EMS workers allowed to carry weapons...

...when to hold em and when to fold em...
 
Mycrofft: fortunately I have not been in a situation where either I nor my coworker have had to draw our weapons. However, we have been in places where we have certainly discussed a plan of attack in case the situation did become volitile. We try our very best to cool off a situation using verbal judo and then egress as quickly as possible just like any other amb crew would. Like I said, the weapons are strictly for last resort i-cant-get-away-and-this-guys-trying-to-kill-me type scenarios. Anyway, you are correct in regards to this being a unique situation to most other areas but the concept still remains true: a few well established, well trained individuals should be allowed to have concealed weapons on any ambulance just in case that once in a lifetime situation should arise. (I am excluding, of course, places like the kill zone in Oakland or the mean streets of LA because people are just way to heavily armed in those places and one little concealed Glock is not gonna do a whole lot of good);)
 
Aidey said:
Why is it all or nothing? Why is it either defenseless or gun?
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Because when it comes to fighting for your life against someone who wants to take it, it IS all or nothing.


They aren't to be used if you're smacked by a patient. They aren't to be used if you have a patient angry at you. They are to be used when you have no other form of recourse to protect your life. Simply put, talking and running don't always work. There are times that no matter what you do, you have to fight. Anyone who has worked in EMS for ANY length of time knows how quickly a call can go from calm to SHTF with no warning / time to safely react at all. It's more likely to happen while working than it is the average bystander walking down the street.



Tell the family of Mark Davis that he screwed up when he was shot and killed by a patient.
 
Linuss said:
Because when it comes to fighting for your life against someone who wants to take it, it IS all or nothing.


They aren't to be used if you're smacked by a patient. They aren't to be used if you have a patient angry at you. They are to be used when you have no other form of recourse to protect your life. Simply put, talking and running don't always work. There are times that no matter what you do, you have to fight. Anyone who has worked in EMS for ANY length of time knows how quickly a call can go from calm to SHTF with no warning / time to safely react at all. It's more likely to happen while working than it is the average bystander walking down the street.



Tell the family of Mark Davis that he screwed up when he was shot and killed by a patient.
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Well put, +1
 
Doczilla said:
Yes. People underestimate how much time and training it takes to use a pistol in enough time to make a difference.

Thousands of rounds. Transitions, stress shooting, immediate action.....
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I'll bow out with this, and DT4 can back me up on this. Firearms are not for point-blank defense. Prison guards are taught how to fire a sidearm with the shooting hand against their chest just for such "I'm taking one with me" situations. Let a determined person close with you (or be cooped up in an ambulance) and the likelihood is far greater that the attacker will either take away your weapon, or just smack you silly or otherwise render you unable to use a firearm or knife or machete etc. Like sensei said, best defense is don't be there for the blow to fall.
 
Carrying a firearm can lead to the potential for taking a life. One is never prepared for such an event. Once that trigger is pulled, there is no going back. Your world as you know it changes forever. Your sleepy nights as you have come to enjoy, change forever. I am not sure that many of you truly realize just how much, lethal force will irrevocably alter you, forever...
 
Sandog said:
Carrying a firearm can lead to the potential for taking a life. One is never prepared for such an event. Once that trigger is pulled, there is no going back. Your world as you know it changes forever. Your sleepy nights as you have come to enjoy, change forever. I am not sure that many of you truly realize just how much, lethal force will irrevocably alter you, forever...
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you know, not for nothing, but I'd rather have sleepless nights for the rest of my life, than have my life ended.

a gun isn't the first line of defense. it isn't the second or third. it's the last line, when it's your life or the life of your attacker. And if it's between me killing him and him killing me, I'm not sorry to say, I want to go home at the end of the day, and that means my life is more important than his.

btw, guns in the back of the ambulance are generally a bad idea. but outside the ambulance, where others may have guns, well, then the idea isn't all that bad or unreasonable.

I've never had a gun pulled on me. and I hope to never have a gun pulled on me. but if I did have it happen, I'd want to be able to do whatever was needed to make sure I survive the encounter.
 
Reset targets please!

What a surprise, the topic has jumped tracks!

I seem to be closing a lot of threads like this lately, and believe me it's because EMS gets left far behind along with the coolness under fire associated with it.

So, I'll leave it up to you all to turn this into something relevant to EMS, and if you can't...
 
I'm from VA and this law will apply to me. Like any rule or law it has a good side and a bad side: It allows for EMS workers to protect themselves, but I would be worried that it could get in the way and a patient could grab it especially while you are very close to them in the rig (leaning over them to get something from a cabinet). It is going to be interesting to see how it all works out. There are definitely good intentions here, nonetheless.
 
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