By: Teresa Mull
The apparent accidental discharge of a firearm on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film Rust is being used as an excuse to enact more gun control in New Mexico.
But for once, it may not necessarily be a bad thing.
“State Sen. Cliff Pirtle of Roswell on Monday introduced a bill that would require all acting and film production personnel where firearms are present to complete a safety course offered by the New Mexico Game and Fish Department that is designed primarily for hunters,” reports the Associated Press.
GPM reported previously that cinematographer Halyan Hutchins was shot and killed after actor Alec Baldwin was reportedly handed a loaded weapon despite being told it was safe on a New Mexico movie set.
Instead, tragically, the handgun was apparently loaded with live rounds, and when Baldwin pulled the trigger on the set of the film Rust, he killed Hutchins and seriously wounded director Joel Souza. Such events should never have happened, and it seems that firearms safety protocols, as well as Hollywood rules, were blatantly ignored. Baldwin, who has appeared in numerous films where his characters have used firearms, has also been an advocate for gun control.
Baldwin failed to follow the first rule of firearms safety, which is to assume any gun is loaded. It appears that instead of checking to determine if the weapon he was handed was, in fact, “cold,” he took the word of the production’s assistant director Dave Halls, who reportedly handed the gun to the actor.
The shooting is still under investigation, according to the AP, and so far, no charges have been filed.
Perhaps in this instance, more gun control isn’t necessarily a bad thing: to give civilian disarmament advocates a taste of their own medicine, and to regulate guns that go into the hands of rabid anti-gunners who profess to control everyone else’s firearms, when they clearly know nothing about them, would be beneficial to everyone.
Teresa Mull is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.