It’s easy to play armchair quarterback by offering early criticism, so I felt that it was important to withhold any commentary until a majority of the facts came to light.

On October 21, 2021, in New Mexico, on a set for the movie “Rust”, a live round was discharged from a firearm, resulted in the fatal shooting of the cinematographer and injury to the director.

As a result of the incident, key people involved in handling the gun have been scrutinized by the media:

• Alec Baldwin, who was handling the gun at the time of the discharge.
• Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was the Weapons Master, also known as the armorer, who has ultimate responsibility for all firearms used as props, as well as to ensure the safety of the cast and crew.
• Dave Halls, who was the Assistant Director, had handled the gun.  Allegedly, Gutierrez-Reed handed the gun to Halls, who handed it to Baldwin.

In addition, the shooting incident has sparked a debate about the general use of firearms as props in TV and movies.

I want to state unequivocally that I have no background in the film and theater industry, but I do have a level of knowledge and experience with many different kinds of firearms that exceeds at least 99% of the general public.

The purpose of this post is to review the facts of the incident (current, as of this writing), provide my analysis and thoughts about what may have led up to the incident, as well as what could and should have been done to prevent it.

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