Penetration depth of missiles fired from a pneumatic weapon with kinetic energy below 17 J, in 20% gelatine blocks as correlated with injuries found during autopsy of a 9-year-old boy

In Poland, according to the Act About Weapons and Ammunition, an air weapon which has kinetic energy of the fired projectiles below 17 J does not require registration and can be bought even on the Internet. Sport and recreation shooting with this weapon basically have to be performed in shooting ranges, but can be also carried on outside of shooting ranges, providing "particular caution" is exercised. In this study, we presented a case of fatal shooting of a 9-year-old boy; the weapon was a Chinese pneumatic device weapon with kinetic energy of the fired projectiles below 17 J. The aim of this study was to compare autopsy findings with penetration depth of missiles fired from this pneumatic weapon in 20% gelatine blocks. During the experiment, we used a Chinese pneumatic weapon with kinetic energy below 17 J, five kinds of lead projectiles with different shape and mass and 20% gelatine blocks at the temperature of 10 degrees C, which were the model of human soft tissues.