Comments by "Ash Roskell" (@ashroskell) on "Criminal charges may be filed in Alec Baldwin shooting case - BBC News" video.
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Either she’s lying, or mistaken, or something more sinister occurred? If she’s telling the truth, did someone switch the shells? It sounds more like an episode of Columbo when you think of it like that, but it’s a pretty lame assertion if you claim you checked and the. Someone gets shot with a real bullet? So, the cops will be giving the Armourer the opportunity to recant her story. If she sticks to it, putting herself under suspicion, they will have to start looking into people’s backgrounds to see if anyone might have had a motive to kill this poor woman? And if they had access and opportunity?
I’m saying all this, but as usual, it will probably just turn out to be a series of errors, committed by several people, leading to an avoidable tragedy, that no one wants to take the blame for. I hope they can clear it up quickly, for the sake of all involved. And for the sake of finishing the movie. That’s not a callous remark. I just know that a whole bunch of people’s livelihoods tend to depend upon completing their contracts, and everyone from the caterers to the sound engineers up to the producers and the stars will all have time and money invested in the project. For some of them, the ones lower down the pecking order, it makes the difference between eating or not.
But if the armourer is telling the truth, we may have a murderer among these people?
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@scottshepard3662 : And if you’re not responsible? If you’re not the owner of the gun, or legally responsible for what’s in it? You surely cannot be suggesting that Baldwin was in any way responsible for this tragedy? He’s a Hollywood actor, with no expertise, or responsibility. That’s why they hire an armourer, or there would be no point in doing so if they were just using an honor system, which would be ludicrous. Actors put themselves into the hands of specialists every time they step onto a set, often with a million special effects; squibs, fires, explosions (big and small) falling scenery, smashed furniture, etc, erupting about them at all times. They know that experts are hired to take care of all these things and have to trust that everyone’s done their jobs. You don’t know if Baldwin even knows anything about guns. A, “responsible gun owner,” might well check the weapon in his hand, but let’s say Baldwin did that? Would the director take an actor’s word for it? How would that look in the aftermath? “We disregarded what the hired expert said, because Mr Baldwin said it was fine.” No sir. The armourer takes full responsibility and is hired to do so, thus taking legal liability with it. You don’t ask a plumber to check your car? You don’t ask an actor to be a weapons expert. You hire one.
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@scottshepard3662 : You missed my point. People who aren’t arsonists should never step into a burning building, people who aren’t cattle barons should never mess around with cows, people who aren’t professional bank robbers should never get into a shootout. Yet actors FAKE IT all the time. You don’t know that he even knew it was a real gun at this point. And even if he did, they go with the expert they hired to take responsibility, not to take an actor’s word for anything. I’m not talking about the rights or wrongs of that. It’s simply how it is. If want to, “blame,” Baldwin for culpable or deliberate homicide, be my guest. I promise you the cops won’t. They’ll just be following what the law says. Not your surmises about what, “might,” have happened, which you can’t possibly know yet, or your (undisputed, I hasten to add) thoughts on good practice. For all you know, Baldwin might be destined to kick himself for the rest of his life, taking the very same attitude as you. I certainly would have checked the chambers, had I been handed a real gun (and knew it was real, which we can’t say for certain Baldwin did) and made sure it was safe. But, regardless, the legal responsibility to ensure safety is not on the actor. And when you think about it, that’s as it should be.
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@scottshepard3662 : You talk just as much, so don’t come the, “confused by your verbs,” son? Yes, I’m sure Baldwin agrees and sick about the whole thing. I don’t doubt he’s learned a sickening lesson and will be tortured by it for the rest of his days. He may even campaign about gun safety, in the way that A list actors do when tragedy hits home? But, here’s the point, made real simple:
* Until the facts are known, you have no idea what happened, or who was responsible. It’s not even established if Baldwin had any reason to believe the gun was real or fake. How would he know the difference?
* What do you think an, “Armourer’s,” job is? They take the liability as part of their contract. The law isn’t going to explore the deeper moral questions of culpability. But there are a thousand potential variables of which you are not in any position to judge at this point. What part of that don’t you get?
* The law is the law. It is a fact, extant, about which there is no debate. It doesn’t matter whether actors are sensible, taking responsibility (morally) for where every bullet that leaves their gun stops, or not. The cops are not interested, nor is the court. The buck stops with the, “expert,” they hired to take responsibility. If her story doesn’t change, she’s alleging murder, committed by the short list of suspects who had access. I think she will change her story. But that’s all guessing.
* What I can promise you, without any ambiguity, is that the cops are not even considering Baldwin as being culpable in any sense: save possibly as a producer, and whether he had any influence over practices on set. But that’s got no bearing on the fact that he fired the weapon. That part of it is not going to be pinned on him. Much as you seem to wish it would be?
* I don’t give out personal details. So don’t ask. You asked a general question, which made little difference either way, so I answered it. But, I wouldn’t dismiss the opinions of others, whether they were experienced with fire arms or not, on a question like this. I haven’t been to the North Pole, but I can tell you it’s cold, without fear of contradiction.
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