The job should have no say and no bearing on your choice or ability to defend yourself. The law says it's legal. That should be the end of the discussion. As medic417 noted, if your employer presumes to supercede that right, then he is taking liability for your safety, should you suffer from their disarmament. Conversely, if they take no position on the situation, they have no liability for your actions. Ignorance is bliss, and to not address it at all is the most legally prudent position for an EMS agency to take.
I am not questioning whether an employer should be able to tell you how to protect yourself. But let's face it, most minimlly trained EMS providers can't make an informed decsion on when to put somebody on a backboard. You want to add a firearm to the mix?
If a provider was working out in the bush somewhere,a provider may need a firearm for protection from the indiginous species. (people in the urban jungle excluded)
But many of the replies here I have seen seem to not be based on risk/benefit comparison but a "what if" situation that even the most experienced people have never been in and sounds like they expect a gunfight like the O.K. Corral.
"when the psych patient pulls a gun I will pull mine quicker and shoot him or "After I take cover, the advancing under coverfire gunman is going to come finish me off. But I will surprise him and shoot him dead."
Please I have put it to geat minds and could not find one instance. Can anyone find a documented instance of this happening outside of a military environment or a state under siege?
What's next? Make sure you have a backup weapon too? Back up to the back up? Pretty soon you look like Swartzenegger in "Commando" and you haven't even picked up your medical gear yet. Maybe a some urban Cammies to hide in? How about a gillie suit? Is "Scene safe" gonna mean you stopped a mile up the road and checked the area out from the scope of your M82A3 and cautiously advance while your partner covers you to the address because the cops can't come to help you with such a high risk entry because they are tracking down the dude that held up Krispy Kreme?
This just in...
"Paramedics dynamically enter a residence shoot woman and 2 children dead, after securing the scene, they procede to work the cardiac arrest victim, to find out on arrival that the ET tube was in the esophagus."
Think my reply sounds stupid? ask some non ems providers to read the comments here.
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