BATFE confiscated guns

[SA Friday]

I think they are comparison guns and oddities. Every major lab has a tools and firearms section. Most have a well stocked array of comparison firearms. It's only logical that the ATF has the biggest comparison lot available. Not every piece of evidence being tested that comes from a firearm has a gun attached to it. Utilizing comparison firearms, the lab can narrow down the possibilities, and sometimes actually ID the make and manufacturer without any acutal data other than something like an expended cartridge. Most cops are not gun nuts, and solely rely on the labs info to determine additional leads when it comes to firearms.

I worked a homocide out in CA of an airman. The local PD had cartridges and bullets from the shooting. I asked to look at them and then told them they were 230gr El Dorado Starfire 45 ACP rounds. They looked at me like I was full of crap. Then I told them a list of firearms it might have came from based on the rifling twist on the recovered bullet. They then verbalized that I was full of crap. The lab confirmed my eval, and I got a lot of apologies. We were looking for a Sig P220 based on the primer strike and barrel rifling. Sent the shooter to San Quinten for a spell. Gang banger.... (edited to add: I guess I made this all sound glamorous, but I watched this airman take a year to die and suffer every day of it... Nothing glamorous about it.)

Stolen property is returned. Illegally used weapons are typically chopped unless there is a reason to maintain it (i.e. they don't have one in their comparison inventory or it's a historical relic).

Edited February 10, 2008 by SA Friday