TEST FIRINGS OF REVOLVERS AND AUTOMATIC PISTOLS AND PARAFFIN HAND SAMPLINGS AND NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSES WERE MADE.
FORENSIC ACTIVATION ANALYSIS RESEARCH CONDUCTED AT GULF GENERAL ATOMIC, UNDER A CONTRACT WITH THE DIVISION OF ISOTOPE DEVELOPMENT, US ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION, IS DESCRIBED. A LARGE NUMBER OF TEST FIRINGS OF REVOLVERS AND AUTOMATIC PISTOLS WAS PERFORMED, FOLLOWED BY HAND SAMPLING WITH PARAFFIN AND NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS (NAA) OF THE PARAFFIN HANDLIFTS FOR BARIUM AND ANTIMONY. ALSO, OCCUPATIONAL 'HANDBLANK' SAMPLES WERE OBTAINED BY THE SAME PROCEDURE FROM PERSONS OF A NUMBER OF ADDITIONAL OCCUPATIONS-AND SIMILARLY ANALYZED FOR BARIUM AND ANTIMONY. A BIVARIATE NORMAL STATISTICAL TREATMENT METHOD WAS DEVELOPED FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ACCUMULATED GUNSHOT-RESIDUE AND HANDBLANK DATA. AS APPLIED TO THE DATA OBTAINED THUS FAR, IT IS A PROMISING METHOD. AN ANALOGOUS MULTIVARIATE NORMAL STATISTICAL TREATMENT METHOD WAS INVESTIGATED FOR TREATMENT OF THE MORE THAN TWO VARIABLES OBSERVED IN NAA DATA ON PAINT, PAPER, AND BULLET LEAD.