Gunpowder gets tricky, but WVU is on the case
Jul. 20—FAIRMONT — These days, everything is going green, including gunpowder.
However, although less toxic gunpowder might be better for human health and the environment, it provides certain challenges for law enforcement investigating the scene of a crime.
"One of the issues that we run into with the emergence of non-toxic ammunition is that there aren't any fully completed standard operating procedures to analyze those," Thomas Lederberger, a West Virginia University chemistry doctoral student working on the research. "They don't have the elements in them that we would normally look for, like inorganic particles. So one of the big pushes right now is towards incorporating organic materials into the analysis as well."
By inorganic particles, Lederberger means metals such as barium, lead and antimony. Those are the elements typically used in gunpowder manufacturing. After a gun is fired, a cloud of organic and inorganic particles moves out into the surrounding air, but some of it comes back through the firearm and deposits trace amounts of those elements on a shooter's hand. This can later be used by investigators to determine if a firearm was used and if any of the firearm's residue was left on a potential suspect.
The problem researchers face is that there aren't very many techniques for analyzing these newer forms of gunpowder. Koren Powers, quality assurance manager at the West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory in Charleston, said that as gunpowder manufacturers move away from lead and other toxic elements, they abandon what investigators would traditionally look for. So instead, researchers in the gunshot residue community have started to work on techniques that look for organic residue in addition to the traditional inorganic residue they already look for.
"So there's been a lot of discussions throughout the primary gunshot residue community over the past several years," Powers said. "Concerning, how do we change with the times and make sure that we're identifying it if it's there?"
Analyzing the newer powders requires new methods and different instrumentation, which is what researchers like Kourtney Dalzell are doing.
Dalzell has an undergraduate degree in forensic chemistry from WVU, and is currently working on her doctorate on analytical techniques for the gunshot residue project.
"I think the analysis of gunshot residue from a research perspective is a very difficult thing to do because there's so many sources of variability," Dalzell said. "You have so many factors to worry about from the absorption through the skin to the evaporation of organics, and the irregular deposition patterns that both the inorganics and the organics have."
These newer gunpowder have been around between 15 to 20 years, Lederberger said.
The research into their residue isn't quite yet mature, but some good progress has been made. Fortunately, the use of these powders is still infrequent and rare in West Virginia, which is good because Powers said it'll be several years before the research is ready for prime time out in the field.
While the synthetic skin they use for research purposes at WVU is good as a starting point, real life skin comes with perspiration, hair, and other factors that can't be simulated. Therefore, it will take some time to determine if the methods will be worthwhile for potential use in an actual police laboratory. Powers doesn't think organic gunpowder will ever replace inorganic, but will add more information to what they do know and help them refine their investigative process. She's thankful to research institutions like WVU who do this kind of work.
Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine has not encountered any of these powders as part of his job or as a recreational shooter. He said he's not familiar with any of the new technology but is curious to know more.
"It's not a common process to manufacture ammunition with propellants that don't contain these elements," Shine said, referring to the lead, barium or antimony. "It's not an issue in any of our investigations."
That may someday change. However, thanks to WVU's research, when that day comes department's like Shine's will be prepared for it.
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
