Ambulance Driver Files A Day in the Life | Kelly Grayson
One of the lectures at EMS World Expo I most wanted to attend was Tim Holman's lecture, "Is It Time To Arm Our EMTs?" From the lecture description in the conference program:
The world is changing, and more incidents are occurring where EMTs are being ambushed, assaulted and murdered. In this session, Tim takes an in-depth look at the pros and cons of arming EMTs and covers many aspects of gun control, legal concealed carry, and how it can impact EMTs' safety. This class is guaranteed to open your eyes to a long-standing controversy.
I've weighed in on this issue before, and here's what I said five years ago on this blog:
I’m not saying EMTs shouldn’t defend themselves. I’m not even opposed to the abstract idea of CCW while on the job. It’s just that most EMTs I know who insist on carrying weapons are just the sort of EMTs who shouldn’t…well…be EMTs. Much less armed EMTs.
I'd have to say that my position has evolved since then. I'm no longer against arming EMTs. I'm against arming the kind of EMTs who feel the need to flash their heater to me on the job. And let's be clear, I'm against those people being EMTs, period.
It's been my experience that EMS differs from many of the healthcare disciplines in that a higher percentage of EMS providers seem to favor gun rights. Come to think of it, most of the physician gun nuts I know tend to be ER doctors, and a great many of my ER nurse friends know their way around a gun range, too. It's almost as if the people who are most directly exposed to the effects of gun violence are the most passionate Second Amendment advocates, but that may just be a raging case of selection bias in the people I choose for friends. The further you get from the Emergency Department toward the ivory towers of public health academia, you get doctors less like the gang at M.D.O.D. and more like Garen Wintemute (and no, I'm not going to link to the shrillest anti-gun shill in medicine).
Overall, medicine, and public health in particular, tends to trend more toward the anti-gun side of the spectrum, and in some places the attitude can be so unfriendly as to constitute a hostile work environment. At least one well-known gun blogger disguises his identity for fear that he'll take heat from his employer over his Second Amendment advocacy.
Tim Holman is a respected EMS and fire service educator and a nationally known speaker, and I was curious as to how he'd approach such a charged topic. Unfortunately, his lecture coincided with one of my own, and I had a room full of people waiting to hear my lecture, so…
… I sent a spy.
KC of Paramedic Pulp Fiction was kind enough to attend Tim's lecture for me, and sends us this review:
I appreciate Kelly asking me to write a guest review of Tim Holman’s presentation entitled “Is it Time to Arm Our EMTs?” that was presented at this year’s EMS World Expo in Las Vegas last week. Before I begin, I feel I should introduce myself and present a few disclosures as I will be talking from the only perspective I can truly attest to: my own.
I work as a Paramedic in a very urban setting – one that is consistently ranked in the top five of America’s most dangerous. I am a competitive shooter in the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) as well as long distance and have been a gun owner most of my adult life. Mr. Holman's presentation was of interest to me not only for the potentially controversial discussion but also because I had to flee a scene while my ambulance was taking fire from local gang bangers just last week.
Upon walking into the conference room I knew this was going to be a heated discussion as nearly every seat was occupied. Mr. Holman began his discussion with a series of statistics familiar to most people who follow the current NRA press releases. I can only paraphrase them to say that statistically, ‘concealed carry’ has significantly reduced the occurrence of violent crime in every state where it has been enacted. This was followed by press clippings from across the country of instances where EMTs were shot at or fell victim to violent assault during the execution of their duties. Most of this is common knowledge to those of us working the streets – it served to frame the discussion in the context that the world is changing and we in EMS need to adapt to the changes.
Mr. Holman then went on to say that he is not recommending that we arm all EMTs. He is undecided about how to respond to the increase in violence against EMS so he is studying the situation and weighing possible responses, only one of which is concealed carry for EMTs. It was the opinion of Mr. Holman – and many of the participance of the discussion – that open carry for EMTs is problematic for the normal execution of our duties.
When responding to some very pointed questions from the audience he went on to say that arming EMTs may not have prevented many of the instances he listed in the press clippings. Yet he seems to draw a correlation between the passive deterrent that concealed carry produces in the civilian world; the possibility that a person may be armed might be a deterrent for people perpetrating violent crimes.
There was no arguing the fact that EMS personnel need to have increased training in recognition/diffusion of dangerous situations. Mr. Holman took a great deal of time to discuss the defensive positioning that our brothers in law enforcement use in approaching a scene and the use of defensive situational awareness. All of this was very informative and can be used on a daily basis on every call. We were encouraged to remember that the nature of the call from the dispatcher often has very little bearing on the potential for violence at any given interaction with the public.
Mr. Holman ended the discussion with a sentiment that rang true to me and nearly all of the other attendees. “Now, the problem is, every one of you knows an EMT that should NEVER be allowed to carry a gun.”
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Just the fact that we are having this discussion is a good thing. Regardless of which side of the fence one may sit on it was obvious that most in attendance were getting their balls busted from straddling the fence – a splintery situation that was only exacerbated by the many kilts in the room.
From a personal perspective I think this controversy has many similarities to the nebulous definition of EMS 2.0; your perfect system may not fit in my situation and vice-versa. I believe there are some situations when having an armed EMT may be beneficial yet there are others when it may bring on more danger/liability than it deters.
I left the lecture in private reflection of the recent occurrences in my urban setting. The officers in my city have recently stopped carrying shotguns and assault rifles in their cars because they were routinely getting stolen by gang bangers. Officers were lured into a foot chase while others did a smash and grab on the car. If people in my city are targeting the well-armed officers I see no reason to make myself more of a target with the potential that I may be armed.
Sometimes you have to make an inflammatory statement just to get people’s attention and effect change. To that end I believe Mr. Holman has done a great service to the EMS community by putting this discussion on the table at a nationally recognized conference. If the end result is that we receive better training, better protection, and possibly some better tools, then I think he has accomplished his goals.
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My perspectives are my own and any misrepresentation of Mr. Holman’s lecture is purely the fault of my internal ear/brain filter. My thanks to Kelly for asking me to do a guest post.
My sentiments echo those of KC; the fact that we're even having the discussion is a good thing. Ten years ago, the topic would have been verboten at any EMS conference, and last week it drew a full room at the largest EMS educational conference and trade show in North America. Concealed carry of firearms is becoming normalized. Gun control advocates hate to see this, and respond with ever more shrill rhetoric.
For most of my adult life, media portrayed gun owners as the lunatic fringe of American culture. As recently as 2008, our own President referred to us as "bitterly clinging to guns and religion."
The fact that Tim Holman's presentation made the cut among the many hundreds of lecture submissions to EMS World Expo is testament to the truth:
Gun owners are the mainstream. The gun-rights opponents are the fringe.
