On Thursday, January 13th, news broke that Armorer and Props Manager, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, filed a lawsuit against the production’s ammunition supplier for providing live ammunition instead of dummy rounds on the set of Rust.

JUICYYY!

This was actually one of my main questions when I first heard about Alec Baldwin’s negligent discharge in October, but, thinking of the dummy rounds I use while teaching classes, I didn’t understand how a trained props manager could mistake dummy rounds for live ammo?

For training purposes, I use dummy rounds that are made of lightweight material like aluminum, have no live ammunition components, and are colored to represent the use for training. The ones below are maroon. Mine are neon orange, so you literally can’t mistake them. 

45 Colt
Dummy Round/Snap Cap

After doing a little research, I realized that my training rounds are technically called ‘snap caps,’ so if I were to pull the trigger with a snap cap in the chamber, the gun would just make a click sound; nothing would happen.

Now, take a look at the types of ammunition used for movie productions:

Dummy rounds and live rounds look almost identical in order to get the visual effect needed for a gun scene. But, just as Steve Wolfe and Stephen Gutowski stated in the video above, there are visual indicators to tell the difference between the two, such as a used primer or no primer at all. There are also bee bees inside the casing so you can shake it and know it’s not gun powder.

The left round is live because the primer is not indented.

Now, does Hannah Gutierrez Reed have a case? It depends.

The lawsuit reads, “Hannah relied upon and trusted that Defendants [PDQ Arm and Prop] would only supply dummy prop ammunition or blanks, and no live rounds were ever to be on set.”

IF PDQ Arm and Prop provided live ammunition to the set of ‘Rust’ when only dummy rounds and blank ammunition were ordered, then absolutely, I think Reed has a case. 

She still holds responsibility, though. As an Armorer and Prop Manager for a movie, it is HER job to confirm that each individual round on that property is not live ammunition. She should have control over her props, especially when firearms are involved.

I’m not going to use her age as a reason why I think she messed up. Yes, she’s 24 years old, but at 24, I was safely leading classes of 20+ shooters who had never touched a handgun before. The age shouldn’t matter if the experience is there, but for Reed, this was her 2nd production as an Armorer, so I don’t think her experience is valid to handle the responsibility. 

I’m sure more lawsuits and stories will be released, but I still see Alec Baldwin responsible for lawsuits against Hannah Gutierrez Reed and PDQ Arm and Prop because HE pulled the trigger.

Do you think this lawsuit alleviates any fault from Baldwin or Reed?