I see why Hollywood is afraid of firearms - Alec Baldwin kills set employee

[Lead Belly]

if you want a 1 MOA revolver.

I want some longer arms so I can see that blurry front post jiggling around.

 

[deemus]

I want some longer arms so I can see that blurry front post jiggling around.

They dont help.....

 

[benenglish]

Long and boring but educational if you don't know how firearms expert testimony is done in court. But if you've never experienced it, it's educational. Procedurally, I mean. The tech is, I assume, mostly understood by pretty much everyone reading TGT.

 

[thescoutranch]

In watching the trial and the police interviews. It struck me how little these particular police knew about firearms and ammunition, and how nonexistent knowledge was with the actors, directors, props department and staff on the movie set.

The assistant Director, who took the plea deal, still does not have any clue about firearms. This was the guy who was supposed to check the firearm after the armor loaded it, before it was handed to the actor.

I still have not heard the question ask of why they could not use a non-firing replica guns for the movie, but instead had to have real firearms. I’m sure you could have a non-firing replica gun that would shoot blanks for everything they needed.

I would assume any movie filmed in California would not allow them to use live guns, but that is an assumption on my part.

 

[thescoutranch]

Long and boring but educational if you don't know how firearms expert testimony is done in court. But if you've never experienced it, it's educational. Procedurally, I mean. The tech is, I assume, mostly understood by pretty much everyone reading TGT.

I did not realize that the replica revolvers did not integrate the transfer bar technology for safety. Always something new to learn.

 

[benenglish]

I would assume any movie filmed in California would not allow them to use live guns, but that is an assumption on my part.

There were one or two rental firms in Cali that, decades ago, had the most wonderful, biggest collections of firearms you can imagine. They had thousands of NFA items, regular guns, and tens of thousands of fake rubber/plastic guns. More interestingly, they had gunsmith shops employing the few gunsmiths in the world who know how to make guns that look like they're firing even when they're not. They made their own blanks, etc. They provided highly competent personnel on contract to movie productions to make sure everyone stayed safe and didn't look too stupid.

The documentaries I've seen have been mind-boggling. I never appreciated how difficult it is to make an M-16 fire full-auto with perfect reliability with blanks while also producing enough muzzle flash to be visible in daylight.

As of now, iirc, those firms no longer exist, eventually driven out of business by Cali gun laws.

 

[Cool 'Horn Luke]

There were one or two rental firms in Cali that, decades ago, had the most wonderful, biggest collections of firearms you can imagine. They had thousands of NFA items, regular guns, and tens of thousands of fake rubber/plastic guns. More interestingly, they had gunsmith shops employing the few gunsmiths in the world who know how to make guns that look like they're firing even when they're not. They made their own blanks, etc. They provided highly competent personnel on contract to movie productions to make sure everyone stayed safe and didn't look too stupid.

The documentaries I've seen have been mind-boggling. I never appreciated how difficult it is to make an M-16 fire full-auto with perfect reliability with blanks while also producing enough muzzle flash to be visible in daylight.

As of now, iirc, those firms no longer exist, eventually driven out of business by Cali gun laws.

That would be awesome to see, is there a link or title to any of the documentaries? My guess is they went out of business because they were too good at their jobs. A 1st generation M-16 that's "perfectly reliable"?? Lol!

 

[Lead Belly]

Watching these, it's all women doing everything- from the set to the courtroom. From the armorer, to her boss to the judge to the attorneys to the EMT.

You've come a long way, baby...

 

[benenglish]

is there a link or title to any of the documentaries?

I'd start here and here. There are links to YT videos at that second link.

I can't find any of the documentaries I've seen. The most fascinating one was with the gunsmiths and how they could build anything a script required. IIRC, it was something that was broadcast on NRATV, back when that was a thing but, thinking about it, that doesn't seem right. NRATV wasn't around long but it existed after Stembridge no longer did. Perhaps it was a Jim Scouten piece. Heck, it might not have been about Stembridge at all but about ISS (link below). In any event, I can't remember after so long.

A lot of their guns were bought by Robert Petersen and some or all of them are now on display at the NRA museum but, as far as I can see, it's impossible to tell online which guns came from Stembridge.

BTW, reviewing the wiki article, it seems I exaggerated. They did have 10,000+ guns at the end but as of 1940, only 200 machine guns. That number was substantially higher by the time the firm broke up but my "thousands" is an overstatement. "Over a thousand" will probably turn out to be correct. I note that the wiki doesn't mention any of the fake rubber guns; they had more of those than real ones. They were very useful for handing out to untrained extras in the far background of any shot.

Another assumption/exaggeration of mine that was untrue was about the firm and gun laws.; it was not gun laws that killed Stembridge Gun Rentals and forced the sale of their guns. Per the wiki, "The settlement of a family estate forced the sale of most of them." Enough of the guns were left to form the core inventory of Independent Studio Services but they're not the sort of "we do it all and we're a monopoly so if you're shooting a movie with guns you will come to us" shop that Stembridge was. The market for supplying guns, blanks, armorers and training to movie productions is far more dispersed and uneven (read: unreliable) than it was 40 years ago.

 

[Cool 'Horn Luke]

Thank you so much. I will definitely be checking this stuff out.

 

[Cool 'Horn Luke]

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/rust-trial-hannah-gutierrez-reed-verdict-8110f6d9?mod=e2fb

They got her! Now on to Baldwin.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Paywall

 

[General Zod]

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/rust-trial-hannah-gutierrez-reed-verdict-8110f6d9?mod=e2fb

They got her! Now on to Baldwin.

Yeah, they took the patsy down. Baldwin needs to do not one less day in prison than she was sentenced to - as producer, it's his responsibility and he ran a slipshod set.

 

[Renegade]

She was the least at fault of the three.

Almost certain Baldwin will walk now.

 

[thescoutranch]

After watching most of the trial, in my Layman’s opinion, it was a bit of a slam dunk against her. Her job and responsibility was to load the firearm and check the rounds that were loaded into the firearm. She failed miserably to do this.

Now this is not to say, there isn’t plenty of blame and responsibility to go around.

 

[thescoutranch]

You cannot tell me that if the scene they were going to film was him (AB) pointing the gun at his head and pulling the trigger, he would’ve not made sure that it was filled with true dummies.

 

[seeker_two]

Yeah, they took the patsy down. Baldwin needs to do not one less day in prison than she was sentenced to - as producer, it's his responsibility and he ran a slipshod set.

Prosecutor will use sentencing as leverage to get her testimony against Baldwin. If she plays ball, she'll walk away with a suspended sentence....

 

[Renegade]

After watching most of the trial, in my Layman’s opinion, it was a bit of a slam dunk against her. Her job and responsibility was to load the firearm and check the rounds that were loaded into the firearm. She failed miserably to do this.

Now this is not to say, there isn’t plenty of blame and responsibility to go around.

Like Cocaine in the White House, they still do not know who brought live ammo to the set, and who loaded the live rounds into the gun.

 

[thescoutranch]

Like Cocaine in the White House, they still do not know who brought live ammo to the set, and who loaded the live rounds into the gun.

From what I gathered watching the trial, there is no dispute that she loaded the gun just minutes, prior to the incident.
How the live ammunition got onto that movie set was never really proven.

 

[thescoutranch]

Prosecutor will use sentencing as leverage to get her testimony against Baldwin. If she plays ball, she'll walk away with a suspended sentence....

Sentencing is mid April.