Yup, that’s what I’m commenting on - what I'm saying is that saying that they, the actor who is taking possession of the firearm, should do that. (Obviously, the prop person/armourer and AD are significantly to blame here too)
In an ideal world it'd be nice, but they'd first need to know what they're looking at though, which is not always a realistic expectation given the variety of firearms and ammunition they could encounter in their career - Any dumb 18 year old can be taught to clear a modern assault rifle, but how many of them can also correctly ascertain whether an historical percussion cap black powder weapon is loaded with blanks or live ball?
If they were going to become even half experts on the matter they'd have become armourers themselves.
I don't think that is a reasonable assumption here, especially not after they'd had 2 NDs already (albeit with blank ammunition) on that same set with the same armourer and AD and especially not given that in this instance the actor is apparently intending to draw the firearm and point it at someone!
In this case it was not... which is why I said it
should be, and why on most sets it still is.
The person that is holding and potentially pulling the trigger on a firearm ought to know what condition it is in, whether it is loaded etc.. especially if they're going to point it at or in the direction of another person.
But the extent of that knowing stops at being told the condition by the expert whose specific job it is to know and ensure.
Yes, it's nice if the person holding the gun does know more than that, but there will always be limits and constraints on things (experience, knowledge, time, other duties)... and as I'm sure you're aware from your own wealth of military experience, you cannot have everyone trained and checking everyone else's work or you'd never get any actual work done. Dedicated staff exist as a single and supreme source of safety, because the more people you involve in this stuff the greater the scope for mistakes and the more you actually dilute the power the dedicated staff have to enforce the safety that is responsibility ... ask Dave Halls how I know this.
Maybe if Baldwin wasn't so anti 2a and respected what a gun could do he wouldn't have been waiving around a lethal weapon? It's a tragic accident to be sure but I can't see some like Keanu Reeves/Jon Bernthal being so careless on a set. Maybe everyone involved with a film shoot with weapons should be required to go through a basic firearm course every time they sign up.
Has it actually been established that he was waving it around?
"Reid Russell, the cameraman and eyewitness, has supported the actor, saying he had always been “very careful” in handling guns on set"... in the Independent's article from earlier today, which asserts that the pistol misfired rather than being an ND. Mostly immaterial, but still a point of interest.
Having everyone go through such a course is perhaps excessive and certainly expensive, especially as it'd set the precedent for dozens of other safety courses that would be required... and likely each crewperson would have to bear the burden of personally funding those (which either leads to pricing them out of the industry and/or the upspring of dubious quality low-price courses), which again can get in the way of the dedicated safety staff actually doing their job.
Certainly safety training should be given to those who
will be handling the weapons, which is often one of the armourer's other duties, but that is generally limited to safe handling and basic function, typically with modern weapons. Not many will cover the detailed nuances of historic black powder muzzle loaders, percussion caps and the like and unless it happens in a scene, the loading and unloading of the weapon is the responsibility of the armourer. Actors would likely not be considered safe enough to do it, so at best restricted to watching it be done by said armourer.
But even then, it doesn't actually
stop situations like this where ******** crew misbehave with the kit, and where other ******** crew step on the armourer's toes like this....
Plenty of gun-owners have done safety courses, many quite comprehensive ones, yet they still make very dumb mistakes that result in injuries and death.
I got a right earful for wasting everyone's time. This was a tiny corporate video production with only a crew of 4-5, but same applies. I'd imagine unqualified people sticking their oar in on safety aspects on set is asking for more trouble, if anything. Trying to "help" is not always the best thing.
