Ethnography Of Firearms

Firearms should be photographed overall, midrange, and up-close with a scale. Make sure that the weapon is unloaded and made safe. Firearms should be packaged in a cardboard gun box. Make sure to zip tip the firearm down as well as zip tie trough the barrel to show that the firearm is safe. Magazines can be zip tied down and packaged in the same gun box. The serial number, model, make, and caliber of the firearm need to be recorded. If a firearm has blood or other material on it, make sure to surround it in clean paper and tape down the paper (Crime Scene Investigator Network). Bullets and cartridges need to be photographed overall, midrange, and up-close with a scale. Bullets and cartridge cases should be individually packaged in pill
It should be noted that photographs should be probative, not prejudicial in nature. Photographs that both parties have agreed to will be easily entered into evidence. However, if one party does not agree to allow the photograph into evidence, the party that wants the photograph to be admitted into evidence must be willing to question a witness for their testimony, often the person that took the photograph, to establish that the photograph actually depicts the correct crime scene. For example, crime scene investigators will often be asked to testify that they did indeed take the photograph in question in order to lay down the foundation for the evidence that it contains as well as to show that the photograph is authentic and unaltered (Staggs,
According to Federal Rules of Evidence, Article X rule 101(3) data that is “stored in a computer or similar device, any printout or other output readable by sight, shown to reflect the data accurately, is an original” (Staggs, 2001). “Rule 101(4) states that a duplicate is a counterpart produced by the same impression as the original…by mechanical or electronic re-recording…or by other equivalent techniques which accurately reproduces the original. And Rule 103 (Admissibility of Duplicates) states a duplicate is admissible to the same extent as an original unless (1) a genuine question is raised as to the authenticity of the original or (2) in the circumstances it would be unfair to admit the duplicate in lieu of the original. This means a photograph can be stored digitally in a computer, that a digital photograph stored in a computer is considered an original, and any exact copy of the digital photograph is admissible as evidence” (Staggs,