What do EMTs do with your gun?

I checked my brother's EMT training book, and it advises them to not touch the person until LE secures the weapon.

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They really expect an EMT to let a guy bleed to death because a cop has not yet shown up?

I find that hard to believe. All they need to do is not mess with the firearm, or, better yet, they need training to learn to deal with a firearm themselves, though. There are cases where the patient it critiical and they would need to cut their clothes off, place them on a back board, etc. LE may be too late if they do nothing when they encounter a firearm.

Never in 16 years have I had to deal with the issue. Ya think its because I am in California

They really expect an EMT to let a guy bleed to death because a cop has not yet shown up?

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In short, yes. Anytime we get a call that sounds like it may be violent, we park (stage) several blocks away and wait for LEOs. Shootings, suicide attempts, batteries, stabbings, and anything else that sounds suspicious. It is not wise to use ambulances and fire trucks to transport more victims to the scene, as you are not helping anyone if you are shot as well.

If we arrive at an otherwise routine call and there is no one being violent, the mere presence of a firearm is not cause for concern. If after we arrive on scene, the scene gets violent, we will either subdue the person ourselves, or evacuate and wait for the cops. Which option we take depends on the situation.

I know this sounds cold, but whatever happened to cause people to get injured isn't my fault, and I am not going to needlessly get injured. The whole of our job is about managing risk to do a job, not taking reckless chances.

They really expect an EMT to let a guy bleed to death because a cop has not yet shown up?

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In short, yes. Anytime we get a call that sounds like it may be violent, we park (stage) several blocks away and wait for LEOs. Shootings, suicide attempts, batteries, stabbings, and anything else that sounds suspicious. It is not wise to use ambulances and fire trucks to transport more victims to the scene, as you are not helping anyone if you are shot as well.

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It is never a good idea to make a bad situation worse, but the book quote did not say anything about a violent situation, just the mere presence of a gun.

I would not expect firemen to take risks they are not trained to deal with, but the mere presence of an inanimate object does not seem like much of a risk, and I am surprised a text book would be so afraid of it. What does the book say about pocket knives and baseball bats?

I do not say this to brag, but to establish bonafides:

This year is my 20th on the job, I am a fire and EMS instructor. I have been doing this awhile. When we have students, we teach them the same thing:

Scene safety. In fact, when we do training scenarios, if the first words out of their mouths when the scenario begins are not "Scene safety" they receive an automatic fail for the exercise.

Fire and EMS are not trained to deal with weapons, criminals, or any of the other things LEOs deal with. So we train them not to even try. That doesn't mean that those of us who ARE familiar with weapons never bend the rules to help a gunny out, but the standard line is that we do not mess with weapons. Imagine a person who has never handled a weapon trying to unload one. That is how accidents happen.

We are talking about dealing with the most dangerous creature on the planet (people) at a time when they are injured, intoxicated, keyed up, angry that they just got in a car accident, and/or afraid of going to jail. Humans are unpredictable in the best of times, much less when injured and under stress. Nothing personal, because even cops are disarmed when seriously injured. I have seen cops with head injuries trying to draw a weapon to defend themselves. It is called "fight or flight"

Like we also tell students: "That is the book answer, now this is what really happens on the street."

I have never had an issue on a scene. When I was in EMT-I class, we had a LEO give a scene safety lecture. I made a point of speaking up and pointing out that NM has approx. 7K CHLs issued and that there are a lot of people that legally carry. The nice old shop keeper you're assessing for chest pain may be LEGALLY packing a piece and that you ALWAYS need to use YOUR BRAIN in any situation.

Now here is an example of an EMS call that turned sour: http://www.koat.com/news/17045584/detail.html

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A man is listed in critical condition and three officers are on leave after a police-involved shooting in northeast Albuquerque Wednesday.

The shooting happened on Mesa Arriba at about 7 p.m.

Investigators said it started with a call from the man's home to the fire department complaining of chest pains.
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Once there, officials said the man told emergency crews he had a gun. The crews left the scene and notified police...

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