B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Firearms experts say it is rare for someone to be killed from a prop gun while filming a movie or TV show as a weapons master or armourer is mandated to be on set to ensure everyone's safety, in addition to providing rigorous training and gun handling to actors beforehand.
New Mexico police said Wednesday that actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of Western film "Rust," killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
Charles Taylor, head armourer of Movie Armaments Group Canada, called the news "shocking."
"This is not something that you would expect for the amount of safety, and the protocols that we have with all master armours on movie sets," Taylor told CTV News Channel on Friday.
When filming in Canada, Taylor explained that movie crews have to follow "very stringent rules" when using a firearm.
"We have the Canadian Firearms Act that basically states that anybody that handles a firearm on a movie set requires a business firearms license and must be trained to do so," he said.
Taylor said that firearms safety specialists are required to be on set when filming using a gun and must train actors "days or weeks in advance" of filming on how to properly handle a firearm.
After training is complete, Taylor said it is up to the weapons master to decide whether a scene should go ahead.
"It's ultimately our call… whether that actor or person is even capable of handling a firearm and if they're not, we just say, 'No, here's a prop,' and we're not doing any gunfire," he said.
Cameron K. Smith, a motion picture firearms coordinator and consultant based in B.C., said prop guns need to be treated as real firearms when being handled on movie sets. If not, he says the actor can pose a real threat to themselves, as well as cast and crew.
Smith told CTVNews.ca in an email Friday that prop guns can "absolutely" be dangerous if the individual handling the firearm is "unfocused, uncertain, or potentially unhinged." However, he says an injury or death from a prop gun is rare.
"In the hands of a trained and focused actor, working in conjunction with a certified motion picture firearms coordinator, the scenes normally function quite smoothly and very safely," Smith said.
Taylor noted that the majority of guns used in films are "real firearms" that have been converted to fire a blank, which is a bullet that has had the projectile removed. He noted that "prop weapons" or non-functioning weapons are not typically used in TV and movies because they don't look authentic.
While it is unclear what type of gun Baldwin was using on the set of "Rust," Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga, told CTVNews.ca on Friday that the term prop gun could refer to a range of items, from non-functioning weapons to real ones that fire caps or blanks.
Owusu-Bempah said in a telephone interview that blanks are used to imitate live ammunition in film, as they will still provide a firing sound, a recoil and visible combustion from the shot.
He explained that the firing mechanism for blanks is the same as a live round of ammunition. Both cartridges are comprised of a casing that holds an explosive powder, such as gunpowder, however, the blank does not have a projectile on the end. Instead, it may be sealed with a cap made out of paper or plastic, he said.
Given this, Owusu-Bempah noted that a blank can still be dangerous, especially at close range.
"This is not the first time that there has been an incident in which prop gun... has involved an injury," he said.
In 1993, Brandon Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, died after being shot by a prop gun on the set of the movie "The Crow." The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.
In another incident, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died in 1984 after shooting himself in the head with blank from a prop gun after being frustrated by delays in filming and pretending to play Russian roulette on the set of the TV series "Cover Up."
However, Owusu-Bempah says the incident involving Baldwin may push the film industry to use more non-functioning weapons or special effects for gunfire rather than blanks.
"I think this does raise really good questions about why such weapons are being used on set at all, especially given our concerns around firearms at the moment," Owusu-Bempah said. "There's really no need to be using real guns given just how far CGI has come."
With files from The Associated Press
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.