STAN BERG's FORENSIC FIREARMS PAGE
STANTON O. BERG - FORENSIC FIREARMS CONSULTANT
OVER 45 YEARS EXPERIENCE: As a Consultant I have handled over 935 firearms and airgun cases. I have served as an expert witness on firearms and airguns. I have testified in many State and Federal Courts as well as Military Court, Virgin Islands Territorial Court and in the Ontario Candian Supreme Court. My clients have included firearms and ammunition companies, insurance companies, attorneys, various Municipal Governmental divisions, County Governments, the State of Massachusets, U. S. Government and the Government of Japan. Four (4) years service in the U.S. Army Counter Intellignce Corps. Weapons ratings: Expert - M1 Rifle. Also qualified with the M-1 Carbine, M-3 Submachine gun, 1911A1 Pistol and .38 caliber Revolver.
AUTHOR: Author of Chapters in three (3) books and 185 Technical and Research Papers on firearms, firearms safety system designs, firearms identification or "Forensic Ballistics."
SPEAKER: I have presented lectures on approximately fifty (50) occasions, to forensic and scientific groups on various forensic firearms and forensic ballistics subjects. I have also presented technical papers at twenty seven (27) Forensic Science Conferences (including international conferences in Germany, Canada, Norway, England and Scotland) that specifically related to firearms safety systems and safety system designs. Seventeen (17) of these safety design papers have been published. I have also served as the Chairman of the Firearms Sessions at four (4) international meetings in Forensic Science. (Edinburgh, Scotland - Zurich, Switzerland - Bergen, Norway - Dusseldorf, Germany). Participated on the TV History Channel, "Forensic Firsts", initially aired on 7/30/2001.
MEMBERSHIPS/AWARDS: American Academy of Forensic Science (Fellow), American College of Forensic Examiners (Life-Fellow of the College), Forensic Science Society, Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners (Life-Distinguished-Emeritus Member. Key Person of the Year 1972, Special Honors Award - 1976 (R. Kennedy Assassination Investigation), Member of the Year 2003-04), International Association of Forensic Sciences, International Association for Identification (Life-Distinguished Member), Minnesota Division of the IAI (Life Member), International Wound Ballistics Association, and Emeritus Member of the Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists.
THE SHERLOCKIAN CONNECTION
I have had an early continuous association (40 years) with the "Norwegian Explorers", a University of Minnesota based Sherlock Holmes Society, dating back to early correspondence (August 1966) with one of the founders, Theodore C. Blegen. In 1970, I authored "Sherlock Holmes, Father of Scientific Crime Detection". This paper was then published in the "Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science" (Northwestern University Law School), later republished in the "Criminologist" (1971), "The Gun-Smoke Gazette" (1971) and "The Armchair Detective." (1972) In May of 1974, I presented a slide lecture, "Sherlockian London" to a meeting of the Norwegian Explorers held at the University of Minnesota Walter Library. In 1998/1999, I presented a two part slide lecture to the conferences of the Association of Firearms and Tool Mark Examiners. "The Firearms/Safeties of Sherlockian Victorian London." A similar presentation was made to the International Association for Identification. (International Police Science Association) The papers were then published in the 1998 spring and fall editions of the "AFTE Journal." In September of 1999, I participated in the week-long Sherlock Holmes Festival in London. I am a charter member of the "Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections" at the University of Minnesota.
FAVORITE SHERLOCKIAN QUOTES
1.. "It was a bitterly cold and frosty morning, towards the end of the winter of 97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face, and told me at a glance that something was amiss. "Come Watson, come" he cried. "The game is afoot." (Adventure of the Abbey Grange - September 1904.)
2. "Here dwell together still two men of note...That age before the world went all awry...England is England yet, for all our fears - Only those things the heart believes are true. A yellow fog swirls past the window pane as night descends upon this fabled street. A lonely hansom splashes through the rain,...Here though the world explode, these two survive, and it is always eighteen ninety five." (Vincent Starrett - March 1942.)
3.. Watson: "What INEFFABLE TWADDLE!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table. "I never read such rubbish in my life." (A Study in Scarlet - December 1887.)
4.. Holmes: "Bleat, Watson - UNMITIGATED BLEAT." (The Adventure of the Red Circle - March-April 1911.)
Related Links: (Click on a Link) Sherlock Holmes as a Forensic
Firearms Consultant