Page 140 - VERITAS Vol.2 Issue 2

ASSORTMENT OF WEAPONS
A S S OR T MEN T OF W E AP ONS
There are numerous methods and locations for recovering firearm evi-

dence. Guns can be found at shooting sites by crime scene investigators

and transported to the lab. Typically, following adequate documentation

or photography, each bullet, bullet fragment, cartridge case, shotshell
wadding, etc., is collected separately and submitted to the lab. Obtaining

bullet evidence in an emergency hospital setting is another option. In

these situations, the material should be identified as a biohazard before

being delivered to the lab. Each lab has written guidelines pertaining to

the packing of evidence and its submission.

Bullets and slugs that miss their target sometimes embed themselves in

surrounding materials, such as a wall or wood.
The easiest way to collect this evidence is to carefully cut out a bit of the

substrate and submit it to the lab so that a weapon examiner can careful-

ly extract it. This stops incorporating or eradicating any indications that

might be essential for locating and matching the allegedly used firearm.

When packing a firearm, the firearm may be recovered in the following

conditions:

• Condition 1: Hammer down, safety on, empty chamber, no magazine
in the weapon.

• Condition 2: Empty chamber, loaded magazine, hammer down, safety

on.

• Condition 3: A chambered round, a full magazine, hammer down,

and safety on.

• Condition 4: A chambered round, a loaded magazine, a cocked ham-

mer, and safety engaged.

T
S
E
IG
IONS
T
A
ENSIC INV
OR
F
FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS
The forensic experts in firearm examination study firearm features and
ballistics to connect particular bullets or rounds to a particular firearm.
From then, additional research aims to link the gun to a specific individ-
ual. A serial number on a gun may frequently be erased.
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Veritas Volume: 2, Issue: 2