Spring 2005 SWGGUN Meeting Summary
SWGGUN recently
met at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA March
29-31, 2005. Fifteen of the Board Members were
present at the meeting; five additional members
were not in attendance. Elections for the office
of Chair and Secretary were held. Thomas L.G.
Price (Kansas) was re-elected to a second term
as Chair and Ms. Kimberly Haag (New Mexico) was
elected as Secretary, replacing Ms. Nancy
McCombs (California) in her duties.
Final approval was granted for the adoption of a
set of guidelines for establishing… “Projectile
Path Reconstruction Training and Procedures
Manuals…” This document is available under the
“Guidelines” tab on the website.
Final approval was granted for the adoption of a
statement regarding the AFTE “Range of
Conclusions – Elimination Factors Related to
Firearm and Toolmark Examination”. This document
is available under the “Guidelines” tab on the
website.
Progress was made in the formation of a set of
guidelines addressing “Forensic Examination for
Silencers.” The Board will be reviewing this
draft, commenting and looking for approval of
the document. This document should be available
under the “Guidelines” tab of the website within
the next few months. The research undertaken
during this project is being organized and the
data integrated into a usable format for
publication in the future.
The Trigger Pull committee continues to collect
data for the comparison of trigger pull testing
equipment. (i.e. arsenal weights, spring gauges,
digital force gauges, etc.) This data is
currently being reviewed and will be used to
evaluate the systems used for obtaining trigger
pulls and the intent is to release the findings
at a later date. SWGGUN will be setting up an
exercise at the upcoming AFTE Training Seminar
in Indianapolis, Indiana to assist with the
collection of more data for the work of the
committee.
A committee to address “Minimum Qualifications
for Firearm and Toolmark Trainees” was formed
and is beginning to collect information to use
in the formulation of a recommendation. This
committee will be presenting a survey at AFTE in
Indianapolis to assist in the collection of data
as well. (If you will not be attending AFTE but
will like to assist in the collection of data
for this project, please click here.)
Ongoing projects that are being addressed by
SWGGUN are:
- Evaluation
of Protocols for use in Suppressor/Silencer
Testing.
- Trigger
Pull Evaluation of methods and equipment
used.
- Minimum
Qualifications for Firearm and Toolmark
Trainees.
These three
subcommittees are working to develop a product
that can be posted on the SWGGUN website for
review and comments from the forensic community.
SWGGUN continues to operate its own website at
www.swggun.org
and solicits valuable input from the discipline
through a number of different mechanisms during
the development stages of the guidelines in
which we produce. These guidelines/documents are
then posted on the website for your review and
we encourage peer review of these materials.
Feel free to contact a Board Member with your
comments/concerns or visit us at the “Feedback
Forum” tab above.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you. Board
member information can be found under the
“Members” tab. We look forward to hearing from
you and encourage your continued participation
in these ongoing projects that ultimately affect
our work product.
Thomas L.G. Price –Chair, SWGGUN
