Conceal and Carry while on shift

     The growing topic in my line of work right now is should we as EMTs and Paramedics be able to conceal and carry a firearm for our safety. You have people who believe we should, you have some who have no clue, but then you have individuals like me who think it is not a smart idea at all. This blog will be over my opinion on conceal and carry while on shift.

      To truly be great in this line of work you must make you patient your sole focus. You have to block out the chaos that is going on around you, and lock on to their signs and symptoms of presenting problems. This is one of the great downfalls, in my opinion, to the idea of carrying on the ambulance. You have a responsibility, to yourself and others, to accurately and appropriately be able to use a firearm as a tool when you carry. One of the steps to ensure you are doing this is to be able to properly maintain your weapon at all times. Honestly, I believe firearm retention is the next biggest thing to proper fundamentals of shooting. If I am solely focused on my patient, then how will I be able to maintain my situational awareness oriented towards my pistol. I like to think I am good at multitasking, but I personally can not perform accurate intervention and also be solely aware of my pistol. When I am with my patients they are within my personal bubble, and I am touching them, talking to them, and even leaning over them. One of the best forms of fire arm retention is adequate space. Although, this will not always be the case, I am going to keep as far away from potential threats as possible. Even though I know different small joint manipulations to accurately retain my firearm, I should never put myself in the situation where it is warranted for use.

      My next dispute with the idea of carrying on the ambulance would be why do you want to introduce another weapon into the scenario that can be used against you. A lot of people might be thinking, another weapon? I say this because everything in the back of our ambulance can be used as an improvised weapon for us or against us. So with the thought of the close proximity of the ambulance, why would I bring a firearm into an already dangerous situation for us. This is why they have Defensive Tactics for EMS. It teaches us how to deescalate or stop the threat, and get away. I have had this thought challenged by the statement," well some people don't take martial art for self defense, so they might want a firearm." Hey guys guess what, if someone is to lazy to train for unarmed self defense, then why would they train in armed self defense. Remember that statement in the last paragraph where I said you have a responsibility, to yourself and others, to be able to properly use that tool. How can you do this if you don't train. Armed manipulations are just like any skill trait you obtain, they are extremely perishable if not used. I have also been challenged with the statement of appropriate force for force. Basically, they are stating if they are presented with an immediate threat to their life, then they believe they should be able to match that level of force with a pistol. I get this, but what's funny is I have so many deadly weapons on my body on call that no one notices. For example I always have a pocket knife, my trauma shears,  and pens. An improvised weapon with a pen to strategic places on the body is deadly force. This is where the training comes into place, you need to know where that is. Let's say it doesn't stop the threat completely, but I bet it opened up an are of opportunity to get away from the threat.

     So what do I think needs to be done for the assurance of the safety for all personnel in my field. I believe appropriate personal protective equipment, like body armor, and enforced self defense techniques will be extremely helpful. Also, I believe all EMS personnel should be trained in appropriate situational awareness, to include, how to properly read and recognize indications that they are in harm. This includes body posterior, body movements, facial expression recognition and a lot more. Also, EMS should be taught the Continuum of Force spectrum so they know not only can you escalate the situation, but deescalate when need be.  The one thing I don't think will help though is to carry on the job. This is because I do not want to bring another weapon into an already dangerous situation.