Alec Baldwin Admits He Cocked the Gun, When he released the hammer it fired…
Baldwin said, “I’m holding the gun where she [Hutchins] told me to hold it.”
He added, “In the scene [being rehearsed] I would have cocked the gun, and I said, ‘Do you want to see that? And she said yes. So I take the gun and I sort of cock the gun, I’m not going to pull the trigger.”
Baldwin said that Hutchins then had him adjust the angle at which he was holding the revolver.
He then told Stephanopoulos, “I cock the gun and I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off.”
Baldwin also told Stephanopoulos, “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger.”
This sounds a lot like what happened is he accidentally slip shot, which is accomplished by PULLING the trigger while pulling the hammer back and letting it go.
So much misinformation floating around about this….and a lot of it coming from so called “experts” and “prop masters”.
On a Colt single action revolver, there are three actionable positions of the hammer.
In position 1 and 2, unless there is damage to the trigger or hammer the ONLY way you can lower the hammer is to pull back slightly on the hammer with your thumb, and then PULL THE TRIGGER while letting the hammer down carefully.
Let me repeat that about position 1 and 2:
UNLESS THE REVOLVER IS DAMAGED, THE ONLY WAY TO DROP THE HAMMER IS TO SLIGHTLY PULL BACK THE HAMMER AND THEN PULL THE TRIGGER!
If you simply pull the hammer back slightly and then let go of it, it will fall back into the notches of the hammer.
If indeed the revolver is defective all it would take to determine that is the removal of 2 screws and then performing a visual inspection of the trigger/hammer interfaces. So far I haven’t heard a thing about anyone inspecting the revolver…..
I saw his interview. Let me set the record straight, as every word can give statements a different meaning, depending on the education and knowledge of those listening. He did
N O T say he cocked the hammer back into the locked and cocked position. He said he kept, under diredtion, pulling the hammer back until told to let it go, which he did. The hammer then moved forward and the gun fired.Thats what he claimed happend and, IF thats what did happen, the gun very well could have fired IF there was a live round in the chamber riight in front of the hammer and the hammerm spring was strong enough to fire the primer, even though the hammer was, or may not have been locked in the “cocked” position.
That doesn’t change the fact that he was pointing the gun in the very direction of people on the set. We know this because he shot two with one shot. One died.
I don’t know the laws of NM so I can’t comment on what criminal charges anyone may be facing but I don’t believe he meant to harm anyone. The big question is, who put a live round in the gun.
10 to 1 he had his finger on the trigger and applied pressure to it as he cocked the gun, so the hammer fell and because the trigger was pulled, it bypassed any safety features on the gun.