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The armorer of Alec Baldwin's movie 'Rust' told a podcast that guns are 'not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands'

Set of the movie
This aerial photo shows the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
  • The armorer on the "Rust" set recently said that guns are "not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands."

  • Hannah Gutierrez-Reed made the comments last month on the "Voices of the West" podcast.

  • Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a prop gun on the movie set last week, fatally shooting a cinematographer.

The novice armorer tasked with overseeing the use of firearms on the set of Alec Baldwin's movie "Rust" recently said that guns are "not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands."

"I think the best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns like how safe they can be and how they're not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands," Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, told the "Voices of the West" podcast last month.

She added, "A lot of it for me is just being able to show the world, like, you know, guns are awesome."

Gutierrez-Reed - the daughter of expert Hollywood armorer Thell Reed - was working as an armorer on the New Mexico set of the Western starring Baldwin when the actor fired a prop gun, fatally shooting a cinematographer and wounding the director last Thursday.

According to a newly-released affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, the prop gun was "set up" by Gutierrez-Reed and then given to an assistant director.

The assistant director, Dave Halls, had handed Baldwin the gun during a rehearsal and yelled "cold gun," indicating that it did not contain any live rounds before the incident that killed the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, the documents state.

However, the gun had somehow been loaded with a live round prior to the scene, according to a local propmasters union.

Gutierrez-Reed was given the prop gun after it was fired by Baldwin and she "took the spent casing out" of it, according to the affidavit. After deputies arrived on the scene, Gutierrez-Reed handed them the prop gun.

On the "Voices of the West" podcast, Gutierrez-Reed explained that she had just finished shooting "The Old Way," with Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage.

"It was a really badass way to start off a really long and cool career, I'm hoping," she said.

Gutierrez-Reed added that she almost didn't take the job on "The Old Way" flick because she didn't know if she was ready for it.

"It was also my first time being head armorer as well," Gutierrez-Reed said. " I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but, doing it, like, it went really smoothly."

She explained that before becoming an armorer she had done modeling.

"I used to do modeling a little bit and then I decided modeling didn't really have any sustenance and people didn't really see you for anything more than face value, so I decided to get more into this line work," Gutierrez-Reed said on the podcast.

Her father, she said, has "been teaching me a little bit every now and then about guns since I was 16."

"Dad has taught me everything," said Gutierrez-Reed. "But a lot of things, I kind of just caught on myself."

She continued, "I think loading blanks was the scariest thing to me because I was like 'oh, I don't know anything about it,' but he taught me that."

Gutierrez-Reed also said that she believes the "most important thing" her father taught her is "taking care of guns" and "how to clean them."

No charges have been filed in connection to last week's on-set shooting as police investigate the fatal incident.

Read the original article on Insider