By: Hellen Zaboulani
The recent fatal shooting on a movie set may have legal implications for future Hollywood productions.
The tragic incident while filming for the movie, ‘Rust’, has spurred talk about changing the way guns are used in the production of movies. On a set in New Mexico, Alec Baldwin was practicing drawing a prop gun during rehearsal, when it unwittingly shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded the director, Joel Souza, in the shoulder. No charges have been made in the incident, and Baldwin has said that he is cooperating with police investigators, but that he was told the prop was “safe”.
The remorseful actor and co-producer lamented on Friday, “There are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time, but nothing like this”. He said, “A woman died. She was my friend.” He added, “We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together when this horrible event happened.” Baldwin also mentioned changing the way movies are made in the future: “I do know an ongoing effort to limit the use of firearms on a set is something I’m extremely interested in,” he said.
As per Crain’s NY, a New York law aims to ban live ammunition on film sets. On Wednesday, Senator Kevin Thomas, a Democrat who represents parts of Nassau County, proposed a bill banning the possession or use of live ammunition on a film set in New York state. The bill, if approved, would make it a felony offense, and also police-supervision would be required moving forwards for all movie crew members practicing to use prop guns firing blanks on a set. “This is a preventative measure,” Thomas said. “I don’t want what happened on the Rust set to happen here in New York, given that we are involved in a lot of production.”
Investigators are still not sure how such an incident could have occurred. It seems the gun fired by Baldwin discharged a “suspected live round,” the Sante Fe County sheriff’s office said. It is not known at this time how live ammunition could have gotten onto the set. Crew members also reported safety concerns prior to the incident, as per a report by the Los Angeles Times.
Currently, the guidelines for weapons on the set of any movie come from the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee. The rules call for regular safety meetings for crews when firearms are on set, bars the guns being pointed in any person’s direction and says the guns should never be left unattended.
