be used by an actor the armourer didnt feel knew all the facts about that model.

This armourer hoewever couldnt even keep live ammo out of the gun.

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Did Baldwin have specialized experience in vintage revolvers from years of acting with such weapons and will his possible criminal liability be determined by comparison to how a reasonably prudent actor with such experience would have handled the weapon (as opposed to an ordinary person without such experience)?


Good point, but I suspect it will still come down to what laws apply or how they're interpreted (with little precedent to go on).

Let's say for argument that Baldwin is a gun expert even - will the fact than the armorer and the assistant director declared the gun "cold" before he was handed the weapon be enough to get him off the charges?

I've used Betty White as an example several times in this debate. If Betty White (everybody loved Betty White!!!) was handed what was supposed to be an unloaded gun and she killed the cinematographer in the same way Baldwin did, would she be prosecuted?

I would suspect not, and some of that at least (getting to your point) would be that she likely never handled a firearm before and would be less likely to know firearm safety.

On the other side, we know that all kinds of safety rules are routinely broken in movie making including breaking the gun safety rules, yet they still happen in the industry. To mitigate the chances of accidents, professionals are hired and all sorts of safety procedure are implemented, but accidents still happen.

Will it be enough for Baldwin that people hired and paid to ensure the guns on set were safe declared the weapon safe didn't do their jobs?

Time will tell.


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You haven't seen the bloodlust in the prosecutor's eyes, obviously.

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Show me a picture of the bloodlust in the prosecutors eyes. I indeed missed it.

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Watch the news clips. It's really not my job to think for you.

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And both prosecutors are all over the news trying to poison the jury beforehand.

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Baldwin pointed a gun at a person then pulled the trigger. Anyone with a gun in their hand owns the projectile that comes out of it. I see no accidents here. It was negligence all the way.

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Funny how your legal definition of owning bullets never applies to police, military personnel or Kyle Rittenhouse.

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I think it should apply to those people. But law enforcement does not always agree.

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It doesn't, so this whole indignation over Baldwin facing consequences when dirty, stupid cops continue to get away with murder is my point

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Some police officers are being tried for killing people. It just needs to happen more often.

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It's probably better for him that something official happens. Otherwise, people will go on and on about his receiving special treatment.

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People already get special treatment and they're in law enforcement and the military.

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The same thing happened to John Landis after the Twilight Zone movie in 82/83. A criminal and civil trial followed and laws were changed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Zone_accident

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As I understand the TZ accident - The director ordered something obviously dangerous to be done and the person or persons (pilot, person incharge of pyro...) who should have overruled him did not. The director was guilty of a reckless act and other persons, of negligence.

In this case, Baldwin was unaware of the gun being loaded with live rounds (And it should never have been), and could only conceivably be accused of negligence. Actors handle guns under supervision to avoid this sort of thing and supervision was lacking.

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You are correct in this. The comparison I was making was that on both sets there was a lack of safety procedures in place on both sets; a serious tragedy was the result in both cases with some deaths and serious injuries.

Things changed in Hollywood after both incidents.

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Unless the prosecution has proof that Baldwin demanded live ammo to be used on set by specifically instructing the other defendent to load live rounds into his gun, they're gonna have a hard time proving that negligence was all on him.

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🤣

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Absolutely. The limit of his negligence is careless handling of what he could only have understood to be a gun loaded with blanks.

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I don't think you're supposed to point the gun at anyone according to the safety guidelines

How does the law work off-set? If someone hands you a loaded gun saying it isn't loaded and you start shooting at people, you don't bear any responsibility for just taking that person's word for it?

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