I’m a big fan of the comic book and TV series The Walking Dead, and whenever I’m watching the show on AMC I’m always watching out for what kind of guns and weapons the characters use to dispatch walkers. We posted about the weapons of The Walking Dead a while back which showcased the prop guns and blades used on set.
While it’s no suprise rubber stunt guns, blanks and dull blades makes up the arsenal used on most TV shows and movies. What was a bit surprising was the fact that gun laws differ in various states while on a movie set. According to actor Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes, son of Rick Grimes) Georgia state law says you have to be at least eight years of age to shoot a gun. However, while on set you had to be at least fourteen years old to use a prop that shoots any kind of projectile.
This is probably for the safety of the actors on the set, but it’s still quite odd. Anyone know if this is true?
Q: Carl is always trying to use the gun — and he eventually get his hands on one this season. Were you excited to tote around these grown-up weapons?
A: This is funny: I think Georgia law says I can shoot any gun that I want when I’m 8. But I can’t touch anything that will fire a projectile on set. You have to be 14 to do it on set I think. So the gun I was carrying around was actually a cap gun. It was originally painted orange so we spray-painted it black. The knife is real too, though it is dull…
Hopefully they can find a work around, or use CGI, because if you follow the comics at all you know Carl becomes a zombie killing machine in his own right.
Check out the full interview over at The Walking Dead blog.
The firing of blank weapons on set must be a rule of the production company because i have lived in ga all my life and i study gun laws ive never heard of either a requirement to be 8 years old or 14 years old for anything gun related as long as there is parental consent and adult supervision. i think carl is getting the shaft
I love both the show and the comics, just wish the show wasn’t so slow.