That's neither my job nor yours to decide. The investigation is on-going.
I was pointing out opinions expressed including angry, washed up, ego-centric, negligent. liar, criminal.
Busher, you remind of the guy who drives 55 in the left lane and won't yield to faster traffic on what he perceives as principle. Well, he isn't government traffic control and he is ignoring the law requiring one to actually be passing traffic to drive in the left (passing) lane. He sees himself as righteous, and everyone else as a usurper of his righteousness. Passive aggressive. Angry. Unhappy.
Baldwin's potential criminal issues will be determined by the Santa Fe DA. If he is charged and tried, his fate will rest with people like us. A jury of his peers. His civil liability will be decided by another jury. It's here where he is extremely vulnerable. If you have followed events closely, you might realize that the depth of his financial danger. His low budget film had even lower budget insurance.
Angry. Not an opinion. His anger was adjudicated by a court (November 2019), which ordered Baldwin to attend an anger management program. His many angry, often violent encounters with press, photographers and ordinary people have established him as an angry bully, and these run-ins were admitted and accepted as evidence by a New York City court hearing his assault and harassment case.
Washed up. Baldwin doesn't even make the IMBd list of C-list actors. He hasn't had a major starring role in over a decade. What remained of his career blew up with the shooting on the set of Rust. Any good will he may have had in Hollywood has utterly evaporated.
Ego-centric. In his nasty divorce with Kim Basinger, attorneys for Basinger presented a psychologist who had interviewed Baldwin. He described Baldwin as "ego-centric, a textbook grandiose narcissist".
Negligent. Virtually everything Baldwin did with that Colt revolver was negligent. He didn't check the gun to verify that it was either unloaded, or loaded only with blanks. As executive producer, he hired an inexperienced armorer, then saddled her with the full time job of prop master as well. Industry firearm standards were virtually ignored, per the crew's own statements. Baldwin pointed the gun at the director of photography. He cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. He violated the four basic rules of gun safety, and should have known it. Now, he denies pulling the trigger. The problem is, that Colt design can only fire if the trigger is pulled. The Santa Fe Sheriff's office has stated that the Colt is in proper working order.
Thus:
He lied.
Criminal behavior. Thus far, Baldwin has refused to comply with a search warrant for his cell phone. If he returns to New Mexico, he faces arrest for ignoring the order, if the issuing judge so decides. Baldwin said that he will not give the Santa Fe Sheriff his phone's password, thus, he is, technically, in criminal contempt. Such evasive behavior will only hurt his ability to defend himself in civil court, where only a preponderance of evidence is required. This does not include the possibility that the Santa Fe DA may charge him with criminal negligence. That DA has stated that this remains on the table. Baldwin's lack of cooperation visa vi his phone, does nothing to diminish that possibility.
All the above are facts. No opinion.
Almost everyone in the firearms community believes that Baldwin should be charged with criminal negligence, at the minimum. He should have known better. He should have followed safety rules (see below) and industry protocol. He was negligent, someone died and another seriously injured. Someone is responsible. Baldwin is the most culpable. He hired the armorer. He overworked the inexperienced armorer. He handled the firearm without verifying it being safe. He fired the firearm. As an experienced shooter (well over 50 years), I agree with the above. I shoot and train several times weekly. In 2021, I fired nearly 11,000 rounds of handgun, rifle and shotgun ammunition. In 2020, over 14,000 rounds. Similar in prior years. No round ever went where I didn't want it to go. No negligent discharges. No accidents. Why? Safety, experience and training. None of which Baldwin demonstrated.
1. Always Keep Firearm Pointed in a Safe direction (fail)
2. Treat All Guns as Though They are Loaded (fail)
3. Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger until You are Ready to Shoot (fail)
4. Always Be Sure of Your Target and What’s Beyond It (fail)
