Some of this depends on what kind of SAA he had. For non gun people that is a single action army. Which is what most films use on westerns. A Colt 1873 model P. Originals had not transfer bar, but a firing pin pined to the hammer. So there was a half cock on the original Colt SAA from the beginning I believe. This was a safety so while cocking if your thumb slipped it would catch. Not full proof but it was a help. A SAA can not be fired unless its cocked. You have to pull the hammer back to cock to pull the trigger. In half cock you can not pull the trigger. So this gun can not be used as a double action. If its not cocked you can pull the trigger all you want and it will do nothing.
Some copies have a firing pin in the frame and the hammer hits the in frame pin. Then the Transfer bar came in as a safety so you can not get hammer drop or drop fire. If your finger is not on the trigger and its not pulled fully to the rear the bar is not up and can not transfer the energy of the hammer to the pin. So it would depend on what model or copy he had.
That said no matter what gun he had you can not shoot someone if you do not point the gun at them, and you can not fire it unless you are monkeying around with the hammer and or trigger. This is why in Western history you would read about cowboys keeping the hammer down on an empty chamber. Its not needed with a transfer bar. I believe it was Iver Johnson that had a 1930s ad saying hammer the hammer, which the ad would shot a IJ gun with someone banging the hammer on the gun with a carpenters hammer.
Baldwin is a bald face liar. A gun will not fire unless its messed with and a revolver is one of the more safer designs because of what you have to go through to pull the trigger. If your revolver is a double action then in DA you have a real heavy trigger pull. The shooter is not only cocking the hammer with the trigger but turning the cyl. to the next chamber.
The trigger pull on a single vs double action is several pounds. In single action guns that can also fire in Double action its usually about 4 pounds more on double action. Single can be about 4 pounds and less if polished and or modified for a light trigger pull. Unless one is an expert in shooting these guns for fast draw or you are hunting with it I would never lighten the trigger by much.
Baldwin had to point the gun at the person he shot and he had to be messing with at the very min. the hammer. Its possible on an older gun with no transfer bar to cock the hammer enough to miss the half cock but also enough to fire the round if it slips. This is why stupid people who play fast draw with their SAA are asking for trouble.
The main point is he out and out lied in such a stupid way that a 4 year old chimp could see through it. Yet CNN just goes with it. Total douche nozzlery.
