Should Paramedics Be Armed on the Job?

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A routine medical call that ended in a standoff has some wondering, should paramedics be armed?

Last year, state legislation passed that makes it a felony and a minimum of two years in prison for anyone that assaults medical personnel trying to give assistance. However, the bill did not include anything about paramedics arming themselves. EMSA paramedic Chris Horton said that aspect should have been included in the bill.

When fire crews and EMSA arrived at the home of Wanda Smelley after receiving a medical call from her, Smelley opened fire.

After a more than five hour standoff with police, Smelley did eventually give up, but not before she gave the responding paramedics quite a scare.

"If she really wanted to kill me, if we're the actual intended target, she could have. She could have come out the front door and hunted us down each individually," Horton said.

Horton said it's situations like this one that makes him want the option of being able to protect himself and his fellow paramedics.

"It would be nice to have some kind of non-lethal protection like a tazer or c-spray," Horton said.

But Horton said both EMSA policy and state laws prevent him from doing so, which is why he said he wears a bulletproof vest every day.

"Anything I can put on during the beginning of the day that will help me get home everyday I'm more than willing to do," Horton said.

Horton said paramedics are not required to wear a bulletproof vest to work and that only a handful of them actually do.

He said he hopes more will be done in the future to help protect paramedics.

Smelley was arrested for two counts of shooting with intent to kill.

More on News9.com: Woman in Custody After Standoff with Police