#rust shooting

A judge has rejected a request by Alec Baldwin to dismiss his criminal charge relating to the fatal shooting on the set of Rust. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer upheld an indictment charging Baldwin with one count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, in 2021. The New Mexico judge rejected defence arguments that prosecutors flouted the rules of grand jury proceedings to divert attention away from exculpatory evidence and witnesses. Prosecutors denied the accusations and said Baldwin made "shameless" attempts to escape culpability, highlighting contradictions in his statements to law enforcement, to workplace safety regulators, and in a television interview.

I just had a rando message me privately. The message, essentially, was accusing me of being cold-hearted by calling Danneel a coward. Because how do I know she didn't have a bad experience with a gun and that's why she didn't go to Jensen when the Rust shooting happened?

Well, to that person that I blocked, and to everyone else having the same thought: You're right. I don't.

But that's a poor excuse.

I had a bad experience myself a few years ago. At the time, I was living elsewhere, in an apartment complex. I had just gotten home, not too late in the evening. (About 9pm.) I was heading in from the parking lot when I heard running footsteps behind me.

Two young idiots with guns were trying to rob me. Note the word: trying.

They first threatened to shoot me in the foot first. One of them tried to grab my purse, but due to a few things I had in my hands, it hooked in my elbow and I yanked it back. I was afraid of losing the only key I had to my apartment and my neighbors didn't have a copy for backup. My cellphone was also in that purse. No way to call for help either.

So I... fought back.

One of them grew angry and pressed the gun against my throat. Warned me. His partner tried to stop him, evidently not wanting to have murder charges on top of robbery.

And I still refused.

They gave up and ran off. I immediately ran to my apartment and called 9-1-1. Then the shaking hit.

The cops reprimanded me, of course. "Ma'am, next time, just let them take the purse."

So yeah... I know what it's like to have a traumatic experience with a gun. I also had a childhood friend die in his teens in a shooting.

I've also handled guns, before and after that experience. JROTC rifle training in high school. And then in my adulthood with an old WWII Russian rifle. (The kickback on that hurt like hell too!)

I have mad respect for guns.

And I still... don't... care. I really don't. I don't care if Danneel had bad experiences herself.

That was her husband! The man she supposedly loved. You go. No matter what. You. Fucking. GO.

I don't care if Jensen told her not to come either! YOU GO.

So all of you defending Danneel? I don't care.

Even if you never plan to handle a gun, you should know Cooper’s Rules, especially if you live in the USA. Y’all know me, I hate rules, but these I follow. Firearms are killing tools, this is how to interact with them safely:

#1: All firearms are loaded until you personally verify they are not. (Doesn’t matter if it’s the person who loves you most and they swear on all the gods that the gun they’re handing you is empty. They made a mistake and it’s loaded and ready to fire until YOU see an empty chamber.)

#2: Never aim the muzzle of a firearm at anything you are not prepared to destroy. (Just pointing a gun at someone is a form of assault.)

#3: Do not touch the trigger until you are ready to fire. (A negligent homicide still produces a funeral.)

#4: Know exactly what your target is and what is behind it for the full distance your bullets can cover. (When you squeeze that trigger, YOU are responsible for whatever happens. “I was aiming at this, I didn’t mean to hit that” will raise no one from the dead.)

Welp

Anybody who says this is the “alt right” doing straight up has not been following the movements of this case, because they have been looking to recharge Baldwin since they dropped the charges due to a dumbass criminal technicality on the prosecution’ part.

They even up the charges on the armorer’s part partly due to the fact that couldn’t get to Baldwin. Some extreme fucked up bullshit there, and hopefully some charges get dropped for her.

So no, if you’ve been following the bullshit, you knew this coming.

(Source)

Mate. The gun was in your hands. Literally -- you were the one holding the gun when it fired.

And even with the claim that “oh it should have been safe, that’s what the gun safety experts are for,” there’s still two major factors to consider here.

1. It’s basic set safety to always act as though the prop guns are live.

You’re never meant to point them at anyone (even when shooting a scene, there isn’t ever meant to be anyone in the actual line of fire; the guns are meant to be aimed to the side of actors, never at them. When filmed from the side, you can’t tell, but the actors (and crew) should always be well out of the line of fire); you’re always meant to have the guns pointing to the ground when not in use; and you’re always meant to check the chamber of any gun you’re handed, to make sure that it’s not loaded.

Doesn’t matter how many people have checked it before you; when that gun lands in your hands, you’re meant to check it. And even then it’s only assumed safe until the next time you put it down. You put it on a table for five minutes and come back to it? You’re meant to check it again. Its your responsibility to check, every time you pick it up, that the gun is safe.  

For Halyna to be shot, Alec must have ignored all of these rules. He’s admitted that he didn’t check the barrel, relying instead on the experts who declared it safe, and for Halyna to be hit when it went off, she must have been in the line of fire. Which means that either it wasn’t pointed at the ground, or they were doing a practice scene and Alec didn’t make sure that there was no one on the other end of the barrel.

It doesn’t matter if a gun is empty or not, you’re still never supposed to have someone in the line of fire. For this reason precisely!!

2. Alec Baldwin was the producer of the film.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with him.

The fact that they were cutting financial corners by filming in Mexico, where various safety laws are less strident; the fact that the crew were being worked at unsafe hours on very little sleep and housed over an hours’ drive away so that what little time they got off between sets was spent driving to and from work, further cutting into their rest time; the fact that the union crew members got kicked off set and replaced with non-union members who would be less able to stand up for basic set safety and working conditions… all that comes down to Alec. He was the producer. It is, in fact, his fault that this happened.