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Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed in the tragedy on the set of "Rust"
Photo: Jack Caswell / AP / picture alliance / dpa
After actor Alec Baldwin was fatally shot while filming, there were increasing calls in Hollywood for a ban on firearms on film sets.
In an open letter, numerous cameramen have now joined the demand.
This is reported by the industry service Variety.com, which published four attached pages full of signatures on Tuesday.
Accordingly, the authors of the letter describe the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins as "senseless, negligent and avoidable".
They call on unions, producers and legislators to take immediate action and announce that they will no longer "knowingly work on projects in which working firearms are used."
You don't want to wait for the industry to change: "We have a duty to bring about changes in the industry ourselves."
More than 200 signatories include Rachel Morrison ("Mudbound"), Ed Lachman ("Carol") and Stephen Lighthill, President of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Petition with more than 100,000 signatures
The letter comes around a week after director Bandar Albuliwi published a petition on the change.org website calling for a firearms ban and better working conditions for film teams. It says there is "no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century." In addition, Albuliwi, who studied like Hutchins at the renowned American Film Institute Conservatory, calls on Baldwin to use his status and influence in Hollywood to ban real guns. To date, the petition has collected more than 100,000 signatures.
After the incident on set, assistant director David Halls had admitted to police that he had not checked all the bullets in the Colt's drum before handing it over to Baldwin.
He did so, according to a police report, with the words "Cold Gun" - an indication that the gun was not loaded.
According to the police, Halls did not know that there was live ammunition in the gun.
It had previously been announced that Halls had already been fired from a film production in 2019 because of a firearm accident.
It is also unclear how live ammunition got into the Colt.
The police seized 500 cartridges on the film set, a "mixture" of blank cartridges, dummy cartridges and presumably live cartridges.
So far, there have been no arrests or charges in the case.
In Germany, the rules for the use of prop weapons at filming locations are different from those in the USA.
"Weapons that cannot be loaded with live ammunition are predominantly used," weapons technician Pitt Rotter told SPIEGEL.
Weapons in which only blank cartridges can be used are marked with so-called proof marks in this country.
According to my information, there is no such proof mark in the USA, "Rotter continues.
"In addition, there are generally a lot more weapons in everyday use, which also makes handling them much more dangerous on set - it can be much easier to mix them up."