20-minute video:
Retitled, "Films & Firearms || Explaining The Age Old Protocol For Guns On Movie Sets" since I started this posting.
My brilliant commentary and solution:
"Who loaded the gun?" All the other problems could be sheer accidents or dumb shortcuts--not to excuse shortcuts. A live round (i.e., with lethal projectile) and a blank round (one that just makes a sound and fire, but not the lead projectile--though it can expel something dangerous, and Schneider noted) look different. Blanks often have crimped noses, looking almost like screwdriver bits. (LOL Some liberal once found some such bits and claimed they were "assault weapon" rounds!) Even most dummy rounds (totally inert) have a visual difference, as Schneider notes. Regarding dummy rounds: I had some dummy rounds for a firearm I was having problems with--a lever-action that didn't want to feed. I used the dummy rounds to work with it and try to sort the problem. There was no primer ("cap") in the rounds, so as to ensure I wouldn't mix them up with live rounds--and either risk an accident or have a dud in the event I had to actually fire it. So I know the difference. No studio would have dummy rounds with intact primers, period, and anyone with enough understanding of firearms to act even as a gopher for the props person or armorer will know the difference. I have long called for mandatory firearms training in high schools: 1. Safety; 2. Legalities; and 3. Actual shooting (not mandatory for those objecting due to religious scruples). If this were implemented, EVERYONE would know this sort of thing.
ADDENDUM: The NewsMax session Schneider mentioned: Actor John Schneider reacts to Alec Baldwin's prop-gun fatal shooting | 'Wake Up America' - YouTube
