LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz, who represents Century City and Westwood has introduced a Resolution in light of the recent tragic gun incident on the “Rust” film set in New Mexico during which Halyna Hutchins, the film’s cinematographer was tragically killed, and the director Joel Souza was injured when a handgun held by actor/co-producer Alec Baldwin discharged with real ammunition.
Councilmember Koretz’s Resolution calls for “support of future State Legislative Programs for any legislation and/or administrative action that will eliminate live guns and ammunition from the sets of television and motion picture productions and thus eliminate the possibility of human error in the handling of guns and ammunition that could lead to tragedies such as that which occurred on October 21st.”
Despite existing filming regulations, this type of accident is not the first time a firearm/live ammunition accident has occurred, nor is it the first fatality on a production set. In fact, the Los Angeles Times and a member of the California State Legislature have recently suggested that the best way to avoid these kinds of incidents would be to more forcibly regulate the presence of live ammunition and guns used for filmmaking.
“While movies can be convincing and very realistic – they are supposed to be make-believe. A single gun accident, let alone a fatality, like the one that occurred on the “Rust” set and the ones that killed Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum destroy the lives of not only the victims and their families, but the lives of the other actors and crew who forever after are burdened with the emotional trauma of these kinds of avoidable accidents,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz. “The idea that even one misfire has caused danger is outrageous. The clear solution is banishing live guns and ammunition from the sets of television and motion picture productions to eliminate all possibility of human error in the handling of weapons so that flawless oversight and restrictions guarantee that these kinds of accidents never happen again.”
