Comments to support removal of regulation against EMS carrying weapons

[paramedic70002]

***LINKS FIXED***

The long awaited Final Stage of implementing new EMS Regulations in Virginia is at hand!

Ever since VCDL's President called the State Office of EMS about this, they have stated that they "do not enforce" this section of the Regulations. Now is when it officially gets erased from the Virginia Administrative Code.

The new 12VAC5-31-700 removes this silly item:

6. Possession of a firearm, weapon, or explosive or incendiary device on any EMS vehicle is prohibited, except:
a. A sworn law-enforcement officer authorized to carry a concealed weapon pursuant to § 18.2-308 of the Code of Virginia.
b. Any rescue line gun or other rescue device powered by an explosive charge carried on a nontransport response vehicle.

The actual regulation can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/8lbtdqd

The place to go, to make comments in support of this move (even if you're not in EMS, or live out of state), is:

http://tinyurl.com/8v4pue9

Click on "Enter a comment" to get started.

Thanks for helping what should be a "done deal!"

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Adrenaline]

Best of luck. Seems those who take an oath to save life ought to be able to save their own if necessary.

[ghost tracker]

I hereby support any & all efforts to save as many lives of the very folks who are trained to...save my life.

Seems to me that treating First Responders like 2nd Class Citizens by prohibiting their 2nd Amendment Rights is nonsense. I am weary of legislatively-mandated nonsense. THIS is a good place to start!

[mlr1m]

Would this law affect only those individual working for the Government or would it affect the policies of private companies as well?

Michael

[IAm_Not_Lost]

Would this law affect only those individual working for the Government or would it affect the policies of private companies as well?

Michael

Excellent question, my thoughts precisely. Even if this regulation is removed I would think every private EMS company out there would still enforce a "no gun" company policy.

[Happypuppy]

My story as an EMT in California:

I was in school and since I had been a Corpsman in the Navy to help support myself I trained to be an EMT. I got a job easy enough in in Oakland. We got a call one night from residence about a shooting victim ( this was before the days of consolidation , 911 and ambulance companies were private (mid 1970's) )

We headed out to the avenues in East Oakland and soon were at a dark house that had called us. We got our stuff together and headed into the house. I kept hearing this "get out" over and over but I couldn't see anyone.

The other 2 guys were getting the victim together and was still outside opening the doors. I saw some movement and a fast flash of a flashlight. It was the source of the calling. I jogged over and it was a LEO for Oakland Police.

The crew and myself were in the middle of a shootout. The call was placed by an associate of the victim of police gunfire, inside the house. I had to stay with the LEO and the other guys , working on the victim were busy loading the guy into the rig. I waved them down and they picked me up

We were met at Highland Hospital by Oakland PD, Alameda Sherriffs and the patient was secured , charged and treated. We had escaped getting killed by luck I guess.
It turned out that there were 2 guys in the house all had been involved in a robbery. The Police had tracked them to the house and the occupants opened fire on Oakland Police. They were hidden behind cover and we never saw them coming in.

The fellows inside were eventually forced out and arrested later

Should EMS be armed...by all means. We were lucky or had Angels protecting us.






Sent via Mental Power

[Badey]

I tried to comment, but the link didn't work.

[BugDude]

You've got my support 100%. I spent 14 years as the Board Chairman of a Regional EMS Agency in Virginia and our Executive Director was one of our biggest 2A Supporters. I always felt like that should have been an agency decision and not a state decision. The local authority granted the agency license, we purchased our own vehicles, hired our staff, and ran as a self supporting entity. I am glad to see it on its way to being changed. I'll be sure to e-mail him and provide plenty of people in addition to myself to support this endeavor.

[SmokinFool]

I'm all for giving first responders the means to protect themselves so they can go about doing the job they were hired to do. You've got my support.

[SmokinFool]

I tried to comment, but the link didn't work.

Same here.

[linuss]

Being a Paramedic myself, I'm all for it, but the biggest hurdle is the employers and the hospitals we transport to, who both currently have the right to deny carry on the premise.

[dukalmighty]

Broken link,but good luck,sometimes desperate junkies will do anything to get a fix

[paramedic70002]

OK, I (hopefully) fixed the broken links.

[bigmacque]

I totally support what you're looking for here, but I did take the time to read some of the comments. What additional 12 hours of training, from courses that do not yet exist, are being referred to? If that's being written into the language alongside the right to carry it, then I'd have to agree with some of the previous comments: that's excessive and seems unnecessary.

Otherwise, I don't see why you shouldn't carry, in fact can easily see why you should.

[64zebra]

Broken link,but good luck,sometimes desperate junkies will do anything to get a fix

we've had 2 incidents in the last 18 months or so, where some dirtbags were trying to bust in an ambulance sitting in a parking lot (how they stage here), turds were trying to get in back, then side, then the driver/passenger doors, if they would have had something to break the glass it would have got ugly, the medics inside called for PD code 3 and we got sent over to take care of the idiots, both times the driver put it in gear and drove away from the threat, but this could happen on any incident scene too