Then you just made my point for me, if I don't know how to check a 19th century revolver for safe handling,
It's not hard to learn. Anyone who picks up a firearm has an obligation to become familiar with the manual of arms for that weapon, especially before pointing that weapon in the direction of another human being, cocking the hammer, and pulling the trigger. This is 101 stuff.
what makes you think Baldwin would know?
The decades of experience that Mr. Baldwin has in handling guns in films. He started playing make believe with real guns in the 1980s. Between you, me, Baldwin and a person off the street, I would expect him to be the
most qualified.
He must bear some of the blame. The argument that he is an innocent in all of this, does not square with the known facts of the case. And as facts are coming out, it's looking worse.
Besides the gun was suppose to be fitted with blanks,
Doesn't matter if it was supposed to be fitted with jelly beans. If you pick up a real gun, you (personally) have a real responsibility. You have a deadly weapon in your hands and you (personally) have a responsibility for safe handling, including knowledge to the manual of arms, checking to see if it is loaded, and following the 4 Rules.
This is like the responsibility you have when you have sex. Your good buddy can avow to you that the girl at the party is of age, but if you have sex with her without further inquiry, that's still statutory rape if it turns out she is underage. And this detail does not otherwise help his side of the case. A blank can kill within 20 feet. As a professional actor who regularly handles guns, he should know this. Moreover, why would be shooting blanks on a prep/practice day? Why would you point it at a person, cock the hammer, and pull the trigger if you thought it had a blank in it?!?!!
unless he's psychic he's not going to know that the weapons master left a live bullet in it.
You don't have to be psychic. You do a five-second safety check. That's it. A five-second check.
Your friend at the party, even if he is an "age master," does not get you off the hook for statutory rape.
Please remember this in your own life. If someone ever hands you a gun, even a good friend or expert, and they tell you it is "unloaded," assume that it is loaded until you check for yourself. If you don't know how to check, don't pick it up. And if you do pick it up, keep it pointed in a safe direction and do not touch the trigger at any point in time. Experts make mistakes.
That's the second time you said something like this. Who cares what his gun views are? I don't....Nor do I care what comments he made in the past about accidental shootings, it bears no meaning on this tragedy.
By his own publicly asserted standards, he bears responsibility.
Mr. Baldwin obviously knows that guns are dangerous. He knows that a person who handles a gun has a tremendous responsibility.
And yet, until just now, he has never had to take responsibility. Someone else has always taken it for him. Armed security guards, a cop acting as sentry at a red carpet, security cameras, heavy doors, gated communities, private planes, layers of staff. On movie sets he has apparently relied on other people to take this responsibility for him. He outsourced his responsibility to a prop master to make sure he was safe with a deadly weapon. He knows guns are dangerous, but didn't take it upon himself to follow the rules of gun safety that apply to everyone.
He screwed up. It's a tragedy. This does not make him a monster. But he did screw up. I feel bad for him. I think that the personal punishment he feels will exceed any the state could bring to bear on him. But he still screwed up.