title: Fatal cranial shot by blank cartridge gun: two suicide cases.
abstract: Blank firing pistols are generally considered to be harmless and these guns are not accepted as being firearms in most countries. Due to lack of legal regulations these guns are easily purchased by anyone aged over 18 years. Reports of serious injuries and even fatalities due to these guns are increasing in the literature. These guns when modified or even unmodified can cause serious and potentially fatal injuries. Without doing any changes to the barrel, using blank or tear gas cartridges, firing at contact range can cause penetration of gas into the body including bone originated from gun powder. We report two suicide cases shooting themselves at temporal region with a blank cartridge gun at contact range. There was no foreign body on radiological examination and there was no trajectory of a bullet inside the brain. In both cases the wound was at the right temporal region and there was defect at temporal bone. There was circular soot around this bone defect. The injury of the brain tissue was localized at the level of the defect but there was widespread subarachnoidal bleeding. We discussed the potential danger of these guns and stressed the need of legal regulations concerning these guns.
authors: Ministry of Justice, Council of Forensic Medicine, Mortuary Department, 34000 Istanbul, Turkey. doctorbuyuk@gmail.com
authors: Yalcin
authors: Y
authors: Buyuk
authors: Sadi
authors: S
authors: Cagdir
authors: Abdullah
authors: A
authors: Avsar
authors: Gokce U
authors: GU
authors: Duman
authors: D Oguzhan
authors: DO
authors: Melez
authors: Feyzi
authors: F
authors: Sahin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005389:Firearms; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology; D013405:Suicide; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult