Dr. James Cizidziel and Oscar Black
“Advances in 3D printing have resulted in an emerging class of firearms that we know almost nothing about, forensically speaking. Printed plastic guns and bullets are of concern to public safety because they can potentially go undetected by metal detectors into high security areas, and to the criminal justice because they do not bear serial numbers.”
“The purpose of this study was to determine whether [ABS] polymers could be readily detected in gunshot residue (GSR) and cartridge cases using direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART-MS).”
“Ethyl centralite, benzoic acid, and diphenyl-amine, commonly found in firearms propellants, were readily detected on the bullet and cartridge case… Samples also gave DART-MS is characteristic of the exact primers [ABS, PLA, etc.] used in the gun barrel.”
“Based on these positive initial results, we have recently submitted a major proposal to the National Institute of Justice. Our ultimate goal is to provide law enforcement tools that can be used to strengthen a case linking a 3D printed gun to be a crime.”