I'm a film and TV armorer. Here's what needs to change in the industry to avoid another on-set tragedy.

• The safety of prop weapons has been in the spotlight after a fatal shooting on the set of "Rust."
• Bryan W. Carpenter, a professional armorer, handles weapons on film and TV sets for his company, Dark Thirty Film. He's worked on Marvel's "Cloak & Dagger," "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back," and "Queen of the South."

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Bryan W. Carpenter, a professional film and TV armorer. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Until last Thursday's fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of independent film "Rust," most people probably weren't even familiar with the term "armorer" or how it relates to TV and movie sets. But that's all changed.

At the core of it, an on-set armorer is responsible for the safe use and application of firearms on a TV or film set. In most instances, we're hired by the set's prop master, who serves as our immediate boss.

I've worked as an armorer on sets like Marvel's "Cloak & Dagger," "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back," and "Queen of the South." This is what I do.

What happens before a shoot

My job typically begins by reviewing a script in advance to prepare for any scenes involving weapons, but everyone is always in a rush on set.

One of my big pet peeves is being rushed. It's one thing to feel rushed if you're making a pizza. But when you're handling firearms that could result in a matter of life and death, rushing is not an option.

That's why I prefer to come in the day before a shoot to pull all of the guns, blanks and dummy rounds being used and conduct a safety check.

After completing my checks, everything gets locked in a safe in the production office or on a truck if we're on location.

What happens the day of a shoot

I pull the items from the safe, and as a redundancy, I check them again. Then I load them onto a cart - preferably a locked one - that doesn't leave my sight. That means unless I have an assistant armorer or someone from the props department working with me, there are no bathroom breaks.

I'm also responsible for adequately educating actors and stunt performers on the safe usage of any weapons which will be used for their role.

You'd be shocked by the number of actors who have never been shown how to safely handle a firearm, which doesn't exactly make for a safe work environment. But unless an actor has taken it upon themselves to get trained, studios often don't require any formal knowledge or training.

In my opinion, this is a mistake and an industry liability. I believe at a bare minimum, every actor and stunt performer who works with weapons should be required to take an educational training course on handling a firearm that fires blanks or dummy rounds.

Everyone else in Hollywood needs certifications. That shouldn't stop here.

Most of the time, if I'm lucky, I'll get 15 minutes to go over everything

Even 15 minutes is rare. Oftentimes, I'm told the talent is either busy in their trailer or occupied with hair and makeup. A good prop master will tell the assistant director that I need time with the talent to go over safety measures, though.

When I do get the opportunity, my job is to inform talent to never point a gun directly at someone, determine the appropriate camera positioning, and ensure safe distances are maintained amongst cast and crew while weapons are on the set. That's because even blanks can kill at a close distance.

When it's time for the shoot, I bring the cart with the weapons onto the set, where the assistant director conducts a double-verification process to ensure the weapons have been checked. Then I load the gun and hand it off to the talent, announcing "hot gun" if there are blanks in it or "cold gun" if it's loaded with dummies. That directive is repeated over the radio by the assistant director to the entire crew.

Armorers are also responsible for ensuring the on-screen action looks accurately portrayed

I often work in conjunction with the director and other crew members to coordinate and choreograph any scenes involving the use of weapons.

From time to time, after listening to a director plot out how a scene is supposed to play out, I've had to step in and say: "That sounds great, however, we can't have the actor barreling through a window with a hot weapon in their hand due to safety issues."

In that instance, I'll offer an alternative, such as breaking the scene up in blocks rather than filming it in one sequence or calling in a stunt double.

It may take longer to shoot this way, but it could save someone from getting injured - or worse - so it's certainly worth the extra time.

The going rate for an armorer

I wish I could tell you there was a rigorous process to become an armorer, but sadly, it's an unregulated field.

These days, you can hire an armorer for a full day for between $600 and $1,000, depending on their background and experience. That includes kit rentals, which are the tools of our trade.

Some studios push back about the cost of having a professional armorer on set, but in my opinion, anything related to safety shouldn't be sacrificed. Studios should budget for an armorer to be present any time weapons will be fired.

When budgets get cut, studios will often rely on the prop master to do an armorer's job. But they already have a ton going on, and it's not prudent or fair to put this burden on them.

The truth is, setting cost aside, people don't know how much danger they could be in by not having an armorer present. An armorer isn't a luxury; it's a necessity.

One studio I worked with wouldn't spend an extra $1,200 to bring on an assistant armorer for a few days, so imagine my surprise when they wound up dropping $20,000 on a lavish cast dinner. It's all about priorities.

Who is responsible in the case of an incident involving a weapon?

This is a hot topic right now in terms of the recent Alec Baldwin incident, as it seems everyone is questioning and wondering who is at fault.

There is no cut-and-dry answer. In this particular scenario, there appears to have been a series of major safety violations and protocol breaches all leading up to the moment when that gun was placed in Baldwin's hand.

An affidavit said Baldwin was pointing the gun at a camera while rehearsing, and that's when it went off. Hutchins and Joel Souza, who was injured, were checking a camera angle at the time.

While we want to believe Baldwin knew better than to point a gun in the direction of someone, there's no evidence he was ever taught otherwise.

We also know he was handed a gun by the assistant director, not the on-set armorer, which violates basic safety protocols on set. Baldwin was informed it was a "cold gun," but it wasn't.

Clearly, there was a serious lapse in safety checks. Otherwise, the armorer and assistant director would have known this wasn't the case.

At the end of the day, we can't simply point the finger at the man whose finger pulled the trigger. Many hands played a role in this fatality, and it is the shared responsibility of everyone involved.

I simply hope that studios and the industry at large all learn from this tragedy and put the necessary protocols in place - that way, we can save lives down the road.