I realize I might be on some shaky legal ground here, but if someone's in a life-threatening situation and I'm in a position to help, I don't really care what the sign says. Really, when was the last time anyone heard someone trapped in a burning building yell out, "SOMEONE SAVE US!!! UNLESS YOU'RE ARMED, THEN DON'T BOTHER BECAUSE THE SIGN SAYS YOU CAN'T COME IN HERE AND WE ALL KNOW THAT SIGNS ARE ALWAYS PUT IN PLACE BY INFALLIBLE PEOPLE WHO CAN, WITH PERFECT CLARITY, FORESEE ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!!!"? Because I've never heard of that happening. In fact, don't we have a Good Samaritan law specifically for circumstances like these? Yes, yes we do. We also have a law that protects the Fire Dept (and others) during disaster assistance. Now both of those laws only grant civil immunity and we're talking about the criminal code, so let's take a look at what it has to say...chrish20202 wrote:The first thing that leaps to mind is what do you do when you respond to a place that has a valid 30.06 or a no carry location? Sometimes we park and walk to find ourselves in another location that is posted, Returning to the truck to leave the gun is impractical. As much as I'd like to have the option to carry, it's not workable for FD/EMS in Texas.KRM45 wrote:I notice you're a Fire Fighter. Perhaps start small and work on getting the FD permission to carry. You may cite the shooting in NY where responding FF were shot in an effort to prevent them from rendering aid. You could make an argument that you and your FF coworkers are more likely to be
According to Subsection 33 of Chapter 2 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure, "the fire marshal and any officers, inspectors, or investigators [...]" (emphasis mine) are considered to be Peace Officers. Don't Fire Fighters have a rank, like "Captain" and such? Wouldn't that make them an "officer", and therefore a Peace Officer (able to ignore tall signs in a single bound!)? Either that section exempts the Fire Marshall from such signs, or he's really tempting fate, because I've been around more than once when he was doing inspections in locations that are posted 51%, and I've never not seen his gun.
Of course, as always this is not legal advise or anything... I just can't imagine anyone, especially firemen or EMS, getting in legal trouble for violating 30.06 or 51% signs while responding to an emergency.