Actor/Producer Alec Baldwin, who fatally shot “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, made a public plea for police officers to oversee weapons safety on movie and television production sets.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-alec-baldwin-rust-shooting-guns-police-20211108-let24xtdvfatplsxrds72h47hy-story.html
Baldwin’s idea is one of many as the entertainment industry struggles to cope with what went wrong and what to do to ensure that it does not happen again. Other than his safety officer idea, other people have suggested the complete ban on firearms in entertainment production both at the legislative and industry levels.
Will these new ideas make a difference? Or are they placebos ignoring underlying problems that the industry isn’t ready to face?
It was clear that there are already dedicated armorers on the crew who can handle prop weapons technical information. It was something I wanted to learn more about than the simple solutions being offered by the media.
So, I sought out the armorers I first met when I was the weapons technical advisor to the television series “Top Shot,” one of Hollywood’s very few live-fire productions.
Clay van Sickle is one of industry’s most experienced and was first to address the issue in depth.
The video is approximately an hour long and can be used to educate anyone interested in improving firearm safety on entertainment sets.
In it, Clay and I discuss Baldwin’s thought about the use of police officers. The discussion then moves on to discuss how safety protocols work today and what can be done to improve them. Clay goes over both the contractual and cultural issues that were already underway in the movie industry even prior to the tragic events on the “Rust” set.
Movie making can be a complicated process. There are many economic and risk factors that must be considered when coordinating and executing projects. There is no simple solution. And that is something that both the industry and lawmakers need to pay attention to as the debate about how to make sure it doesn’t happen again goes on.
Here’s an excerpt from the discussion,
00:00:28 Dennis
Clay, today’s topic is because Alec Baldwin began to voice his opinion on how Hollywood should make sets safer. There are many people who are doing this and they have some great ideas. He believed that any movie or television program that has a firearm should employ a police officer. The police officer should also be the safety officer. I’m not so sure that that’s really something that can really work out for a number of reasons.
Clay, 00:02.49
Baldwin’s situation is really troubling. He’s in a horrible position, was completely let down by the people who were supposed to help him keep his set safe, including the people that hired some of those people.
Ultimately, I think he’s speaking out because he feels like something needs to be done like this should have never happened and he’s right. This shouldn’t have happened and, as we all know, it happens even live on fire shows.
We keep hearing these cockamamie theories that, “Oh what if it was sabotage?” Let’s be honest. That’s just lawyers trying to throw in the shadow of a doubt for their client. But even if it was sabotaged, if the policies and procedures that we’ve been using for decades had been followed, this wouldn’t have happened.
Let’s get back to the main point. I believe Baldwin feels like he is at a moment where this high-profile incident is important and that he is determined to make it better. So, from that point of view I get I I feel where his heart’s coming from.
But, he’s operating under the assumption though, that all police officers are weapons specialists and they’re just not.
Yes, cops do have hard jobs. But 90% of that job has nothing to with weapons on movie sets. Most law enforcement agencies wouldn’t make great film armorers. They’re really good at what they do, but they’ve got a very limited stock of what they need to worry about.
You know, I don’t know what does LAPD have like 10 or 10 or so sidearms, that are authorized? Or something similar?
00:04:30 Dennis
Yeah, it’s a small list. I’m, I’m on a range team for a Police Department and the scenarios that you work with and the logistics that you work with, you’re basically working with people who all undergo firearms training. Each of them have been through police academies. You know if they’re carrying a gun inside the Police Department they’re presumed to be trained and mostly what you’re doing as far as range management and training, and those kinds of situations is maintaining their proficiency for a perishable skill, which is not the same thing as what happens on a film set.
Clay, 00.05:13
Not even. And the other thing is, they may know their Beretta or their Glock or their M&P. They may not know much about matchlocks or the Japanese Nambu of World War Two, but they might be able to tell you something. There’s such a broad range of things that armorers have to know, not only historically and mechanically, that most police officers don’t know anything about, and then you get into the blank fire only guns, which are a whole separate lifestyle.
Or somebody who’s trained with the Beretta 92 might pick up a Ekol 92, which is a Turkish blank fire only pistol and think they know about it. The takedown lever, which they believe is the control switch for the pistol’s full-auto mode is actually what it really is.
Many variations exist, including blank guns. Some people just blow the gas up. I can’t think of a cop, except for maybe a couple that you and I worked with on set, who would know anything about blank adapted guns. What apertures would be appropriate for which blank sizes? The idea that cops could just take on a new job and make it safe is absurd.
There are experts who can do this in the film industry who have the expertise, training, and background to already be doing this. That’s why armorers exist in the film world. I’m making the distinction that a Police Department armorer does a very different job than what I do on set.
Making dummies is a good way to practice.
As you know from when we did “Top Shot”, it drove all the contestants nuts. These are the safety guidelines that must be followed on set for filming.
You know, I keep hearing calls that, Baldwin shouldn’t have been aiming the gun at a person. Did you see a movie before? This is what we do every day. Cameras are often the target of guns. People are often the targets of guns. But we’ve got a separate set of protocols in place that keeps that situation safe.
To see the full video, click here
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