Prop Gun Alec Baldwin Murder Case: On a film set in New Mexico, police say US actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. They were collaborating on a film called Rust.
Ms Hutchins, 42, has received tributes, and Mr Baldwin is said to be distraught. Outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, he was found in tears by a local newspaper.
An investigation is currently underway, and we have no idea what went wrong. According to a spokesman for Mr Baldwin, an accident occurred on set when a prop gun with blanks misfired.
Such incidents are uncommon, and the news has taken the film industry by surprise. The use of firearms on set is governed by strict safety regulations.
“I had to sign out and sign in every day on the film I recently made, even my plastic gun,” Australian actor Rhys Muldoon said. “It’s for this reason that this case is so perplexing.”
Both prop guns and blanks can be dangerous, despite their innocent appearance. What we know about them is as follows.
What is a prop gun?
In the film industry, blanks are used to imitate live ammunition.
Blanks are essentially modified real bullets, which is why they are so convincing.
While the term “bullet” is commonly used to describe what is loaded into weapons, it is more accurately described as a loaded cartridge: a self-contained ammunition package consisting of a casing containing an explosive powder that, when fired, propels a projectile, or bullet.
Blanks differ from other explosives in that they do not use a projectile.
A prop gun could be anything from a non-functional weapon to a cap gun.
However, it can also refer to a real weapon or one that has been modified to fire blanks.
When you fire a blank with a prop gun, you get a loud bang, recoil, and what’s known as a muzzle flash, which is the visible light created by the powder combustion.
Has this kind of incident happened before?
Yes. Brandon Lee, the actor son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, may be familiar to you.
Brandon Lee died in 1993, at the age of 28, while filming The Crow, when a prop gun accidentally fired a dummy round at him.
Dummy rounds have no explosive charge and were used to film a close-up in this case. Part of the dummy round remained in the gun when blanks were loaded.
The cameras continued to roll after Lee was shot. Those on set only realised something was wrong when he didn’t get up at the end of the scene.
Another incident occurred in 1984, when US actor Jon-Erik Hexum became frustrated by filming delays and began joking around on the set of a television show.
He loaded a blank into a revolver, spun the chamber, and fired the gun at his temple.
He was not killed by a projectile, as Lee was, but by the force of the blast, which fractured his skull. He died in the hospital a few days later.
How can blanks and props be used safely?
Hexum’s death highlights a problem with blanks: they have a lot of power even if they don’t have a projectile.
To add to the danger, some movie sets use extra powder to enhance the visual impact.
Prop guns are usually subject to strict rules on film sets. Specialists provide and advise on the use of weapons on film sets.
“Every set has basic safety measures,” said Mike Tristano, an armourer who has previously worked with Alec Baldwin.
“You never point a gun at someone else, even if it isn’t a loaded one. I’m baffled as to how this could have happened and caused such devastation.”
An actor firing into the camera is a common shot in movies, and Steven Hall, who has worked on films like Fury and The Imitation Game, says it only happens with safeguards.
“If you’re in the line of fire, you’d wear a face mask, goggles, stand behind a Perspex screen, and keep the number of people in front of the camera to a minimum,” he said.
“What I don’t understand in this case is how two people were injured in the same incident, one tragically killed.”
Others in the film industry questioned why blanks are still used at all in an age when computer-generated gun effects can be added for a fraction of the cost.
“On set, there’s no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything.” Craig Zobel, an actor and director whose credits include Westworld and Mare of Easttown, tweeted, “Should just be outlawed completely.”
TV writer David Slack tweeted, “Prop guns are guns.” “Blanks contain real gunpowder.” They have the ability to injure or kill. Walk away if you’re ever on a set where prop guns aren’t handled with the utmost care and safety.
“No show or shot is worth risking people’s lives,” he added.
