Why Every Concealed Carrier Should Carry Medical Gear Too

If you carry a firearm for personal protection, there’s another piece of gear that probably deserves a lot more attention than it gets: medical equipment. And honestly, there’s a decent chance you’ll end up needing it before you ever need a gun (with a caveat!).

I’m not talking about everyday first aid. I’m talking about serious injuries, car wrecks, violent encounters, and situations where somebody is hurt badly enough that waiting several minutes for an ambulance feels like a long time.

Once people start carrying firearms and taking training seriously, they usually start mentally running scenarios. But many of us are more likely to encounter the aftermath of an emergency than become the center of one. At that point, your priorities change. You’re not trying to solve a tactical problem anymore. You’re trying to keep someone alive.

Building Your Trauma Kit

Just to reiterate, a trauma kit or individual first aid kit (IFAK for short) is not a boo boo kit.  Could it include some basic first aid supplies like bandages?  Yes, but an IFAK typically contains items needed in a serious emergency when seconds count.  Let’s explore what should be in your IFAK.

Tourniquets

If I could only carry one serious medical item, I wouldn’t even have to think about it: a tourniquet. Severe bleeding kills people fast. Tourniquets are quick and easy to apply to yourself or another person and contrary to popular myths, can be left on without permanent damage for longer than you think.  Recommended: North American Rescue CAT (Combat Action Tourniquet) or SOFTT-W (Special Operations Forces Tactical Tourniquet - Wide). Carry two because reality rarely goes according to plan.

Pressure Dressings

Tourniquets get all the attention, but pressure dressings fill a different role. They help secure gauze, maintain pressure, and stabilize injuries until EMS arrives. (If we don't have a tourniquet, or it's a non-limb bleeding wound, apply lots of pressure and don't stop!)

Chest Seals

Chest injuries create a completely different set of problems. Carry two chest seals. Bullets have a habit of making more than one hole. What we are trying to accomplish with these is to equalize pressure in the chest cavity to allow the patient to breathe!

Nasopharyngeal Airways

NPAs can be useful, but buying equipment and knowing equipment are not the same thing. Get training first. (While this is a somewhat specialized piece of equipment, it bears mention since it comes in almost every IFAK in the market.)

The not-so-cool but necessary stuff

Trauma shears, markers (these are vital in entering notes such as the time tourniquet was applied), standard gauze, and gloves all matter. Clothing hides wounds. Hidden wounds get missed.