What do Troubleshooter jumpsuits protect against?

[Nixitur]

It's well-known that the armour issued to Troubleshooters (well, "armour") protects against lasers fired from lower-clearance blasters. However, do they protect against laser blasts from the same clearance as the armour?
I ask this because this is what the Players Handbook says:

Troubleshooter uniforms are made of a special fabric that reflects laser shots from lasers with the same or lower security clearance than the wearer.

This, however, is what the Gamemasters Handbook says:

It only protects against lasers and then only if the laser was fired by someone of a lower security clearance.

These rules mixing up security clearance of the shooter and the blaster as well as the uniform and the wearer aside, they don't quite fit together.

Yes, yes, I know, "make some shit up", but having never GM'd Paranoia before, I don't know what would feel fair, appropriate or sensible. On the one hand, the Players Handbook is pretty unambiguous. It even explicitly says that a Red Troubleshooter uniform would reflect Red laser shots. On the other hand, Troubleshooters being able to shoot each other if they're being troublesome sounds amusing to me. That, and plenty of artwork shows a Red-clearance Troubleshooter being aimed at with a Red-clearance blaster pistol.

So, how would you fine citizens handle this contradiction? I'm probably leaning towards the latter because it's funnier and deadlier.

 

[Shai]

The way I see it:
1) The Gamemaster's handbook trumps the player's book.
2) there is no contradiction, if you take into account that any clone of clearance X can't use items for clones with higher clearance (if they do, they are traitors and must be executed by the players.)
3) the jumpsuits protect where they cover, that doesn't include the face (unless you wear it treasonously wrong).
4) go with what feels right for you, your group and the story.

 

[tbug]

This could be a feature instead of a bug. The players think that their jumpsuits protect them against laser fire of the same colour, but the game masters know differently.

 

[locarno24]

This could be a feature instead of a bug. The players think that their jumpsuits protect them against laser fire of the same colour, but the game masters know differently.

That's exactly how we've done it. When it first came up the players ended up wondering whether they'd been handed defective equipment for that mission or whether they were all like that.
They're far more sensible now, and assume anything they're issued is defective until proven otherwise.