It may have seemed difficult to find a way for Alec Baldwin to become more loathsome. It was just one week ago that I was pointing out what a horrid creature the actor must be after he disparaged the husband of the woman he killed. That’s what happens when a spouse of someone you shot decides to sue you for a wrongful death. At least, that’s what happens when you’re Alec Baldwin.
Now, however, we know that Mr. Baldwin can go even more loathsome. He can go much more, in fact.
Baldwin’s legal team is fighting back against these civil suits (remember, he’s somehow still not arrested or facing criminal charges). Their defense is essentially that Halyna Hutchins shot her own self by ordering Alec Baldwin to pull the hammer back and swing the gun towards the camera. That seems extraordinarily unlikely given that she would have been ordering the actor to take an action that would result in a gun being fired in her direction. You see, by manually manipulating the hammer of the weapon, it is a way to fire the weapon without pulling the trigger. You may have heard of this before in the phrase “fan the hammer.”
Baldwin asked Hutchins whether she wanted to see him cock the gun, as the script required. She responded yes. Baldwin tipped the gun down somewhat so that the lens of the camera would be able to focus on his hand’s action on the top of the gun. While performing this action, Baldwin asked Hutchins, ‘Am I holding it too far down?’ and ‘Do you see that?’ Hutchins responded that she could see Baldwin’s action from her angle. Baldwin then pulled back the hammer, but not far enough to actually cock the gun. When Baldwin let go of the hammer, the gun went off.
— Baldwin’s Legal Filing
There is a lot of very careful wording here that may lead skeptical readers to think that it is a crafted bit of narrative. According to the story, Baldwin was told to pull the hammer back. He pulled the hammer back, but not too far back. When he let go of the hammer, now acting in the same way the trigger would have, the gun fired. What a shock! No where is it mentioned that Baldwin was a producer on the film, therefore liable ultimately for everything going on with the business and the production. It is not mentioned that there was no protection for the crew who had a gun pointed at them in a sweeping motion.
Unfortunately for Baldwin, his own safety and firearms manager he hired is coming out against him:
“Mr. Baldwin knew that he could never point a firearm at crew members under any circumstances and had a duty of safety to his fellow crew members. Yet he did point the gun at Halyna before the fatal incident against all rules and common sense.”
— Hannah Gutierrez Reed
Alec Baldwin should have been posting bail by now for the crime of having shot a woman. Instead, he’s posting accusations against the woman he shot as if her own actions caused him to release the hammer of a pistol while he held it straight in her direction.
Now that’s loathsome.
For all the latest news that should be fun, but unfortunately sometimes isn’t, keep checking out That Park Place. In the comments below, let us know if you have any theories as to why Alec Baldwin has yet to be arrested.
