Private bodyguards have the same rights as every other civilian. This means that if a state prohibits people from having firearms, private bodyguards wouldn’t be treated differently.
How then will a private unarmed bodyguard be able to protect a vip in very dangerous parts of town where almost everyone (Edit: a lot of persons) has illegally obtained firearms? Are they trained to disarm people? Or do they just scatter and bail?
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Private security people could be armed. After all, people protecting money or diamonds conveys (or banks) tend to have weapons in several countries, even when citizens usually don’t have firearms. In a lot of places (if there’s not a generalized right to bear arms) you can apply for a firearm license, if you meet certain requirements and you have a decent reason. Maybe the police will run a background check, maybe not. But still, in those countries, security people could get a firearm license.
That said, they usually don’t need to.
First, unless the protectee is some kind of gangster and wants to avoid law enforcement, there’s usually an expectation that the police can step in if things get bad enough. So if, for example, a famous singer is being threatened to death and announces a concert, private bodyguards may be armed themselves or may be supported by (armed) police. Of course, criminals may not like being protected by the police, but those kinds of bodyguards probably don’t care about firearms laws anyway, so if they want to carry they’ll do it even if it’s illegal.
Second, unarmed security is often enough, especially if you have enough bodyguards and/or they are intimidating enough. After all, celebrities getting shot is a relatively rare thing, most of the times they get threatened, maybe punched or something gets thrown to them, nothing that would justify deadly force.
Third, despite what you may think, the first priority for most bodyguards is getting that person away. No one cares about running away being a coward thing. You face a threat, you protect that guy or girl and get them away on a car, on foot, whatever.
Also, don’t underestimate the messiness of shooting in a crowded place. A private bodyguard missing and shooting an innocent person is a liability very few people are willing to accept. No one wants to see a headline like “ACME CEO goon shoots 12 yo at a convention”.
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