Firearms · SAG-AFTRA
The procedural standard for any production using firearms — practical or replica, blank-firing or non-functional. Bulletin #1 governs the chain of custody from armorer to performer, the geometry of permitted muzzle direction, and the pre-take confirmation protocol that no live ammunition is present in the working area.
Context
Bulletin #1 is the most-cited safety document in working production because of how broadly its scope applies. Any time a weapon prop is on set, even if it never fires, the chain-of-custody and storage requirements engage. The bulletin identifies a designated armorer (sometimes called the property master in non-firearm-heavy productions) as the single point of responsibility for every weapon's state on set; weapons not in active use are stored locked, never left on a craft table or in a trailer. Live ammunition is prohibited within an exclusion radius of the working camera. The performer training requirement — that any cast member handling a firearm has received instruction from the armorer before the scene is shot — is the gating step that, when violated, has produced every recent on-set firearm incident in the public record.
Requirements
Editorial summary of the bulletin's load-bearing requirements. The canonical PDF is the authoritative source — these are the surface points referenced in production safety briefings.
A single licensed armorer (or property master with weapons certification) is responsible for every weapon on set. Weapons are stored locked when not in immediate use.
Live rounds are prohibited within the working exclusion radius. Blank rounds are loaded by the armorer immediately before the take and accounted for after.
No firearm — practical, blank-firing, or replica — is pointed at any person or off-set viewer. The shot is choreographed so muzzle path passes the camera but not the operator.
Any cast member handling a firearm receives instruction from the armorer before the scene. Handling the weapon for the first time on the take is prohibited.
Before the camera rolls, the armorer publicly clears the chamber and confirms the weapon's state to the AD. The performer accepts the weapon directly from the armorer's hand.
Governs
Rigging glossary entries whose work is governed by this bulletin. Click through for the mechanism breakdown.
fight
The combat-shooting choreography style codified by 87Eleven on the John Wick franchise: extended one-take sequences blending firearm handling with martial-arts striking and grappling.
fight
The non-functional fight weapons — foam cores under skinned costume, balsa-and-resin breakaways — that allow contact strikes without injury.
References
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