It doesn’t get any better for the account of Alec Baldwin in regards to how Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography on his film product Rust, was shot by the gun he was holding.
According to CBS News, Mr. Baldwin alleges in the interview with George Stephanapoulos that he did not pull the trigger. Instead, he released the hammer. What makes this claim so bizarre is that the gun Mr. Baldwin used is reportedly a single-action firearm. That would mean that releasing the hammer almost certainly resulted in the firearm shooting a bullet. In other words, releasing the hammer is what the trigger is supposed to do… releasing it manually is likely the exact same thing.
“I cock the gun. I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off. I let go of the hammer of the gun, the gun goes off.”
— Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin gets emotional talking about the 9-year-old son of the late Halyna Hutchins: "I think to myself, 'This little boy doesn't have a mother anymore.'" https://t.co/NQfXdJ88ta #BaldwinABC pic.twitter.com/8Xwi3EG7hS
— ABC News (@ABC) December 3, 2021
According to Baldwin’s own testimony, it is now unthinkable that he will live his life without being arrested. Ignorance of the weapon is no excuse for having killed a woman. Releasing the hammer of the firearm would absolutely fire the weapon… the weapon that he was pointing at human beings.
From Insider, it is reported that Baldwin says during the interview that he never checks guns for live ammo. This would almost certainly go against industry and union regulations.
“If your protocol is you check the gun every time, well, good for you. I had a protocol and it never let me down.”
— Alec Baldwin
It looks like the protocol might not have let Mr. Baldwin down, but it sure let Mrs. Hutchins down. Why Baldwin or his lawyers thought this interview was a good idea, it’s impossible to say. It’s hard to imagine this engendering any goodwill, but it almost certainly puts more pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors to arrest this man.
