âThere were no fingerprints on the gun!â FALSE
Something that many Soaked in Bleach fanatics and murder conspiracists like to dwell on is the myth that âthere were no fingerprints on the gunâ.
However, that is absolutely not the case.
There are two different types of fingerprints, visible prints and latent prints.
visible prints - made on a type of surface that creates an impression, such as blood, dirt, or clay
latent prints - made when sweat, oil, and other substances on the skin reproduce the ridge structure of the fingerprints on a glass, weapon, or any other surface touched. These prints canât be seen with the naked eye, but they can be made visible using dark powder. Police officers can âliftâ these prints with tape or take special photographs of them. Once analyzed, latent prints become either legible or not legible.
legible - when the print is neat and clear
not legible - when the print is not a clear impression
The Seattle Police Department lifted four prints from the gun, though they were not clear enough to be identified.
View Kurt Cobainâs fingerprint analysis here.
A fingerprint has to be a certain size, clarify, and from a certain spot to be useable. That does not mean that there were no partial prints, oil, and smudges from Kurt Cobainâs skin.
According to Tom Grant, the shotgun was wiped down. However, if that were the case, there would be no partial prints, oil, and smudges.
The fact that were no legible fingerprints on Kurt Cobainâs gun is not rare at all. In fact, in only 5% of cases fingerprints are lifted from firearms. This is usually because of factors such as insufficient smooth surfaces, environment, and handling.