Republican NM State Sen. Pushing Gun Control After ‘Rust’ Shooting

New Mexico Sate Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R) is pushing gun control in response to the October 21, 2022, shooting on the set of Rust.

CNN reports that Pirtle put forward the legislation, Senate Bill 188, Monday.

SB 188 requires individuals handling firearms on a film set to undergo a safety course. Pirtle said:

All individuals employed in New Mexico by a film-production company that has firearms or firearm ammunition physically located on the premises where filming is taking place shall have a valid certificate of competency in the safe handling of firearms pursuant to the Hunter Training Act.

KRQE notes that Pirtle believes requiring the gun safety course will lessen the chances of a shooting incident like the one that occurred on the Rust set. Pirtle pointed out:

We just want to ensure that everyone that’s going to be working around firearms on movie sets and television sets have proper safety training…We want to make sure that everybody has some type of education or training that maybe they can see something and say, ‘Woah, I’ve been trained, no that was not proper, the way that it was handled.’

Alec Baldwin was holding the prop gun on October 21, 2021, when the firearm discharged and 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot. Director Joel Souza was also shot and injured.

Breitbart News observed that Baldwin admitted to cocking the gun but insisted that he did not pull the trigger.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.