If you are a criminal defense attorney working on serious felony cases, you need to have a good understanding of firearm function so that you can make sense of the forensic evidence in your case. The tutorials described below can help you gain the information that you need.
The University of Utah Health Sciences Library has several firearms tutorials posted which cover information about the different types of firearms and how they work, ballistics (the science of the travel or a projectile in flight), patterns of tissue injury, laboratory methods, and examination of gunshot residue.
The tutorials provide basic information, kind of like Firearms 101, as well as more technical information about trajectory, examination of firearms, and injuries caused by firearms.
I have not read them all yet, but thanks for sending this.
As a âgun nutâ I do want to make you aware that some points in the âAnatomy of a Firearmâ tutorial, mostly the generalizations (e.g. âhandguns are limited to six shotsâ when many .357 Magnums are 7 or even 8 shot and 9 shot .22s have been common even back in to the 60âs or, when discussing rifles, âshoot more powerful cartridgesâ when many rifles, some classified as carbines (shorter barreled or stocked and maybe both), shoot âpistol cartridgesâ such as 9mm or .45ACP, and there are pistol that shoot ârifle cartridgesâ such as the .223) are not completely accurate. All in all, however it is a very useful primer and I think most of the information is useful as an overview.
As an aside, while I am not a ballistics expert or even a gun expert, I can generally get you pointed in the right direction if you ever find yourself in need of some info.
Mike