This is apropos. Baldwin shot a 45 Colt I believe, single action, a 19th century replica. It's actually harder to shoot someone with it, it has to be cocked manually for every shot. When it's decocked, it will not fire, the trigger cannot be pulled. It was a colossal failure in the sense of having to first cock it, point it in the wrong direction and fire, assume it was empty.
Guns when unloaded will load themselves and be ready exactly for that error. And 45 colt will punch through a wall and still make someone DRT.
The 4 universal rules of gun safety are:
Treat all guns as if they are always loaded.
Never let the muzzle point at anything that you are not willing to destroy.
Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have made the decision to shoot.
Be sure of your target and what is behind it.