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A few thoughts here. 1) I find it unlikely that anything propelled by a blank charge had enough oomph to hit the gal and exit her body and strike the director.

A few thoughts here. 1) I find it unlikely that anything propelled by a blank charge had enough oomph to hit the gal and exit her body and strike the director. 2) no one outranks safety. Anyone picking up a firearm, or being handed one, needs to verify its state, and treat it as if it was loaded. 3) Baldwin pointed it at people and pulled the trigger. It wasn’t a “misfire” or “accidental discharge”. It was a “negligent discharge”. There were multiple violations of basic firearms safety regs here. Not a single violation is acceptable. Keep it up long enough and someone is going to be killed.

suzzer99 5y ago
But that's not what happened according to the article. It says Baldwin was practicing pulling the gun out of the holster. Do you have any sources that say he deliberately fired? A blank has a normal amount of gun powder. Brandon Lee was killed by the tip of a dummy bullet that was propelled by a blank charge. Unless someone snuck live ammo on set, then it seems like something like that must have happened here.
- mgarfias 5y ago
  No, a blank doesn’t have the normal amount of gun powder. Source: I’ve used them, also reload my own ammo and know this shit very well. As to your first point: firearms just don’t go off. He pulled the trigger, while pointing it in an unsafe direction. I won’t point a weapon at anything I’m not willing to kill EVEN IF I have rendered it inert (removing a firing pin or similar). Basic fucking rule of handling a firearm. If it’s a gun, you treat it as if it’s loaded all the time, every time. Cuz shit happens, and 99.9999% of the time it’s human error.
  - berberous 5y ago
    I know nothing about guns, but I’ve been reading other sources that seem to contradict your absolute statements: 1. This was a period western and could have been using older single action revolvers that have fewer modern safety mechanisms to avoid accidental discharge. From quora: “ With many single action (cowboy) revolvers, the hammer does rest on a cartridge beneath it. They will fire if they land on the hammer. For those, you leave one chamber empty and keep that one underneath the hammer. That makes them completely safe, too.” 2. Are blanks uniform in amount of gunpowder? Not sure what happens today but I read that in the Crow incident they were overloading blanks with more than the typical amount of gunpowder to overemphasize the muzzle flashes. 3. While your points about gun safety are reasonable, this appears to not be how it is done in movie sets. The armorer is specifically in charge of safety checking all guns repeatedly. Not the actor.
    - mgarfias 5y ago
      And how they do it on movie sets has gotten 3 people killed that I know of, and probably more. They really need to learn from the professionals.
- mgarfias 5y ago
  Also, to be pedantic: Brandon Lee wasn’t killed by a “bullet tip”. He was killed by a bullet. A bullet is the projectile that comes out of the weapon. A cartridge is the whole thing: case, primer, propellant, bullet.

suzzer99 5y ago

But that's not what happened according to the article. It says Baldwin was practicing pulling the gun out of the holster. Do you have any sources that say he deliberately fired? A blank has a normal amount of gun powder. Brandon Lee was killed by the tip of a dummy bullet that was propelled by a blank charge. Unless someone snuck live ammo on set, then it seems like something like that must have happened here.

mgarfias 5y ago
No, a blank doesn’t have the normal amount of gun powder. Source: I’ve used them, also reload my own ammo and know this shit very well. As to your first point: firearms just don’t go off. He pulled the trigger, while pointing it in an unsafe direction. I won’t point a weapon at anything I’m not willing to kill EVEN IF I have rendered it inert (removing a firing pin or similar). Basic fucking rule of handling a firearm. If it’s a gun, you treat it as if it’s loaded all the time, every time. Cuz shit happens, and 99.9999% of the time it’s human error.
- berberous 5y ago
  I know nothing about guns, but I’ve been reading other sources that seem to contradict your absolute statements: 1. This was a period western and could have been using older single action revolvers that have fewer modern safety mechanisms to avoid accidental discharge. From quora: “ With many single action (cowboy) revolvers, the hammer does rest on a cartridge beneath it. They will fire if they land on the hammer. For those, you leave one chamber empty and keep that one underneath the hammer. That makes them completely safe, too.” 2. Are blanks uniform in amount of gunpowder? Not sure what happens today but I read that in the Crow incident they were overloading blanks with more than the typical amount of gunpowder to overemphasize the muzzle flashes. 3. While your points about gun safety are reasonable, this appears to not be how it is done in movie sets. The armorer is specifically in charge of safety checking all guns repeatedly. Not the actor.
  - mgarfias 5y ago
    And how they do it on movie sets has gotten 3 people killed that I know of, and probably more. They really need to learn from the professionals.
mgarfias 5y ago
Also, to be pedantic: Brandon Lee wasn’t killed by a “bullet tip”. He was killed by a bullet. A bullet is the projectile that comes out of the weapon. A cartridge is the whole thing: case, primer, propellant, bullet.