By The FirstBy Dana Loesch
I stupidly checked Twitter last night before going to bed. I wondered why so many people were retweeting this hate from the past into my timeline:
The reckless and irresponsible ridiculousness from the left and their anti-Second Amendment “advocacy” in the wake of Parkland proved their goals were more about hurting people who support self defense rather than saving people from losing their lives at the hands of criminals. Baldwin was one of those ridiculous people who repeatedly made some of the worst remarks.
The media are being mostly careful with the wording, but basically last night it was reported that Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed the director of photography and the director of his latest film, “Rust,” with a prop gun on set. The headline would be worse if he was a 2A supporter.
I don’t like the comments about him getting “karma” or “he deserved it.” Halyna Hutchins’s life isn’t a “gotcha” for Baldwin nor are Joel Souza’s injuries. What happened has nothing to do with the Second Amendment and I’m not playing the left’s ghoulish game of exploiting tragedy to settle a score no matter how much my lesser angel is mentally screaming for me to do so. Innocent lives matter more than political grandstanding.
I don’t believe that this is a result of malice on Baldwin’s part. I don’t know who set up the prop gun, but even prop guns and blanks can misfire. Accidents are called accidents because they’re accidents. Yet this is why we say in firearm etiquette to treat every gun as though it’s loaded because the person handling the gun is responsible for where the barrel points.
I don’t know what Baldwin is feeling right now and I’m not sure I care one way or the other, but I’d imagine that he’s in a dark place considering that a woman lost her life and it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to his grief that it was an accident.
I’m not the left and I get angry when I’m expected to degrade myself and copy their behavior, lack of sympathy, and overall trashiness when faced with the decision of whether or not to offer prayer or hate in the wake of tragedy. I’m proud of this not for some benefit of ego, but it’s proof-of-life that soul-sucking politics hasn’t destroyed all of my good will or overshadowed the reason why I do what I do.
I figure a lot of people have right to be angry at Baldwin’s words and perhaps few more than me, but the best advocacy for a cause is heart.
Please join me in being human and saying a prayer for the Hutchins family, Joel Souza, and Alec Baldwin.
*Edited to add: I want to be clear here — I’m not speculating on the details of the event nor am I suggesting that Baldwin bears no legal responsibility as producer of the film and biggest star with major pull on the set. We do not know the details and I’m not speculating on this tragedy. Clearly something very wrong led to this awful outcome. Ultimately the responsibility to check falls on the final gatekeeper, the person handling the firearm. Always treat every gun as though it’s loaded. Alwaysdo a “press check” to see if a round is chambered before using a firearm. If on set and working with what you assume are blanks, always inspect each weapon and round with the licensed weapons specialist (also known as an armorer)and know how it’s assembled.
*UPDATE — This isn’t good:
A union that covers prop masters sent an email to its members Friday morning in which it said “a single live round was accidentally fired on set by the principal actor,” according to Indie Wire.
[…]
A distraught Baldwin repeatedly asked why he was given a “hot gun” — a firearm with live ammunition — after his prop weapon discharged on his New Mexico film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Sante Fe.
“In all my years, I’ve never been handed a hot gun,” the actor allegedly kept saying, an eyewitness told Hollywood gossip site Showbiz 411.
As the lead on set and handler of the arm you absolutely bear the responsibility of checking your firearm regardless who hands it to you.
