Souza was hospitalized for his injuries but has since been released (viaDeadline).
Baldwinissued a statementabout the incident.
In a secondtweethe said that he had reached out to Hutchin’s husband to offer support to the family.
The actor added that he is cooperating with a police investigation into how the accident occurred.
The last recorded similar fatal incident took place on set of “The Crow” in 1993.
Still, people are wondering how and why prop weapons would be dangerous in the first place.
Even though they aren’t loaded with actual bullets, prop guns that fire blanks can still be deadly.
“You’re going to have heat.
You’re going to have air coming out of it.
And those can cause physical injury within 25 to 50 feet, depending on the load.”
Guidelines compiled byNJ.comnoted that prop guns can also pose fire risk and are “extremely dangerous.”
This is why there are so many recommendations for safety on set.
For instance, Joseph Fisher told CNN that actors never directly point the gun at another actor on set.
Director and production designer Ben Rock echoed that sentiment in a series oftweets.
He added that teams can lose upwards of 30 minutes of film time when a weapon is involved.
That time instead goes to necessary safety briefings.
Despite all this, accidents can happen.
Kevin Williams told NPR that various pressures on set can at times lead to relaxed safety precautions.
He argued that there were other ways to achieve both.
For instance, a loud noise made safely on set could help simulate the sound of a firing weapon.
Rock recommended switching over to Airsoft guns, which are replicas that shoot pellets.
He wasn’t alone in his opinions.
Insidernoted that a multitude of other directors and filmmakers have questioned the need for more dangerous weaponry on set.
He added that “it’s an unnecessary risk.”
