Alec Baldwin has called for film and TV productions to hire police officers to monitor weapons safety on set after a fatal accident on the set of his film “Rust.”
“Every film/TV set that uses guns, fake or otherwise, should have a police officer on set, hired by the production, to specifically monitor weapons safety,” Baldwin said in a tweet.
In productions with guns or other weapons, a prop master or armorer is usually present to account for weapons safety.
According to a source close to Baldwin, he is cooperating with authorities while the investigation into the shooting continues.
Director of photography Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza injured after Baldwin fired a weapon during a rehearsal that contained a live round, authorities said.
The tragic accident occurred days after the crew had walked off set in protest over the poor conditions on set. Crew members complained of being “overworked and surrounded by unsafe, chaotic conditions.”
According to the LA Times, the senior electrician on set blamed the rookie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and producers for “negligence.”
“There is no way a 24-year-old woman can be a professional with armory.”
Gutierrez Reed’s legal team claimed that the accident was the work of “sabotage,” suggesting that someone intentionally put live rounds of ammunition into a box of dummy rounds before the shooting.
Baldwin has since called for limiting the use of real guns on set, with others calling for the complete ban of genuine, live firearms in movies.
“So what has to happen now is, we have to realize that when it does go wrong and it’s this horrible, catastrophic thing, some new measures have to take place. Rubber guns, plastic guns, no live — no real armaments on set. That’s not for me to decide. It’s urgent that you understand I’m not an expert in this field, so whatever other people decide is the best way to go in terms of protecting people’s safety on film sets, I’m all in favor of and I will cooperate with that in any way that I can,” Baldwin said.
Other industry workers vowed to never work on a set that uses functional weapons again in their careers.