Firearms expert explains why Alec Baldwin was NOT at fault in fatal 'Rush' shooting

Love him or loathe him, Alec Baldwin was not responsible for the shooting death of a cinematographer. Why? Check out our interview with firearms expert Ron Craig!

This just in regarding the tragedy that occurred on the Rust movie set back in 2021: earlier this month, Alec Baldwin filed a lawsuit accusing New Mexico prosecutors and law enforcement officials of waging a “malicious prosecution” against him. This was in light of the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins, a cinematographer on the Rust film set.

The involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin came to a conclusion last July during his trial in Santa Fe, N.M. The judge found that the state had withheld evidence from the defence, and dismissed the case without the potential for it to be retried.

By way of background, the filming of Rust made international headlines in 2021 for all the wrong reasons. Baldwin was handed a gun by the assistant director and was told that it was “cold” (in other words, that the gun was safe to use.) Baldwin pulled the trigger. And horrifically, it turned out that the firearm he was holding was not a cold gun but rather a loaded, lethal weapon. The end-result: Hutchins was shot dead and director Joel Souza was wounded.

Some might think this is a slam-dunk case in terms of who’s to blame. Baldwin was brandishing the weapon and he pulled the trigger, right?

But when it comes to firearms on movie sets, well, it's best summed up by the title of a 2009 Alec Baldwin movie – It’s Complicated.

Indeed, check out our interview with Ron Craig. Ron is an Oakville, Ont.-based firearms and explosives expert. As well, Ron has worked on the sets of almost 100 movies and more than 150 TV episodes in which he was responsible for the firearms and explosives used on the set. Needless to say, Ron is well versed when it comes to firearms and films.

Indeed, when Ron originally joined us for an interview about this story more than three years ago, he said then that Baldwin should never have been criminally charged. That generated some heat in the comments section. But here we are in 2025 and it would appear Ron was indeed correct all along.

Ron will explain why Baldwin is blameless – and that the real villain in this story was the armourer for the film, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, someone who has already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and currently serving an 18-month prison sentence.

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David Menzies

Mission Specialist

David “The Menzoid” Menzies is the Rebel News "Mission Specialist." The Menzoid is equal parts outrageous and irreverent as he dares to ask the type of questions those in the Media Party would rather not ponder.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2025-02-03 19:54:46 -0500
    Rushing things always leads to potential disasters. Whether it’s making a movie or testing a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, it’s always human error which leads to disaster.