how do best handle a gun?

[Arctickat]

There have been many times over my career that I've had to secure a weapon of some sort or another. The police can take upwards of 45 minutes to reach the scene if they aren't busy elsewhere, and I need to make sure that the risks to me and my partner are under my control, not that of someone else. In fact, there have been attempted suicide cases in which the only person there was the victim. We have him ready to go to the hospital, but what do we do with the weapon? No police presence, no responsible person to trust. Would you just leave it there for when the police show up 30 minutes from now, or would you document it and take it with you to hand over when you meet the police later?

If you do the responsible thing and secure the weapon...we return to the OP, what would be the correct way?

Oh, and don't claim that you'll call a supervisor, not all of us live in Long Island.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Well I can tell you what I'd do.

I'm going to move the patient about 10 feet away from that weapon. I for one am pretty sure that a weapon with a finger on the trigger is not going to fire. Of course for all the gun control nuts out there, it's the gun that kills people not the person doing the shooting, just look at the media reaction to this most recent mass shooting in California, they are doing everything they can to blame the NRA, and those who support the 2nd amendment but not blaming the shooter.

So a gun sitting on the ground with no-one's finger on the trigger is probably not going to fire on it's own so it's a pretty safe bet that if you move your patient if you can, then you don't need to secure the gun, of course there's always that off chance that this is the time that the gun is going to be the one killing the people and not the person killing the people.

But I digress.

Have a cop secure it, have someone who knows how to handle a gun if you don't but by all means, if you know not how to handle a gun, then don't fucking touch it or you will likely shoot your foot off.

[yakc130]

I think that you can get away with touching the forward end of the slide by the barrel. After all, you will be pulling the slide back from the rear above the grip in order to chamber a round. That's how I do it with mine.

Look at the way you would hold a pistol. Your fingerprints will be on the grips and the trigger mostly.

But I will disagree slightly in having a police officer always pick it up. For some, the only time that they touch a weapon is when they have to go qualify. Not all of them are weapons experts.

[Arctickat]

Sigh, screw it. If no one wants to play by the rules I'll go play in another sandbox. C'ya!!

[Just Plain Ruff]

I think that you can get away with touching the forward end of the slide by the barrel. After all, you will be pulling the slide back from the rear above the grip in order to chamber a round. That's how I do it with mine.

Look at the way you would hold a pistol. Your fingerprints will be on the grips and the trigger mostly.

But I will disagree slightly in having a police officer always pick it up. For some, the only time that they touch a weapon is when they have to go qualify. Not all of them are weapons experts.

Well, they know more about guns than I really do so they are more qualified than me, so game set match to the cop.

And Artick - quitcherbitchin - what are the rules again?

[ERDoc]

Agreed with the above. The cop may not have touched a weapon in 20+ years, but he has had more training that I have. Let's assume that we are on the scene with no cops in this situation. I'm not touching the gun regardless of what options we are given. I will move the pt out of the reach of the gun and have someone else watch it until LEO arrives.

PS-Hey, we don't have supervisors on LI, just chiefs and they don't have any more medical authority than the rest of us.

[spenac]

Its a lifeless object that doesn't just magically go boom people. Use some common sense or do they remove that during the 120 hour emt class?

[treaux]

I know this is an old thread, but it caught my eye. Rings a bell with me since I am also a firearms instructor.

First off, if that was the actual question, than it is a very poor one. Picking it up by the trigger guard is a BAD idea because the trigger guard is small and often polished and it would be very easy for a finger to slip and land on the trigger. The grip falls in the same category as it feels natural to put your finger on the trigger especially if you haven't trained with handguns to keep your trigger finger away from the trigger until ready to fire. Safest answer to the question would be two fingers on the slide, as the slide is incapable of discharging the weapon on its own. If it were me on scene, I would opt for this and screw PD and their evidence as they should have already been there and cleared the scene. Safety is paramount and I wouldn't want a loaded gun sitting there for anyone to grab. I would also clear the weapon as I am trained to do so (and frankly it's such a habit that I cannot touch a weapon without unloading it and verifying the chamber is empty). If not trained, I would have someone remove it from the scene to a safe (locked) place until PD could come secure it.

As already said, if you were dispatched to a shooting, PD should have already been there. If they weren't there when you arrived, you should stage and call for them.