‘Rust’ Armorer Is Sentenced to 18 Months for Involuntary Manslaughter

I can't disagree with her conviction for having live ammunition on a movie set. That (IMO) is an accident waint to happen, and of course it did.

However, Mr. Baldwin deserves a penalty for his part as well. NO responsible person should ever point a firearm at anything or anybody they do not wish to shoot. You just do not pull the trigger on any firearm while pointed at a person, unless you intend to shoot them. And trusting another's word that the firearm is empty or loaded with blanks is sheer carelessness.
 

Mobilman44 said:
I can't disagree with her conviction for having live ammunition on a movie set. That (IMO) is an accident waint to happen, and of course it did.

However, Mr. Baldwin deserves a penalty for his part as well. NO responsible person should ever point a firearm at anything or anybody they do not wish to shoot. You just do not pull the trigger on any firearm while pointed at a person, unless you intend to shoot them. And trusting another's word that the firearm is empty or loaded with blanks is sheer carelessness.
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You know, I was watching a movie a couple nights ago and there was one scene that made me think of this situation. The main character was facing down an attacker and she turned towards the camera with her arms outstretched and pointing a gun square in the face of her would be attacker and the viewer was seeing the situation from the perspective of that attacker.

When this incident happened, I read that the lady director, with the other shooting victim (sorry I can't remember their names or their titles) and Baldwin were setting up a coming scene in the movie where the camera angle was to show Baldwin pointing his gun at the adversary and it was to be from the point of view of the adversary. He wasn't horsing around, they were setting up a scene.

And the reason they have a person who's sole job is to take care of guns and all that sort of thing, it seems to me that his trusting the employee whose job it is to do that, isn't that unreasonable. After all, the guns on that set were not meant to be for anyone to play around with, they were props for a movie. I don't think this is his fault at all. To say that is to say that if there's a movie with vehicles that are supposed to be in a drag race or be involved in an faked collision and one has an accident that results in a death, is he supposed to be the guy checking the brakes and the transmission or for whatever else might go wrong?
 
It's hard confusing live ammo with blanks. She should do some time.
I don't think Baldwin, even as producer and director is guilty of anything. He hired, whom he thought was a responsible armorer. If he hired a film director, that doesn't mean Baldwin has to supervise the loading of film into the camera. When he aimed and pulled the trigger, he assumed what he had in his hand was a harmless movie prop.
 
I don't have an opinion on the guilt of Alec Baldwin, who I like as an actor and because he obviously likes kids. He has 15 or them, or something like that.

But we're getting into, "His production company hired her so is is liable, in part?" That is going to involve specific NM laws hashed out by the lawyers, so I don't know. I don't know if, under NM law, Baldwin will be found liable in part or not.

Other cases and their outcomes: Recent Accidents on TV and Movie Sets (Published 2021)

Sorry I keep posting the NY Times, but other sites that came up with a similar stories don't mention if charges were flied against the producers.

You can see from this article that the decisions have been a mixed bag. So many variables - state laws, juries, settlements, DA decisions, etc.
 
The entire crew of people in charge created a poor, lax attitude about safety.

She was just one of many who need to be sentenced. The woman who worked for the company providing the bullets was deemed immune from prosecution. WTF?

The guy who provided the live ammunition had no records of what he delivered. WTF?

The armorer was the last in line and all the blame falls on her.
 
@OldFeller I would find it very difficult to blame the entire crew because a group of workers is always looking to leadership to tell them/teach them all they need to know to be safe.

That's what leadership does, in part. Its responsibility is to keep workers safe. That's part of why the bosses get the Big Paychecks and stock options. Allegedly, they carry more responsibility so they get compensated for carrying that load. Allegedly.

We've all known or had bosses who were slackers and got the paydays, but didn't give a darn about their workers or customers.
 
I don't think she got enough time. She obviously didn't do her job at the very least and who's to say she didn't purposely load the gun with live ammo. I still haven't seen any reports of the investigation getting to the bottom of why live ammo was even on the set, let alone loaded into the gun that was to be used for a scene.
 


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