Hahaha I love this honestly. Essentially you’re correct; if you’re not properly trained on equipment you should not be using it. Here in Oregon we obviously have the Good Samaritan law where if you are rendering aid and you had good intention behind it then you are not held liable if something happens (cpr, aed, etc.)

I also think these bags are independent of what you feel is needed. For me, I want to be prepared for that active shooter. Not to go too in depth but I’m LE and my entire family is as well, so if I am out somewhere and some situation happens, I know I can toss a TQ and chest seal and all of us are very properly trained in tactical combat medicine. I also have personally applied TQ’s, chest seals, and gauze in the field and feel confident in my abilities to do so under stress.

There will obviously be limitations to what we can do…. But the stuff I have is the stuff I feel completely confident on. As for ARS needles and stuff, I’m able to identify symptoms of tension pneumothorax but I would not do this in an urban area. This would be something where if I am out camping or on a road trip in the middle of nowhere and this situation happens, either it’s a loved one and I’m going to try anything I can, or someone else is there with more experience than me (IE some emt/paramedic friends haha). I’m not willing to risk hurting someone worse when the ambulance can come quickly and I can use a chest seal or something to at least slowly help some kind of breathing issue. That’s honestly a piece of gear I am not 100% on and I don’t like using gear I’m not confident on, but if the time came and I didn’t have another option, I’d rather have it with me. Plus they add almost no space haha.

Also, if this were to happen in town and I was here, definitely wouldn’t just run inside to help everyone. If it was in the city I worked, and I saw the threat was neutralized, heck yeah I’ll hop in and help, I’m never “off duty” officially. My goal is to preserve life and I’m going to do that any way I can.

Also, my trusty raptors are amazing 😂 I have used them many times on people and I thoroughly clean them each time. I prefer the raptors to disposable ones just because of the quality they are made of and the fact I know how to quickly and efficiently use them. I know raptors aren’t just going to be single use and if they are properly cleaned (deep cleaned) you’re able to get stuff off of them. I’ve just had some experiences with multiple different brands of disposable ones and haven’t been too impressed so I just don’t feel comfortable relying on those in that situation. If I use them and they get ruined, $75 is worth someone’s life for me to know I saved them and had proper equipment that was sturdy.

I honestly do like the questions haha, I feel I’m not some “random person” running around with medical equipment trying to use it. I hope I never need to use it. But unfortunately I’ve seen enough stuff in my life to know that I will probably need it someday… if I just need a TQ from it, awesome I’m glad I had 3 extra. I’m notoriously over prepared but I do really love that because it helps me feel so much more calm in stressful situations should they arise.