Calling forum gun experts. How does a dummy firearm kill?

[Pale Rider]

Is there episode of Colombo where the murderer commits the crime by substituting a live round for a blank?

I immediately thought of Columbo, so I suspect a blank/live situation may feature in one of the episodes.

No doubt we'd be told Mrs Columbo never misses a Baldwin film.

 

[wheresthetorch]

Given a friends double barrel 12 to admire, I broke the gun to check the barrels were unloaded, before doing anything else.

Should your friend not have done that before handing it to you?

 

[le_al_khemista]

What a shambles. Apparently not the first time it happened either:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainme.../alec-baldwin-rust-camera-crew-walked-off-set

Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, the sources said. They said at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.

Three crew members who were present at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set on Saturday said they were particularly concerned about two accidental prop gun discharges.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Might somebody have wanted the victim dead?

 

[Dave7]

Should your friend not have done that before handing it to you?

TBF his friend might have done so. I think @byegad is making the point it is his/your responsibility to check.

 

[Dave7]

Something I don't understand. How does one bullet kill one person and seriously injure another.
I assume I have missed something.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Something I don't understand. How does one bullet kill one person and seriously injure another.
I assume I have missed something.

At a guess the bullet goes through person one and hits person two.

Pretty sure I've read reports which describe both entry and exit wounds for a bullet.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Something I don't understand. How does one bullet kill one person and seriously injure another.
I assume I have missed something.

At a guess the bullet goes through person one and hits person two.

Pretty sure I've read reports which describe both entry and exit wounds for a bullet.

By the reports this is what happened, the round went through the first person and on into the second

 

[Pale Rider]

At a guess the bullet goes through person one and hits person two.

Pretty sure I've read reports which describe both entry and exit wounds for a bullet.

The BBC report said the bullet passed through Ms Hutchins and then hit the director, who was standing behind her, in the shoulder.

His injury was relatively minor, given that he has since been discharged from hospital.

Might somebody have wanted the victim dead?

That would put us firmly in Columbo territory, although I do wonder if there is some skulduggery going on here.

 

[KnittyNorah]

What a shambles. Apparently not the first time it happened either:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainme.../alec-baldwin-rust-camera-crew-walked-off-set

Reading through that, it is clear that 'gun safety' - if it can even be given that name - was as good as non-existent on that set.
Is it standard practice in the US film industry to pass loaded firearms around as if playing a bizarre variant of musical chairs? It would certainly appear so from that article. Poorly-handled blanks and dummy rounds are dangerous, especially when people get blase, but it seems there had been a couple of other instances on this set where live ammunition had been 'accidentally' loaded and discharged. And no investigation or review into that issue.

There also appears to have been a degree of unrest among some of the staff making the movie - unrest with which the dead woman appeared to have had some sympathy.
The plot thickens ...

 

[cougie uk]

Something I don't understand. How does one bullet kill one person and seriously injure another.
I assume I have missed something.

Wasn't this a plot point in JFK ?

 

[Smokin Joe]

At a guess the bullet goes through person one and hits person two.

Pretty sure I've read reports which describe both entry and exit wounds for a bullet.

I've killed two rats with one airgun pellet, through the neck of the first and into the skull of the other standing immediately behind. And even a full power air rifle is only a pea shooter compared to a powder burner.

I believe the old bill use hollow point ammo to prevent such incidents.

 

[Hover Fly]

I was an extra on a film once (UK) . The precautions with firearms were painstaking. No one not involved alllowed anywhere near, thick perspex screens round the set, full PPE goggles and body armour for the crew, weapons under the control of a qualified armourer who loaded them as needed and only handed to the cast at the last possible moment, even the preliminary running about was with empty magazines if possible.

 

[Alex321]

(like cars, there are never accidents with guns, only negligence).

As I have already pointed out in this thread, that is simply not possible, according to the dictionary definition of "accident".

If negligence causes an incident, then that is an accident. It is simply not possible to things caused by negligence that are not accidents.

 

[gbb]

I listened to an article on the radio yesterday and they use many types of guns, from useless but real looking fakes to actual real guns firing blanks usually,depending on the effect needed. A real gun firing blanks will give a realistic recoil i think was the gist of it?