On October 21st, the filming of actor Alec Baldwin’s new movie Rust took a tragic turn when an accident with a prop gun on set led to the death of the crew’s prop master Halyna Hutchins. The shocking death took over the media in the following days as details regarding the circumstances of the accident surfaced. Since then, the issue has been drawn into public political debates surrounding gun rights.  

Rules in the movie industry surrounding gun protocol are nothing if not extensive, and leave no room for error. Even at CRLS, every possible precaution is taken. Cherace Lin ’23, a participant in the theater department, told the Register Forum that whenever weapon props are used, “because it looks so realistic, the precautions taken, even for an actual prop gun, are so extreme. Only a designated person is allowed to move it from place to place, they’re in charge of that … There are very clear protocols for how to handle prop guns, especially because people know that instances like this happen.” As claims of previous safety concerns of the crew came to light, questions arose surrounding how and why the gun on the Rust set even contained a live bullet. Because professional film and television sets have such thorough rules, what was initially believed to be an accident eventually became a question of potential disregard. 

Recently, the incident itself has become a weapon for pro-gun conservatives, pushing for the antagonization of Alec Baldwin with the spread of phrases like Donald Trump Jr.’s “Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin does.” Many of them have even argued that liberals shouldn’t be pushing for gun control if they aren’t knowledgeable about gun safety. On the other hand, some have shared the desire to keep the incident out of political arguments both out of respect for the victim and its perceived irrelevance to the topic. Miriam Stodolsky ’23 told the Register Forum that “it has nothing to do with gun control or gun rights because none of those laws would have affected it. The use of a prop gun on a movie set is not related just because it’s a gun, especially because it was not supposed to be a real gun in the first place.” 

Regardless of the partisan debates surrounding an already controversial issue, there have already been calls for complete reform of gun safety on movie sets. Pushes for the use of CGI and computer effects in place of any sort of gun on sets has been shared by Baldwin, and even implemented by actors like Dwayne Johnson after the incident. For many, however, these practically instantaneous reforms have brought up questions about why school shootings have failed to conjure any sort of manifestation in legislation. Whether it was shock value or celebrity culture, Alec Baldwin’s horrible accident has led to more action than the hundreds of gun fatalities we see every month, pushing some to reconsider what’s really stopping true gun reform.