Posted on 03/06/2024 4:41:54 PM PST by hardspunned
I have vacillated between those feelings and seeing how cocky she was with the position. She and many on the set were. All management had to do was step in, correct her, educate her or fire her for one woman who is now dead without those actions.
The incident happened in October. The previous August she worked on another film with Nicholas Cage and shot off a live round close to him. He yelled at her saying she did not warn him and his ears were ringing. She had previous unprofessional behavior in the same position.
Osha felt management was alone at fault but it seemed the general attitude on the set was loose and sloppy with the whole thing. Leaving the cart unlocked, unattended, letting the 11 year old actor play with the guns, leaving the scene where Baldwin receives the unchecked gun (the armorer is never supposed to let the gun out of their site) the cart with all the guns and things unlocked and unattended. No safety meetings, one witness said on other sets there were three or more a day, in three weeks on the set of Rust there was one. Ever.One.
That set was a mess. There were 2 other incidents of live ammo going off I believe that same day an hour apart. I think it was six employees walked off the set for various reasons, including the set had so many obvious violations. The staff was pushed to do too much to quick for low pay. On and on. In fact Hannah Guttierez-Reed was not just Armorer but also had some duties with taking care of props.
Baldwin correctly advertised himself as a gun-handling expert in his actor’s bio for the industry.
The Baldwin boys grew up with an expert high school shooting coach father who had been accidentally shot as a Marine range instructor.
Here is an excerpt from Baldwin’s book on his father, the Baldwin boys knew guns, so Alec chose what he wanted to do or not do regarding safety.
” He coached football at the school. Led a cub scout troop. Coached Little League. And was coach of the Massapequa High School rifle team, which went to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association state riflery championship twice during his career. That honor was nearly always the reserve of upstate, and therefore more rural, schools. For a “downstate” school to win was considered impossible. My father’s team won both times.
Years later, doctors informed me that the inhalation of lead dust from working in an unventilated rifle range may have contributed significantly to his death. On Parris Island in 1945, a bullet would not kill him. But bullets eventually did, at the age of 55, from lymph cancer that spread through his body.”
I believe she was on drugs at the time! I have a hars time feeling sorry for her if that’s true.
So her life is over because Arec Balwun shot a woman
I think her youth and lack of experience was part of her downfall.
I believe she was bullied and couldn’t push back against Baldwin and others regarding safety practices.
Should have walked off if that were the case rather than lose control of her job.
If he’s such a gun handling expert and him being the boss of the movie, why did he hire this dumbass, not check the weapon, and then point the weapon at two people, apply the required trigger pressure to the weapon after cocking it. I have worked on single action colt weapons, fired these style weapons for many years. Two dumbasses in series need to do hard time in series.
I don't know that she was offered a plea, but if she had been and opted to go to trial anyways, she is a fool, and her conviction will give Baldwin's defense a little bit of a boost.
Hannah’s father is a long-time Hollywood armorer. Lots of possibilities here (all speculation on my part): father didn’t train daughter well; daughter trained but irresponsible; Baldwin didn’t want to pay rate for true professional and cheaped out and hired daughter. Hannah was both prop assistant and armorer; Dad had complained that one person shouldn’t do both jobs.
Yeah, I see too much room for shenanigans in this.
She didn’t point the weapon and pull the trigger. What about Baldwin?!
I disagree, her conviction proves that two “gun experts “. Her and Baldwin scewed up. IMO
Yes, she failed in her clear responsibility to maintain safety on the set, specifically by allowing a loaded firearm to go unchecked before it was discharged. At what, or rather whom, it was discharged was not her responsibility, it was the responsibility of the guy who pointed it at another human being against all established safety rules he'd have to have been briefed on dozens of times during his career. By the report I read he had skipped her iteration of that briefing at the Rust set. Not sure that would have made any difference, though.
I'm going to go the other direction. Her conviction allows the prosecution to tell the jury she was found guilty of manslaughter, that Alec Baldwin as producer was responsible for hiring her and supervising her. As a self-admitted gun expert, he should have realized she was green and double-checked any gun she handed him. He also pointed, cocked and pulled the trigger. He is at least as culpable as she is.
I can not believe he intentionally meant to shoot someone. I also can't understand how the weapons handler could fail in such a responsibility and got convicted.
She loaded the gun with a live bullet. Did not check the bullets as they went into the gun. Kept the bullets jumbled up in a fanny pack whereas other Armorers keep bullets locked in a box labeling each container of bullets as to what gun, who uses, and only that Amorer has that key. The other person who was responsible to look at the chamber was the assistant director who said he did not during this time. Baldwin also should have done as much, did not. There were not supposed to be live ammo on set. There was.
Management is supposed to make sure all this is done. They were there, said not a word as the gun was loaded improperly and passed improperly and fired immediately. One more thing, the rule is never point the gun at anyone even in a film shoot, point off target the camera makes it look as if it’s lined up to the target. None of that was done.
I think the only job Hannah had on the film was to make sure that the simulated use of firearms was safe. In my opinion she was clearly negligent in carry out that job, and her negligence led to a death, so it was a just verdict.
In Baldwin’s case his negligence was in hiring Hannah and improperly supervising her. His actions as an actor in a film were “make believe”. In my opinion it’s a close question if his negligence as a producer makes him guilty, but I do expect him to also be convicted.
This was her second job as an armorer for a movie, she had known issues on her first movie
she was hired because she was a nepo baby, and more so cause Baldwin was a cheap @ss
She should have been an apprentice to another armorer.
I think she is a scapegoat mostly
Don’t forget they were filming in a state where there are lax regulations
there was a labor union strike
She had other duties besides being the armorer, which was not something that should have happened.
She did not hand the gun directly to the AD, and the AD who has also had past issues did not check the gun before giving it to Baldwin and telling him it was safe.
I am not sure I would have convicted her if I were on the Jury.
Baldwin was the producer.
Clearly had armorer dad didn’t impress upon her the seriousness of handling guns.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.