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'Rust' Armorer Claims Alec Baldwin Ignored Gun Safety 'Against All Rules & Common Sense'

Home / Stars / 'Rust' Armorer Claims Alec Baldwin Ignored Gun Safety 'Against All Rules & Common Sense'

By Kristin Myers on March 15, 2022 at 8:43 AM EDT

A “Rust” armorer is backing claims that Alec Baldwin was “reckless” on the set of the Western film.

Last October, a gun that the “30 Rock” actor was holding for a scene discharged and killed cinematographer Haylna Hutchins. It also injured director Joel Souza. Baldwin and other “Rust” producers claim they have no knowledge of how a live bullet ended up on a film set and Baldwin has denied ever squeezing the trigger.

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‘Rust’ Armorer Claims She Was NOT Asked To Inspect Alec Baldwin’s Gun Prior To Scene

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In a statement first reported by CNN, “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed responded to a legal filing in which Baldwin said that Reed told him to prime the revolver. She is now accusing Baldwin of violating gun safety rules on set.

“My. Baldwin knew that he could never point a firearm at crew members under any circumstances and had a duty of safety to his fellow crew members,” she claimed. “Yet he did point the gun at Halyna before the fatal incident against all rules and common sense.”

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Alec Baldwin sued by family of shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
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The filing said that Baldwin and other “Rust” producers “had a duty and responsibility to call Hannah in for inspection of the gun and safety instruction before any gun scene was conducted.” However, “Hannah was not called into the Church before the impromptu gun scene rehearsal and she should have been.”

Reed claims that she did not know what was happening inside the church set on the day of the shooting.

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‘Rust’ Armorer Alleges She Was Not Allowed To Conduct Proper Gun Safety Training

Alec Baldwin Sued Over ‘Rust’ Shooting: He Should Have Checked The Gun!
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According to CNN, Reed claimed that she faced “constant resistance” from Baldwin and other “Rust” producers when it came to gun safety training.

“Hannah emphasized the importance of training Mr. Baldwin in the cross draw, which is dangerous,” the statement read. “He never accepted the offer and Hannah was not able to conduct that training as well as other training she wanted to do, because of budgeting and being overruled by production.”

However, last week, Baldwin claimed that Reed told him not to double-check that the revolver had no live bullets in it, saying, “It was her job to check the gun – not his.” In legal papers filed on Friday, Baldwin’s legal team insisted that “An actor cannot rule that a gun is safe. That is the responsibility of other people on the set.”

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Halyna Hutchins' Family Lawyers Release Disturbing Animation Of 'Rust Shooting'
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“At this point, two things are clear: someone is culpable for chambering the live round that led to this horrific tragedy, and it is someone other than Baldwin,” the statement began.

“Baldwin is an actor,” they continued. “He didn’t announce that the gun was ‘cold’ when it really contained a live round; he didn’t load the gun; he didn’t check the bullets in the gun; he didn’t purchase the bullets; he didn’t make the bullets and represent that they were dummies; he wasn’t in charge of firearm safety on the set; he didn’t hire the people who supplied the bullets or checked the gun; and he played no role in managing the movie’s props. Each of those jobs was performed by someone else.”

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Alec Baldwin sued by family of shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
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The paperwork also revealed that Baldwin had attempted to make an “exhaustive effort” to get the crew back on set to finish the filming and that a portion of the movie’s money would be contributed to a settlement for Hutchins’ family, which includes her husband, Matt, and her young son.

Although Reed alleges that she was not able to conduct the training with Alec Baldwin, there is one other actor on set who claims that he did receive gun-safety training on the set of “Rust.”

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‘Rust’ Costar Jensen Ackles Claims He Received Gun Safety Training

Jensen Ackles at The CW Network 2019 Upfront
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Shortly after the fatal “Rust” shooting, The Blast reported that “Supernatural” star Jensen Ackles had claimed to have received gun training while on the “set” set while speaking to fans at a “Supernatural” fan convention in Denver.

In a video taken at the “Supernatural” convention that has since been removed, Ackles could be seen describing how he learned to use a gun on the set of “Rust.”

“I’ve got a 6 AM call tomorrow to have a big shoot-out,” he explained. “They had me pick my gun… the armorer was like, ‘Do you have experience?’ and I was like, ‘a little.’”

The Art of Elysium 13th Annual Black Tie Artistic Experience 'HEAVEN'. 04 Jan 2020 Pictured: Jensen Ackles. Photo credit: Janet Gough / AFF-USA.COM / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA578444_026.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]
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The “Dark Angel” actor said that the armorer explained, “‘This is how you load it, check it’s safe. Do you want it hip-drawn or cross-drawn? I’ll just put some blanks in there and just fire a couple of rounds towards the hill.’”

“I walk out and she’s like, ‘Just make sure you pull the hammer all the way back and aim at your target,’” Ackles recalled. “And I was like, ‘All right, I got it.’”

At this time, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating the death. It is unclear at this time whether or not Baldwin will be held criminally responsible for her death.

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