Norton Recommendation Graves Confirmed By Senate for U.S. Attorney for D.C.

Oct 29, 2021 Press Release

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that the Senate yesterday confirmed Matthew Graves for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Norton recommended Graves to President Biden. Biden, like Presidents Clinton and Obama, has granted Norton senatorial courtesy for judges on the U.S. District Court for D.C., the U.S. Attorney for D.C., the U.S. Marshal for the D.C. Superior Court, and the U.S. Marshal for the U.S. District Court for D.C.

“Matthew Graves possesses all the qualities to be an exceptional U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia: experience, integrity, temperament, and intelligence,” Norton said. “He served with distinction as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, demonstrating that he has the experience and judgment to serve as an excellent U.S. Attorney for the District.”

The U.S. Attorney for District of Columbia is unique because the position prosecutes both federal crimes and most crimes committed by adults under D.C. law. Norton has introduced a bill that would give D.C. the authority to prosecute all local D.C. crimes.

Federal law does not require the U.S. attorney for D.C. to live in D.C. even though U.S. attorneys in virtually every other jurisdiction are required to live in the jurisdiction where they serve. However, Norton requires every candidate she recommends pursuant to senatorial courtesy to commit to live in D.C. during their tenure. Graves lives in the District and has committed to live in D.C. during his tenure.

Author, consultant, motivational speaker. Biggest social media slut in mobile. A mAd vidiot, F1 fan, globetrotting digital gypsy 007 wannabe. The T Dawg

Attorney General Garland yesterday mentioned 'new' forensic methods to catch Jan 6 terrorist insurrectionists that were not commonly used prior to 2003. One is cellphone tower data. I mentioned it already on Jan 10. Let me tell this via a story

he Wire: Trump Special Thread 2/

Yes this is my core competence, I've written 12 bestselling books to the telecoms, tech & media industries including the fastest-selling telecoms book of all time. I've lectured on these topics on all 6 inhabited continents, in over 60 countries Image
The Wire: Trump Special Thread 3/

I have no intention to give a 'how to commit a perfect crime' guide-book on finer details of my industry. I will keep this broad, but everything in this Thread is 100% true. FBI went into FAR more detail than this fictional 'episode of The Wire'
The Wire: Trump Special 4/

The Wire: Trump Insurrection Special 2021

Episode starts at end of Jan 6th. FBI has caught a man dressed in Oath Keeper outfit, at Capitol. He is unarmed, claims to be alone, was 'a tourist' gives his proper ID, has no cellphone. FBI interview him. Image
The Wire: Trump Special 5/

When FBI ask him where is his phone, he says he forgot it at his car

They ask, where is his car. He says he parked it at Dulles airport long term parking

FBI ask him if they can search his car, he says no, you need a search warrant. They hold him Image
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Now let's find out if this guy acted in a militant cell with Oath Keepers or he wandered into Capitol building all alone. Our forensic team turns to cellular tower data. So every phone that was even briefly turned on during Jan 6th is logged Image
The Wire: Trump Special 7/

By every phone, I mean every cellphone, whether smart or dumb. It does not have to have GPS functionality or it won't help if you have the tracking feature turned off. If someone could call you or text you, the network knew your phone was there Image
The Wire: Trump Special 8/

My guess on scale, is that there are about 34,000 phones that were on, during the riot, at or near the Capitol building

There is a process called triangulation, by which the network knows roughly where you are, accuracy of about one city block Image
The Wire: Trump Special 9/

Through triangulation, we can eliminate all who attended the Maga rally but did not enter the Capitol building. That leaves us with about 11,000 phones.

Those who work in the Capitol used their phones on days before and after Jan 6. Eliminate those Image
The Wire: Trump Special 10/

Nearly anyone working in the Capitol will have 2 phones (one work, one private). Eliminate those. 4,000 x 2 = 8,000. Have 3,000 phones left

Then we have legitimate visitors with permission to be in Capitol that day. Remove those who arrived before Image
The Wire: Trump Special 11/

When we remove all visitors to Capitol who arrived before Capitol was breached, another 1,000 phones, we have 2,000 phones left

Now remove the phones of the cops. say 500 were phones registered with DC & Maryland police officers. We have 1,500 left Image
The Wire: Trump Special 12/

These 1,500 phones were carried by rioters who entered the Capitol. MOST of those people were NOT organized militants of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys etc. Say 800 were maga supporters who joined to storm the Capitol and 300 were ORGANIZED militants Image
The Wire: Trump Special 13/

Now we go DEEPER into telecoms traffic forensics. The 800 'regular' maganutters on average carry 1.5 phones (800 x 1.5 = 1,200 phones)

The organized militants did NOT bring their own phones. They were issued 'Burner phones' (like mafia drug dealers) Image
The Wire: Trump Special 14/

A regular maganutter would use his or her normal phone in a normal way. They made regular calls/texts every day, past weeks, on that phone. A 'normal' person calls during Trump speech AND sends pictures from inside the Capitol, at Nancy Pelosi's desk Image
The Wire: Trump Special 15/

The Burner Phone traffic is TOTALLY different. It was NEVER used prior to Jan 6. Any calls or messages are short. The Burner is only used for a few hours, then phone disappears forever. We can see from pattern, which are Burners, which normal phones
The Wire: Trump Special 16/

When we eliminate the 'normal' traffic phones (1,200) we identify and catch 800 'regular' maga rioters who trespassed, vandalized, pilfered in Capitol

That leaves us 300 Burner phones, belonging to the MILITANTS like Proud Boys, Oath Keepers etc Image
The Wire: Trump Special 17/

Now let's isolate the groups. A militant cell of Proud Boys will not in any way interact during Jan 6th on their just-issued Burner phones with anyone among Oath Keepers or Boogaloo Boys or Three Percenters etc. These are 'use once' phones that day Image
The Wire: Trump Special 18/

Typically the one cell of say Oath Keepers of 7 men, will not contact ANYONE outside those 7, with that set of Burner phones that day. Nobody on the outside, not their wife, not their best friend

They will ALSO not contact OTHER Oath Keeper groups Image
The Wire: Trump Special 19/

'Military mission' type of communications is VERY specific pattern. One leader, others follow. The 'orders' come from the leader to the team. Usually the team do NOT respond. very often it is a single word text message (code word, or code number) Image
The Wire: Trump Special 20/

So? Take first phone that only received calls or messages but did not call or send. Look who sent the message to this phone, that is team leader of this militant cell. Now look at the leader's phone traffic: you find total militant cell, all members
The Wire: Trump Special 21/

Proceed through all 300 remaining phone numbers, you have identified EVERY group that could be between say 5 and 11 terrorists per militant cell. And you have identified phone of EACH leader of each cell.
The Wire: Trump Special 22/

Then you connect the dots. Start with captured phones that were with a given militant. Here is a Boogaloo Boy. This is his phone number. Where is he in our list of groups? Here it is. This is a team of 6. Then go to video, ID the rest of his team Image
The Wire: Trump Special 23/

Most militant teams are found this way, because in most cases there will be at least 1 member who was caught with a phone. After that a few groups remain, with no captured phones at all. But we know WHERE they were at a given time. More video ID work Image
The Wire: Trump Special 24/

Now let's go back to our FBI interrogation. Perp said "Get a warrant!". FBI keeps him locked, go to judge, get search warrant, then break into his car. They find his personal smartphone. they turn it on. The battery is nearly full. Ah... That means...
The Wire: Trump Special 25/

If our perp truly forgot his phone into his car, it would have drained over past few days until we got the warrant to search his car

But this phone has a near full battery. The perp had TURNED HIS PHONE OFF before he went criming with Oath Keepers
The Wire: Trump Special 26/

Means he was AWARE of his guilt

Anyway, we get subpoena for his regular smartphone records for past few months. We see he's been communicating with 3 other Oath Keepers, who ALSO were found on the Capitol, also coincidentally without their own phones Image
The Wire: Trump Special 27/

Next FBI see interesting phone pattern. All 4 phones were turned off on 5 Jan, in the late afternoon, very close to same time

& about 1 hour after these phones had been turned off, one un-allocated group of militant phones were momentarily turned on
The Wire: Trump Special 28/

That group of 7 Burner phones were turned on all at the same Motel 6. For about 5 minutes each. That was when this group of Oath Keepers checked their equipment and each verified their equipment (Burner phone) was operational.
The Wire: Trump Special 29/

The photos of the 4 Oath Keepers are brought to the Motel 6. They identify 2 of them. Check out who paid for the motel room. Paid in cash (dead end)

But now they chase the remaining 3 members. They subpoena phone records of the known 3 other members Image
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By cross-referencing phone traffic of the 4 known Oath Keepers, they see several other Oath Keepers, three of whom are in videos on Capitol near these 4 terrorists. Bingo
The Wire: Trump Special 31/

FBI track where these Burner phones were sold. A 7-Eleven in Pennsylvania. Our Oath Keepers are from Virginia. On the day the phones were sold, two of these 7 had their phones travel North towards Pennsylvania, then turned off at the border

The Wire: Trump Special 32/

Then at an Arby's parking lot in Penna, the 7 Burner phones were turned on, making one attempt phone call to each other (call not completed). Then all 7 phones turned off. That was when the Burner phones had phone numbers installed for the team Image
The Wire: Trump Special 33/

Now we know who were the 2 who went to Pennsylvania to buy the Burner phones

Then we look for the leader. When the group of 7 is together (on video from Capitol riot) they have no reason to phone each other

The one using phone at that time is leader
The Wire: Trump Special 34/

The leader of this terrorist cell will get coordination from superiors (at the Willard Hotel War Rooms). It will be on ANOTHER Burner phone. Following this group of 7 on video, we see which speaks on phone while they are together. That is the leader
The Wire: Trump Special 35/

And then dangle a plea bargain. First to flip gets best deal. And take the leaders (of each cell) do the same, get them to flip oon Roger Stone or Alex Jones or Giuliani etc at the Willard Hotel.
The Wire: Trump Special 36/

The above is a LITTLE bit of how it all works.

REALITY is that FIVE Oath Keepers have already confessed. At least 3 of the 5 are cooperating with Feds (Flipped on Roger Stone) This kind of forensic detective work takes time & resources

Have patience.

Donald Trump plans to hold a tele-rally for Republican Glenn Youngkin on Monday night, a day before the Virginia gubernatorial election, according to a person familiar with his plans.

The former president on Wednesday teased the possibility that he would campaign in Virginia before the election, but will do the tele-rally, typically a call with supporters to generate support for the candidate, the person said.

The rally comes as Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the former Virginia governor running against Youngkin, former co-CEO of Carlyle Group Inc., has sought to tether the two Republicans. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden appeared at a McAuliffe campaign rally in Arlington, Virginia, where he repeatedly jabbed his predecessor.

Biden won Virginia by 10 points last November. Polls show the race in a dead-heat in the final stretch after McAuliffe had previously held a consistent lead.

Cancer

Chronic kidney disease

Chronic liver disease

Chronic lung diseases

Dementia or other neurological conditions

Diabetes (type 1 and 2)

Down Syndrome

Heart conditions

HIV infection

Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system)

Mental health conditions
Having mood disorders, including depression, and schizophrenia spectrum disorders can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19. (bolding mine)

Overweight and obesity
Overweight (defined as a body mass index (BMI) > 25 kg/m2 but < 30 kg/m2), obesity (BMI ?30 kg/m2 but < 40 kg/m2), or severe obesity (BMI of ?40 kg/m2), can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19. The risk of severe COVID-19 illness increases sharply with elevated BMI.

Pregnancy
Pregnant and recently pregnant people (for at least 42 days following end of pregnancy) are more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant people.

Sickle cell disease or thalassemia

Smoking, current or former
Being a current or former cigarette smoker can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19. If you currently smoke, quit. If you used to smoke, don’t start again. If you’ve never smoked, don’t start.

Solid organ or blood stem cell transplant

Stroke or cerebrovascular disease, which affects blood flow to the brain

Substance use disorders

Tuberculosis

Some ask why am I so opposed to @FLSurgeonGen.

He appeared in a vid w/ a doc who believes endometriosis is a result of a woman being implanted with ‘demon sperm.’

My wife almost died from surgery to solve her endometriosis.

Ergo ‘demon sperm’ almost killed my wife.

So, yeah.

Husband to Michelle, Father to Ella. Publisher of @Fla_Pol, http://FloridaPolitics.com, INFLUENCE Magazine, etc.

Joseph Ladapo—the doctor appointed on Tuesday as Florida's new surgeon general by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis—once appeared in a COVID-19 conspiracy video featuring Dr. Stella Immanuel. Immanuel, a pediatrician and religious minister, gained notoriety in 2020 for her bizarre theories, including that "demonic seed" causes endometriosis and ovarian cysts.

In July 2020, Ladapo appeared in a 43-minute viral video as part of a group called America's Frontline Doctors. None of the doctors in the video were epidemiologists or immunologists best qualified to speak on infectious diseases, Rolling Stone reported at the time. The doctors' recorded speech was organized by the Tea Party Patriots, a right-wing group backed by wealthy Republican donors.

Faith or Fear Thread -- 2022 in key swing states and the determination of democracy as we know it. @JoeTrippi @LincolnWatchman @ProjectLincoln @reedgalen @stuartpstevens @TheRickWilson @jefftimmer

There will be a tendency to focus on the national elections in 22, those for the House and Senate. While they are certainly critically important, there are state races that will have a far greater impact on the outcome in 2024 of our democracy's survival as we know it.

Governor and AG races in WI, MI, and PA, and to a slightly lesser extent in GA, AZ, and OH will be critically important. Without divided government to serve as a check in these states, we are headed for a disaster in 2024.

Thus, when the leading Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin makes comments to activists like those cited today in the @journalsentinel from an event in Door Country, we should all be concerned. jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

What is striking is @RebeccaforReal appears to have known what she was saying wasn't right. She didn't want it recorded so "democrats could use it." (or in my case a former GOP) The truth is she didn't want it public because while she thinks she needs to say it for a primary, she didn't want it recorded because she realizes how damaging such a statement would be for winning the general election. A majority of people in Wisconsin are pro-democracy and pretty proud of their free and fair election tradition.

If we think of democracy as a bell curve most of our governance & politics fall either into consensus or partisan. Governance in a democracy is win-win which comes from consensus.




Elections are zero-sum partisan (only one wins) but our system ensures win-win through regular free & fair elections to create consensus through time. I consent to be governed by those I disagree with, knowing I will have the opportunity to govern in the future.

Think about big issues we have confronted in the past. Most of them were consensus-driven or partisan driven to consensus -- the Cold War, our National Debt, Judicial Nominations, Welfare Reform or the conduct of elections.


Less normal, but not outside are the occasional that are perceived as extreme but built around grievances that are real. Think Universal Suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, the New Deal like Social Security, (I would argue the Reagan Revolution), or Marriage Equality.


Those with power deemed as extreme each of those at the outset yet all became a norm for the better (I know my friends on the left see the Reagan Revolution differently as will those on the right with parts of the New Deal- I get it).

What happens rarely when a democracy is sick, is extremism based on false or contrived grievances takes hold. Extremism derived from partisanship gone wrong. Those moments when answers to Psychological Distress take hold through Cognitively Simplistic answers.

This is when Overconfidence in one group's contrived grievances and the simplistic solutions accepted as truths manifest in Intolerance. The more of this radicalization you see the more terminal the state of a democracy's health.

A credible candidate for Governor of a state calling for mercenaries to help get elected is such a state of radicalization. It can lead to the next state of violence. In fact, we have already seen that happen which is what makes such pronouncements so dangerous.

Our Democracy depends not only on the documents upon which we are founded but equally on political norms by which we conduct body politic. Today, those norms are failing. The choice of Cognitively Simplistic answers by irresponsible politicians leads to radicalization & violence


The 2022 elections will matter more than any since the period prior to the Civil War. They will be the next most important after 2024. Yet, if we don't get them right by creating consequences for those pushing towards the abyss of radicalization in 22, 2024 may be predetermined.


This reality, more important than policies or partisanship, must be the litmus test by which each of us makes our choices on the federal level, but equally on the state & local levels. You can't have the coalition without the insanity. Both ways is no longer an option..

A lot of people are messaging me about yesterday's tragedy that was an on-set firearms death (because I am a film armorer, for those who don't know).

As both a human and a professional, it is extremely upsetting. My thoughts are with Halyna Hutchins' loved ones

A lot of people are messaging me about yesterday's tragedy that was an on-set firearms death (because I am a film armorer, for those who don't know).

As both a human and a professional, it is extremely upsetting. My thoughts are with Halyna Hutchins' loved ones

I am not going to share backchannel rumors or speculation I'm hearing but I will answer a few things about movies and guns that people are asking (thread)

One is: "how are there not safety measures to prevent this?" The answer is: There are. There are very, very many
Qualified armorers have many, many safety precautions and redundancies.

Honestly I keep trying to come up with a scenario where it's possible for this to happen under standard gun safety procedures on film sets and I am so horribly stumped


(and horrified that I am stumped because it means this was likely so bad, and the failures here likely so unfathomably huge and many)

Our procedures plan in mistakes, actor error, etc. There should never be any single fail point; if anyone makes a mistake there are many multiple other things backing up the safety

Safety is always #1. Nothing can compromise it. There are other parts of the job (e.g. helping the director get the shots they want) but nothing can ever interfere with safety

In fact even in helping the director get their shots -- it's all about advising them on ways to do it SAFELY that will still look cool and get the effect they want.

I would tell directors "no" all the time (and provide them with a safe alternative).

I can think of so many things I would do on every film set as standard, any *one* of which would have prevented something like this.

We plan for that redundancy, we plan for things to go wrong and for actors to mess up

Of course, I am talking as -- I would hope to say -- a good armorer. These are all things me and my colleagues do as standard.

Yes there are a handful of bad armorers out there... and production companies also cut corners and that's getting worse


What I mean by that is that they will hire someone unqualified for cheap, or they will try to do gunfire without any qualified person on the set, and production will allow it...

...and other people on the crew who should put a stop to it (like the 1st AD (= 1st Assistant Director), who is the final word on safety) do not shut it down...

Or the 1st AD etc may not have the experience to shut it down if production cut too many corners and has, for example, a green 1st AD for cheap also. This is devastating and I suspect has played into other non-firearms film set tragedies

There are positions where it is very, very important to have qualified people for safety reasons. 1st AD. Armorer, SFX, rigging, stunts. You need people who know exactly what they're doing.

Now I do not know what happened here. But I want to convey to you, as someone who has worked firearms on probably hundreds of film sets, that this is both deeply, deeply upsetting and also deeply shocking

A tragedy happening in *this particular* way defies everything I know about how we treat guns on film sets. It implies to me that something was likely very, very wrong here.

My colleagues and I have been trying to figure out how this could happen when following our basic safety procedures and we keep ending at a loss. We keep ending at "but how is that possible?"

Which implies something even more appalling -- that very basic, very standard safety procedures may not have been followed. And that nobody shut the production down when they weren't.

My heart is breaking to imagine this

Second thing people are asking. "Was this a real gun? why are real guns on set? how could a prop gun fire?"

The media reports are muddling things a bit here so I don't blame people for being confused.

First of all, blank guns are real guns. Semi-autos are what we call "blank adapted" but that is purely for the *function* of the gun, not for safety (a projectile could still exit). Revolvers, shotguns, etc we use unmodified

In other words, you can take a revolver from a movie set and load live ammo into it. (We sometimes have demilled props and other variations but blank fire would almost always be real guns)

So it's very very important to know what is being loaded into the gun. It's also very important to know when a gun IS loaded at all

Our safety procedures are built around this

No one on a film set should ever have any question in their mind about what's going on with the guns. When I am keying a set I am very, very clear on everything to everybody at all times

When we say a "prop gun" on a film set we mean a rubber or a replica that does not fire. We do not mean a blank firing gun. We call blank fire guns real guns because as I said, they are real.

Sometimes real guns are used "cold" (unloaded) if either there's no matching prop gun or if they want a closeup (the props are usually not as nice looking in detail), but for wide shots props are fine

Actors can feel & see that a prop is not something that can fire. Also props can be thrown/dropped without damaging the firearm. So lots of reasons to use rubbers/replicas where you can

Real guns are always -- always -- in my possession unless they're being used for a scene, in which case I'm right there watching. We treat real guns very seriously whether they're loaded or not

If we're using the real guns, cold (unloaded) guns are always used outside of gunfire scenes. If the ammo has to be visible we use dummies. These are *always* carefully checked.

Dummies are visibly different from live ammo in that the primer in the back is punched. You can also "click through" by pulling the trigger pointed at the ground to show that they do not fire.

When I am using a cold gun or a cold gun with dummies in it, I am VERY clear with the cast and crew about it. I physically open and show that the weapon is cold to the actors, the crew

That's at minimum. Comfort levels differ -- I worked with one cinematographer who wanted to be shown every few minutes that the gun was still cold because he was right next to the actor, even though the gun hadn't left his sight. No problem. I showed him every single take

This is part of the job. Nobody should EVER feel their safety is being compromised on a film set. I always considered it part of my job -- and an important part of my job -- to make sure people felt safe

Of course *being* safe is #1. But no one should ever have to doubt that that's true. So making sure to communicate with everyone on the set so they *know* they are in fact safe is also important

Before going "hot" for a gunfire scene, we always choreograph & rehearse everything carefully with the director, crew, actors, stunt people

Everyone needs to know exactly what they're doing before any guns are loaded. Where they're standing, where they're moving, where they're aiming.

If anything violates one of our safety redundancies, we change it. If anyone's uncomfortable, we figure out another way.
When we "go hot" that means we are loading the guns with blanks and doing blank gunfire. Everyone is very, very clear on this. Very loud notifications, announced and repeated, announced over radio and very loud on set.

It is treated very seriously.

We only load the exact amount of blank ammunition needed for the scene. We only have hot guns on set for exactly the amount of time it takes to film the gunfire

I am always right there watching the scene extremely closely and making sure the actors and stunt people are exactly where they should be, doing exactly what they should be

And yes, actors screw up sometimes. Miss their mark, or turn the wrong way, etc. That's why we have so many redundant safety protocols.

No one's life or safety should *ever* depend solely on the actor hitting their mark correctly.

Gunfire scenes are usually very, very short. Sometimes only a few seconds. Very often less than a minute. Remember, films are cut together from lots of shots.

We only go hot for the specific shots that have guns firing in them -- not any of the adjacent ones.

As soon as the scene is over, we go in and clear the guns. Nobody moves on until we finish. The set is still hot -- the guns are still considered hot, even if (since we only loaded what they're supposed to fire) they fired all the blanks.

We clear the guns and announce them clear and then it's announced and re-announced over the set and over the radio -- we announce it, 1st AD announces it, PAs pick up & repeat. Again, it's very important that everyone on set knows the status of the guns. No guessing games

Only after the guns are announced clear does everything start moving on. At least, this is the way it *should* work on a properly-run set. This is certainly how it works on my sets.

Are there sets that are improperly run? Yes. There shouldn't be, but there are. I don't think there are many -- it's why tragedies like this are thankfully rare. It would honestly be a shock for me to step onto a film set and have to fight for these procedures to be followed

In general I arrive expecting that this will be everyone else's expectations / procedures as well.

Most importantly, I expect people to always listen to / respect me on all of the safety protocols (if not, I would walk away and take the guns with me)

And if proper gun safety is not being followed? If the armorer or propmaster is endangering people?

For immediate safety purposes, in that case there are other people who *should* step in to shut things down

The 1st AD / production stepping in and shutting things down is what we would want/expect to happen if things aren't being run safely, and it's another thing that has to fail for things to go really, really bad.

Experienced 1st ADs absolutely know how gunfire scenes should work. They know how to run them in conjunction with an armorer. They know if proper safety is being followed.

(You never, ever want to lack a good 1st AD. This is only one of many reasons.)

(In fact there are rumors that other (non-gun) tragedies happened because the 1st AD was not allowed to do their job in re: safety & walked off set.)

It is so, so important for all these safety-related positions to hire qualified, experienced people and then to listen to them.
Next question I see -- "how could blanks hurt someone? Do blanks still spit out paper or another projectile? What was a film gun doing firing live ammo???"

The last question is one of mine as well (if that's what happened, which I've seen rumored but not confirmed). Live ammo should never, ever, ever be mixed in on a film set.

There are live ammo shows like Top Shot and they have entirely different safety protocols. If live ammo was mixed in on this set that is unfathomably bad. It is a tremendous problem and not even slightly understandable or okay.

But yes, blanks are still dangerous. Except for shotguns I always used "crimped" blanks -- that is, no wad (nothing coming out of the gun)

Some blanks do have paper wads & are more dangerous bc that is a projectile. I would not use those for films. So in that case, no projectile
But even without that, the air becomes concussive. What is coming out of the gun is air, concussion, powder, flame.

The concussive force dissipates at 15 feet or so for small caliber rounds

We have different size blanks as well -- full load, half load, quarter load (referring to the amount of gunpowder)

There are logistics / permitting / aesthetic / functional / safety reasons that go into load size choice. Not all firearms work with any load size, permitting can be specific to load size, etc. The tl;dr is that there are various considerations that go into this question.

Finally, yes, if there is anything stuck in the gun and a blank is put behind it -- yes, that stuck thing can become a projectile, functioning like a bullet

That's why one of the things we always do every single time is check the guns all the way down the barrel.

That's also why one of the basic safety protocols is that blank firing guns are never pointed directly at someone else -- not at other actors, not at crew

I will emphasize -- I *never* set up actors aiming at a person. Even though blanks dissipate at 15ft -- no. We don't do it. Even though if everything went as expected it would be fine -- no.

There are *plenty* of camera angles to make it look like guns are pointed where they're not.

And if the camera crew wants to film from near the line of fire we can also barrier by putting up lexan or the like as an additional safety protocol

(Remember also that that's still redundant with other safety -- we're not ever doing something like firing live ammo at a camera operator and trusting lexan to save them -- DEFINITELY not)

So that's blanks -- yes they are dangerous, yes we plan for that, yes we check the guns *always*.

NO there should never be live ammo mixed in (!). NO blanks should never be fired directly at another person even from a "safe" distance.

I meant to add more questions I've seen to this but this has gotten very long already, and it is very late and I am very tired and heartsick about this. I may try to come back later if people find this helpful (I hope people do)

Just know that there is a *lot* of misinformation going around right now on how movie guns work. Please do not take anything you see on Twitter at face value. (A lot of media articles are getting some industry things factually wrong too.)

And please know that when very basic, very standard safety protocols for movie gun safety are followed, this sequence of events is not something we expect to be possible. Not ever, not even rarely.

So it's very important that we find out what happened here and why.

Marriage equality is the law of the land — except in Texas, argues the state GOP.

Legislative leaders in TX issued an opinion stating legalized gay marriage shouldn’t be permitted in the Lone Star State because they feel state law trumps the SCOTUS ruling in Obergefell v Hodges.

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015) (/ˈoʊbərɡəfɛl/ OH-bər-gə-fel), is a landmark civil rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The 5–4 ruling requires all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the Insular Areas to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as the marriages of opposite-sex couples, with all the accompanying rights and responsibilities.[2][3]