Ballistic Fingerprinting (Noun)
Meaning
Identification of the gun that fired a bullet from an analysis of the unique marks that every gun makes on the bullet it fires and on the shell ejected from it.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- Law enforcement officials are increasingly relying on ballistic fingerprinting to help track down shooters in gang-related violence.
- A breakthrough in the case came when the crime lab reported a match in the ballistic fingerprinting analysis, linking the gun to the defendant's cousin.
- Since implementing the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), authorities have used ballistic fingerprinting to link numerous shooting scenes and aid in suspect identification.
- Although proponents claim ballistic fingerprinting can positively identify a specific gun as the one that fired a given bullet, the accuracy of this technology remains under scrutiny.
- Recent legislative initiatives propose implementing universal ballistic fingerprinting protocols nationwide to strengthen firearm crime detection.