The actors’ union is pushing back on a New Mexico prosecutor’s contention that Alec Baldwin had a responsibility to make sure the firearm he was handling on the set of Rust was not dangerous, calling the argument “wrong and uninformed.”
“The death of Halyna Hutchins is a tragedy, and all the more so because of its preventable nature. It is not a failure of duty or a criminal act on the part of any performer. The prosecutor’s contention that an actor has a duty to ensure the functional and mechanical operation of a firearm on a production set is wrong and uninformed,” the union said in a statement. “An actor’s job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert. Firearms are provided for their use under the guidance of multiple expert professionals directly responsible for the safe and accurate operation of that firearm.” The union also argued that it is an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe working environment.
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The union appeared to be responding to remarks that New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies made on CNN on Thursday, hours after the announcement that Rust star and producer Baldwin would be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins. During the CNN appearance, when asked whether Baldwin had a duty in his actor role to ensure the firearm’s safety, Carmack-Altwies stated, “Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that, if they are going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger, that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone.” The prosecutor added, “We have talked to many actors, A-list and otherwise, that have said that they always check their guns or they have someone check it in front of them. So an actor doesn’t get a free pass just because they’re an actor. And that’s what’s so important, is that we’re saying, here in New Mexico, everyone’s equal under the law.”
Carmack-Altwies added that as a producer Baldwin had a duty to “make sure that the set was safe,” while as an actor, “he should have checked that gun, checked those projectiles.”
Charges have not yet been filed, which should provide more clarity on the prosecutor’s argument. Baldwin will be charged as an actor and a producer with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, while Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed also will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Assistant director Dave Halls took a plea deal for a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
In its statement Thursday, SAG-AFTRA cited that the Industry Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Safety Bulletins that currently govern the use of firearms on set “do not make it the performer’s responsibility to check any firearm. Performers train to perform, and they are not required or expected to be experts on guns or experienced in their use.” Rather, SAG-AFTRA maintains, armorers are charged with checking the gun and its barrel before and after any use on set. The union added, “Anyone issued a firearm on set must be given training and guidance in its safe handling and use, but all activity with firearms on a set must be under the careful supervision and control of the professional armorer and the employer.”
On October 21, 2021, Baldwin was handling a firearm on the set of Rust that had been given to him by Halls when it discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring the film’s director, Joel Souza. In his response to the charges Thursday, Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas said that Baldwin “relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds.” Nikas added, “Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set.”
