Ballistics, a gun's "DNA"

Forensics_Guy said:
You have to remember that in the United States there isn't the same legal stigma to firearms as there are in other countries. A firearm is little more than a heavily regulated tool.
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THanks a lot, you're absolutly right, in Europe (at least in France and England, the countries I know best) someone would be suspicious by just possessing a firearm. In most cases, he could be arrested just for that! Thanks again :D
 
thegluups said:
in Europe (at least in France and England, the countries I know best) someone would be suspicious by just possessing a firearm. In most cases, he could be arrested just for that!
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It's the same in Holland too. You're automatically a suspect in a murder case when you know a victim, and you own a firearm. It's weird.
 
I'm quite into guns, but unfortunately there isn't much I can do with that here in Holland. I used to be a member of a shooting range and had my own gun there but it all became too expensive. I wish I lived in the USA
 
Well, I think guns are useless. Unless you want to kill someone, but that's just my opinion. And it isn't the thread to say this. So, I'm already running away.
 
saras_girlfriend said:
I'm quite into guns, but unfortunately there isn't much I can do with that here in Holland. I used to be a member of a shooting range and had my own gun there but it all became too expensive. I wish I lived in the USA
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I was on my highschool rifle team. I broke a national record at 17 which lead to an invite to try out for the US Olympics team - I declined to go to college (more shooting sports in the Olympics than soccer btw). It also lead to my first job at a local gun store, which lead to me learning to do some small gunsmithing tasks. That eventually lead to me being hired as a firearms examiner and a fantastic job as a forensic scientist.

It's funny how some people are lucky and can turn a hobby into a career.
 
True...especially with guns. It's probably different in the States, but I don't think a lot of people would be able to pursue a career in firearms...I can't believe there actually is a rifle team in high schools! That would be unheard off over here! About turning a hobby into a career, I guess that if you're really good at it, then you should go for it! But surely to become a forensics, even in the firearm department, you must have done some other studies, or did you just learn on the spot? :confused:
 
Well my degree in college was in toxicology. But as far as firearms training, there are were no programs relating to forensic firearms identification when I went to school.

Reason why they wanted me was because I already had such a strong foundation to teach from. It shortened a 3 year traning period to about 2 years. Where I was trained they have calculated the cost to train an examiner to be around $250,000 USD. I was considerably less then that, due to my shortened training period. On top of that, any cases that came in relating to targeting type firearms (I think 1 in like 6 years) I could help out on. And working in firearms sales in the late 80s, I was familiar with a lot of firearms companies that went bankrupt due to the Clinton gun ban of '94. So I was a valuable resource in that respect.
 
Last data that I saw showed that of the violent crimes commited in the US, a fair percentage of it was used with a firearm. But the overall violent crime rate in the US was lower than other countries with gun bans, like Canada, Australlia, and the UK. Instead of guns they just use knives, screwdrivers, and other improvised weapons.

Keep in mind that of all firearms sold, less than 1% of them are ever used in a crime.
 
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