Do you carry on the job?

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Photog with Large Talons

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I've been considering carrying a concealed handgun on the job. I do have a permit and have taken classes to learn the law. From everything I can find, my company doesn't expressly prohibit it. I have worked for companies that do.

Does anyone out there carry or know "someone" who does? What problems have you run into? What concerns did you or "your friend" have when you began carrying? Have there been times having the gun saved your life?
 
What on Earth would make you want to carry while shooting news? Really? I've been doing this for 25 years, and have been in some pretty nasty places and circumstances. Yet, if there is a situation where I feel uncomfortable, I leave. It's simple. It's video. No need to shoot someone or be shot. Just leave.

I worked with a reporter once who called me when we were working out of town. It was 2 am or so, and he couldn't find his handgun in the hotel room a few doors down. WTF????? It was under his pillow and slipped down behind the bed. I lost all respect for him.

If you feel you need to carry, maybe you should drive an armored truck.
 
My bad. Our friend just registered today. A spoof? He or She does not mention where they are afraid of.
 
I don't care what anyone else says. Anyone who carries any weapon of any kind, while on duty is asking for trouble, in so many ways.

First of all, I don't like guns, never have, never will. Just my personal feeling. If you want to own a gun, keep it at home to protect yourself and your family, that's your right, I respect that.

Secondly, unless you're a ****-kickin, nose pickin hillbilly living in Hicksville, Texas I don't know of any television station employer that would allow you to carry one. If I worked with you, and you had a gun in your posession at work, I'd have your ass fired instantly.

It's also gotta make me wonder about anyone's mental state that wants to carry a concealed handgun while on duty as a news photog. Come on really, don't be so paranoid. Don't do the job if it's that risky.

I have little patience for ignorant people.

Yee-Haw!
(pistols firing in the air)
 
You can't be serious! You are either in the wrong neighbourhood, or definately the wrong business. Why on earth would you want to carry a gun?

Stay away, far away from me.
 
Yes. Long ago. Different job. Legally. Not now. Not legal. Sometimes wish I could still. Oh well.
 
What do I have to be paranoid about? I carry a rescue/safety tool more commonly known as a gun...

While freelancing, I always have at least one firearm on me at ALL times. So far; I have had several instances where ten or more men tried to attack me to steal my camera, I have walked into THREE armed robberies in progress and had a guy point a gun to my head in an *attempt* to carjack me. ALL of them went to jail and I was only forced to shoot one of them. The carjacker... Not my fault but he survived and got five years in prison.

A few years ago, I received a commondation from the police chief for saving a police officer's life. She was attacked by a very large man, ex-con with muscles on top of muscles... I choaked him out but I would not have grabbed him if I weren't armed. He was fighting the female officer for her gun. After we got him cuffed n stuffed, she said to me, "I was so glad to see an armed citizen come up behind him, thank you". she knew I carry and knew that I have more training than she had when it comes to using firearms.

While working staff, I have never carried on the job because every place I have ever worked at had written rules against it.

What most anti gun people don't realize is this: In the vast majority of cases when law abiding citizens pull a weapon for self defense, they do not have to pull the trigger. Professor John Lott of Harvard did a study and found that firearms are used LEGALLY buy honest citizens nearly 2 million times a year. Very rarely do they have to fire the weapon.

If an employer does not have a written rule about carrying, I would carry. The idea behind "concealed" weapons is, no one knows you have it. Keep it that way!

Since there are thirty three states that have shall issue laws that REQUIRE the cops to issue permits to 'qualified' citizens, I figure it will only be a matter of time when some crazy enters his former place of employment to kill people and instead of seeing network coverage of ten people shot dead by a crazy man, we will see that the people were able to defend themselves and stop the bad guy.

That actually happened at a law school in Kentuky but the media refused to report the truth about two of the students using their firearms to disarm the former student who had already shot several people and was going for more. The media focused on the murders and not the rescue because if they did, they would have to admit that those two ARMED students saved lives and didn't even have to fire a shot. BTW, the students were dismissed from school for having firearms... Go figure...

Madman, Madman, Madman... Your post is actually funny. You say you don't like "ignorant" people but your fear and dislike of firearms is based on ignorance! EVERY agruement against guns in the hands of honest citizens is based on LIES. Out and out LIES.

"Gun control" laws do absolutely NOTHING to prevent crime. They only cause honest citizens to be unable to defend themselves against people who don't care about those laws and carry and shoot anyway... So called, gun control has never prevented even one crime. None of the over 22,000 laws will ever prevent even one crime. Criminals will not turn in their guns and in fact, they want the rest of us to obey the law so they don't have to worry about being injured or killed when violating us.

Madman, I double dog dare you to read one of the following:

Armed and Female by Paxton Quigley. She helped pass the 1968 gun control law that started all the anti gun crap in America. After her friend was raped, she got to thinking, she now teaches the art of deadly force to women across the nation.

More Guns, Less Crime by Professor John Lott of Harvard. His ten year research proves that the more citizens are able to defend themselves, crime goes down. His research is open to peer review, unlike anything handgun control inc. claims to have as research. They refuse any sort of review for a good reason, lies, all lies...

Media Bias against Guns by John Lott of Harvard.

Again his research is eye opening! He documents cases that made the news worldwide. Cases where the media was quick to point out that a crazy with a gun hurt and killed people but refused to report the truth that it was armed citizens that stopped the gunman, not the police.

Dial 911 and Die. The name of the author escapes me right now but you can find the book at the Jews for the preservation of firearm ownership website. I think it is jfpo.org.

This book documents cases in all 50 states where people called the police and they refused to respond to help the people or got there too late. They all died. their survivors filed law suits against the cops and the courts repeatedly ruled, "the police have no duty to protect citizens". That's in all 50 states and the US Supreme Court!!!

You claim to dislike ignorance, prove it and educate yourself. But be prepaired, you will read the provable truth for the first time. You have been lied to all your life...

[ July 13, 2005, 04:55 AM: Message edited by: Terry E. Toller ]
 
[ewink drools over Terry's tirade]

You should be a lobbyist...

When I lived in Minnesota they had may-issue laws, but when Jesse Ventura was elected he began pushing for shall-issue laws. They didn't pass until Tim Pilenty (or however you spell his name) was elected.

Last I heard, Minnesota gun crime hasn't sky rocketed.

The only people who should be afraid of an armed citizenry is the government.

Madman, it's nice to know you would try and get your co-workers fired even though they are doing nothing to harm you or put you in harms way. Oh and of course for insulting everyone in Texas.

Yee-Haw!
(tries to fire pistols in the air but realizes they've been taken away by people like Madman. Soon gets robbed and pistol whipped by a criminal who apparently didn't get the memo that guns are illegal now...)
 
Thanks to Terry and Ewink for serious responses. To the rest of you who are 'fraid of guns, I think you need to be visiting Moveon.org instead of b-roll. I'd rather have a gun and never need it than be in the one situation where I need one and be injured or killed. To even apply for a concealed permit in my state, you must take classes/training before hand. I plan on taking more training because I still am not quite confident enough in my abilities with my gun.

This is not something I enter into lightly, but we often go into bad places. I'd rather have the option.
 
As Terry pointed out with the Kentucky law school, the 2 students who SAVED LIVES were dismissed afterwards because 'guns are scary'. Even if you carry on the job, if you ever had to defend yourself and even if you saved lives, you'd probably lose your job because 'guns are scary'.

However, what would happen if you are in a situation where you get shot at and are injured, your station would not let you carry, can you sue the station for a rights vioation? Just a thought?
 
I live in Nicaragua and there are several photogs and journalists who carry.

I don't. That's my personal choice. Not out of a fear of guns. I grew up with them. It's because some people here will use their own guns if they see a gun.

I will admit to shooting some stories that involved being in the jungle and on a couple of rivers far from civilization where guns were handy. They weren't mine but they were there.

However...I'm with Terry. If you've got a carry permit, taken training, go for it...as long as your place of employment doesn't have a rule against carrying guns.

Now if you're asking about knives... ;)

A quick side note. During my Miami years as a staff photog at the CBS station, one of our summer relief photogs was covering a riot in a tough section of town. Driving a Crown Vic, he got into a bad situation. Big crowd comes after him and he floors the vehicle in reverse, barely misses hitting a woman and rearends a tree disabling the car. Now the crowd surrounds him and they want blood. He's got a gun and pulls it out, the crowd scatters. Car is a total loss but he's shaken up. Nothing more until he comes back to the station. CBS is pretty firm about guns. The photog was shown the door.

Part of being smart is knowing not to put yourself in a bad situation in the first place. Some who carry a gun think that allows them to push the envelope of common sense. Other photogs were already getting good vid. In fact one of them had the entire crowd, car backing into tree, crowd attacking/scattering when they saw the gun experience.

What was the point of this guy putting himself in harms way? Was it really to just do his job or did he think because he had a gun he could get in closer than others who were unarmed?

Know your station policy on weapons and act accordingly.
 
Lensmith makes a good point. Does carrying a gun make you push the envelope just like driving an SUV makes you push the envelope of safe driving in bad condition. Once the public sees one member of the media pull out a gun, they may assume all of us have them.

Some serious questions to ask before carrying.
 
My company does not allow them. But I really have nothing agianst guns. I personally would not carry one, and I really think for a photog. carring a gun doesn't make much sence. Sure we are stuck in some bad places covering bad news. But I can't count the number of times during a week I am at city hall or an airport or other such places that guns are really not good to be carrying. Everyone in the news room would know I have one the second I have to stow it in the car for that unexpected Airport story that showsup while I had it. Having the whole newsroom know I carry a weapon is not something I want. Expecially in the juvenile like place that I work.
 
I wish I could carry at work. I agree that it is an absolute last resort and the best defense is to not get yourself into a situation that would require a gun.

I would carry for the times you cannot predict. We cover stories every week about some random incident of violence. Outside of work, that's what I carry for. Incidents like Terry's carjacking attempt...you never know when things like that will happen. I've blown through a couple of red lights late at night when people start walking up to the car in a part of town not known for its low crime rate. What happens when they surprise me? I think we all can agree that TV logo on the truck tends to attract the crazies and "opportunists."

I'm not paranoid, and I don't activly worry about or think that I will be attacked. But, I'm not willing to bet my life on it.

As for does the gun make you push the limit...I'd say that for some people in some cases, yes. It can be tempting to waive a gun in order to "get what you want" - which includes getting out of a bad situation. For me...the gun comes out ONLY when I feel I am in MORTAL danger. A dude coming up and shoving me or trying to take my property will not end with me pulling a gun.

Good thread topic! Hopefully more people will continue to post serious comments.
 
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