MOVIE NEWS – Following last month’s fatal accident on the set of Rust, Alec Baldwin is proposing a significant change to gun safety in future film and television productions.

While preparing to shoot a scene for the western film, a prop gun in Alec Baldwin’s hand, which police believe contained live ammunition, went off. The shot hit cameraman Halyna Hutchins, who died of her injuries, and wounded director Joel Souza. The police are actively investigating the incident to find out what happened, while other filmmakers are increasingly adopting new safety measures when dealing with firearms.

After speaking on camera earlier about the tragedy, Alec Baldwin commented further on the situation on Twitter and Instagram on Monday. Hoping to prevent similar incidents from occurring in future productions, Baldwin wrote:

“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.”

There have been other suggestions from inside and outside the film industry. For example, a popular petition has been launched calling for a ban on real firearms on film sets; a group of 200 cameramen has come up with similar proposals. The showrunner of The Boys, Eric Kripke, says that only CGI muzzle flashes will be used in his productions, while The Rookie’s TV series has also stopped using blanks. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently joined the movement by banning real guns in his film projects.

No charges have been connected with the Rust tragedy, but that could change as police reveal more details about what happened that day. Various theories have been put forward, including a claim by the film’s weapon master’s lawyer that a “disgruntled” crew member may have mixed live ammunition into the blanks, but nothing has been proven so far. In truth, it may be some time before investigators come to a helpful conclusion and finally find out exactly what happened on that tragic day.

Source: Deadline