Alec Baldwin faces involuntary manslaughter charge over deadly “Rust” shooting

Ag3ma

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Guns are mechanically simpler than you think (mostly). By the time you have a pipe you can load fake bullets in, you have a lethal firearm.
Don't worry, I've played Fallout: I know you can knock up a gun with a few simple bits of pipe and scrap metal.

And indeed they did it for realsies: I've seen a Sten gun.
 

crimson5pheonix

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Don't worry, I've played Fallout: I know you can knock up a gun with a few simple bits of pipe and scrap metal.

And indeed they did it for realsies: I've seen a Sten gun.
A sten is too complicated. Unironically the US sent "freedom fighters" two pipes with a nail welded in the back.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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Given it's a mega, multi-billion industry, you'd have thought some plucky entrepreneur might have tried making realistic fake guns rather than bodging real ones.
There's a number of Airsoft guns that could be plausibly confused for the real thing. I have one myself; it has a moving, cockable hammer and a slide lock/release. It's also about as heavy as a real handgun (though much of the weight is in the magazine where the CO2 cartridge is housed).
 

Thaluikhain

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Given it's a mega, multi-billion industry, you'd have thought some plucky entrepreneur might have tried making realistic fake guns rather than bodging real ones.
As an aside, as well as a blank firing gun, they'll usually have a rubber or airsoft gun for non-action scenes, which may or may not resemble the gun in the action scenes very closely. Rubber guns tend to bend and flop around under their own weight, for example, and airsoft guns can be pretty cheap and fake looking. Or sometimes they look exactly like one model of a gun, but the firing version is another, visually distinct version of the same weapon.

A sten is too complicated. Unironically the US sent "freedom fighters" two pipes with a nail welded in the back.
IIRC, they only made those in the Philippines when they were desperately short of everything, though the designer tried selling an improved version to civilians later.
 

crimson5pheonix

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As an aside, as well as a blank firing gun, they'll usually have a rubber or airsoft gun for non-action scenes, which may or may not resemble the gun in the action scenes very closely. Rubber guns tend to bend and flop around under their own weight, for example, and airsoft guns can be pretty cheap and fake looking. Or sometimes they look exactly like one model of a gun, but the firing version is another, visually distinct version of the same weapon.



IIRC, they only made those in the Philippines when they were desperately short of everything, though the designer tried selling an improved version to civilians later.
Yes, and iirc the military version was more complicated too.
 

Eacaraxe

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Given it's a mega, multi-billion industry, you'd have thought some plucky entrepreneur might have tried making realistic fake guns rather than bodging real ones.
You answered the latter with the former.

Hollywood's notoriously shitty when it comes to "petty" costs, even ones that can be defrayed over the course of dozens, if not hundreds, of productions. Which is odd, given the industry's "creative accounting" standards and cross-collateralizing costs to keep profitable movies in the red on paper. In the last Baldwin thread, I pointed out the absolutely massive wealth of options available on the market -- even the civilian market -- for firearms that look and operate exactly like the real thing, without the need for so much as a blank.

And to contrast, the ludicrous (and expensive) modifications that already have to be done to match audience expectation (that is to say, completely unrealistic).
 

Absent

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And to contrast, the ludicrous (and expensive) modifications that already have to be done to match audience expectation (that is to say, completely unrealistic).
Speaking of which. I want the Sergio Leone gunshots back in cinema !
 
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Gergar12

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This idiot treats the gun like a toy when it can kill someone at a moment's notice. Celebrity entitlement.
 

Gordon_4

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I'm guessing these prosecutors did not come top of their class at law school.
Well, you don’t get to prosecute someone under a law that didn’t exist when the offence occurs. So if this easily provable fact - that the law was not on the books prior to the shooting - is indeed correct, then there’s not a lot the prosecutors can do but charge him under the laws available at time of offence.
 

RhombusHatesYou

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Well, you don’t get to prosecute someone under a law that didn’t exist when the offence occurs.
You kinda sorta can if a new law has replaced an old law and has retroactive clauses but generally no... and retroactive laws are a very tricky business considering they're mostly considered unConstitutional (or local equivalent thereof) and get a jolly good judicial skullfucking in any test case that crops up.
 

Gordon_4

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You kinda sorta can if a new law has replaced an old law and has retroactive clauses but generally no... and retroactive laws are a very tricky business considering they're mostly considered unConstitutional (or local equivalent thereof) and get a jolly good judicial skullfucking in any test case that crops up.
Yeah, I think it’s called prosecuting ipso facto or something. And is considered judicial dirty pool.
 

Eacaraxe

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I'm guessing these prosecutors did not come top of their class at law school.
...and to think you called me cynical over my less-than-glowing opinion on these prosecutors.
 

Ag3ma

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...and to think you called me cynical over my less-than-glowing opinion on these prosecutors.
One might point out a certain difference between criticising an identified error where the prosecutors should have known better, and making an assumption they've already started planning their post-trial book deal and media tour.
 

Eacaraxe

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One might point out a certain difference between criticising an identified error where the prosecutors should have known better, and making an assumption they've already started planning their post-trial book deal and media tour.
Other than that I was basing my opinion on the charges being judicially DOA and therefore something no prosecutor worth their salt would press under normal circumstances (because prosecutors' KPI is their conviction rate), which means there are underlying reasons a prosecutor might choose to die on this hill unrelated to their job performance as such. And in today's media and political climate, that means cashing in on exposure to the general public by way of a media deal. None of which implies those involved are particularly deep thinkers.