Apparently, the FBI likes Alec Baldwin.

FBI Analyst Describes Damage to Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ Gun in Armorer Criminal Trial

LA Times via Military News | 2/28/24 | Meg James

A month after the accident, Baldwin told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos: “I didn’t pull the trigger. … I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them.”

On Monday, the third day of Gutierrez’s trial, FBI forensic examiner Bryce Ziegler took the stand.

Ziegler testified that he was responsible for damaging the gun during testing at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, nearly two years ago.

The FBI analyst said Monday that he performed a rigorous set of tests, including striking Baldwin’s prop gun several times with a “rawhide mallet.”

Ziegler said he used the rawhide mallet to strike the gun, while the hammer was pulled back, from several directions. The tests were intended to determine whether bumping or jostling the weapon would result in a discharge. He said he was trying to simulate scenarios for the gun to go off — without the handler pulling the trigger.

During that test, he broke several components of the gun. The fractured parts included the tip of the trigger, the sear and the hammer.

Ziegler said he was only able to get the gun to fire during two of the tests, including at the fully cocked hammer position. “Some of the internal components of the firearm actually broke to allow that hammer to fall and fire the primed cartridge case,” Ziegler said.

So the hammer was only able to fall after he broke the components. Hm.