In his first interview since the deadly Oct. 21 shooting, a tearful Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos he has “no idea” how the live bullet ended up in the firearm.
“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said in a preview clip of the interview released on Wednesday.
“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” he said.
Authorities have previously said Baldwin was holding the prop gun while rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe when it accidentally discharged.
— Emily Crane in ‘I didn’t pull the trigger’: Weepy Alec Baldwin makes shocking claim on ‘Rust’ tragedy
Wow! Are they really going to let this tool get away with manslaughter?
Well, Kim Fox is letting gangs get away as “mutual combatants”. And the victims of the shootouts are not cooperating with the investigators. The movie crew is cooperating with the investigation. So we will see. Baldwin can aford lots of lawyers. So I expect the DA will be doing a better job than the one in Kenosha.
Chris T, What do you mean? The prosecutor in Kenosha did an exemplary job of aborting and corrupting the purpose of a fair trial of the facts for a ‘Brandon’ administration’s Totalitarian disarmament agenda. It’s just that the Defense Attorneys did a better job preserving righteous, honest due process and truth, which resulted in the just and proper verdict, and a clear re-evaluation of the preservation of our precious 2nd/A self defense rights.
But this Alex B case is swimming in different waters. I always liked his acting but his private life antics demonstrated that he might be one of those actors who gets too absorbed in his role-playing and sometimes loses touch and can’t distinguish fantasy from reality. So what his doubtlessly proportionately clever to their disproportionately high-priced service lawyers are setting him up for–with these whack-head comments–is a stress-related mental illness defense which would likely get him off with outpatient treatment absent any determination of criminal malice if they decided to criminally prosecute him. Especially if the victims’ families are the recipient of atonement settlements that are also disproportionately immense. Everything has a price, including life. Unless you are a poor young person of color, where your life goes for less than 10 cents on the dollar, adjusted for inflation.
So it is written, so it shall be…
Kim Foxx reference is to Chicago, not Kenosha. https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/mutual-combat-chicago-prosecutor-wont-charge-five-gang-members-involved-in-deadly-shootout/amp/
And that judge tap danced through a minefield laid by a prosecution trying their damndest to abort justice while skirting disbarment.
With apologies to George Thorogood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwsOrK0snI
Ah yes, the old “the gun just went off” defense. Laughable.
they need a fall-guy..[or girl]…absent that blame the gun…anything but the pompous ass that actually did the shooting….
For crying out loud the gun don’t fire itself. Somebody loaded live rounds in the weapon and when it was handed to Butthead Baldwin he didn’t do a safety check as you’re supposed to do with ALL firearms and therefore he is responsible. It’s that simple.
Who are you going to believe? Science, physics, logic or Alec Baldwin?
Had no idea how a live round got into a weapon that somehow fired itself.
Wow.
Obviously, despite the resistance and presence of an armorer, an assistant Director, and an Executive Producer/Actor, the gun loaded itself with live ammo, pointed itself, and pulled its own trigger. Ban those little sneaky, mischievous guns…..
Alec Baldwin is likely a Liar, no surprise here really.
Now assuming he didn’t really “Pull the Trigger”, if the trigger was wired back for “Fanning”, all that would be required would be for him to pull the hammer back and release it. So technical, in a single action firearm, it is possible to fire the gun without touching the trigger.
This situation is highly unlikely. More likely is his statement is simply cognitive dissonance which weak people adopt to avoid responsibility for their actions, even in the face of video or other evidence that contradicts their statements. It can never be “Them” and someone or something else is to blame. The weak and mentally ill, can’t take responsibility for their actions as to do so would damage them mentally (even more) and this deep seated denial is a shield.
If its not cognitive dissonance then he is simply repeating what he has been told to say by his professional damage control teams.
A Wife and Mother is dead and Alec Baldwin is reported to have held, pointed and fired the gun used to kill her. At BEST, this is involuntary Manslaughter, unless it can be proven that he had a reason or a motive, then he may be guilty of a more serious crime(s).
Maybe it was a Japanese nambu or Remington trigger and it fired itself…
You see this excuse regularly in news articles, along the lines of “person was showing gun to friend and handed it to him, and the gun went off.” “Kid was playing with gun and pointed it at friend and it went off,” “police officer pointed gun at the suspect and it went off.”
Unfortunately no one wants to be liable so no one will claim responsibility on this one, not the person holding/pointing/controlling the gun, not the person overall responsible for the whole production, not the safety officers or armorers, not the assistant who handed the gun over and said “cold.”
There is a term for this, and it’s ND “negligent discharge.” Unfortunately rather than ensuring safety and responsibility at the individual level and following processes, they delegated it down the line. Armorer says it’s safe last they checked a while ago! Assistant said it was safe! So don’t check it yourself, just use it!
Seems like they are pursuing the “ammo provider mixed live and dummy rounds” direction.
“…Remington trigger and it fired itself..
~snort..lol
All good theories if the gun has now been disappeared, otherwise the gun can be TESTED, to see if it is possible it fired without the trigger being pulled. Personally, I don’t think I would believe that.
rounds should have been checked…but the gun was supposed to empty…unless deliberate sabotage…plenty of questions to ask and fingers to be pointed…as long as none of them point at him….all he had to do was point the gun at the floor and cycle it six or even better seven times and none of this happens….something that is not uncommon on movie sets
The most likely possibility, making the wild assumption that Baldwin is actually telling the truth, would be that he was handling a Colt SAA or a clone that is not drop safe. Load one, skip one, load four. If you leave a live round under the hammer any strike to the back of the hammer will send the bullet down the barrel. Since it was a western and unlike the real west, 99% of handguns in westerns are Colt SAAs, this seems the most likely situation. Either he dropped it or struck the back of the hammer somehow.
Still totally his fault for playing with a gun he didn’t check himself though.
“The most likely possibility, making the wild assumption that Baldwin is actually telling the truth,…”
Even more likely, his lawyer is telling him to say that. And since that is what he wants to believe, that is going to be his story from this moment forward…
Nah, the most likely possibility is that, in rehearsing a scene where his character pulls a Colt SAA gun, is that he pulled, cocked and fired a Colt SAA gun. Realizing he eff’ed up and killed his friend, he’s in denial.
Involuntarily manslaughter, aka negligent homicide.
No one has suggested that the gun was dropped. I think Baldwin would have jumped on that scenario because it turns an ND into an accident.
One of the primary reasons I don’t believe him. I didn’t watch the video, but I don’t think he made any attempt to explain exactly what happened and how the gun just went off. If something like that happened to me I think I’d be pretty anxious to figure out exactly what went wrong. It wouldn’t take that much research to find out SAAs aren’t drop safe with a round under the hammer.
I find it difficult to believe the gun wasn’t a modern repro. Most of those have a transfer bar and even the ones that don’t are much newer and less likely to be worn. Without the gun being dropped, I think it is VASTLY more likely for Baldwin to lie to protect himself a million times out of a million than for the gun to go off on it’s own one time out of a million.
I have an Uberti I bought new just last year that isn’t drop safe (some Uberti models are) and the Colts still aren’t. Vaqueros aren’t really clones, more of a variant.
Wouldn’t of mattered if he did check it based on the interview it was a cold gun which means no charge. The rounds in there were supposed to be prop rounds. They look and feel the same just no primer or powder. The person to blame I believe is the armorer it was reported pretty early on that the crew was using the same gun to shoot out in the desert, there should of been no live rounds on the set but they found many mixed in with blanks and prop rounds.
It was the bad gun…. really I didn’t even pull the trigger…..the gun did it……bad gun
Heck, he didn’t even POINT it. Maybe he was possessed? Does anyone know if they were filming over an ancient Indian burial ground?
What kind of drugs is he on? Guns do not aim themselves and just “go off”.
Maybe he thinks his life is like The Matrix or Inception.
Is he going for an insanity defense?
Leigh,
It is remotely possible (extremely remotely possible) that the hammer was cocked back on a live round and he set the revolver down on a surface–and the impact of setting the revolver down or something on the surface actuated the trigger and the revolver truly “went off” without Baldwin pulling the trigger.
Even in that extremely unlikely scenario, Baldwin is still responsible because he failed to verify that the revolver was loaded with inert cartridges.
Note that verifying whether a cartridge is inert is extremely easy: either it has no bullet which you can instantly verify via visual inspection, or it has a bullet and small ball-bearing in the casing (in place of propellant) which you verify by rocking the cartridge back and forth to hear and feel the ball-bearing movement/rattling.
U_S, you gotta be careful about that “easy to tell” concept, we’re dealing with the deliberately obtuse, here. Wadcutters look very much like there is no bullet, and will kill you pretty dead.
LarryinTX,
Good point on cartridges loaded with full wadcutters–I can totally see an actor thinking that was a blank cartridge.
I pity the fool. He is a killer plain and simple. He is also an arrogant dumb ass.
Baldwin is now backpedaling on his original statement as he’s starting to realize that he could spend the next 20+ years behind bars, basically the rest of his miserable existence. He’s guilty of either a negligent discharge resulting in a negligent homicide or he’s guilty of murder and attempted murder. It’s either or, no third option.
Armorer loaded 6.
Not hammer down on an empty chamber.
Don’t know what could have forced the hammer down on a live round tho unless Baldwin manipulated the hammer and let it fall.
See some of Alec’s gun handling on the 100th episode of 30 rock. At the end he accidentally shoots Micheal Keaton.
“See some of Alec’s gun handling on the 100th episode of 30 rock. At the end he accidentally shoots Micheal Keaton.”
Don’t tell me – To a laugh track, right?
As a ‘joke’?
That says so much about that P.O.S…. 🙁
EDIT – Is this the episode? (part 1 of 2, I assume) :
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6i4mua
FOUND IT!
At the end of the video, we see Baldwin running around, finger on the trigger of what looks like a Glock :
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6i4mmc
I believe him. That’s why I lock my guns up in the safe at night and wrap two chains around the outside of the safe. I don’t want my gun, sneaking out on its own, going down to the mini-mart and carjacking someone. I caught one of them trying to sneak out and realize the safe door itself just wasn’t enough. Fortunately, it couldn’t reach the doorknob.
Yep, he’s a tool. Being on the board of an anti-gun organization doesn’t make a person a gun expert, perhaps quite the opposite. I guess he doesn’t realize you need to cock it before you pull the trigger on a single action revolver or perhaps it is an old gun without a transfer bar and he fanned the hammer. Either way, it was in his hand and it became his responsibility.
I had the same problem with some of my younger guns trying to sneak out of the safe late at night. You need to do what I did and build a moat around the safe. Build it deep!
And he also has a bridge in Frisco he’ll sell you!!
So, Baldwin’s lawyer has concocted a scheme playing to the fears of folk who know nothing about firearms: “These guns are dangerous because they can fire spontaneously!! Be afraid of guns!! They are inherently a threat to life!!” They will play that lie in the press; the press will be complicit and make this case about the danger of inanimate firearms. The lies will be loud, shrill, and constant to foment public sympathy for Baldwin and antipathy toward firearms.
It will not work.
Baldwin will be convicted and the press will scream about injustice.
Just for the heck of it: Let’s Go Brandon!!
“Baldwin will be convicted and the press will scream about injustice.”
As they furiously search for another kid to harass and lie about.
I stated early on in this incident that the media/left would turn on Baldwin as the facts were uncovered because they would find him more valuable as a sacrificial poster child for the inherent evil/danger of firearms in ANYONE’S hands regardless of one’s previous exaulted status in their own pitiful pantheon of feelings over facts. Why? Because the left has no compunction and will gladly eat their own if they feel it furthers their cause.
Then what do you know… last night my wife was watching TMZ, and it garnered my attention when they interviewed a “gun expert” who actually demonstrated how a single action revolver works (he even checked to ensure it was unloaded), and lo and behold the expert flatly said one cannot “accidentally” fire a single action revolver without physically manuipulating the trigger. TMZ then asked him his opinion about Baldwin’s explaination and he replied that Baldwin can rationalize it any way he wants, but he pointed a loaded gun at a person and pulled the trigger- he said Alec is wholly responsible for what happened.
Each interviewer at TMZ then took turns expressing their own disdain for Baldwin’s illogical and inadivsable statement, they wondered why he do such a thing, and all concluded that Alec must be held accountable. Well whadda you know…
It was thoroghly pleasing to witness this effectuation.
PG,
Glad to hear about that interview. I hope you are right about this!
putting pressure…perhaps unnoticed…on the trigger before cocking the weapon can cause the hammer to drop when released…this seems to be the most popular theory….
I knew it! Shooter on the “grassy knoll”!
LOL , good one
Baldwin is an actor. He is acting now about the incident.
I’m not sure this is acting so much as wishful thinking. Although I despise his politics, I feel genuinely bad for Baldwin, who must be living in torment as he tries to rationalize how this isn’t his fault. His finger probably was on the trigger. He probably did pull it. He most certainly did point the gun at people he cared about. I can’t imagine trying to sleep at night with such running through my head.
Possibly both. He has to live with the mistake.
He can internally rationalize all he wants. The end result is he did pull the trigger.
He will interview until his lawyers tell him to stop. He will act his way thru this trying to shift blame. He was he producer of the film, he is ultimately responsible for everything that happens on set. Responsibility is a bitch when you don’t do the right things and it bites you hard.
I don’t feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for the dead and wounded. He spent to much time demonizing us ad if he had learned safety and applied it we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“He spent to much time demonizing us ad if he had learned safety and applied it we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
I agree completely.
“Although I despise his politics, I feel genuinely bad for Baldwin, who must be living in torment as he tries to rationalize how this isn’t his fault.”
I don’t, not in the least.
That POS went *far* out of his way for far too long spewing his naked hatred for the Right. I want someone each day (at a minimum) to get right in his fvck face and ask him – “How does it feel to shoot someone to death, Alex? Your CARELESSNESS killed someone! You couldn’t be bothered to see if the gun actually had blanks in it, instead of LIVE AMMO!”…
“living in torment as he tries to rationalize”
rationalization does not reduce torment.
I agree with FormerParatrooper.
Baldwin and his defense attorney know that he is culpable and Baldwin is hedging his bets. His emotional spiel serves to bias his jury into thinking that the revolver “just went off” all by itself and thus Baldwin is not culpable. And in the event that his jury rejects that silly claim, his emotional spiel presents him as a pitiful and extremely remorseful person upon whom the court should have extreme mercy if convicted.
Baldwin’s performance in that interview was the most important performance of his life.
“Baldwin’s performance in that interview was the most important performance of his life.”
Well, next to the one on the witness stand, if it comes to that.
*Then* we will really see the the water-works on display… 🙁
+1
His primary skillset is altering reality while attempting to convince his audience that he’s being real. Pshaw. He’s an actor caught on the stage of real life, and he can’t handle it. Man up dude.
“Baldwin is an actor”
he believes his acting.
That hateful gun just jumped into his hand, aimed itself, and shot that poor woman dead! Innocent and pure as the driven snow, he was just the nearest person to that evil cruel gun, so it was his hand it jumped into when it pulled its own trigger, they ought to take that vicious nasty thing out back and shoot it! Or something…
It is clearly TRUMP’S FAULT!!
Life’s greatest mysteries: The thermos keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold. How does it know? Why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway? How does a trigger pull itself? What is the sound of one hand clapping? If killing someone is illegal, why do you think a law against bringing a gun somewhere or banning a particular firearm will stop a killer?
Well, there you go. The gun, likely bored over not being fired, fired itself. Once its deadly needs were satisfied, it went back to an inanimate object.
Unfortunately for Baldwin his aim is better than some. I do not believe that a live round walked itself into the gun and then it fired itself. There is something very wrong about this.
or a live rd got mixed in with the fake ones…something that’s never supposed to happen…they’re pretty easy to tell apart….one thing i’m curious about…did this happen on the first take or after multiple takes?….and what was the status of the other rds found in the gun?
Okay, let’s sum up the story so far…. the gun loaded itself, then it was handed to Mr. Baldface – er, Baldwin, then it somehow cocked itself while forcing him to somehow unwillingly aim it directly at another human, then it “went off all by itself” while no cameras were rolling….. This TRULY is a one in a trillion “misfire” , just like Mr. Baldface, oops did it again – Mr. Baldwin said it was. I for one believe EVERY detail. //s
… and I’m willing to bet that the same Hollywood fakes (Reese, etc.) that commented about Rittenhouse ” faking ” tears during testimony are buying Alex’s emmy award deserving scene shown on national tv.
Remember in Philosophy 101 the prof would talk about the chances of a hundred monkeys at typewriters writing a Shakespeare play? One in a trillion, perhaps?
This scenario has even longer odds.
Occam’s Razor: all things being equal, the simplest explanation is the closest to reality. Baldwin didn’t check the firearm, he aimed it, pulled back the hammer, and pulled the trigger.
If you believe this halfwit, Alec Baldwin, you are not using your mind or common sense. He was holding the gun. ?He fired the gun. Guns don’t shoot themselves.
“Gunms dont shoot themselves. ”
Of course not, they’ve no hands to point it at themselves.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinski.”. I’ll bet Bill Clinton didn’t pull the trigger either.
Yeah he did, the blue dress proved it.
…OUCH!…
For all the harassment lefties give to righties for typically being religious from cars and guns that maliciously operate themselves to crystals and modern monetary theory they sure believe in a lot of hocus pocus bullshit.
“It’s cool to be spiritual. It’s lame to be religious.” -some lefty probably
Sure Alec sure…single action revolvers have to have the hammer cocked and trigger pulled. Ultra Leftard mini Stefanopolus believed that BS. Duh.
I really have to take offense to this! Being a lefty (Left handed) doesn’t mean I’m not conservative. Please don’t place me in with those idiots. ;^)
My wife is in the same boat, thinking everyone is badmouthing her even though she’s in her right mind…
Yet another blatant example of why all guns must be banned! Yet another gun has fired itself, killing an innocent person, as happens constantly in Chicago and in cities across the US. These vicious instruments of evil leap into the hands of innocent misguided youths (yutes for those of you living in the Bronx), wreaking mayhem.
While we are at it, we should also ban SUVs, which have again recently demonstrated their homicidal tendencies by mowing down innocents in Waukesha. And don’t get me started on those most terrible demons of death, the Boeing 767!!
he didn’t pull the trigger
on a single action revolver
which rests the uncocked hammer on an empty chamber or a notch
which only fires once the hammer is cocked
and then the trigger is pulled
okie dokie.
He pulled the trigger, had to. He just does not remember pulling the trigger which is not uncommon in traumatic shootings for untrained people. I know of at least 3 people who as a very last resort had to grab their trained spouses gun to repel a home invader and not one of them remember pulling the trigger and all of them said for a long time “I just pointed it at them to make them leave and the gun went off by its self”
.40 cal Booger,
Your comment brought something to mind. It is entirely possible (probable even) that Baldwin was resting (more-or-less) his finger on the trigger and “involuntarily” squeezed the trigger. And in his mind therefore he did not pull the trigger.
When I say “involuntarily” squeezed the trigger, there are a couple possibilities. First, his muscle which controls his finger could have literally spasmed. Muscle spasms do happen. Second (and more likely), he inadvertently clenched his hand which resulted in his trigger finger pulling the trigger.
That last possibility (inadvertently clenching his hand) could result from frustration or anger upon seeing something wrong on set or even from being startled at some loud sound, bright flash, or large unexpected movement.
Of course, even if any of those scenarios actually happened, Baldwin is still culpable for failing to verify whether his revolver was loaded with inert cartridges.
That’s a point. Earlier in this debacle he said he was practicing in the set “church”
everyone seems to be forgetting how little trigger pull needs to be for a revolver to fire in single action…
frank speaking SO WHAT! To have a single action revolver go off, the hammer HAS TO BE COCKED. Common sense tells you that Baldwin HAD TO KNOW that the hammer was in the cocked position?
He bumped, pressed, contacted or nudged the trigger. Pulling is different because pulling sounds mean.
No notches on a Colt 1873, only the old cap and ball pistols. That’s why cowboys did the loaded one, skip one, load 4, which results in an empty chamber being under the hammer. Prevents ADs if the gun is dropped.
The comments here make me wonder, since apparently there was only one live round, if someone picked up the gun loaded with five blanks/rounds without powder, and seeing the empty chamber, picked up a round and loaded it.
Interesting theory, but who?
An armorer who (supposedly) knows how single-action only firearms function?
Well, we are talking about an ‘armorer’ who displayed a shockingly careless safety ethic with firearm handling. Looks like being the kid of a gun person is no guarantee the apple falls close to the tree… 🙁
After I retired from the AF in 1998, I became a System’s Engineer with Raytheon. I worked there for 20 years before retiring for good.
Sometimes things malfunction or break. Preventive maintenance and a deep knowledge of the systems can go a long way in preventing problems.
I don’t think the armorer on the movie set knew her ass from a hole in the ground and wouldn’t know if a gun was malfunctioning or not. We have no way to know how or if the guns used were maintained or were in proper working condition.
I own guns that were recalled due to safety issues. All you have to do is google Remington 700 trigger. There are stories about other guns also. Many may be due to stupid people that don’t want to admit they were careless, but I doubt all of them are.
I know a guy in the AF that shot himself in the knee with a .40 caliber Glock. He swears the gun went off on its own. We changed his call sign nickname to Plaxico.
Who ever handed(Miss Reid?) Baldwin the loaded gunm fcked up.
In my world the blame is on them.
-“He should have checked to make sure it was unloaded”-, I dont know, can an actor start monkeying around with the props in a movie?
Involuntary manslaughter is what it is.
“Baldwin: I Didn’t Pull the Trigger on the Gun I Fired, Killing One and Wounding Another”
The ghost of dead careers did it.
Hey look! – we finally found the only actual “ghost gun” in existence
Why was there live ammunition on a movie set?
Why did Baldwin point the gun at another human being?
Why was he playing with the gun between filming scenes?
And the most important question of all, why did he not check the gun to see if it was loaded?
A little common sense here would have saved a woman’s life.
Involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide.
I do not like Baldwin, but I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
However, the gun was in his hand. It didn’t just go off.. He was negligent. And someone died because of it.
I concur. I am sincerely sorry this happened at all. But if it had to happen, it could not have happened to a more deserving jackass.
Must be one of them ghost guns I keep hearing about.
I own bot an original 1873 Colt and a better quality replica. Neither gun will just go off on their own. You have to bring the hammer to full cock and depress the trigger.
Baldwin ignored the first 4 rules of gun safety.
1) Always treat any gun as if it is loaded.
2) Never take anyone’s word a gun is either unloaded or loaded. Always check it yourself.
3) Never point a gun, loaded or empty, at anything you do not intend to destroy/kill.
4) Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot/need to shoot/ intend to kill whatever you are pointing the gun at.
Sorry Mr. Baldwin, you killed a woman either through your negligence or arrogance.
oldmaninAL,
While I am a huge “safety Nazi” and religiously demand that myself and everyone around me observe firearm safety rules, there are times when we have to suspend some of the safety rules.
One such time is when we are training. We must be able to verify that a firearm is truly and completely unloaded and then proceed to our training–which could be simply learning the manual-of-arms, dry-fire practice, or even drawing (from concealment) practice. And I am confident that there are additional training scenarios as well where we must verify that a firearm is unloaded and proceed to training which would otherwise violate one or two of the safety rules.
Another such time is when we are entertaining–which could be live productions (such as “wild-west” shows) or producing television or movies. Once again, in those scenarios, we must be able to verify that firearms truly and completely have ZERO viable cartridges and then go on to violate one or two of the safety rules.
Of course, any time that we will knowingly violate one or more of the safety rules, we must go to great lengths to ensure that we cannot possibly harm anyone. Needless to say, Baldwin and/or others failed in that regard.
“I did not have sex with that woman. (Not *that* one, anyway)”
It reminds of that Law and Order episode where the kid didn’t know he pulled the trigger on the murder weapon during trial.
He had a single action revolver and it magically went off. Nice way to win the hearts and minds of the public at large.
Taking his cue from the William , Bill, Clinton playbook. That all depends on what that the word “is”, “is.”
Took the words right out of my mouth. Of course, Baldwin likely was working the hammer since the pistol was a single action. Ah, but somehow, “the gun just went off”. It’s frickin’ magic, folks. It still doesn’t absolve him from his responsibility to check his own gun for live ammo. period.
It was a single action gun. It was made by Pietta. Quality. It had to be cocked first then the trigger pulled. I smell a lie.
Playing devils advocate: wasn’t the gun a 45 Colt? Any chance it was a “load six” error, compounded by the hammer resting on a live round?
Live round primer I mean.
TX Phil…If that were remotely the case it still falls on the individual holding the firearm to determine all what ifs prior to pointing the firearm anywhere and especially towards others even if it is make believe.
If alec were an honest man he would have said…“I would…never again… point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,”
IMO…Had alec baldwin been a long time advocate for The 2A instead of having a dumbbell democRat douchebag attitude about firearms he would have along the way had firearm safety hammered into his head and stayed a step ahead of such a senseless tragedy.
maybe it was just Karma…now if he had just left the country like he said he would do…….
More like compounded by the hammer coming to rest on a live round when he pulled the trigger.
It was a single action Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver. It was a real gun, not a gimmick’ish prop gun. It can only fire if the hammer is cocked first then the trigger pulled. The hammer could not have been resting on a live round when it fired.
Let me add to this. There is one gun from the same time period that can be gimmick’ed to fire without the hammer being cocked. That is the Colt .45 single action Army revolver. It can be fixed (modified) so the hammer needs to be “fanned” to fire instead of it cocking back. It was a favorite of trick shooters for this reason. But even then the hammer would need to be pulled back (by the “fanning” action) and it would not fire if it was just resting on a round unless the hammer had been “fanned” back.
There were other guns made to be fanned instead of the hammer being cocked. They still would not fire until after the hammer was fanned back.
Not to forget that the cylinder needs to rotate as well for Baldwins Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver to have fired and that can’t happen unless the hammer is cocked and the hammer is not released until the trigger is pulled.
Its pretty likely the gun was cocked and Baldwin pulled the trigger.
So no transfer bar then? You know, those stories of cowboys shooting their foot after loading 6 in the old Navy Colts? IE: bumping the hammer that’s resting on a live primer? That’s my question. I read something about the armourer having a difficult time loading the sixth round in that gun.
But, hitting one person while not “holding” the gun seems unlikely. Hitting two is even less likely. I’d start asking about whether he was wearing holster at the time. Story seems pretty weak that it “went off” without being touched.
she “struggled” to add a sixth round before a lunch break because the gun was locked in a truck and could not get to it to load the round, not that there was something wrong with the gun.
Baldwin admitted earlier in this debacle that he was practicing at the time he fired. The Saturday before Baldwin a stunt double was practicing with the same gun in the same set and he fired it too, two live rounds, and he said he pulled the trigger for both rounds and he called it a “misfire”, he didn’t realize the first round was live and it did not dawn on him there was live ammo in the gun until he fired the second live round. When Baldwin happened they said at that time it was a “misfire”. Members of the crew had been doing some target practice with the gun off set as well before the incident with live ammo and they didn’t report any “misfires”.
So if he is playing some word games here or not like “Oh it wasn’t me that pulled the trigger it was my finger” type crap …. but one thing is for sure he engaged that trigger some way or another and its got a pretty stout trigger pull.
He pointed the gun in their direction while practicing according to reports earlier in this thing, it was not in a holster.
Criminally, they’re going to sell this. Everyone involved wants it to be true. None in Hollywood want an actor who fires a “prop gun” (and no, it wasn’t a prop gun) to be sent to prison for murder.
They’ll all fall on their swords to sell the “misfire narrative”.
Civilly…where the lawyers want to get paid, I suspect their will be some mighty big payoffs.
Horse manure. If it were Donald Trump, Jr, acting in a movie, he would be in prison now awaiting execution. Try “none in Hollywood want a wild-eyed fanatic liberal … ” etc. And BTW, insofar as I have ever experienced, a misfire is either a failure to fire or a squib round, this round fired just fine, and with full power, as it went through one human and wounded a second.
The interview was more like see what the Gun did to Alec and his pals who were innocently trying to make a movie for you guys watching this interview to enjoy with your popcorn. Gun Bad, Gun Must Die.
What else would two of TV’s biggest democRat Party buffoons have to offer? Absolutely nothing.
I did not pull the trigger — yeah, that’s reasonable doubt to a jury of the general untrained public “peers” who thinks all guns can fire by their selves, strangely enough, because Hollywood has by movies and TV shows trained the general untrained public to think like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8qQRL9WJk
In our new lefty world, cars drive themselves and firearms shoot themselves. Lefty logic is amazing!
SO….Baldwin is trying to tell us that the gun that fired and killed the lady, was not fired by him. How then, did the pistol fire….Maybe Caspar the ghost fired it. I think Baldwin is just trying to cover his a** and protect himself from financial and/or freedom loss. HINT: modern pistols do not, repeat….DO NOT fire themselves. Get that, Alec. Pistols do NOT fire themselves.
So, the single action revolver just shot itself and killed the director while it was in his hand??
I’m not really sure just how this SOB is tweaking this, but I’m pretty sure that he DID shoot the woman.
He should be fried for AT A MINIMUM involuntary manslaughter. ANYBODY else would be charged with it!
Tried not “fried”…he prolly should be FRIED too..
Aha! So the left has been correct all along. It is those evil guns out there, going around killing people on their own. They must be banned. Alec, like most of the left, is naturally not responsible for anything. In truth, I agree. Most of the left are not responsible – they are irresponsible. The more freedom people have, the more responsible we all need to be, which is not a problem for conservative people, but is a huge handicap for the left.
And ALL red Ford Escapes need to be added to that ban list, those things have been known to run wild in the presence of old people in Christmas parades and going so far as running down children in their blind rage…
This is turning into a real Colombo episode.
It wasn’t me! It was the one armed gun!
I hope he walks. Then we can all use the Baldwin Defense. “I had no idea how live ammo got in there. I didn’t pull the trigger.”
The gun shouted out “THIS IS MAGA COUNTRY” before tying a rope around my neck and pulling it’s own trigger.
Alec Smollett
To admit that, through your own careless stupidity, you caused the death of someone you considered a friend, takes a generous supply of moral courage and intellectual honesty. Alec Baldwin has neither. That just isn’t the kind of guy he is. We’ve always known this, it should come as no surprise.
Latest story I’ve seen (so far, just the one) is that the actual gun was a Pietta ColtSAA replica. The older model Pietta’s didn’t have transfer bars, so it is POSSIBLE to have one fire without pulling the trigger (damn difficult, but theoretically possible). Newer ones have transfer bars, so if it was, then nah, he’s spewing BS. As for his ‘interview’?? A professional actor (not a very good one, admittedly) puts on the waterworks, trying to clear himself from his criminal negligence (at least)?? Color me unsurprised – and distinctly unconvinced.
In any event, if I pick up a firearm, it is MY responsibility to ensure the condition of it, and be conscious of where it is pointed, and keep my damn booger-hook OFF of the trigger. If I fail in any of these, the fault is ultimately mine. Alec Baldwin being the stupid, lying, POS Leftist idiot that he is, I find myself seriously unmoved by his plight. May he room with Bubba in the lockup.
He is an actor, he is paid to lie for a living.
The Gun in Question was a single action Colt Replica. If so look up the Hickock45 Video on why you never load 6 rounds in an old single action, you don’t want to have the hammer down on a live round because a slight tap on the hammer can set the round off.
Let me know if you can find an instance of one going off just from being casually pointed – with the hammer down on a live round, with the hammer cocked, through some voodoo curse, I don’t care. Yes, we know about SA revolvers going off when the hammer is struck sitting on a live round. Yes, we know about the Remington 700 CFC going off when switching off safe. Yes, we’ve all heard of old STENs emptying the mag when you threw them down the stairs. This is none of those things. If somebody had dropped the gun, they’d have said so. If somebody has struck the gun, they’d have said so. So let’s not drag in all these scenarios you’ve heard about which clearly didn’t happen here.
Its actually a Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver. Its a real gun, not a replica. The Hickock45 video shows a gun that is very similar, but the Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver used on the set can’t be fired unless the hammer is cocked and the cylinder rotates then the trigger pressed.
Actually the name is ‘F.LLI Pietta Long Colt 45 Revolver’
This is a pic of what one looks like;
https://i1.wp.com/valorguardians.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/C56AC086-9ED4-4DDB-8ED6-73CDB86809A0.jpeg?resize=500%2C252&ssl=1
The sheriff is already expressing doubts about Baldwins claim.
The presently marketed “modern day’ ‘F.LLI Pietta Long Colt 45 Revolver’ (1873) clones DO NOT have a hammer block mechanism. The one used on the Baldwin set was not a clone, its an original actual ‘F.LLI Pietta Long Colt 45 Revolver’, it DOES have a hammer block mechanism.
Mike, The Hickock45 video does not address the Pietta replica of the SAA, and it is not an “old” gun. You’re mixing apples and oranges.
Forensics Analysis of the Gun in Question:
With the hammer de-cocked on a loaded chamber, the gun was able to detonate a primer “without a pull of the trigger when the hammer was struck directly,” which is normal for this type of revolver, the report stated
True but here we have a person with a loaded gun cocking the hammer aiming it and pulling the trigger and killing the target.
Firearm functioned as per design.
The Forensics Analysis of the Gun in Question CORRECTLY concluded that:
The ONLY way for a primer of a live round to be detonated is when the hammer is at 1/4, 1/2, or full cock AND THE TRIGGER IS PULLED,
-OR-
When hammer is decocked and is resting over a chamber loaded with a live round- ONLY a severe blow (strong enough to generate sufficient inertial force to overcome the at-rest position of the firing pin) can cause detonation of a live round. Examples of sufficient force would be a drop from several feet onto a hard surface (with the additional requirement that the gun land in such a specific orientation so that the firing pin is aligned directly with the direction of the inertial force), or the hammer must be struck DIRECTLY by a hard object (a solid object like something made of steel, stone, brick, or hardwood, etc.).
It is physically impossible for that gun to just “Go off”.
Look, Alec says he didn’t pull the trigger and he’s played the POTUS on TV… Alec (I cannot tell a lie) Baldwin must be believed because HE said so…
he really does think that.
A distraction. It does not matter if he pulled the trigger or not. He is responsible for where the gun was pointed at the instant it fired. There is ZERO excuse for this. We’ve all heard from others in the industry who say that for generations, the technique is to pre-plan an aiming point that looks deadly on camera, because of the camera angle, but is actually at a spot where no one is. If it is to be a muzzle shot directly at the camera then the camera is behind a bullet proof transparent shield and the number of personnel anywhere near the path of the shot is carefully planned, reduced and tightly controlled.
As both the last person to hold the gun and an executive making the movie, Baldwin is swimming in responsibility for what that bullet did to the bodies of two human beings.
All else is bullshit.
so where does the buck stop on a movie shoot?….
Agree completely. But this remark of yours: “If it is to be a muzzle shot directly at the camera then the camera is behind a bullet proof transparent shield and the number of personnel anywhere near the path of the shot is carefully planned, reduced and tightly controlled.” reminded me of another case.
During filming of “Blade:Trinity” with Wesley Snipes and Jessica Biel, Biel had to fire an arrow directly at the camera. So they did as you say: encased the camera in arrow-proof plastic box with a two-inch hole left open for the lens to avoid distortions. Biel hit that two-inch spot precisely and wrecked a really expensive film camera. There’s a Youtube video:
Jessica Biel destroyed a $300,000 camera by shooting it with an arrow on the set of Blade: Trinity = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VApoQKeCcVk
Irrelevant to the present case but amusing.
About 40 years ago a late friend owned a business called “Prop-Arms”. He told me (at least back then) to get a good shot of a gun being fired they would set up a mirror.
If the standard blank couldn’t get the effect they would boost up the blank round with added black powder and talc until it gave the desired effect, even if the mirror was destroyed by debris. He always told me how he had zero concern for a firearm accident but did not like sword fights as even with annealed blades they would break and fly.
Baldwin violated the Four Rules of Gun Safety:
1 – Treat all guns as if loaded….and, goes without saying….with live ammo!!!!
2 – Never point a gun at anything you are not ready and willing to destroy.
3 – Never put your finger on the trigger until the gun is aimed at the target you intend to destroy.
4 – Be sure of what is down range of your intended target.
And, the shooter is responsible for each and every round fired until it comes to rest safely in an intended berm or other safe backstop.
AKA……Baldwin is deservedly fucked!!!! Couldn’t happen to a more deserving Asshole. Such a shame about the deceased lady and wounded other.
“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger”
he really believes that.
really.
when you grasp that, you start to understand these people.
rant7 is correct,
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is,” the actor and producer told ABC. “But I know it’s not me.”
“Why didn’t Baldwin check the gun?
After the shooting, George Clooney, Matthew McConaughey and other actors criticized Baldwin for not following what they described as an essential, well-known protocol: They check the gun themselves.
But Baldwin said he was taught differently. Actors shouldn’t be the “last line of defense,” he said, noting that it was the responsibility of the armorer, or the crew’s weapons specialist, to ensure that firearms are properly maintained.”
When someone has handed him a weapon on a set, he added, “I always trusted them.”
Reference: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/five-takeaways-alec-baldwins-first-sit-interview-fatal-rust-shooting-rcna7483
“I Didn’t Pull the Trigger on the Gun I Fired”. Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!….slight pause…..Bwahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!
Aren’t those Western replica guns single action revolvers? Meaning he would have actually had to cock the hammer, then pull the trigger. Two distinct actions. Can’t just accidentally pull the trigger without cocking it first.
If the hammer was cocked, there wouldn’t be a lot of travel, take-up or “pull” in the trigger like double-action handguns. Baldwin is playing with semantics, e.g. “I didn’t pull the trigger. Barely touched it. Surprised it went off.”
Yet it would not have gone off absent some contact with the trigger or, as others have pointed out, dropping the hammer in some way. Again, he’s trying to be clever.
Many many years ago my friend in the prop guns business showed me his selection of movie ammo.
He had star crimped rounds of various codes to give different effect like smoke, flash, correct to cycle barrel restricted semis, even a tiny bit of recoil (huge load and some tough wadding maybe?). He also had visually correct dummy that had primers without dent that he had cooked off before then proper bullets loaded. He didn’t drill holes in the sides rather he controlled these like gold. He kept saying what we have heard already “no live ammo ever on set” “no gun with full blank pointed at someone and fired”. Shaking rounds to discern if live is idiotic.
Someone here wrote “ cognitive dissonance, this to me feels most right.
Regarding the trigger travel of a single action, after of course the enormous deliberate hammer stroke required to cock the old gun and rotate the massive thick walled 6 chambered cylinder, I feel that an actor who “goes into the zone” may have imagined the scene and his fingers did the rest. Negligent homicide ?
People talking about whether that type of gun can discharge without the trigger being pulled are missing the point, as is Baldwin when he talks about pulling the trigger.
All the *other* rules of gun safety were violated.
For those who say those rules have to be violated on a movie set to get an effective scene, others have pointed out that the scene can be set up to minimize risk.
I haven’t bothered following this incident closely, but the questions required to be answered:
1) Was a scene being filmed at the moment the gun went off?
2) Was the weapon in his hand at the moment the gun went off?
3) Was his finger on the trigger at the moment the gun went off (irrelevant whether he actually moved it)?
4) Was the weapon pointed at the victim at the time it went off? Obviously it was – the issue is why was it pointed at this victim who WAS NOT IN ANY SCENE BEING FILMED?!
It should be clear that if all these questions are answered affirmatively, then by definition Baldwin is at fault, at the very least for negligent homicide or manslaughter. Why or how he pulled the trigger, whether deliberately or accidentally, is perhaps a determinant for which, but overall culpability is clear.
He pointed a gun at someone who was not an actor in the scene being filmed (if a scene was in fact being filmed.) If the firearm had not been loaded with a live round, he would still be culpable for that act alone.
If it proves that someone else is responsible for loading the gun with a live round, due to negligence or otherwise, that does not remove Baldwin’s culpability for enabling said round to hit the person and probably culpability for pulling the trigger.
And unless some forensics firearm expert can demonstrate for the court how the specific firearm involved could have discharged itself, Baldwin is hosed simply of the questions I raise. He has culpability simply because of the direction he pointed the firearm and if his finger was on the trigger. And if there is no way to demonstrate a means by which the specific firearm involved could discharge itself, well, it’s over for him.
And no amount of assertions that “I didn’t pull the trigger” is going to save him.
Q.E.D.
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