In the aftermath of the seemingly accidental and fatal shooting that happened on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie “Rust,” there are still questions regarding exactly what happened and who is at fault.
On Oct. 21, while filming on set for his upcoming western movie, Baldwin was given a gun for his scene. The scene involved drawing a revolver and pointing it at the camera, as The New York Times reported.
But then the gun fired, and hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the chest and director Joel Souza in the shoulder. Hutchins, unfortunately, died from the gunshot.
Questions around the incident immediately followed. Why was there a live gun on set? Did Baldwin know it was loaded with live rounds? Why did seemingly no one notice there were live bullets in the gun before it was handed off to Baldwin?
In an interview clip released on Wednesday, Baldwin said that he did not pull the trigger.
Asked by @GStephanopoulos how a real bullet got on the "Rust" set, Alec Baldwin says: “I have no idea. Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”
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“Well, the trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” the actor told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“So you never pulled the trigger?” Stephanopoulos pointedly asked him.
“No, no, no. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Never,” Baldwin answered.
Baldwin said he had no idea there was a live bullet in the gun and furthermore, he had no clue how live rounds of ammo even got onto the premises.
Reuters noted the full interview with Stephanopoulos will be released on Thursday, but some clips were posted on Wednesday.
Law enforcement is still investigating the incident and no charges have been filed, according to CNBC.
While this killing seems to be a complete accident, Baldwin’s surety that he did not pull the trigger is questionable. Maybe he cannot remember or has blocked out the day’s events in his mind, but for a gun to go off on its own is nearly impossible.
It is technically possible for a gun to accidentally discharge, perhaps if it is dropped, but it’s extraordinarily rare. Furthermore, Baldwin had a revolver, which tends to be one of the most fail-safe guns, even in the case of accidental discharges. Most guns will have a drop-safety or firing pin block.
“Modern revolvers tend to be the ‘safest’ gun in terms of dropping accidents, as there is a slide bar between the hammer and firing pin,” Science ABC explained.
It may never be known what really happened on the set that day. It was likely an accident, and with so many moving parts, there is immense confusion over how everything happened. But due to the typical mechanisms of a revolver, it is unlikely that Baldwin didn’t touch the trigger at all and the gun just fired.
Baldwin admitted to Stephanopoulos that this is the worst thing that has ever happened to him. But the in the interview, the actor was ready to answer questions and share what he knew.
“As you can imagine he’s devastated but he was also very candid, he was very forthcoming,” Stephanopoulos said, as Reuters reported. “He answered every question.”
via westernjournal
Perhaps this pistol had a hair trigger. But in any case, barring evidence that would qualify as a motive for murder, this is just an accident. While there could be many litigations to assign some blame and monetary penalty for all the negligent persons that could have prevented this death, in the end, their will probably not be any incarcerations or other penalties from the state. I am no fan of Alec Baldwin but guns are serious business even if it’s only make believe in his world but I believe there can be victims on both ends of a firearm.
Pulling the Triger on a revolver is only one step to firing the weapon. You have a two step process to fire most revolvers, it takes more then just pulling the triger. A good lawyer with knowledge of firearms will shred his statement. The number one thing any person who picks up any weapon is to check to see if the weapon is loaded. That is the responsibility of the user, not any body else’s. Mr. Baldwin can make all the excuses he wants however he is the end user.
We ARE talking about an actor here, and I wouldn’t believe any of those alligator tears, nor this new declaration that HE never pulled the trigger—-yeah, that gun just up and fired itself, right? Or maybe some other scurvy individual near him shot those people and then shoved the gun into his hand. I guess the police, unless they REALLY botched the on-the-scene investigation would know if he was wearing the telltale gun powder residue on his hands. This is all such a circus. I wonder when the movie will come out about it?
I could not believe that Stephanpoulos tried to blame Trump for this shooting. Maybe a Trump supporter came on the set and loaded a real bullet in the gun. PLEASE!!! George you used to be a real journalist and now you are nothing but a liberal mouth piece!