Alec Baldwin calls for hiring police officers to monitor weapon safety on film sets

Alec Baldwin is calling for gun safety on film and TV sets to always be overseen by police officers in the wake of the tragedy on his movie Rust.

The actor in a tweet and Instagram post on Monday argued all movie and television productions that make use of guns should have police officers on set. The comments come after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed, and director Joel Souza was injured, in an accidental shooting during rehearsal on Rust.

"Every film/TV set that uses guns, fake or otherwise, should have a police officer on set, hired by the production, to specifically monitor weapons safety," Baldwin wrote.

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Movies and TV shows frequently use real guns with blanks to make scenes appear more realistic, and gun safety is usually overseen by the armorer or prop master, Deadline notes. In the case of the Rust shooting, the film's armorer was Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, whose lawyers last month said she has "no idea" how live rounds ended up on the set. An investigation into the shooting is still ongoing, but officials said they recovered a lead projectile that apparently struck Hutchins. Baldwin was reportedly practicing unholstering the gun, which he was told did not have live rounds in it, when it discharged.

In the wake of Hutchins' death, there have been growing calls to ban guns capable of firing live rounds from set entirely, and Dwayne Johnson announced last week his production company's movies and shows would only make use of rubber guns going forward.

Baldwin previously told reporters an "effort to limit the use of firearms on film sets is something I'm extremely interested in," and "some new measures have to take place" in response to the tragedy. He added, though, "I'm not an expert in this field, so whatever other people decide is the best way to go, in terms of protecting people's safety on film sets, I'm all in favor of."