Monday's Absurdity of the Day: Revisiting That Alec Baldwin "Prop" Gun

Last Friday I discussed the media’s knee-jerk bias to leap to the defense of hot-head B-list actor Alec Baldwin, uniformly using the term “prop” gun to describe the weapon the clod used to kill one co-worker on the set of his latest low-budget movie and seriously injure another. “Any pistol that fires live ammunition is a damn pistol, not a prop,” I wrote in that previous piece, “and any real news organization would take care to identify it as such, regardless of the political leanings of the person who fired it.”

Well, here we are three days later, and my initial contention about the mis-gendering of the gun - ok, it’s really just a mis-labeling but I’m trying to keep up with the times here - by the corrupt news media turns out to be exactly correct. Let’s review the salient facts about the gun and the case that we now know, 72 hours later:

• The gun in question is a real, live vintage Colt .45 Peacemaker pistol. That’s what it is - not some starter pistol like the use at racetracks or an imitation pistol that fires caps. It’s a real Colt like this one:

• The Colt .45 pistol that Baldwin used to kill one member of the crew and injure another fires real, live ammunition.

• The Colt .45 pistol that Baldwin aimed at one member of the crew and killed her can be fired in one of two ways: The most common way is to pull the hammer back to its locked position with your thumb and then pull the trigger with your index finger. On most Colts, doing it that way requires only a very light trigger pull involving perhaps a pound or two of pressure to fire off a shot.

[CORRECTION: As several readers have pointed out, the original, non-modified Colt .45 was a single-action pistol that could only be fired by first cocking the hammer and then pulling the trigger. When I wrote this this morning, I was doing it from memory of a vintage Colt my father owned. He was a very fine gunsmith, and had modified that gun. Sorry for the error.]

• The second way to fire the very real Colt .45 pistol that the hot-headed B-list actor used to kill a member of his crew is to simply pull on the trigger with the hammer in the down position. This requires the shooter to apply far more trigger pressure but would allow for more rapid single-handed firing of the very real pistol if that’s what the shooter desires.

• Baldwin knew full well the pistol was a real pistol that fires real, live ammunition. He knew this because his crew, just the day before the shooting, was right outside the movie set using the real pistol to engage in a little target practice just for funzies.

Here’s an excerpt from a story at the New York Post:

The prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico movie set had been used by crew members offsite for fun, a new report claims.

The gun, which was fired by Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie “Rust,” may have even been loaded with live rounds when it was used for what was essentially target practice, TMZ reported.

Multiple sources connected to the production of the film told TMZ that the gun was fired at off-the-clock gatherings – which could explain how a live round found its way into the gun’s chamber.

Another source who was on set told the outlet that when cops arrived they found live ammo and blank rounds stored in the same area, where the fatal mix-up could have occurred.

[End]

Oh.

But wait, there’s more!

• Law enforcement investigating the case is now focusing on the crew member who was responsible for ensuring the gun was not loaded, a temp worker brought in at the last minute when the regular crew left the set over unsafe working condition named Hannah Guttierez Reed.

Again, here’s another excerpt from the report at the New York Post:

The “inexperienced” armorer in charge of weapons on set of Alec Baldwin’s movie “Rust” had given a gun to an 11-year-old actress without checking properly for safety, a report said…

Gutierrez-Reed’s alleged misstep happened on the set of the upcoming Nicholas Cage film, “The Old Way” and temporarily halted filming, sources told The Daily Beast.

“She was reloading the gun on the ground, where there were pebbles and stuff,” one source told the outlet. “We didn’t see her check it, we didn’t know if something got in the barrel or not.”

Gutierrez-Reed reportedly handed the gun to child actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong, forcing concerned crew members to intervene, the report said. The gun was then checked for barrel obstruction, according to the sources.

[End]

Oh.

Hey, in case you’re wondering what Ms. Reed does in her spare time, here she is on TikTok:

ELIJAH @ElijahSchaffer

This is the woman who was in charge of Alex Baldwin’s gun

Sure, looks like someone I’d certainly want to put in charge of handling guns on a film set. Right?

whew.

That’s certainly what Baldwin obviously did. He just trusted that that particular highly-reliable-looking person was telling him the truth when she told him she was handing him a “cold” gun even though he knew that the crew had been using that same gun for target practice with live ammunition less than 24 hours earlier.

Then, for whatever reason, Baldwin chose to aim the gun not at his fellow actors while filming the gunfight scene they were filming, but at a member of the crew, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. As a result of this incredible negligence by Reed, and by Baldwin himself, Ms. Hutchins, a wife and mother and respected professional by all accounts, is dead.

If Alec Baldwin were a regular person, there is little doubt that New Mexico law enforcement officials would be investigating him for potential criminal charges. At the very least, the facts we have at hand as of Monday morning indicate he and Reed both ought to face criminal negligence charges at the very least.

It’s possible Ms. Reed ultimately will face criminal charges, but don’t count on that happening with Baldwin. Reed is a regular person - well, ok, not exactly regular, but not a part of the protected class in America.

Baldwin, on the other hand, certainly is a part of the protected class, a liberal icon, multiple episode SNL host, certified Trump hater and donor to Democrat political campaigns. The first tier of our two-tiered system of justice does not apply to him.

But it certainly appears that it should.

In any event, the very least that needs to happen here is for people to quit using the term “prop” to describe the murder weapon in this case. It was a real, live pistol, one of the most iconic pistols ever made.

At least let’s get that part right.

That is all.