Will Guns Ultimately Be Banned on Sets?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Last month, actor Alec Baldwin discharged a weapon on the New Mexico set of RUST, a Western which was in the midst of shooting. For cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the shot was a fatal one, as Movieguide® previously reported.
Hutchins’ death sparked a good deal of conversation regarding the use of firearms in filmmaking.
One of the voices that’s contributed to this dialogue is California senator Dave Cortese, who wants “to introduce legislation that would restrict the use of live ammunition on film sets, along with and weapons capable of firing such rounds,” DEADLINE reports.
Cortese said he received advisement from the state legislative counsel’s office while drafting the bill. However, the text of the bill cannot yet be disclosed due to Senate rules.
Already there are parameters set in place by the Industry Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee which hinder the use of live ammunition on set. Only on rare occasions are these overlooked.
The established parameters permit the use of firearms in the case that they are merely discharging blanks, and even then, a hard and fast set of guidelines are expected to be followed.
The safety bulletin regarding gun use on movie sets produced by the committee clearly states that blank ammunition “can kill.”
However, in the situation involving the cast and crew of RUST, authorities confirmed that the “prop gun” handed to Baldwin held “a live lead round.” Despite this, no one has been charged following the death of the cinematographer and the injuring of the director.
Cortese, who serves as the chair of the Senate Labor Committee, said the bill he drafted would reject the use of firearms that could shoot any live ammunition. That would effectively bar the use of so-called “prop guns,” such as the one Baldwin had, that can discharge genuine ammo.
This legislation, Cortese explained to DEADLINE, would ensure “that everybody uniformly is complying to the same rules and knows that there are legal consequences if they don’t.”
Though he believes California “has done a good job on managing blanks,” the senator alluded that the proposed bill would usher in greater firearm safety on movie sets.
For Cortese, this is a legal maneuver that would “take the industry’s best practices and put them into law.”
Members of the filmmaking industry haven’t really had the opportunity to comment on the proposed policy, however, since the relevant document has yet to be made public.
In order to have the drafted bill released, a decision to that effect would have to be made by the Senate Rules Committee.
Cortese isn’t the only government official to take an interest in gun safety within the filmmaking industry.
Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor of New Mexico, voiced concern over the industry’s potentially hazardous relationship with firearms.
Grisham said she wanted to see the industry implement and maintain new and “comprehensive” safety measures regarding firearms. Otherwise, the state will take action where needed.
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