Injuries from Firearms
| Date | 01 July 1930 |
| Author | Sydney Smith |
| Published date | 01 July 1930 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3000300301 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Injuries from Firearms
By SYDNEY SMITH, M.D., D.P.H.
Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of
Edinburgh
IN the investigation of cases in which firearms are suspected
of having been used, many important questions arise.
In
the first place a decision must be arrived at as to whether the
wounds are caused by firearms or by some other form of
violence; and although this is usually simple, it occasionally
presents a problem of extreme difficulty, especially if the body
to be examined is in a decomposed state.
Assuming that the wounds are really due to firearms,
important questions arise about the kind of weapon used, the
distance from which it was discharged and the direction of fire,
the two latter having considerable importance in deciding
whether the injuries were likely to have been homicidal or
suicidal in nature.
In the later stages the question of the identification of the
weapon or ammunition may arise.
In
all these investigations
a close relationship between the police, the medical officer and
the laboratory offers the best chance of success.
In
these, as
in fact in all criminal investigations, the greatest care must be
taken to lose nothing during the early stages. Of course no
police officeris likely to lose sight of the necessity of securing
such things as a spent bullet, or part of it, a fragment of wad,
a cartridge case, or so on,
but
in addition the possibility of
finding fragments of the discharge about the clothes or wound
must be remembered.
In
automatic pistol wounds there is
little or no burning and not much discoloration from the
powder, and roughness in handling the clothing or the body
may disturb or lose a few adherent flakes of smokeless powder,
the preservation of which would have conclusively proved the
distance from which the shot was fired. Wounds should always
be examined as rapidly as possible, and microscopic and
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