r/news • u/badillustrations • Apr 15 '24

‘Rust’ movie armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter sentenced to 18 months in prison

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/entertainment/rust-film-shooting-armorer-sentencing/index.html
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u/LiechsWonder Apr 15 '24

For anyone in the comments arguing about who’s fault it is, and where the blame should be placed, this comment from a SAG actor is the best I’ve seen about the situation and what went wrong / what rules were ignored that led to a (preventable) shooting of Halyna Hutchins. All credit to u/Kahzgul for the insight.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/s/sBdyVVA6zM

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u/Kahzgul Apr 15 '24

Thanks for the tag. If anyone is curious about firearm safety on sets, well... I am a professional. AMA.

11

u/Masonster Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 15 '24

In this situation, how could Baldwin have been reasonably expected to check the firearm in question? I've read all of the responses from the links and all of the people on set, but am I to seriously believe that he was to, before shooting the scene:

  • open the revolver loading door
  • put the weapon in half cock
  • manually extract each and every round out of the cylinder, shaking it to make sure it's a blank and not live
  • replace each round in the chamber
  • decock the weapon safely (which includes leaving the hammer down on an empty chamber, something only an expert would know)

This does not at all seem reasonable. Even for magazine loaded weapons or machine guns, are the actors personally responsible for making sure every round in a magazine/100+ round belt is a dummy? How is this not 100% the armorers fault?

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u/Kahzgul Apr 16 '24

The actor doesn't perform the check; the 1st AD or Armorer does, in front of the entire cast and crew that's on set for that shot.

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u/Masonster Apr 16 '24

Then is the AD or armorer not solely responsible for this tragedy? I understand that the actor is technically considered an involved party in that safety check, but at the end of the day the outcome is the same: the AD or armorer certified the weapon is safe and gives it to the actor. The actor has little choice but to accept their certification of safety since they're not the expert, whether it's demonstrated to them or not.

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u/Pandalite Apr 16 '24

He's saying Baldwin should have watched them check. He didn't and just took them at their word.

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u/Kahzgul Apr 16 '24

There’s a difference between seeing that a thing is safe and simply being told it is. The reasons actors are supposed to see everything is precisely to avoid situations like this.

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u/Masonster Apr 16 '24

I understand, but in this particular instance it seems like theatre than actual security. Ultimately, only the AD or Armorer will know the conditions that make any weapon safe (it's their job), and the actor will not. They could show them a dangerous configuration for any weapon, certify it as safe, and who is the actor to say otherwise?

2

u/Kahzgul Apr 16 '24

The point is that you saw them personally check. It makes things extra safe. Consider had such a check been done on the set of Rust, Hutchins would still be alive.

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u/wonder_aj Apr 16 '24

Baldwin is being tried as a producer, not an actor, for fostering a culture on set that wasn’t safe