A comment by Skip Kirkwood
I think medics should be armed…..
- …with Verbal Judo and other established training in defusing violent situations.medics – cropped by ruin raider via flickr
- …with the Escaping Violent Encounters course from DT4EMS.
- …with a required level of personal fitness, so that they can apply EVE techniques and effectively escape from the threat of harm.
- —with ballistic vests and other devices to protect them from random harm.
- …with the support of their organizations, so that every person who attacks an EMT or paramedic is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
- …with peers and supervisors who support them, and don’t ridicule them when they are the victim of an assault, who don’t consider being attacked to be “just part of the job.”
- …with “less than lethal” defensive tools that are appropriate to the threats that EMS folks actually face.
Once we’ve accomplished all of that, let’s have a discussion about firearms and the need for that level of force, based on the evidence available to us.
If our agencies and our schools are not willing to invest the time and the effort in providing this sort of training to EVERY member, then we are not ready for the more difficult question.
(Well said Skip. Thanks for that.)
