It's not just for real guns.
You check, re-check, triple-check, and quadruple-check to see if the gun--real, fake, prop, imagined, rubber, plastic, balloon, stick, finger, whatever it is made out of--is not actually loaded if you do not intend to fire a lethal projectile. If it is out of your sight for more than 1 second, you repeat the process. You do not delegate this responsibility, it is always and only yours.
Even if you are an actor, whose job is to fire a prop gun loaded with some kind of prop ammunition, you still do the quadruple checks yourself and make damn sure whatever is in the prop gun is not going to kill someone. When in doubt, just stop, stop, stop.
Alec Baldwin Fires Prop Gun on ‘Rust' Set, Killing Crew Member, Injuring Director
Actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed the cinematographer and injured the director on the set of the movie "Rust" in New Mexico on Thursday, authorities said.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s officials said Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer for the Western being filmed, and director Joel Souza were shot on the set in the desert on the southern outskirts of Sante Fe.
Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel, according to County Sheriff’s officials.
Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center to receive treatment for his injuries. Actress Frances Fisher, who's slated to appear in the film, tweeted overnight that Souza had left the hospital.
