How the FBI could recover the serial number of the suspected Trump shooter’s rifle – WEIS

(NEW YORK) — As the investigation into Sunday’s suspected assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump continues, the FBI is turning its attention to the defaced serial number of the seized assault weapon, using highly specialized techniques to uncover what was altered on the gun’s surface.

Investigators are trying to determine how suspected shooter Ryan Wesley Routh – who, according to court records, has a previous criminal record – obtained the semi-automatic SKS rifle.

In the tree-lined, chain-link fenced area around Trump International Golf Club where the suspect was spotted by Secret Service agents on Sunday, agents found a digital camera, two bags, including a backpack, and a loaded 7.62×39 SKS rifle with a scope, according to a criminal complaint released Monday.

The serial number on the rifle was “obscured and unreadable to the naked eye,” the complaint states.

Part of analyzing firearms is conducting an urgent weapons search. But to begin the search for a weapon, investigators need a serial number, and in this case, that important information was allegedly obscured.

However, investigators have several forensic techniques at their disposal that can help them recover obscured serial numbers from a firearm.

Sources told ABC News on Monday that the FBI is currently conducting a forensic examination of the firearm in its lab.

How investigators were able to recover a “destroyed” serial number

Firearms manufactured or imported into the United States are required by law to bear a clearly engraved, cast or stamped serial number.

SKS-type firearms are not made in the United States. They are typically manufactured in Russia or China and imported into the United States with stamped serial numbers, says firearms expert and retired ATF manager Scott Sweetow.

“When the metal is stamped, the deeper the stamping originally was, the more likely it is that the metal below the surface will be significantly deformed,” Sweetow said in an interview with ABC News.

“And even if you scratch it out or sand it down with a grinder, those markings, the impression and the metal that was deformed by the original serial number stamping process usually remain,” Sweetow added.

By using a combination of special chemicals and instruments, investigators can reveal serial numbers that appear to have been permanently removed to the human eye, Sweetow said.

As part of the process, chemical treatments are used to “eat away” some of the damage, grinding or scratching that was done to obscure the serial number. Then, special instruments are used to make the previously invisible numbers visible, “to reveal what I would almost describe as a shadow left in the metal where they were pressed in,” Sweetow said.

The FBI and ATF also have more modern techniques such as X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging that allow them to look deeper into the metal than is visible on the surface.

Although obscured serial numbers can be challenging, investigators are often successful in thwarting criminals’ attempts to conceal the numbers.

“It certainly makes it a little more difficult for investigators, but so many people destroy or deface serial numbers these days that forensic techniques have gotten pretty good and you can recover them much better than you could 20 years ago,” Sweetow said.

Routh’s alleged possession of a firearm by a convicted felon can result in a prison sentence of 15 years. Possession of a firearm with an obscured serial number can result in an additional five years if convicted, according to a federal law.

Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach on Monday morning. Prosecutors said he was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Routh entered no admission and was ordered to appear in court for a hearing on September 23. His arraignment is scheduled for September 30.

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