A petition to ban real guns on film sets has raced past 23,000 signatories following the death of DoP Halyna Hutchins.
The change.org petition, launched by filmmaker Bandar Albuliwi, has accumulated 23,600 names after being launched Friday.
The petition states: “We need to make sure that this avoidable tragedy never happens again. There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century. Real guns are no longer needed on film production sets. This isn’t the early 90’s, when Brandon Lee was killed in the same manner. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost.
“Please sign this petition and demand for Alec Baldwin to use his power and influence in the Hollywood film industry to make change and ban real guns on film sets.” Additionally, the petition calls for better working conditions on independent and studio film sets.
Growing calls
Calls to ban real firearms and ammunition on sets have been growing since Hutchins’ death on indie movie Rust.
On Saturday, Dave Cortese, a Democrat elected to the California Senate, issued a statement saying: “There is an urgent need to address alarming work abuses and safety violations occurring on the set of theatrical productions, including unnecessary high-risk conditions such as the use of live firearms…I intend to introduce legislation that would ban live ammunition on sets in California to prevent this type of senseless violence and loss of life.”
On Friday, ABC’s police drama The Rookie banned real guns on sets.
Meanwhile, Eric Kripke, showrunner for Amazon Prime’s The Boys, tweeted: “no more guns with blanks on any of my sets ever. We’ll use VFX muzzle flashes. Who’s with me?”
Craig Zobel, director of Mare Of Easttown and The Leftovers, noted on Twitter: “There’s no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore. Should just be fully outlawed. There’s computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? It’s an unnecessary risk.”
Hutchins was killed last Thursday during production of western Rust. The DoP was shot accidentally by actor Alec Baldwin. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the incident, but was subsequently discharged from hospital.