It is widely accepted as unlikely, for example, that identifiable fingerprints will be found on firearms. Identifiable fingerprints will be found probably less than 10 percent of the time.
Other problems can include intense heat, humidity, and/or precipitation, which effectively destroy the fin- gerprints. Thus the probability of finding identifiable fingerprints on fired cartridge cases left at the crime scene, for example, is remote; the combination of the curved surfaces and the heat produced upon discharge tends to vaporize the fingerprints.
Ed Hueske of the University of North Texas, in Firearms and Fingerprints
Weaponsman remarkIn fact, they’re more likely (if they try) to recover fingerprints from inside disposable gloves used by a criminal, than from a pistol handled directly by that criminal with bare hands. Food for thought, and that much more evidence that TV crime and investigation shows are made by people unfamiliar with crime or investigation.
