You’re on your way home from work. It’s been a long day and you’re looking forward to throwing a steak on the grill, opening a bottle of red wine or sparkling water, and enjoying one of the last nice evenings of fall.
Traffic is heavy and you’re coming to a stop at a red light when the car behind you slams you into the car in front of you. Your airbags deploy and your driver side window shatters, sending glass fragments all over you. Your knees slam into the dash and the steering wheel is in your gut further than it should be.
A hospital trip is in your immediate future and your carry firearm is on your right hip.
I’m assuming I’m going to have to be extracted based on the steering wheel situation and that I’m conscious and coherent?
So I wait for responders to arrive and direct any civilians trying to help to the medical bag I have in my back seat to render any immediate first aid needed that doesn’t involve moving me.
Once the “pros” get there to remove me I advise them I’m caring concealed, the condition the weapon is in in the holster and how they can extract it in the holster without needing to “draw” the fire arm.
I’m assuming EMT’s could probably just cut my pants off around that section and leave it in the vehicle (or do same after they’ve extracted me). I would make sure responding LEO knew about it so they could secure the weapon immediately once it’s been taken off my body again without removing from holster. (I probably wouldn’t be in any condition to ask the officer for a receipt for it at that point, lol).
But that makes me wonder about what if I’m unconscious and that happens? Should we carry a “remove before flight” tag on our holsters for just such emergencies? (lol)
Let the EMT know I’m carrying. It has happened in the area I live before. The EMT’s, enlisted the help of LEO, and removed the injured persons pistol. The police gave a “receipt” with instructions on where to get the pistol. When the person was released from the hospital, they went to the local PD, and retrieved the gun. No fuss, and the officers wished they well from the wreck. If I were unconscious, I didn’t knowingly enter a GFZ, so, I would just need to retrieve my gun from the authorities.
I’m glad! At my Defensive Shooting Fundamentals Instructor Training one of the Training Counselors said our body cannot go where our mind has not been. And that’s stuck with me. We are more likely to be in a car accident while carrying than needing to use our firearm in self-defense so these scenarios are important to consider as well - for our legal safety.
That’s a great question and one I’ve tossed around a bit. I’ll ask @Tom_Grieve, @KevinM, or @MikeBKY to weigh in with their suggestions as well. I would hope that with your concealed carry permit in your wallet and your firearm carried in a responsible manner the police would secure it for you. I’m also betting that it’s going to be a pain in the butt to get the firearm back - because there will be a bunch of paperwork… but that’s just a guess on my part. Let’s see what our legal friends come back with.
I have had this happen as a LEO a few times in the past. In Louisville, unless this was a Room 9 call (Level 1 trauma center) that required a grab and go, EMS would contact the police to have them take possession of the firearm and the police will provide a card with a report number on it to be able to get the gun back from the property room. If it was a grab and go, they would have PD meet them at the ER to take possession of the weapon. The first time I had this occur, one of my sergeants was in the wreck a few miles from where I was detailed. We took his gun belt, his backup and any other valuable items from him and secured his vehicle and its contents until it could get towed. All of his equipment was personally delivered to him when he got home.
Stating it is humor is also important. I like to use a call out when someone might misunderstand my post. Sometimes it works, sometimes it gets people confused.
Considering only 1 of my 3 vehicles has airbags, I brake early and leave room in front of me to pull out and escape, I monitor approaching vehicles for signs of slowing and work to calculate when and wear they are going to stop.
Granted it wont always prevent an accident but I do my best to make sure I can get out of an accident… I’ve been driving for more than 20 years now, accident free.
Still, 2/3 of my vehicles have secure lock boxes I can lock my firearm into and for towing, I would call for my friend to tow my vehicle as he knows what I store in my rigs when necessary and will ensure everything is secured.
Reach down and open my safe put the firearm in it and close it shut. At this point it will not disappear or be taken by a “Good Samaritan” never to be seen again. At least this way there is a chance it will still be there when I or someone I know goes to the impound site to collect my personal belongings.
If someone I know and trust shows up onsite before I am transported away I may tell them the combination so they can secure it before the vehicle is towed.
I’ve actually been in a worse situation. I was forty miles from the nearest town on a gravel road in Colorado about 8 years go when a complete idiot hit me head on running about 70 mph.
I had 7 firearms including three handguns in the vehicle.
Fortunately I was able to get out check on the woman that hit me (texting while driving), turn her car over and extract her from the vehicle.
I then started basic first aid on her and when I’d evaluated her condition sufficiently to be comfortable with leaving her there for a few minutes I got to the top of a hill and luckily got a cell signal and called for help.
Went back and continued first aid until police arrived, then an ambulance and careflight and they carried her off.
As soon as the police arrived I gave them a basic rundown of what had happend and told them what firearms I had, including the one I was carrying and in what condition they were all in.
Once she was gone they just had me pull them all out, and unload them and then were nice enough to transport me back to where I was staying and helped me carry all of the firearms in.
All they asked is that I not start reloading them until the officers had departed which was probably reasonable on their part.
They could not have been nicer or more professional.
I made a point of going by their station and having a meeting with the commander of the post and passing on my appreciation for how well their officers handled the whole thing.
@WildRose. My second career as a Funeral Director I had many deaths from people who were text messaging while driving. The saddest thing about texting is that it’s not necessary and completely avoidable. If a person really is compelled to text while driving, pull off the road and then text or talk. It’s a real waste of life. Not saying that woman died, but just saying texting is avoidable Charles and she put your life in danger for what!? Nothing!
@Jerzees Here’s my deal my friend. I buried many texters in my career as a Licensed Funeral Director/Embalmer. Probably 20 to 25 boys,girls, and adults. Been to different medical examiners locations to what is called “Doing a Removal” I have had young soldiers, young girls, boys. The damdest thing about young people is young drivers think they know everything, truth be told they don’t. They are not seasoned drivers. I think the saddest of the sad was a young 19 year old girl from Phillipine Islands. Her mother was a post office letter carrier who unfortunately also was our mail lady at the funeral home. I was at the morgue picking up her body and the mom didn’t get the news yet. Well anyway I’m not going to bore people today but that’s only 1 story of many. Flying an Airplane is easy also if you know how. But well I have many many stories but they are all tragic and none of them have happy endings. And I really do understand what you’re saying as well.
THANK YOU… you’ve solved one of life’s mysteries for me
Back to the subject now… one of my friends is a former EMT. They basically did what @MikeBKY said - either called a LEO to come get it at the scene, or met the LEO at the ER to collect it there. Only once did they have to remove it from a person for treatment reasons, and her partner (who had firearms experience) did it. (that was all long before she met me )
She says they never had a situation where the person was combative in the ambulance or accident vehicle and that they had no protocol on what to do if that happened. I’ve heard EMT folks say it can be a thing especially when the person in the ambulance is a gang member who’s afraid another gang’s member is going to come finish them off while they’re strapped to the cart in the bus.
)
