Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, sitting in the back of a police vehicle
The armourer who prepared the pistol, which was used in the fatal shooting, was a young woman who was only 24 years of age, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. This is extremely unusual in the movie business. Most armourers are older men, who have a lot of experience in the field. If a 24-year-old was going to be hired in that area, it would more likely be as an assistant armourer.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is the daughter of armourer Thell Reed, and had reportedly grown up around guns; but that doesn’t make someone an expert, and it certainly doesn’t equate to a person having a certain maturity in years (which is quite useful when dealing with procedures that have life-threatening implications). Younger armourers can be found in the military, but those are undergoing constant training, with high volumes of work experience, and are mentored and supervised by highly-trained senior personnel.
It seems that the movie’s producers hired someone who was too young and too experienced to be the head armourer. Indeed, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been described as being “inexperienced and green”.
So, why was Hannah Gutierrez-Reed hired as the head armourer on a movie set? Why wasn’t an older man, with lots of experience, hired instead? Was Hannah Gutierrez-Reed hired as show of “affirmative action”, in the furtherance of a Feminist agenda? Was her hiring a case of virtue-signalling, instead of hiring on the basis of expertise and experience? These are all important questions that the media appear to be avoiding.
Based on outward appearances, it looks as though Gutierrez-Reed was hired because she was a woman. Hiring a young woman as an armourer, instead of an older man, gives brownie points in the gender diversity game, where virtue-signalling over “affirmative action” hiring makes someone look good in the eyes of the Hollywood Left. The neo-Communists of the Hollywood Set love to see virtue-signalling, but sometimes it can all go horribly wrong.
We do not know the political leanings of Gutierrez-Reed; however, when she was detained by police on the day of the shooting, it can be seen (on the footage from the police body camera) that her hair was dyed yellow and purple, which virtually screams “Look at me, I’m a Leftist!” How often do you see young women with brightly-coloured yellow, green, or blue hair who are not Leftists?
If you are a 24-year-old engineer, not long out of university, it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to hire you to be the head engineer on a major bridge-building project. And for good reason. Mistakes can be made by people who lack experience. If a bridge designed by a 24-year-old engineer collapses, then that engineer should be prosecuted; however, that person is not the only one who should be held responsible. The idiots who hired the 24-year-old should also be legally liable for their gross negligence in hiring such an inexperienced engineer.
As an actor, Alec Baldwin should not be charged for firing the pistol that killed Halyna Hutchins on the movie set. Actors are not meant to be experts in the field of firearms; they rely on the experts to arrange everything correctly. On a similar note, parents rely on expert chemists to dispense the correct medication; if a parent gives pills from a chemist to a child, the parent should not be held liable if the chemist has put the wrong pills in the bottle; if a child dies as the result, the chemist should be charged, not the parents.
So, Alec Baldwin should not be charged for his role as an actor. Whoever hired Hannah Gutierrez-Reed should be charged for hiring an inexperienced youngster in a role which involves life and death ramifications.
Did Baldwin approve of the hiring of Gutierrez-Reed? Quite possibly. After all, Alec Baldwin is a confirmed Leftist. He endorsed Barack Obama in his campaigns for President, and supports PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the animal rights activist group. So it would be no big surprise to find out that he supports Feminism and Affirmative Action. No-one has given evidence that Balwin opposed the hiring of such an inexperienced armourer.
The Woke Leftist crowd love to push their Feminist and Affirmative Action ideas, but it is almost inevitable that pushing an ideological agenda at the expense of experience and safety is going to end with tragic consequences.
Feminist and Affirmative Action are not only involved with deaths of people at the local level, but are also involved in the attempted murder of the Western nations at the civilisation level. The Woke Leftist agenda must be combatted at all levels of society.
References:
Andrew Dalton, “Alec Baldwin is about to go on trial in the death of a cinematographer. Here are key things to know”, WCVB, 8 July 2024
“Alec Baldwin heads to trial over Rust shooting death. Here’s who’s who in the case”, Independent, 8 July 2024
Morgan Lee, “What to know about the prison sentence for a movie armorer in a fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin”, AP News, 16 April 2024
Kaylee Hartung, Morgan Winsor, and Eboni Griffin, “‘Rust’ armorer’s father, Thell Reed, speaks out on fatal incident and investigation”, ABC News, 8 December 2021 [Hannah was 24 years at the time of the shooting]
Cheyenne Roundtree, “‘Inexperienced’ armorer on Baldwin set raised alarm bells on prior film”, The Daily Beast, 23 October 2021 (updated 24 October 2021) [“inexperienced and green”]
“Alec Baldwin”, Wikipedia
See also:
Morgan Lee, “What to know about the prison sentence for a movie armorer in a fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin”, Independent, 16 April 2024
Holly Patrick, “Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed sentenced for involuntary manslaughter”, Independent, 15 April 2024
Michelle Del Rey and Graig Graziosi, “Rust movie armourer branded jury ‘idiots’ ahead of sentencing for manslaughter”, Independent, 15 April 2024
Graig Graziosi, “Sobbing Rust armourer gets maximum sentence of 18 months for fatal shooting of cinematographer”, Independent, 15 April 2024
Chloe Melas, “‘Rust’ armorer was ‘sloppy’ and left guns and ammo lying around movie set, prosecutors tell jurors”, NBC News, 23 February 2024
Morgan Lee, “Baldwin faces involuntary manslaughter charge in set death”, Independent, 1 February 2023
Tristan Balagtas, “‘Rust’ ‘s” 24-year-old armorer said she ‘almost didn’t take’ previous job: ‘I wasn’t sure if I was ready’”, People, 24 October 2021
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