I would have to assume that LEO will secure your gun(s) while you are being taken care of. Of course, at some point they will check your ID and any legalities of you being in possession of a firearm.

 

I have asked this same question to a few Deputies and Troopers around here and have gotten differing answers from all of them. I just hope they will turn my weapon over to hospital security and I can retrieve it from them when I am discharged.

 

My agency doesn't really have a policy in place and I had never given it much thought until I started getting into guns and asked about it.
In the event you are unresponsive and we find a pistol on you during our assessment of you in the back of the truck and A) we haven't began transport yet we will alert an officer to come secure the weapon while leaving it in the holster or B) if we had already began transport I'm comfortable enough with most guns that I would remove and clear the weapon before dropping you off at the ER and would also notify local LE to come take custody of the weapon until it can be released to either a family member or back to you once discharged from the hospital.

In the event you aren't unresponsive, you need to make any first responder aware that you are carrying so that they don't accidentally find it and possibly cause and ND when they have to put hands on you.
The good thing is that most cops, firemen and medics are all into firearms in one way or another be it hunting or just getting in some range time so I wouldn't expect you telling them that you have a weapon on you to freak them out or anything.
Lets just hope you're never in need of our sercives. lol

 

Lets just hope you're never in need of our sercives.

That is a good statement. I hope to not need your (generally speaking as a profession) services but am darned sure glad you're there if I do.

 

Here is Texas in a traffic stop you are of corse to hand your DL & CCL to the officer & let him know you are carrying.. In Texas your CCL info is attached to your DL, so even if I was unconscious, when they ran my credentials it would show up.. MOST ALL, but not all EMT's & firefighters are aware of the laws concerning CCW here in Texas. If I was conscious then I would not hesitate to tell the responding officer right away so he could secure my weapon & let him know my family members are aware & will be there to handle my weapon. Don't forget a name & badge just incase.. I trust no one!

 

I got into an accident recently where a three year old boy got away from his dad and ran out into the street as I was driving by (fill in the blank) supermarket, I barely hit him with my wifes car. I knocked him down, he had no broken bones, no road rash, no injury what so ever, thank God. The little boy and his father were crying and to tell you the truth I was shakeing like a leaf. The paramedics checked him out real good and he was alright just scared. The sherriff deputies came out in force, there must have been five patrol cars that showed up. I told them what happened and gave them my documents (license, reg and insurance) and not one of them asked me for my CCL or my weapon. To boot I had to wait for the FL Highway patrol, which took about an hour to arrive..no inquiries about my CCL or weapon either, just what had happened. There were several witnesses that coroborated my story and I wasn't even cited. They didn't ask about my weapon, I didn't mention it.

 

We used to check any Personal Property into the Evidence Locker,once the person,or family member with proper ID showed up it would be released back to them

 

I can answer this question from personal experience. I was carrying a Taurus PT99 in a Galco leather OWB holster when I was involved in a near-fatal (to me alone) head-on collision southwest of Indianapolis in the winter of 1993. I was driving a Chevy Beretta and slid on unseen ice into the other lane striking an S-10 pickup truck driver-to-driver, and was knocked out upon impact, despite wearing my seatbelt. My sister-in-law was in the passenger seat, and my mother was in the back, but they were too incapacitated and/or concerned about me (I also collapsed my lungs and stopped breathing upon impact) to notify the ambulance crew that I was armed. They turned my blood-stained holster and pistol over to hospital security, who then turned it over to my mother once she was well enough to visit me in the hospital.

 

I've been in this situation plenty of times. Most of the time i'll stuff the gun into a purse, bag, jacket pocket etc...so long as its safe (no mag, slide locked back) and send it to the hospital with the victim. If the victim isnt conscious, i've turned it into our Property / Evidence room, with a release attached. The owner can go pick it up when they get out of the hospital. I've never seen anyone freak out about it.

 

Don’t let the cops take it, you will have a hard time getting it back. There have been posts on this site and others of cops securing a firearm and the owner having to do though knot holes to get it back

 

What? Really?
I can see your statement being true if it was used in a self defense situation but if they are just holding on to it for you while you are in the hospital so that it doesn't sit in your busted up car while at the wrecker yard then I see no reason why any honest cop would make you or a family member jump though hoops to get it back. Hell, most of the cops I know don't want to babysit anyone else's belongings any longer than necessary. As soon as they can give it back to the injured person or that person's representative the better.
Also, they likely wouldn't keep it on them for very long. The would probably take it back to the station and lock it up the first chance they got and then it would be up to you to retrieve it from the PD when you were able.

If you could please reference the threads you mentioned I would like to give them a read and see some other peoples experiences with the situation.
Not being a smart ass, I really would like to see them if you're able to find them.

 

If I'm getting loading into a meat wagon for emergency reasons, my firearm is the least of my immediate concerns.

 

This made me chuckle. Of course you're right! Just thought I'd throw out a scenario. Better to think of it now and be prepared than wake up in the hospital wondering where to go to find it. Hmmm...perhaps our local ambulance needs a gun safety course! (I just got my instructor cert :smile

Thanks for all the input. I know several local law men and don't think it'd be hard to get it back. Just wondering what the first responders would do. The thought of an idiot taking my gun off me when i have no say scares me. (Not to start another thread)

 

I guess this can be a concern in some situations. When I carry in a car, I keep the weapon on my person. Some people place the weapon in a glove box or center console. I do not know how thoroughly anyone will look at the car. I suppose it may be left unsecured for a while.

 

I'm going through EMT training right now and asked my instructor. According to him, in the three ambulance services he has worked for in his 21 years as an EMT and then paramedic he has never seen an actual written protocol for securing a firearm. His advice to us was, if we do find a gun and the patient is unconscious, if we are comfortable enough with firearms, secure it on our own person until it can be handed over to authorities.

If we are not comfortable, don't handle it.. call the police and let them handle it. He strongly recommended NOT just handing it over to family members because you don't know if they can legally have a firearm and you don't want to inadvertently be handing a firearm over to a felon, etc.

If the patient is conscious we need to STRONGLY consider backing out of the scene and calling in law enforcement to secure the firearm before continuing with treatment of the patient.

I know a lot of people will get a little ornery about that, but you have to remember that in medical emergencies level of consciousness and altered mental status can make for combative individuals. A person who would normally not hurt anyone without just cause may not be thinking clearly and as the responding EMTs don't know you their responsibility is to themselves and their safety.

 

I'm going through EMT training right now and asked my instructor. According to him, in the three ambulance services he has worked for in his 21 years as an EMT and then paramedic he has never seen an actual written protocol for securing a firearm. His advice to us was, if we do find a gun and the patient is unconscious, if we are comfortable enough with firearms, secure it on our own person until it can be handed over to authorities.

If we are not comfortable, don't handle it.. call the police and let them handle it. He strongly recommended NOT just handing it over to family members because you don't know if they can legally have a firearm and you don't want to inadvertently be handing a firearm over to a felon, etc.

If the patient is conscious we need to STRONGLY consider backing out of the scene and calling in law enforcement to secure the firearm before continuing with treatment of the patient.

I know a lot of people will get a little ornery about that, but you have to remember that in medical emergencies level of consciousness and altered mental status can make for combative individuals. A person who would normally not hurt anyone without just cause may not be thinking clearly and as the responding EMTs don't know you their responsibility is to themselves and their safety.

That's interesting, Lima, but what if the paramedic isn't legal to posses the gun either. If they don't have a CPL/CCW license then they would have to open carry it. In Michigan they could not enter a hospital with it concealed and could only carry it in to a hospital open carried if they have a CPL. If the gun was in a pocket holster they couldn't just put it in their pants pocket unless they were licensed and I would think that no matter what your going to want to keep the gun in it's holster for safety. If it's in an IWB holster I don't see a paramedic taking the time to wear the holster. I guess there are other issues in states that don't allow open carry also, since you wouldn't have any option but to conceal it. I would think that letting the police keep it would be the easiest way to go.

 

I crashed a motorcycle in 2003 while carrying. When the police arrived and asked for ID, I provided DL & CHL as required, he asked where the pistol was, asked me for it and told me I could pick it up from the property room when I was discharged from the hospital. There was no hassle picking it up the next day.

 

I'll sick my wife and attorney on them! One and the same. It's nice to be a kept man.

 

You're screwed if you ever get divorced. :tongue:

 

My department has a policy for handling of persons with firearms. If the person is unconscous or unresponsive the weapon is turned over to a Command Officer on the scene who clears the weapon and alerts the responding P.D. and turns the weapon over to the P.O. on the scene. The P.D. logs it in to their weapons locker. Stays there until arrangements are made for the owner to pick it up.

 

I was in this situation a couple of times when I was in EMS. Both were LEOs and unresponsive. The officers on scene quickly removed the firearms and we went on our way to the ER. Good outcomes in both instances, so I'm sure the weapons were cared for and returned to them. I don't think the officers would have acted differently for anyone CCing.

 

In my area the Police are ALWAYS on the scene to back-up and assist the Paramedics and to do traffic control etc.
If you were a legal gun owner and were carrying a firearm in my area it's sure bet that a LEO would take control of the firearm and it's also a sure bet that it would be promptly returned to you as soon as you were able to to take possession of it.


Hey............Kudos lima! :yup:

 

things that make you go huuuhh, I would certainly hope that LEO would take control of my gun...My wife hates guns, and would feel uncomfortable handeling any weapon (try to teach her and take her to the range, she's not ready, had hot brass go where hot brass isn't intended) LEO know how to handle the weapon and I'm sure would take good care of it...

 

I've had a few armed patients, but only one was unconscious; my partner found a (very nice) custom Kimber .45 in the gents waistband and got kind of wide-eyed. I removed it from the waistband, cleared it and put it on the back of the stretcher while he called for LE. When they arrived a minute later, they took custody of it, ran it through NCIC (clear all the way) and told us he could retrieve it the next day from the LE Center. I ran into the fellow a few weeks later and he told me all he had to do was show his DL and CWP to get it back. He did thank me for taking care of it for him, which was nice. I've seen a few at MVC's with conscious patients; we normally let the sheriff or PD get it from the patient and stick to doing our EMS thing. If it's a long gun we just leave it alone until the cops arrive.

 

Just to add, if the gun makes it to the hospital undiscovered such as in a smart carry the hospital staff will have procedures that range from securing the weapon with their security people to turning it over to local PD. In both cases you should have no problem getting it back as long as everything checks out.

 

If it gets to the hospital undetected then somebody on the ambulance didn't do their job in assessing the full body of the pt.

 

I have seen people come in after a heart attack or severe head trauma where the paramedic is doing all they can to get the person to the ER. I would excuse them for missing a gun in a Smart Carry.