[abhibeckert]

Sorry my mistake. I guess the wrong name stuck in my head.

Using real guns is totally normal, because they fire real explosives (so you get a muzzle flash) which can and occasionally do kill people - the only difference between a proper gun and the ones they use in movies is you need to be a lot closer to the movie weapon to be killed by it.

What's not normal is a lack of adequate safety checks around handling of the weapons and there were severe complaints about inadequate breaks for crew and even unconfirmed reports of other people injured by prop guns prior to that day on the same film set. It can be a really difficult issue to deal with - you have literally thousands of people to coordinate.

Exact details of what happened in the Alec Baldwin case are unclear, manslaughter chargers are still winding through the courts, and they include a charge of tampering with evidence which means we may never find out what really happened.

What I can say, working in the acting industry, is I have often been tired (back to back 22 hour shifts where you're forced to eat and drink while working will do that to you) and I've made mistakes while operating in those conditions and seen other people make mistakes that resulted in serious injuries. Managing breaks is a real problem in the industry and technical difficulties are one of the most common causes of delays.