The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has released a statement defending Alec Baldwin after he was charged with involuntary manslaughter over a fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust.

The incident took place while on set in New Mexico in October 2021. Baldwin, the film’s lead actor and co-producer, was rehearsing an upcoming scene with a revolver when it fired a round, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

The American actors’ union has argued that Baldwin should not be held responsible for on-set firearms safety, referring to the charge as an “incorrect assessment of the actual duties of an actor on set.”

The union’s statement went on to state that “an actors’ job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert.”

Baldwin was initially charged in court last year, January 2023. However, the preliminary charges were formally dismissed three months later.

Last week, following a new analysis of the revolver used on set, prosecutors brought the case before a grand jury in Santa Fe. Baldwin was re-charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, spurring the subsequent SAG-AFTRA statement.

Baldwin’s lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spira, have filed court documents requesting a “speedy trial,” saying, “Mr. Baldwin is entitled to a fair and speedy disposition of the charges to minimize public vilification and suspicion and to avoid the hazards of proving his innocence that often arise after lengthy delays in prosecution.”

The film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, also faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering, to which she has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial on 21 February.