I saw the news report about the Alec Baldwin shooting. I heard how the armorer on the Rust movie set who was responsible for insuring all rounds are set and catalogued so that no live rounds are in the prop gun. Yes this is a very preventable and unfortunate accident, yet I have to wonder, if this was an accident, who ultimately is responsible for Halyna Hutchins death.
While I don’t put much stock in conservative news such the Washington Examiner, I find it interesting they considered this a homicide rather than an accident. I say that it is interesting because investigators haven’t even come to that conclusion yet.
It is though what this country has come to; a fringe group delighting in this tragedy at the expense of a man they hate because of his ridicule and mockery of a former President.
I don’t have much stock in the ways of the National Rifle Association anymore neither. Their politics has gone so far to the radical right I fear for their true purpose. Yet, what I did learn long ago when I took a hunter’s safety course so I could get my first hunting license, was a credo I’ll take to my grave, which was never assume a gun is safe or “cold” unless you personally check to ensure it is unloaded and safe to handle. Never aim a weapon at someone unless in defense of life and property. Never assume a gun is unloaded unless you check first.
If Mr. Baldwin had done any of those things, then this tragedy would have never occurred. This isn’t a politically charged issue, it is a common-sense issue that everyone familiar with firearms know and lives by. Those that do not know this, either needs to learn it or never have anything to do with firearms.
Jerry Schellhammer 