Some EMTs, firefighters want guns on job

((Excerpt))

A debate is ramping up at the state level over whether to let EMTs and firefighters carry guns on the job.

Some emergency medical services workers say they now routinely face more violent patients and dangerous situations. But the prospect of armed EMTs worries critics who question whether it would improve their safety or lead to other problems.

Law enforcement officers are dispatched to emergencies at the same time as EMS crews when dispatchers identify safety concerns, and medical responders stage away from dangerous scenes until police arrive and secure the areas, said Dr. James Brown, chairman of emergency medicine at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University.

But he said incomplete information about the nature of the emergencies and unpredictable people at the scenes mean that medical first-responders are put in potentially life-threatening situations, and police cannot respond to every scene.

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