As Alec Baldwin faces charges, gun safety on sets 'gets louder'

Film production and firearms experts say movie sets probably changed permanently when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on the remote New Mexico set of the Western 'Rust' 14 months ago, leading to the announcement from prosecutors Thursday that Alec Baldwin and the film's weapons supervisor will be charged with involuntary manslaughter later this month.

Film production and firearms experts say movie sets probably changed permanently when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on the remote New Mexico set of the Western "Rust" 14 months ago, leading to the announcement from prosecutors Thursday that Alec Baldwin and the film's weapons supervisor will be charged with involuntary manslaughter later this month.

"The gun safety experience on set has become more vocal, it's a lot louder," said Joey Dillon, an armourer who has overseen the use of firearms on television shows including "Westworld" and movies including "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs." "I make it a lot louder myself."

Baldwin was pointing the gun with a live round inside that killed Hutchins as they set up a shot for an upcoming scene. People at several levels of production are determined to ensure it never happens again.

That has meant the increasing use of digital and other technology that could make gunfire of any kind obsolete. It has also meant more simple things, like shouting when using the same safety protocols long in place to make clear to everyone when a gun is present and what its status is.

Actors and others are more interested when the gun is handed over.

"Now people want to check because people are a little a little gun shy," Dillon said. "I'll stop the whole process just to show them so that they feel comfortable with it."

While checking a gun themselves may be in the best interest of actors, how much responsibility they bear for doing so remains in dispute, and will be a central question for jurors should Baldwin's case go to trial.