Could Alec Baldwin’s Gun Really Have Fired Without Him Pulling the Trigger? – Opinion

Alec Baldwin is speaking out more about what happened on the set of “Rust”. ABC News published the following announcement.

Actor Alec Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that he had “no idea” how a live bullet got onto the set of his film, “Rust,” but that he “didn’t pull the trigger” on the firearm that killed one person and wounded another.

“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” Baldwin told Stephanopoulos in an upcoming interview that will air tonight.

I get the emotion of Mr. Baldwin’s statements. I don’t believe he meant to shoot anyone, and I believe the incident was an accident. However, the October 21 events were shocking.^St in New Mexico clearly say otherwise with regards to his new assertion that he didn’t cause the gun to fire.

I agree with you that there are many other factors which remain to be investigated. How did a live round get on the set of the “Rust” movie production? How that piece of ammunition meandered its way through the checks and balances procedures of the entertainment industry to get into the chamber of the gun in Baldwin’s hands in the moment he fired the fatal shot that ended the life of Halyna Hutchins, and wounded Joel Souza remains shrouded in the police investigation. That’s more of a matter about how the management system of the “Rust” production company was or was not up to proper standards.

The fact is that the chain of failed attempts did occur. It is clear that Baldwin’s actions in manipulating the firearm in his hands caused the firing pin of a live cartridge to hit the primer. This was because the revolver, a single-action pistol, was pointed at an object Mr. Baldwin didn’t intend to damage. In that moment, he was the last contributing factor to the tragic workplace tragedy.

I’ve been around firearms for a long time and I’ve heard claims like this more than a few times.  “I don’t know how it happened. I don’t remember doing anything wrong. The gun just went off.”

I’ve heard it most surrounding tension-filled circumstances where guns were drawn and pointed at people, and somehow, someone’s finger found its way onto the trigger with enough pressure to activate it and discharge the firearm, often to the surprise and dismay of the person holding the weapon.

That’s kind of the thing about negligent discharge incidents. Until something happens, the person doesn’t realize they have done wrong.  They often find it difficult to admit that they played some role in the sequence of events that lead up to the accident.

While the safety chain may look complicated, every link is an avoidable one. Alec Baldwin’s final action was one of those failure steps. As with all industrial accidents it wouldn’t have happened if one of the many contributors to the failures didn’t make their mistake.

Antique Weapons Have Peculiarities

What mistake could Alec Baldwin have made that instant? For arguments sake, let’s take it a face value that he didn’t consciously press the trigger of the firearm he had in his hand. Can he have really unconsciously let go of it? Yes.

The firearm in Mr. Baldwin’s possession that day was a single action revolver. The accompanying video shows how this firearm first appeared around the mid-1900s.^Th century. This system was an important step in the development of repeating guns. In the hands of someone using it in a manner it was not designed to be, it is known to be able to fire a manner where a user might think he or she hadn’t “pulled the trigger” when in fact they had indeed already inadvertently bypassed the fire control function of the trigger and its sear.

A single-action revolver shooting technique called “fanning the hammer” does exist. This technique allows you to bypass the trigger and hold the gun so that it is pressing the trigger. The shooter then “fans” the hammer by pulling it back and letting it go manually. The action of this revolver will turn the cylinder and bring a new chamber to the battery that may contain a live round. It releases the hammer and drops the firing pin on whatever’s in the chamber. It will fire the gun if there’s a live cartridge in the chamber.

This technique is used by quickdraw trick shooters to quickly draw single-action revolvers and then fire them at sub-second speed.

This YouTube video explains the process.

If Mr. Baldwin was using a similar technique to manipulate what he thought was a “cold gun” in his hands on that fateful day for theatrical imagery reasons, each time he “fanned the hammer,” he would have been advancing the cylinder with the live round in it one step closer to igniting.  With a six-shot single action revolver, you can get lucky a maximum of five times before you’ve dropped the hammer on every chamber in the firearm.

Alec Baldwin didn’t have to consciously “pull the trigger” to fire the gun in his hand. The trigger could be activated because Alec Baldwin may already have the gun in his hands.

Violations to Industry Policy and Procedure

As noted in my colleague Nick Arama’s breaking news article, “Alec Baldwin Makes Stunning Claim About the Shooting on ‘Rust’ Movie Set”, Baldwin is separately facing a lawsuit by “Rust” script supervisor Mamie Mitchell that his action to cock and fire the revolver was not part of the script.

These deviations are not allowed in entertainment because of the potential for industrial accidents. This was noted in my hour-long video interview with experienced Hollywood armorer Clay Van Sickle published on November 10 on Red State, “EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: ‘Top Shot’ Armorer Discusses ‘Rust’ Shooting and Alec Baldwin’s Police Proposal”.

A team of experts must carefully review any changes made to potentially dangerous elements of production, such as guns or stunts. Van Sickle believes that there shouldn’t be any ad hoc changes to these matters in the ideal.  Mitchell’s legal complaint is consistent with this.

There is no doubt that Baldwin was more than an actor on the film. He also served as a producer responsible for overseeing the production. We’ll see how that question of responsibility and culpability comes up when the interview airs.