Alec Baldwin: "I didn't pull the trigger.."

DeepSouth said:

I guess I don’t understand why he would lie, assuming they were filming. I guess I don’t know what they were doing though, so

We’re they filming when the gun fired, how ever that happened?

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They were supposedly working on the camera angle, he was supposed to demonstrate how he was going to reach for the gun and draw it so the cinematographer could position the camera exactly right. That's how she got shot.

tark said:

I believe him! The gun pulled its own trigger...right after it loaded itself and cocked its own hammer! I believe we are talking about a single action Colt replica. All the hoglegs I have known do all of those things on their own!

Don't they???

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Well, first the rounds reloaded themselves to live status ...

I wonder what would happen if all movies were prohibited from having firearms in them. It would make for a bunch of dull movies, but peoples gun attitudes would surely be affected. Maybe the anti gun crowd would not be as noisy?

ColtPythonElite said:

The gun must have been one of the automatics I keep hearing about. They load, cock, point, and pull their own triggers.

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ColtPythonElite you crack me up!

From what I've Hurd she was shot in the back, the other thing is there Supposedly were 3-5 people that were supposed to check the gun and the Cinematographer killed was the last that was to check the gun. The armour wasn't even in set and the gun was from another person. Some other armour.

Then there's the hole thing her and the Husband were working on.

Sometimes it’s better to keep ones mouth closed and let everyone think you’re a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

PWC said:

He didn't have to pull the triggger, but he did have the gun in his hand. The gun has no hammer block or transfer bar; hammer only had to be pulled back 1/4" to 3/8" and released to cause the gun to discharge. That's why the oldtimers kept the hammer down on an empty chamber.
Handling the gun, he may not have rememberd he unconciously "thumbed" the hammer. That is a natural, ergonomic "feel" for that type of pistol, just like putting your finger on the trigger of a firearm is the natural "feel" of handling a firearm, and why we pound it into junior shooters to keep their finger off the trigger untill they are in position and ready to fire.

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Thank you ! Someone that understands revolvers. I totally agree with you!

He still would have to pull the hammer and point it same as pulling the trigger to me. Been said by many people he pulled the trigger and was messing around with the guns. Many witnesses got Lawyered after the first day.

Speedo66 said:

I bet there are people who are unfamiliar with guns that may believe your second sentence. A semi auto single action assault pistol.

Anyone who knows a little may find the "cocked itself" part a little hard to swallow. He's going to have to own that unless he says it was handed to him like that.

Must have also been one of those guns that zeros in on a live target by itself.

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I think Black rifle Coffee already covered this.

borrowedtime69 said:

"I did not have ***ual relations with that woman" -Slick Willie

De-nile isn't just a river in Egypt....

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The stains say otherwise.

Trying to think of scenarios of how a single action army revolver clone could fire without being cocked or the trigger pulled.
Spontaneous ammo combustion sounds about as plausible as spontaneous human combustion, real Charles Fort or News of the Weird stuff.

I've heard about the Baldwin shooting many times, just like KR's debacle I've heard 40 different versions of the story and have no good faith basis to believe that if I searched the incident online to get "facts" about the incident that I would get them. All I know for sure is that AB was pointing a loaded firearm at the film crew and people were injured as a direct result of his actions and other people aside from AB were responsible for ensuring the safe operation of these "prop" guns and failed miserably but it would seem the buck stops with Baldwin.

As an aside, does anybody know how multiple people were injured, did he shoot more than once or are we talking pass through? What are the concrete, indisputable facts available at this point?

old lady new shooter said:

They were supposedly working on the camera angle, he was supposed to demonstrate how he was going to reach for the gun and draw it so the cinematographer could position the camera exactly right. That's how she got shot.

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Thank You that’s exactly what I wanted to know.

troy fairweather said:

From what I've Hurd she was shot in the back, the other thing is there Supposedly were 3-5 people that were supposed to check the gun and the Cinematographer killed was the last that was to check the gun. The armour wasn't even in set and the gun was from another person. Some other armour.

Then there's the hole thing her and the Husband were working on.

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None of the above is accurate.

JCooperfan1911 said:

They should inspect the weapon for a worn sear or other issues.

I personally think it wasn’t Baldwins fault for killing the director, but the stunt people in charge. But him claiming he didn’t operate the trigger or hammer just seems nonsense.

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It's his fault for not checking the gun. The bs about its the armorers job isn't giving him a pass.

old lady new shooter said:

None of the above is accurate.

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Hope to find out what really happened.

We won't know til the grand jury decides on the evidence the sheriff and prosecutor provide.

Then the whirling dervish media will try to spin it.

Occam’s Razor sums up the simplest explanation; he is lying. He has had legal coaching/ advice to shift the attention/ blame away from him and onto the object. In our present society, he will be successful with at least half of a jury pool.

PWC said:

1/4" to 3/8" and released to cause the gun to discharge

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Would the cylinder advance enough to align the chamber with the barrel and firing pin?
Wouldn't the partially stroked hammer advance the cylinder to a position that would see the hammer fall between chambers?

I fully expect Baldwin to blame a shot from the grassy knoll pretty soon. News at 11:00.

...more unusual then if in fact the gun DID fire by itself, what are the odds that someone firing a gun ad KILLING someone would not be ARRESTED, exception, a clearly evidenced on-site case of legal self defense?

Or better stated , is this truly the anomaly that I think it is?

I haven't heard any JUSTIFICATION for not arresting yet.
I have heard many times in the past, ''but I didn't mean it.'' ''It was an accident.'' ''He/she struggled, and the &^$* (beep beeeep beep) thing went off.''
Precipitously followed by ' 'YOU ARE UNDER ARREST.''

Just to clarify, here is an extended quote from Baldwin:

“I’m holding the gun where she (Hutchins) told me to hold it," Baldwin, 63, told George Stephanopoulos in an ABC special that aired Thursday night and will stream afterward on Hulu. "In the scene (being rehearsed) I would have cocked the gun, and I said, ‘Do you want to see that? And she said yes. So I take the gun and I sort of cock the gun, I’m not going to pull the trigger."

Hutchins told him to "tilt it down a little bit," he said. "I cock the gun and I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off."
- https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/alec-baldwin-recounts-fatal-rust-024149581.html

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So while it does nothing to address all the other forms of negligence, he is not claiming the gun cocked itself.

I wonder about the possibility he was unaware he was holding the trigger down while he was cocking and fanned it. (...which is also not an excuse, but might lead him to think he didn't "pull" the trigger.) Anyone know if that's possible on the Pietta?

Ethan Verity said:

Shortly after this happened people jokingly said Baldwin would blame the gun, rather than acknowledge his own negligence... sure enough, he is living up to those low standards.

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It is indeed amusing how so much of the conversation is shifting to the gun itself. Should be relatively easy and quick to determine if there was a mechanical problem. Not an expert on pistols by any means but it`s my impression that a single action Colt revolver is a relatively simple mechanism.

basically, an anti-gun liberal, gets away with murder. about what we can expect in this time of insanity.

Finally got around to reading this thread (and read every response)... What hasn't been said is that most cops who've dealt with anyone that's been in a shooting scrape know that it's actually fairly common for the shooter to say "the gun just went off" as though they had nothing to do with what happened. Basic psychology, from this old street rat, is that many simply will lie to themselves about their responsibility in a bad outcome - it's just human nature.... At least that's what I encountered on more than one occasion. Not that any of that will help the shooter if it comes to criminal or civil trials.

However that situation turns out - the shooter will be haunted by it, as well as everyone else on scene that day - the victim will still be dead, and life will go on. I'm never likely to be in front of a camera (except for a fishing show or two) but I'll say, I'd never trust someone else to verify the safety of any firearm in my vicinity, period.

DrDeFab said:

I wonder about the possibility he was unaware he was holding the trigger down while he was cocking and fanned it. (...which is also not an excuse, but might lead him to think he didn't "pull" the trigger.) Anyone know if that's possible on the Pietta?

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It isn't going to stay cocked if the trigger is held back while drawing back the hammer. That is slipshooting. Which is what he said, he let go of the hammer and the gun went off.

Or maybe he didn't, a handgun is very ergonomic, your finger just naturally falls across the trigger, could have beet two separate moves that he did not remember... or admit.