Preview

1. What is firearm identification?

2. Why is firearm identification also considered a
branch of tool mark identification?
3. How is firearm ID like fingerprint ID?
4. List 5 different types of firearm evidences examined
in the lab.
SFS4 Students evaluate the role of ballistics, tool marks and
arson in forensic investigation.
a. Identify firearm lab tests used to distinguish the characteristics
of ballistics and cartridge cases.
b. Analyze the physics of ballistic trajectory to predict range of
firing.
EQ
How is firearm investigation used as a tool in crime
scene investigations?
Firearms Identification
A forensic science often referred to as ‘ballistics’.
Forensic ballistics identifies firearm usage in crimes.
It’s the identification of fired bullets, cartridge
cases or other ammunition components as having
been fired from a specific firearm.
It involves analysis of bullets and bullet impacts to
determine the type.
Firearms Produce Unique
Toolmarks
 Firearm identification is also one of the branches of toolmark
identification. This is because the firearm, made of a material harder than
the ammunition components, acts as a tool that leaves impressed or striated
marks on the various shell casings and other ammunition components with
which it comes into contact.
 And like fingerprints, no two firearms, even those of the same make and
model, will produce the same marks on fired bullets and cartridge cases.
Furthermore, the manufacturing processes and the use of the firearm leave
surface characteristics that cannot be exactly reproduced in any other firearm.
This means that the toolmarks are unique to each firearm.
 Firearms do not normally change much over time. This allows for firearms
recovered months or even years after a shooting to be identified by forensic
experts as having fired a specific bullet or cartridge case.

So, is firearm identification an individual or class characteristic?

Firearm Evidence Submitted to
Forensic Laboratories
spent (used) bullets Examples of firearm
spent cartridge cases evidence:
spent shot shells and/or
shot
shot shell wadding
live ammunition
Clothing (may contain
GSR)
Firearm Evidence Submitted to
Forensic Laboratories
In addition to comparing ammunition components to
firearms, firearm examiners conduct other examinations
that usually include the following:
Testing firearms to determine if they function properly.
Examine clothing and other items for gunshot residues
and/or shot patterns in an attempt to determine a muzzle-
to-garment distance.
Determine caliber and manufacturer of ammunition
components. Including the examination of various
shotshell components.
Determine the manufacturer or manufacturers of firearms
that may have fired a particular bullet or cartridge case.
What do Forensic Ballistic Experts
Do?
Look at certain characteristics of firearms that relate to the
bullets fired from them including the caliber of the firearm
and the rifling pattern contained in the barrel of the firearm.
 Cartridges & cartridge cases are examined for similarities in what
are called breech marks, firing pin impressions, extractor marks,
ejector marks and other named toolmarks.
 One of the most important tools in forensic ballistics is the
comparison microscope also called a comparison macroscope,
where these toolmarks can be compared side by side and matched
or eliminated.

1. Comparison of Impressions on Two Cartridges.
2. Comparison macroscope.
3. Bullet from the Kennedy assassination.
Review
1. What is firearm identification?
2. Why is firearm identification also considered a
branch of tool mark identification?
3. How is firearm ID like fingerprint ID?
4. List 5 different types of firearm evidences examined
in the lab.
Part II: Bullet Identification
Bullets collected for comparison to a specific firearm are
examined first to see if they are of a caliber that could
have been fired from the submitted firearm.
They are then examined to determine if the pattern of
rifling impressions found on the bullet match the
pattern of rifling contained in the barrel of the questioned
firearm.
If these class characteristics agree the next step is to try to
make a positive match between the individual
characteristics that may have transferred to the bullet
from the barrel.
 http://www.firearmsid.com/Bullets/bullet1.htm
Bullet Identification
 Located within the rifling
impressions on a bullet can be
microscopic striations or
scratches like those seen on this
bullet. They sort of look like a
bar code.
Imperfections in the surface
of the interior of the barrel
leave striations on the
projectiles. Striations have
the potential to be
consistently reproduced in a
unique pattern on every
bullet that passes down the
barrel of a firearm. The key
word is unique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Zxfa53FcA
Definitions
Bore-the interior of a firearm barrel.
Caliber- the diameter of the bore of the rifled
firearm, usually expressed in hundredths of an inch or
millimeters (mm), i.e. .22 caliber or 9 mm.
Grooves- the cut or low-lying portions btwn the
lands in a rifled bore.
Lands- the raised portion between the grooves .
Rifling- the spiral grooves formed in the bore of a
firearm barrel that impart spin to the projectile when
it is fired.
Problems
Few evidence bullets are Even small fragments and
submitted intact. Most badly damaged bullets can
are badly distorted, still retain sufficient marks
wiped and/or for an identification to be
fragmented. made.
Results from Comparisons
(Example)
When comparisons are made between firearms and fired
ammunition the results can read as follows:
Exhibit 1 (bullet) was identified as having been fired from
Exhibit 2 (revolver).
 This conclusion is reached after all class characteristics agree and a
sufficient correlation between individual characteristics is found.
Exhibit 1 (bullet) could neither be identified nor eliminated
as having been fired from Exhibit 2 (revolver). All
comparisons were inconclusive.
 This conclusion is reached if class characteristics agree but there is
an insufficient correlation between individual characteristics.
Exhibit 1 (bullet) was not fired from Exhibit 2 (revolver).
 This conclusion is reached if class characteristics disagree.
Automated Firearms Search
Systems
1. “Drugfire”-system developed by the FBI. (early 1990’s)
 an automated, national computerized forensic firearms database identification
system that integrates cartridge case, shotshell and bullet analysis, as well as
electronic firearms reference libraries, on a single computer platform.
 Hits are made when a system user finds a match between a specimen they added into
the database and a previously filed specimen.
2. IBIS- Integrated Ballistic identification System. Developed by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). (early 1990’s).
 Digitized microscopic images of identifying features found on both spent bullets &
cartridge casings.
 Drugfire & IBIS was incompatible systems that posed problems w/ local officials.

3. NIBIN- National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.

 Created in 1999 by a joint effort by the FBI & ATF.
 A compatible system that incorporates both Drugfire & IBIS software identification
systems.
GSR
The distribution of gunpowder particles & other gun
discharge residues around the bullet holes permits a
distance determination.
distance determination- the process of determining
the distance between the firearm & the target.
When might distance determination be useful in an
investigation?
During a claim of self defense.
Suspicious suicide/ self-inflicted wounds
GSR Tests
1. Greiss Test-A chemical test used to develop patterns
of GSR around bullet holes.
1. Test for nitrates formed from the incomplete
combustion of nitrocellulose (gun powder).
2. Lead test-
1. Test for trace amounts of lead residue around a bullet
hole.
Examining GSR on Suspect Hand
Firing a weapon propels residues toward the target &
blows gunpowder & primer residue back toward the
shooter.
Traces of these residues are deposited on the firing
hand of the shooter, providing valuable information
as to whether a person has recently fired a gun.
Examiners swab the hand and measure the amt of
barium (Ba) & antimony (Sb) present; or examine the
morphology of the GSR particles containing these
elements.
Preserving Evidence
1. Criminalists(Forensic Scientists) can restore serial
numbers that have been removed or scratched off.
The metal stamp that are fixed into the gun and leaves
a permanent imprint that can be restored.
2. The weapon must be tagged, properly contained
and transported to the lab w/o disturbing the
integrity of evidence.