Joe Scarborough Scolds Alec Baldwin, Rust Crew for Not Checking Gun Before Shooting: ‘That’s Just the Basics’ of Safety

Joe Scarborough chastised Alec Baldwin and the people who worked with him on the Rust film set for not confirming that his gun was cold before the fatal shooting accident involving the actor.

Santa Fe officials said “all options are on the table” Wednesday as they investigate the shooting that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the hospitalization of director Joel Souza. The circumstances behind the shooting have raised questions about film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director David Halls, both of whom handled the gun before Baldwin’s scene rehearsal where the actor was told that the gun was cold.

As Morning Joe reacted to the press conference from Santa Fe, Scarborough spoke of gun safety protocols as he said “rule number one: you never pointed at anybody, but rule number two: you always assume the gun is loaded.”

“You always check and see if it’s a hot gun or not. You look in the chamber. That’s the first step. I can’t say it enough,” Scarborough continued. “That’s the equivalent of getting your keys and opening a door before you even go into the car, those are the basics.”

Scarborough also spoke of the “nervous tick”-like tendency of people who handle guns to check it for rounds over and over before doing anything with it.

“That’s just the basics of gun safety,” he said. Scarborough then handed the flow over to attorney Dave Aronberg, who broke down the legalities of the case while agreeing on the basics of gun safety.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

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