[Characteristic of injuries inflicted by a blank gunshot]

The analysis of the data published in the special literature indicates that forensic-medical aspects of the injuries inflicted by blank shots fired from a variety of small-arms weapons remain poorly known or virtually unexplored. Despite considerable variability of such injuries, their forensic-medical examination should include three basic components, viz. the proof of the absence of the injurious action of the shot, differential diagnostics of the consequences of injuries attributable to each traumatic factor of the shot, and experimental simulation of the damages to the human body and the clothes taking into account concrete models of the weapons and the blank cartridge.