[john70t]

It is an interesting situation of culpability regarding corporate rules vs. law.

Certainly in real life if someone loans a weapon to a friend at the range, that person is completely responsible for the total possession of it at all times. From checking status to the safe operation of it. If a construction operator kills someone with a bulldozer on the job then they would normally be held 100% responsible, provided there was not any action by the victim, the company equipment was in good condition, and the workspace environment was safe. Unless there there were some egregious mitigating circumstance which affected the situation the operator would be held fully accountable. Personally.

OTOH, in this Hollywood situation it could be claimed the actor is not the owner of the equipment. They are just workers handed a 'prop' (which is actually a real functioning weapon) and told what to do with it. As a condition of employment, and per company policy, they are not allowed to modify or even verify the safe functionality of said company equipment. When hundreds or thousands of blank rounds with multiple weapons are used for only one scene it would be nearly impossible for the layman actor to verify the safety of every single element involved in their job role. And by corporate standards the actor world be blameless for any one of the dozens of specialized roles assigned to others in a support crew of hundreds.

The situation could be spun either way.
One leads to criminal negligence charges and one leads to a simple insurance payment.

That said, there are significant factors which haven't been revealed yet and nobody ain't saying nothing.
Did the amourer sign off on the equipment, or were the the gun props just taken with the assumption they were ready to be used that day?
Who loaded real bullets and left them in the equipment? And why?
Was pointing a weapon at the Director part of the scene and job description, or did the actor do that on his own?
Since the actor was also the producer, ie the company itself, which role did Balwin fit into at that moment?