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Comment by suzzer99 | Hacker News Reader

How is an actor supposed to know the difference between a blank and a dummy round on a specially modified prop gun? That's what the licensed armorer is for. Asking actors to have any responsibility to suss that stuff out seems like a recipe for disaster.

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Blanks and dummy rounds do not look similar. If your job involves handling functional guns maybe you should take five minutes to learn the difference. If you're putting guns in peoples' hands you should make sure they know how to take three seconds to check if they're about to murder someone. It's about layers of safety.

> How is an actor supposed to know the difference between a blank and a dummy round on a specially modified prop gun?

Dummy rounds are generally visually similar to live rounds (not blanks, which apparently are referred to as “live rounds” in film), so a readily distinguishable from blanks.

The gun was supposed to have all empty chambers.

So? You still treat it as if it were live.

I believe it was his point that even someone who can't tell a blank from a dummy from a live round can tell whether or not there's something in the gun.

If that were indeed the case, then Baldwin could have determined it was actually loaded easily with just a few seconds of inspection after having been handed the firearm.

Most actors receive training with firearms so they can handle and fire them convincingly on set. Baldwin has made a several films where he handled firearms, so I'm certain he's had safety training at points in his career. Taking someone's word for it being a "cold gun" is irresponsible.

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