ABSTRACT

Blank cartridge guns are weapons that are generally conside-red harmless, the use and sale of them are regulated with the law 5729 and relatively easy to buy/obtain them.

In this paper, a 31-year-old male case whose death was due to a suicide originated injury from head with a blank cartridge gun is presented. The autopsy revealed a firearm wound de-monstrating symptoms of contact shooting on the right tem-poral region, fractures in the squamous part of the right tem- poral bone, epidural and subarachnoidal hemorrhages and con-tusion in the right temporal lobe.

As seen in our case, lethal injuries can be inflicted from con-tact or near-contact distance shootings by blank cartridge guns. Therefore, the barrels of these guns have to be redesigned to prevent gas exit from the muzzle.

Keywords: Blank cartridge guns, death, forensic medicine