I was watching a show on conspiracies where they reenacted how Brandon Lee died on set to show how it was possible to be killed with a prop gun filled with blanks. It came down to something being left in the barrel of the gun that shouldn't have been there that was dislodged by the blank, but I don't know enough about guns to remember all to details.

Nothing to fool with, that's for sure. In an unrelated note, :MOM, IT"S OKAY TO TELL ME THAT YOU WANT SOMETHING! I feel bad that we half-assed a milestone birthday(actually sort of hard to avoid since Events are still a bit scary, like "here are some tickets...now with added fear of illness, you know. ) But still, at times like that, fuck that viking stoic bullcrap. I can kind of see why it was hard to be her bf.

Truly I read that the armorer for the movie is young and had only led one other production so I wonder if her inexperience played a role. It also sounds like there were other problems on set before this happens that made it seem like it wasnt a well run production.

I read that the union crew walked off set the day before and they were running with quickly-hired non-union locals. The pitch hit "armorer" would not likely have known the standard protocol.

I don't think this was a replacement armorer, but from what I read this is only the 2nd big production where she has done.

There have been reports that there were 2 accidental discharges previously during the production, no one was injured, but it doesn't sound like there were any changes to what they were doing.

I think that it is very clear that basic prop gun safety procedures were not followed here, made worse by the fact that there were previous incidents that did not cause the crew/director to establish better procedures.

One article I read claimed that the assistant director just picked the gun up off of a prop table and gave it to Alec Baldwin. No one cleared the gun for use. The gun should not have been on a prop table, and the armorer should have been on scene to clear the gun, give it to the actor, then take it back and clean it/lock it up after the scene.

Yeah, reading the descriptions of the AD's behavior on-set, I can imagine that, even if the armorer was trying her best, if no one was backing her up on safety, it's easy/possible to get steamrolled by assholes like that, especially as a younger woman.

Ugh.

Producers on the set of Rust cut significant corners when it came to safety protocols and working conditions, according to those who were involved and familiar with the project.

I realize I know virtually nothing about this, but is there a reason to have live ammunition on a set?

That's what I was thinking, Todd.