Author Topic: Texas senate endorses letting first responders carry guns  (Read 903 times)

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Texas senate endorses letting first responders carry guns
« on: April 23, 2017, 04:44:28 pm »
Click2Houston by Phil Archer 4/19/2017

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Senate has endorsed allowing paramedics and other first-responders, including volunteer firefighters, to carry concealed handguns.

The bill was proposed by Houston firefighter Chris McAllister, who has single-handedly lobbied similar bills, though unsuccessfully, in the last two legislative sessions.

McAllister says he decided the measure is needed after a man threatened him and his ambulance crew with a pistol at a shooting scene in 2012.

“Nationwide, EMS first responders are assaulted 700,000 times a year. McAllister said. “We are 30 times more likely to be assaulted than the general public, and we are seven times more likely to be murdered than any other health care professional in the line of duty.”

The bill sponsored by Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas met little resistance in the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday. A similar measure is pending in the House.

Huffines says paramedics, firefighters and others should be allowed to protect themselves if necessary.

More: http://www.click2houston.com/news/texas-senate-endorses-letting-first-responders-carry-guns_