How can Alec Baldwin feel no ‘guilt’ about killing Halyna Hutchins?

Alec Baldwin, tearful but also defiant in his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, said he is haunted by being the person holding the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his Western film “Rust,” but also said he doesn’t feel guilt about it.

The 63-year-old film and TV star set off a fierce debate on social media about concepts of grief, remorse, personal responsibility and legal culpability when he told Stephanopoulos he didn’t feel any “guilt” for his role in Hutchins’ death.

“Someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” Baldwin said.

“I mean, honest to God, if I felt that I was responsible, I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible. And I don’t say that lightly.”

.@GStephanopoulos: “Do you feel guilt?”

Alec Baldwin: “No. Someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”

READ MORE: https://t.co/zYugqKhIVW #BaldwinABC pic.twitter.com/97F9wOYYTT

— ABC News (@ABC) December 3, 2021

Baldwin, both a star and producer on the low-budget Western, also said he’s been told by people “in the know” that he is “highly unlikely” to face criminal charges.

On social media, some expressed dismay over Baldwin saying he feels no guilt, even if Hutchins’ Oct. 21 death on the New Mexico set of “Rust” was an accident, and it can be shown there was no negligence on Baldwin’s part.

“Most humans feel guilty even when they are not responsible, (simply) due to empathy, survivors guilt, for example,” one person tweeted in reply to an ABC post about Baldwin’s denial of guilt. “This sounds pretty heartless and he (is a producer on the film) so he should feel some guilt, sounds like denial.”

“How do you not feel any guilt?” asked another person. “There are still many questions to ask, but for him to say he does not feel any guilt, to say that he didn’t pull that trigger, that’s just wrong. He pointed the gun, that is on him, no one else? How do you not feel guilty about that?”

Someone else said the interview “screamed damage control”, while others thought Baldwin’s responses appeared crafted so that he could garner sympathy and deflect responsibility in the court of public opinion.

“Actor given platform on national TV to defend himself,” someone said. “And of course he’s well rehearsed and top notch lawyers that have coached him. A lot of people are responsible on that set.”

With Stephanopoulos, Baldwin offered up all the reasons he believes he is in no way responsible for Hutchins’ death, and perhaps is being true to himself. The “30 Rock” star has long been known for being outspoken and combative, as well as usually unwilling to publicly apologize for any of the controversies he’s embroiled himself in.

Notably, Baldwin told Stephanopoulos that he didn’t pull the trigger on the .45 Long Colt revolver while rehearsing a gunfight scene in a church with Hutchins and director Joel Souza. Baldwin said he began to cock the revolver but did not pull the trigger.

“I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off,” Baldwin said, adding: “I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger. Never.”

Baldwin didn’t refute a claim that the script for the scene he was rehearsing didn’t call for the gun to be fired, but he said he was doing everything “at Hutchins’ direction,” including when he cocked the hammer.  As the cinematographer looked into a monitor, he said she also told him to point it right below her armpit for “a completely incidental shot, an angle that may not have ended up in the film at all.”

Hutchins, 42, was fatally wounded by a live round that discharged from the gun, and Souza, 48, was wounded. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s investigators are trying to determine if Baldwin or others should be criminally charged and how a live round ended up on the set when only dummy rounds were supposed to be used.

Baldwin furthermore insisted to Stephanopoulos that he wasn’t responsible for making sure the gun was safe to use. He said he was trained in the film business years ago to leave it to designated crew members to check that  prop guns function properly and hold no live rounds. In this way, he dismissed an assertion made by actor George Clooney, who said in an interview that he always checks every gun he uses on a set himself.

On the set of “Rust,” the crew members directly responsible for checking the gun were Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer, and Dave Halls, the assistant director.

Gutierrez Reed told investigators she loaded the revolver with what she believed were dummy rounds from a box supplied to the set. Her attorneys also have said she left the gun on a cart outside the set, where it was left unattended.

Halls retrieved the gun from the cart, handed it to Baldwin and said, “Cold gun!” indicating to the actor that it did not contain any live rounds. An attorney for Halls said it was not his responsibility to confirm whether the gun handed to Baldwin was loaded, although Halls also acknowledged to investigators that he should have checked all the rounds before declaring the firearm safe. Halls’ attorney told ABC News Thursday that the assistant director didn’t see Baldwin pull the trigger and believes the gun misfired.

Baldwin told Stephanopoulos: “The gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun.”

During the interview, Baldwin’s role as producer on the film also came up, with Stephanopoulos probing to find out whether the actor believed that made him responsible for overall safety on the set.

Stephanopoulos bought up reports that Gutierrez Reed did not have a lot of experience as an armorer and noted that multiple crew have publicly accused “Rust” producers, including Baldwin, of cutting corners to keep expenses down and jeopardizing safety. Two have filed lawsuits and named Baldwin as a defendant.

When talking to Stephanopoulos, Baldwin tried to deflect that blame by saying he wasn’t among the producers who was in charge of hiring. Instead, he said was a “creative producer” who worked with Souza to develop the story and weigh in on casting.

Baldwin also said he “never heard one word” about crew members feeling unsafe or mistreated. “I did not observe any safety or security issues at all in the time I was there,” he added.

On social media, some people sided with Baldwin, saying it makes sense he feels no guilt about the shooting.

“I never thought that any of this was Alec’s fault, and after this interview, I know he is not responsible,” one person said. “He’s grieving and we should give him his space.”

Others brought up a common criticism of Baldwin, especially among those who say they’ve been trained to safely use guns.

“Responsibility lies 100% on the person who holds the gun in their hands,” another person tweeted. “Gun safety 101. My children knew more about gun safety by the time they were 8 than this so called adult does.”

“I was sympathetic to @AlecBaldwln, until I read that quote (about guilt),” another agreed. “How can he not feel any guilt? How can he not bear some responsibility? 1. Handguns do not spontaneously discharge. 2. Always treat a gun as if it is loaded; NEVER point a gun at anyone.”

Others focused on the semantics of the word “guilt.” Experts in grief commonly say that feelings of guilt are a normal part of the grieving process but that the word is best used in cases when people believe they did something wrong that harmed someone else. Otherwise, regret is a better word to use by people who feel sadness for something that happened, but that was outside their control.