Though the number of gun crimes has decreased in recent years – falling by 14% in England and Wales in 2006 - the services of firearms examiners are still in constant demand. Trained to recognise weapons and ammunition, firearms examiners analyse the ballistic properties of bullets and build a picture of what happened to them once they left the gun.

Firearms investigators also establish vital clues at the crime scene. For example, it’s their responsibility to determine how far the victim was from the gun - or, if it was fired from a distance, estimate the bullet trajectory. They also compare bullets and their casings under a microscope to corroborate the type of weapon used to fire it.