The New York Times: In my first job as a military adviser on a film set, I witnessed the stark contrast between the gun safety culture of my Navy SEAL days and the cavalier attitude toward firearms that permeates Hollywood. During a break in filming, the lead actor, fresh off a stint as a teen heartthrob, picked up a gun and began waving it around, joking with the cast. Instinctively, I leaped toward the actor, grabbed the gun and gave him a hard thump to the chest, admonishing him for “flagging” the entire crew — using the military term for aiming a firearm at someone.
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From the moment this accidental death happened on stage, it has been in the media constantly. Knowing that the conviction was finally decided and that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter is something that should raise awareness for all weapon safety in films and theatrical productions. Having now worked in a rehearsal room with a knife, I can only imagine what it must be like to work in a space where the concern for the weapons is not present. Much like this opinion article states, it is surprising how often the film industry disregards safety measures whenever weapons are present on set. I am still appalled that this tragedy occurred on the Rust set, and am happy to hear that following this tragedy, there were people like Guy Ritchie and Dayne Johnson who have sworn against the use of real weapons in their films. I hope that in the future weapon safety, and the awareness of weapons on set will be taken more seriously and that the younger generations will change Hollywood’s viewpoint and use of weapons in media.
This is a really insightful article, and I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with everything Larsen has to say. I was most interested with how he was able to describe the hypocritical nature of Hollywood concerning guns, gun control, and gun behavior. It shows, in my opinion, how disconnected much of America has become with guns and the danger they pose. Somehow, it makes perfect sense to hear that the people that lobby most for gun control (not that it’s bad) would wave real guns around, oblivious to the threat they’re presenting to everyone. It’s really encouraging to hear the strides that individuals have been making to change gun culture in entertainment, but the industry really does need a centralized restriction, or something. It may seem like Rust was a one-off situation, but for all we know, countless sets around the world are just like that of Rust. Something needs to change before another tragedy occurs.
I think the tragic shooting on the set of Rust is emblematic of Hollywood's culture towards guns. The sad thing is, that this is a problem that has permeated the culture for a long time. Take the death of Jon-Erik Hexum, who while playing with a "prop" revolver loaded with blanks, jokingly used it to simulate Russian roulette, not knowing the dangers even blanks have. The muzzle blast caused a piece of his skull to be propelled through his brain eventually causing his death. This was in 1984. The fact that the industry didn't fix it's lax practices in 1984 doesn't give me much hope for there to be meaningful changes now. I am however a pretty cynical person so I would like to be pleasantly surprised, but I am not holding my breath. The fact that basic safety practices everyone who has ever used a gun, real or otherwise, isn't used on "prop" guns honestly astounds me. The only time that is reasonable is on toy guns like nerf, which is just foam. The fact that people who play airsoft have better safety practices with airsoft guns than Hollywood does with real guns is appalling.
This article contains lots of sensitive material and I want to fully acknowledge that and offer my condolences to friends and family members of Ms.Hutchinsons's. I think that this article is entirely necessary and I almost wish it was out in the world sooner than the time of the shooting. It is incredibly shocking to hear how casually people treated weapons, or more specifically, firearms. I love CMU’s prop policy because they treat all prop weapons as real weapons at all times. It seems like an intrinsic thing they should do. It’s ironic that some of the main advocates of a fight for more gun regulation lack the basic knowledge of how to act around and treat firearms, especially considering they should know the overwhelming danger they pose. I’m glad that Kaj Larsen acknowledged the full weight of the issue and gave attainable steps for people to move forward. Every Hollywood participant should support the idea of not using real firearms on set, and treating weapons, even fake ones, as if they were real.
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