The bizarre fatal shooting on the film set

The extraordinary incident in the US when Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a young female cinematographer on a film set with a Hollywood prop gun deserves a Q and A to explain how on earth this could have happened: Q What is a prop gun? A It looks like a real gun in every aspect but it’s loaded with blank cartridges? Q What is a blank cartridge? A The firing mechanism is the same as for a live round. So there’s a build-up of gas to create sufficient pressure to produce an explosive sound and a muzzle flash but there is no bullet at the end of the cartridge. Q Is there any difference between a military gun firing blanks and a prop gun ? A Yes. The military have what is called a blank firing attachment at the end of the barrel. In the British military it’s a yellow attachment that blocks off the barrel hole. Soldiers are reassured they are only using blanks in firing exercises when they see the yellow attachment sticking out at the end. Q Does a prop gun have a similar attachment? A No because if it did it would look unrealistic for a film. Q So what is used instead? A Some form of padding, like a cotton wad, is wedged into the end of the cartridge. There is no bullet but when the gun is fired the wadding is released like a projectile. Q How could this be fatal? A The only explanation is if the wadding was fired accidentally at very close range. If the projectile hit anywhere in the head it could be lethal. This is what happened. The poor victim had her skull crushed and she suffered a brain haemorrhage. Q But the gun was fired twice. Why would this have happened? A The gun, probably a revolver, would have worked like a normal one. In the early days a shooter had to pull the hammer back before each shot and then pull the trigger to release the hammer. But with modern revolvers simply pulling the trigger forces the hammer back and the next round is fired. The actor was probably so shocked by the noise of the firing gun that his finger slipped and the trigger was pulled again. Q Could a live round have been placed by mistake into the gun chamber? A This would seem to be wholly unlikely. Because a real gun is being used to create a realistic film scene, there would have been a specialist safety team on the set to ensure there could be no risk involved. Q Has a blank-firing incident led to a fatality in the past? A Yes, in the 1980s an actor fired blanks at his head for a joke and died. But safety measures today are much stricter. e