Who knows for sure where the phrase the smoking gun might have originated. It could have been first said in Europe not long after the firearm was invented or it might have been coined in the old west of America. Wherever it was first came up with, it is used as a way to specify a certain piece of evidence in a crime that clearly implicates someone or something.

Sometimes the phrase the smoking gun can literally mean a gun was found freshly fired and other times it can refer to some other element in a criminal case that the proof that someone did something. There usually always has to be a smoking gun so to speak in almost any criminal case to ensure a guilty verdict unless circumstantial evidence is great enough to get the job done. It used to be a lot easier for criminals to avoid leaving behind a smoking gun piece of evidence, but those days are long gone.

With the forensic technologies that are available and used today at a crime scene, the chances of a person getting away with rape, murder, and almost any other crime is almost impossible. The smallest bit of fiber, hair, or bodily fluid of any kind can be found and used to convict someone. Many criminals in this day and age who thought that they could not have possibly left behind a smoking gun are often surprised when they are put in hand cuffs and led away to jail.

In the past one, other than being seen committing a crime, the best way to prove someone guilty of that crime was if they left behind finger prints some where at the crime scene. Now criminals realize they have to be even more careful. Rapists and murders have been known to completely shave their body from head to toe to ensure they do not leave behind and hair that can be traced back to them. If a criminal leaves behind any blood of their own, gets a the blood of the victim on their clothes, leaves semen in a rape victim, if the victim scratches the criminal and gets their skin under their fingernails, or even saliva on a cigarette butt, it can spell disaster for them.

It makes you wonder if in the future it will be possible for anyone to get away with anything. With the forensic evidence that can be gathered and surveillance going on everywhere, it just might become impossible. This is good for those who wish to be greatly protected, but not so good for those who wish to get away with something they should not.