Kudos to Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies for discovering something that isn't exactly ancient forgotten knowledge. Transfer bar mechanisms have been in use on revolvers since the 1960s for a reason. Very, very common example is a Ruger Single Six. Old model didn't have one, New Model does.
Means you load six and carry six - or however many your revolver holds. A specific series of actions is required to drop the transfer bar by pulling the trigger reduces the chances of an accidental discharge. Those antique revolvers lacked them and back in the day common practice was load one, skip one, load four. Carry hammer down on an empty cylinder. Either way, new or old style, ****ing about with the trigger can only bring about the entirely predictable result form the weapon.
Doesn't matter. The firearm safety is secondary - the primary safety is the person holding it. Apparently the DA knew enough to carefully check it out before their informal testing and those idiots on set did not, period.
Alec Baldwin may not have pulled trigger that killed 'Rust' cinematographer Halyna Hutchins: DA
Alec Baldwin may not have pulled trigger in deadly shooting on ‘Rust’ set: DA
By
Patrick Reilly February 20, 2022 1:11am
An unofficial investigation will be launched by Mary Carmack-Altwies to test Alec Baldwin's claims that he did not pull the trigger while onset. Serge Svetnoy/Facebook
Alec Baldwin may have fired the shot that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins without pulling the gun’s trigger, a New Mexico prosecutor says.
Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told Vanity Fair she had watched Alec Baldwin’s bombshell interview with ABC in December and was drawn to the actor’s claim that he did not pull the trigger.
“You can pull the hammer back without actually pulling the trigger and without actually locking it,” Carmack-Altwies said. “So you pull it back partway, it doesn’t lock, and then if you let it go, the firing pin can hit the primer of the bullet.”
Baldwin had insisted in the interview that the trigger was never pulled.
“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” the former “30 Rock” star said.
Carmack-Altwies launched an unofficial investigation of her own to test Baldwin’s claims that he had only pulled back the hammer of the gun before it went off, firing the live bullet that fatally struck Hutchins in the chest and wounded the film’s director Joel Souza, who was hit in the clavicle.
Alec Baldwin said during the ABC interview that the trigger was never pulled, claiming he would never point a gun on anyone or pull a trigger at them.
ABC via Getty Images
“I didn’t know too much about guns, certainly not about 1850s-era revolvers. So when I first heard that, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy,’ ” she told Vanity Fair.
Santa Fe DA Mary Carmack-Altwies told Vanity Fair that even if the hammer is pulled partway — the firing pin can still hit the primer of the bullet.
Getty Images
The DA requested that one of her investigators bring his old-style revolver to her office to test if a mechanical malfunction could have caused the gun to go off. They cleared a room, and she had two investigators inspect the gun to confirm it was not loaded.
Her test revealed that the hammer could have caused the live round to fire, however official results from an FBI analysis of the weapon are still pending.
While Baldwin said he did not pull the trigger, a lawsuit filed by a “Rust” script supervisor in November alleges that he “intentionally” fired the gun at Hutchins.
Lawyers for Halyna Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful-death suit against Alec Baldwin, despite his claims that he only pulled back the hammer of the gun before it went off.
Getty Images for SAGindie
Lawyers for Halyna Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful-death suit against actor Alec Baldwin on Tuesday.
Baldwin responded with an Instagram post that simply included an image of an art installment from the Parrish Art Museum that says: “Everything is going to be alright.”