Thing to consider when planning to use any type of realistic looking weapon on stage:
- Inform your administration and show them pictures of the items. Get written authorization to have these things on campus.
- Once you have written authorization to have the weapons (props) on campus, inform your on-campus security department and your local police and your local sheriff's departments.
- Establish a protocol for storage of the props. They need to be in a locked cabinet except when they are being used for rehearsal and shows.
- No one should be allowed to touch or hold the weapons (props) until they have been trained. This must be a zero-tolerance policy with serious consequences. Even the smallest amount of horse-play can result in serious injuries or even death.
- Pistols that fire blanks MUST have an occluded barrel that will not pass any gas or projectiles. Blanks can kill people (very high pressure gas can puncture skin and bone), even the smallest amount of expelled wadding can seriously damage eyes or blind someone. Absolutely NO real guns shall be used.
- Weapons (props) must be supervised 100% of the time (not 99%, or less). Get extra help if need be - we all know how easy it is to get distracted when on stage.
- Obtain written authorization from the parents of the students that will be permitted to handle the weapons (props). Might also be a good idea to get written understanding from the parents of the other cast and crew members so they understand and agree to the safety protocols, rules, and consequences for rule violations.
- Scenes involving firearm type weapons (props) shall require that all personnel that will be handling the weapons (props) attend a firearms safety class.
- Scenes with weapons (props) should be rehearsed on a closed set (no non-essential personnel) until the performers are completely at ease with the handling of the weapons (props). Introduce the scene rehearsals with the weapons (props) to the rest of the cast and crew after you have explained all of the safety protocols, rules, and consequences for rule violations.
A good resource for safety information is:
Stage Combat/Stunts and Weaponry Safety Guideline for the Live Performance Industry in Ontario
| Gov |
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| Stage Combat/Stunts and Weaponry Safety Guideline for the Live Performance Industry in Ontario |
| When stage combat and weaponry are involved in a performance, there is a far greater risk of serious or fatal injury than during normal performance activities. As such, the Health and Safety Advisory Committee for Live Performance strongly advises both employers and workers to follow these guidelines. |
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Also see:
High court rules in case of 15-year-old killed by prop gun | KSL.com
| Ksl |
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| High court rules in case of 15-year-old killed by prop gun | KSL.com |
| ST. GEORGE - The Utah Supreme Court ruled Friday that a federal lawsuit brought by the family of a boy who was killed while handling a blank- firing prop pistol before a school play can proceed. |
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Jon-Erik Hexum's Fatal Joke
| Entertainment Weekly's EW.com |
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| Jon-Erik Hexum's Fatal Joke |
| Before there was Brandon Lee, there was Jon-Erik Hexum. On Oct. 12, 1984, the 26-year-old star of the CBS adventure series Cover Up fatally shot himself on the show's set with a .44 Magnum pistol loaded with blanks. |
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Note about Brandon Lee death due to mishandling of firearm:
Brandon Lee(Son of Bruce Lee) in The Crow.
Because the movie's second unit team was running behind schedule, it was decided that dummy cartridges (cartridges that outwardly appear to be functional but contain no gunpowder or primer) would be made from real cartridges by pulling out the bullet, dumping out the gunpowder and reinserting the bullet. However, the team neglected to consider that the primer was still live and, if fired, could still produce enough force to push the bullet off the end of the cartridge. At some point prior to the fatal scene, the live primer on one of the constructed dummy rounds was discharged by persons unknown while in the pistol's chamber. It caused a squib load, in which the primer provided just enough force to push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel of the revolver, where it became stuck.
The malfunction went unnoticed by the crew, and the same gun was used again later to shoot the death scene, having been re-loaded with low-power black powder blanks. However, the squib load was still lodged in the barrel, and was propelled by the blank cartridge's explosion out of the barrel and into Lee's body. Although the bullet was traveling much slower than a normally fired bullet would be, the bullet's large size and the point-blank firing distance made it powerful enough to fatally wound Lee.
When the blank was fired, the bullet shot out and hit Lee in the abdomen and lodged in his spine. He fell down instantly and the director shouted "Cut!." When Lee did not respond, the cast and crew rushed to him and found that he was wounded. He was immediately rushed to the hospital. Lee’s heart stopped once on the set and once in the ambulance. Following a six hour operation to remove the bullet, and despite being given 60 pints of blood, Lee was pronounced dead at 1:03 pm on March 31, 1993. He was 28 years old.
Three injured in mock gun battle:
http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_851d3db0-9c23-11e0-90e7-001cc4c03286.html
Man paralyzed in accidental N.J. theme park shooting: 'This should have never happened'
| NJ.com |
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| Man paralyzed in accidental N.J. theme park shooting: 'This should have never happened' |
| NEWTON - Scott Harris spoke only briefly and showed no emotion today as he testified during a sentencing hearing against a Sussex County theme park, where he was accidentally shot more than six years ago. "This should have never happened. |
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Director accidentally shoots actor during play rehearsal
| the Guardian |
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| Director accidentally shoots actor during play rehearsal |
| Real-life tragedy nearly struck at a Florida theatre on Monday night, when an actor fired a live gun at a cast member's head. During rehearsals for an amateur production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in Sarasota, the show's director, Bill Bordy, shot 81-year-old actor Fred Kellerman in the back of the head at point-blank range, only to realise with horror that the gun he used was loaded with live ammunition. |
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------------------------------
Erich Friend
Theatre Consultant
Teqniqal Systems
Original Message:
Sent: 04-01-2016 10:35
From: Kathy Dorgan
Subject: Western pistols
I'm doing Crazy for You this spring and am looking for Western "cowboy" guns that don't look like toys but are reasonably priced. We plan on using prop guns with sound effects -- I just won't use blanks and caps don't have a good sound (at least that I can find!)
Anyone have ideas about where to get something that will work?
And ..cuckoo clock ideas?
Kathy DorganOHS Theatre Director