Alec Baldwin shooting puts spotlight on use of prop guns in movie sets

A “fake” shot has again produced a real fatality.

Nearly three decades after the fatal shooting of actor Brandon Lee on the set of “The Crow,” the use of prop guns during films is under scrutiny following Thursday’s killing of a cinematographer who was working with Alec Baldwin in New Mexico.

Baldwin was filming a scene for the upcoming western “Rust” when he discharged a prop gun that fatally struck 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins and wounded the movie’s director, Joel Souza, authorities said. The circumstances involving the incident remain under investigation, but the shooting has already raised questions about the risk involving the use of prop weapons.

Many filmmakers prefer prop guns instead of fake firearms or special effects because they add authenticity to the scene, allowing the camera to capture the sound and look of a real gun. The most common type of prop guns is a real gun that is loaded with blank cartridges instead of live ammunition.

Different scenes call for different types of blanks, with producers taking into consideration the angle and distance of the shot desired for the scene, but blanks can still be dangerous, experts said. Even if there’s no projectile inside, the heat or gas discharged or the pressure from shooting a prop gun can cause serious injuries — or even kill.

Prop guns are seen during an interview with props expert Guillaume Delouche at Independent Studio Services in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles, California on October 22, 2021. (DAVID MCNEW/)

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a gun loaded with blanks on the set of the TV series “Cover Up.” He was reportedly joking around with the gun when he put it against his temple and fired. The blast was so strong that his skull was fractured, and he died days later at a hospital.

Film historian Joe Leydon, who teaches at University of Houston, remembers the shock waves that case sent across the nation.

“I thought nothing like this would ever happen again, that people are going to be careful,” Leydon told the Daily News.

Less than 10 years later, the Variety magazine critic interviewed Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon, about how much he was looking forward to filming “The Crow.” Not long after, the young actor became yet another victim of a prop gun. Brandon Lee, who was 28, died from a dummy round that was mistakenly loaded into a gun and fired at him.

Those two shootings happened a decade apart and involved different circumstances, showing that prop-gun killings are extremely rare but can result from a variety of factors. Human errors, malfunctions and lack of training can all lead to disaster, said Ken Stretz, a former NYPD officer and owner of Stretz Tactical in Yorktown Heights in Westchester County.

“If the person doesn’t know what they’re doing, there’s potential for a catastrophe to happen,” said Stretz, who trains film crews on gun and blank safety,

Most films hire an armorer, a crew member who handles all weapons on set, and have trainings for the actors who use guns in their scenes, though low-budget productions sometimes don’t have access to either resource. There are also times when live guns are brought into a set to make a scene more realistic, raising the risk of an accident.

Hutchins’ death has already prompted calls for immediate action. A Change.org petition seeking a ban on real firearms on film sets garnered more than 4,000 signatures within hours Friday.

“There’s no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore. Should just be fully outlawed,” Craig Zobel, director of the HBO series “Mare of Easttown,” said on Twitter.

“There’s computers now,” he said. “The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? It’s an unnecessary risk.”

Props expert Guillaume Delouche at Independent Studio Services talks about prop guns in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles, on Friday. (DAVID MCNEW/)

Stretz said it’s still too early to blame anyone for Hutchins’ death.

“We’re going to have to wait and see what happened before we make any conclusions,” he said.

Leydon, who also did not speculate on what may have caused Thursday’s killing, hopes gun safety becomes a No. 1 priority regardless of the size of a film production.

“You hear about these accidents and you wonder, is it a case of safety not being enforced on the set, safety being given a low priority because it’s a low-budget movie?” he said.

“Usually, the problem is that you’re made to work horrific hours,” he said, “and there aren’t that many breaks for meals if it’s a small-budget film, but when you’re under the gun, trying to bring a movie on a short budget, corners will be cut and sometimes lives will be lost.”