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?
In: 198
They carry guns anyways and their boss has enough connections so that everyone turns a blind eye. Also in many such cases most of them are ex cops, having valid permits from their previous occupation.
Also aside from celebrities the only ones with private security are those who are up to no good and they know they have reasons to be afraid. Those people usually have connections
In places where firearms are illegal, the “everyone/a lot of persons” who have guns will have been arrested for having them and be serving very long sentences
If the law exists but isn’t enforced, then why wouldn’t the security also have them?
Further, the best defence against an attacker with a gun isn’t necessarily a gun… It is prior planning, bullet-proof vehicles, defensive driving, ability to call in greater numbers, making use of helicopters/planes, barricades, limiting exposure etc
A bodyguard, especially a bodyguard for politicians etc, is not a civilian. They are, 99% of the time, allowed to carry firearms, as:
1. They have been trained in use of firearms, and there is a paper trail of that training.
2. They are inherently at a higher risk, making firearms carry more sensible.
They are, in a way, like cops, exempt from carrying firearms ban, as they posses the training and their job is dependant on firearms. Look at money transport. Carrying weapons is illegal in plenty of places where they operate, yet they do carry firearms and not uncommonly, rifles.
Bodyguards and security are not civilians. If you hit one, it won’t be an assault, it will be assault on a person in line of duty. Hence they can easily be exempted from national firearm laws.
This question is based on a false premise. There is no place on earth (at least that I know of) that fully prohibits firearms for private security. (Maybe Antarctica?)
Granted, the license to carry firearms in those cases often comes with a lot of stipulations, usually along the lines of “don’t be a fucking dipshit, guns are a profound responsibility, and are not for waving around like you’re a child,” but for everyone except the dipshits in question those are not onerous requirements to meet.
Edit: It turns out that I just didn’t look hard enough. There are actually a bunch of countries that prohibit private security from carrying firearms under absolutely positively any circumstances. A few even prohibit weapons of any kind!
So the answer to that is that if you are dealing with an armed potential threat, you bring a police escort.
I am from a country where almost nobody carry weapons. Even common criminals do not usually have gun.
So your standard “VIP” really do not fear to be shot in most situations. So bodyguards do not need to bear firearms.
There are of course few, very few, very poor, areas in the country “controlled” by the mob and there, there is a chance people (criminals) are armed with guns. A VIP would probably just stay the hell out of it.
People can get licences for sport or hunting, but weapons can be carried only unloaded inside carrier bags and only from your home to your place of use through an agreed route. Some people can get licence for concealed carry, but it is extremely difficult, costly and to be renewed once a year.
Except the police and the army, private security guards inside banks and post-offices are the only people you’d see openly carry.
One example: back when Illinois (the state Chicago is in) had very restrictive gun laws before the Supreme Court struck many of them down, it was still easy for retired police to get a concealed carry license. Thus, many retired police were hired as security guards since it was one of the only ways to hire armed security.
In California, in a bowling alley there were armed body guards for a very famous actor and his family.
Giant guys with intense focus.
We were having a party in private area and the body guards asked if the actor and his young child could use the private bathroom.
Of course we agreed. The actor chatted a bit , flashed his 1 billion dollar smile and played guitar hero for awhile until his wife came looking for him.
Not once did he try to get anyone to join Scientology.
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”.
You get something called a mobile holster. For example. The bodyguard hires a local National that is allowed to carry a gun and they always stay a few feet from them or the gun is left in the middle of the car. If anything happens they take the gun; service the targets and give the gun back. Obviously this won’t work in a lot of countries, but it works in enough to stayed employed. The biggest thing a bodyguard can do to increase the likelyhood of getting a job is to increase there medical training as an emt, paramedic as well as become proficient in local languages. At the end of the day your not just a shooter and you need to use your skills to avoid those situations. If bullets start flying the bodyguard failed at some point to mitigate threats on the route.
If you need a bodyguard to conceal carry, you have the means to influence the local politicians.
Latest Answers