Alec Baldwin Will Be Charged with Involuntary Manslaughter in ‘Rust’ Killing

If they go after him as the trigger puller, they'll never get a conviction. If they go after him as a producer on the film I give them a 25% chance at a conviction. The armorer on the other hand, I'm figuring about a 75% chance of a conviction for her.

"Hard to see how anyone other than the person who loaded the gun is responsible."

It's not that simple. Universal gun handling rules are that the person who's holding the gun when a round is fired is responsible. Loading a gun is generally not considered an irresponsible thing to do in normal civilian life. If you hand it to someone unfamiliar with the rules, it's on you to explain them. Otherwise, it's on them.

Maybe standard movie set rules are different. Which rules should apply to the person who loaded the gun? Well that depends on the context.

In any case, Alec Baldwin apparently didn't have a clue about basic gun handling rules despite his self-appointed status as a gun control expert. But that doesn't make him a criminal imo.

That specific argument in the context of filming a movie is dumb but safe handling of firearms is everyone's responsibility. Any worksite safety is everyone's responsibility, movie set, factory, warehouse, office, etc... No one should be handling dangerous items without proper safety training.

There's more than Alec Baldwin going to be charged here, but as the person pulling the trigger he bears responsibly to ensure safe handling of a firearm. When handed a firearm you always verify the status of the firearm. Regardless of what someone tells you that firearm is live until you verify it's not.

If he failed to check, failed to receive proper training, failed to asked to be trained, etc... None of that negates responsibility for his part in mishandling and the outcome. In the United States firearms are so pervasive across our culture that any reasonable adult knows that these devices are unsafe and require special handling. This is similar to driving an automobile in a way that's unsafe and injuring or killing someone. Those situations commonly result in manslaughter charges. Because it was not the intention to do that but a reasonable person would have known what you were doing is unsafe.