The Ballistics section conducts many types of firearms examinations: whether a questioned bullet or cartridge case was fired from a suspect firearm; the caliber and type of firearm possibly used to produce fired bullets and cartridge cases when no firearm has yet been recovered; the proximity of the firearm to the target material; whether a firearm is functional.
The section also works with physical and tool marks to determine whether an evidentiary tool mark matches a recovered tool, the type of tool that may have been used to produce a tool mark, and whether a lock is in working order or how it may have been compromised. Serial number restorations on various item types are also performed.