Hollywood Studios To Restrict Real Guns, Could They Enter The Market?

[Speedo66]

An article in The NY Times today tells about the intent of several Hollywood studios and TV shows to ban the use of real weapons on their sets due to the backlash over the shooting, and killing, of staff members on the “Rust” movie set by Alex Baldwin.

The article cites restrictions by insurance companies who insure productions, and have seen the massive law suits over the shootings, and also producers who feel they can get the same production values with inert guns and airsoft type weapons rather than using real guns with gunpowder blanks.

If this becomes the general rule in the industry, and these weapons are no longer being used there, I wonder if the armorers and companies who have stockpiled thousands of weapons of all types, including antique Colts, Winchesters, etc. and more modern types including fully automatic weapons, will be selling them, and the guns hitting the market via auction sales?

As an aside, the studios are developing gun safety courses that actors will have to take before they can touch weapons and a “safety person” on set who will be responsible for checking everything firearm related before a scene begins. Talk about closing the gate after the horse has left…

Here’s the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/arts/rust-killing-forces-hollywood-to-make-choices-on-guns.html

 

[herrwalther]

While I would like a large amount of vintage and "neat-o" firearms to hit the private market, I highly doubt it.

After Brandon Lee was shot and killed during filming of The Crow, there was a lot of talk about getting rid of real firearms off sets then. It never happened but they did reduce the number of real firearms in exchange for blank firing and flash paper replicas. A lot of replica firearms, CGI weapons and the like are a lot more expensive than the real firearms they want to get rid of. So no change may not happen due to cost alone.

Hollywood is a bunch of pompous virtue signalers. Some of the most ardent anti-gun mouthpieces have made millions off movies and films running around with firearms. Liam Neeson immediately jumps to mind. If they did end up eliminating real firearms from all their armories, I see them being destroyed in some half-witted "act of solidarity" to reduce gun violence rather than be sold to us "common folk."

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Since the majority of Hollyweird guns are owned by third-party prop houses which are not super-wealthy themselves, I'd anticipate that they will sell off the majority, certainly any rare and valuable examples.

I noticed the final season of the Walking Dead had substituted (not very accurate) replicas for most of the remaining firearms.

Halfway decent inert replicas can be made fairly quickly and cheaply- most of the Enfields "Dunkirk" were solid rubber- but for close-up action shots they are still going to need either the real thing or much more elaborate functioning stand-ins.

 

[Hasaf]

I see a lot of airsoft guns in movies and on tv. Even without the orange muzzle pieces, there are a lot of taletale signs.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Back in 1969 a fellow GI at Ft. Bragg told me Hollyweird guns were often modified to prevent firing of live ammo-sleeves in barrels, e.g. However I have seen no confirmation of that. That was back in the days of the studio systems where everything was done in-house, they had their own armorers, etc. With the disappearance of the studio system it's all done by independents and self appointed experts. Brandon Lee met his demise in an independent production where every shortcut was taken.

 

[CapnMac]

I wonder if the armorers and companies who have stockpiled thousands of weapons of all types, including antique Colts, Winchesters, etc. and more modern types including fully automatic weapons, will be selling them

Well, most of the "prop houses" have also modified most of those for movie use. The "old west" firarms are typically modified to use "four-in-one" blanks, just as one example. Many of the MGs are modified to use acetylene to simulate muzzle flash.

Also, movie armorers/prop houses are not uniform entities. Nor uniformly located in California or Nevada; there are several in Canada, for example. The use of "location" filming means needing arms, even prop & dummies & rubber duckies needs to be local to those locations, per the local laws.

 

[Barmcd]

This is an interesting video about the guns used (several versions of the model 29 were used) in the movie "Dirty Harry". There's a very interesting revelation, starting at about the 3:45 mark, about the gun they used in scenes where it had to be pointed at another actor. I thought it was a very thoughtful, and effective way to make sure an accident couldn't happen. Somewhere along the line, things must have changed.

The True Story of Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum S&W Model 29

In this episode of TFBTV - part of the TFBTV Goes to Hollywood" Series - James Reeves visits Larry Zanoff of Independent Studio Services to talk about the RE...

www.youtube.com

 

[AlexanderA]

As a collector, I am not too keen on acquiring weapons that have been modified for movie use.

 

[Mizar]

Back in 1969 a fellow GI at Ft. Bragg told me Hollyweird guns were often modified to prevent firing of live ammo-sleeves in barrels, e.g. However I have seen no confirmation of that. That was back in the days of the studio systems where everything was done in-house, they had their own armorers, etc. With the disappearance of the studio system it's all done by independents and self appointed experts. Brandon Lee met his demise in an independent production where every shortcut was taken.

Self-loading firearms are modified so they can operate with blank cartridges, because they do not generate recoil, or either built enough pressure, but manually operated ones, like revolvers, lever actions and etc. are usually left as is. The modifications vary depending on the operational principle - gas operated guns require a barrel obstruction to build pressure, placed just bellow or right at the muzzle, while locked breach recoil operated firearms usually require converting them to blowback and a barrel obstruction. But none of these conversions can prevent firing a live round - the gun will be wrecked, but a live round can be shot thru it. Several reasons for that:
1. Gas operated firearms require a barrel obstruction after the gas port for obvious reasons.
2. Flame cutting, which is progressively getting worse with getting closer to the cartridge - that barrel obstruction needs to be easily replaced periodically in order for the firearm to work reliably.
3. This follows directly from #2 - the armorer needs to see instantly what the condition of the obstruction is and if it's safe to use. Say, if one wants to block the chamber from entering a live round - drill the barrel, insert a hardened steel rod and weld it. But you can't really see what is going on with it and you cannot tell, if the next shot will send flying shrapnels thru the barrel, or blocking the "operational" barrel obstruction thus blowing up the firearm (and possibly sending more shrapnels downrange and injuring the shooter), because the drill rod was compromised from flame cutting.
4. Using dummy cartridges - when you need a close up shot, say for loading the gun just in front of the camera, you can't use blanks because they don't look correct and convincing. And an obstruction preventing the use of live ammo will do exactly the same with the dummy rounds - you will not be able to load them.

 

[hso]

Unknown and probably unknowable until some time passes and those companies decide if their future lies in demilling those firearms to continue renting them.

 

[Jim Watson]

John Taffin wrote of buying a SAA at a prop department sale and getting it home to find the barrel and cylinder were not the same caliber.
The 5 in 1 blanks didn’t care.

 

[buck460XVR]

When one looks a the amount of firearms produced in the U.S and the amount of foreign firearms imported into the U.S. every year, IMHO, those firearms would be a relative drop in the bucket in the overall market.

 

[reddog81]

Gunbroker probably has more auctions ending every hour than the total number of guns held by prop house and I’d have to guess most are probably in better condition too.

 

[CDW4ME]

They could include the chance to win a gun as part of the daily tour / ticket sales.
Winning recipient chosen with random daily drawing, ticket number.
Must pick up gun at FFL and be able to pass background check, legally own the gun in order to take possession.
Liberal (anti-gun) heads would have a stroke.

 

[Mizar]

Count me in for a Sig 552, please.

 

[WVGunman]

Having real weapons on set around people who are clueless with guns was always stupid. I can't believe they still have them, when just about everything except recoil is easily faked. As for the guns that might enter the market, the U.S. has hundreds of millions of firearms. A few thousand is a drop in the ocean compared to that.

 

[Mark_Mark]

An article in The NY Times today tells about the intent of several Hollywood studios and TV shows to ban the use of real weapons on their sets due to the backlash over the shooting, and killing, of staff members on the “Rust” movie set by Alex Baldwin.

The article cites restrictions by insurance companies who insure productions, and have seen the massive law suits over the shootings, and also producers who feel they can get the same production values with inert guns and airsoft type weapons rather than using real guns with gunpowder blanks.

If this becomes the general rule in the industry, and these weapons are no longer being used there, I wonder if the armorers and companies who have stockpiled thousands of weapons of all types, including antique Colts, Winchesters, etc. and more modern types including fully automatic weapons, will be selling them, and the guns hitting the market via auction sales?

As an aside, the studios are developing gun safety courses that actors will have to take before they can touch weapons and a “safety person” on set who will be responsible for checking everything firearm related before a scene begins. Talk about closing the gate after the horse has left…

Here’s the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/arts/rust-killing-forces-hollywood-to-make-choices-on-guns.html

GOOD NEWS! now liquidate the collection and trasferables to the open market!

 

[Will Munny]

If they did end up eliminating real firearms from all their armories, I see them being destroyed in some half-witted "act of solidarity" to reduce gun violence rather than be sold to us "common folk."

This. Never underestimate the utter contempt and disgust these Hollywood elites have for the loyal American citizen and his 2A rights.

 

[Mizar]

Ummm, just to let you guys know, but the collective term "Hollywood" doesn't own the props houses - they are completely independent businesses and most likely will suggest to put it where the Sun doesn't shine if such an offer is made to them.

 

[Elkins45]

When one looks a the amount of firearms produced in the U.S and the amount of foreign firearms imported into the U.S. every year, IMHO, those firearms would be a relative drop in the bucket in the overall market.

Given the finite number of pre-86 transferable machine guns, the appearance of even a few transferable full auto guns would be noticed in the market. Machine guns seem to make up a large number of the guns used in military and action movies.

 

[herrwalther]

Ummm, just to let you guys know, but the collective term "Hollywood" doesn't own the props houses - they are completely independent businesses and most likely will suggest to put it where the Sun doesn't shine if such an offer is made to them

And what business would "prop" firearm armories have if all of Hollywood went gun-free for scenes? I can see some deal being made of armories destroying their stock of prop and real firearms in order for them to stay on Hollywood payroll making CGI or flashpaper firearms. Hey destroy those evil guns for us and you can make the fake ones for the next movie/TV show. A lot of these prop gun armories would not exist without Hollywood.

 

[Ignition Override]

As for rifles, many of us realize that the present Huge Glut of ARs, AKMs, PTR-91s, FALs, M1As wouldn't be affected much by those "extra guns", whether they are put on the market or not.

Action movie stars must be depicted with real or realistic-looking guns in the advertising.
The public craves Violence and Blood, the way the mass media craves "Dirty Laundry".

Let's be quite frank.
The public's attraction hasn't changed that much since the appalling, mass slaughter of vast numbers of African animals (plus some people) in arenas during the Roman Empire, to appease the people with "bread and circuses"..It was free.

 

[toivo]

As an aside, the studios are developing gun safety courses that actors will have to take before they can touch weapons and a “safety person” on set who will be responsible for checking everything firearm related before a scene begins.

Don't they already have on-set armorers? Wouldn't the insurance companies demand it?

 

[Speedo66]

Don't they already have on-set armorers? Wouldn't the insurance companies demand it?

They did on “Rust”, obviously it wasn’t enough.

 

[Barmcd]

They did on “Rust”, obviously it wasn’t enough.

All kinds of issues on that set.