Armed Security Guards..Good Read

I’ve known armed security men and women for many years, who know or knew the laws where they worked, and can answer the question with more than a little knowledge and no guesses. Take a look.

Where it’s illegal for the guard to use hollow points, FMJ is all they're going to carry. Otherwise, it comes down to cost, reliability, and or simple ignorance. I simply refused to work in said locations. If I put two rounds center mass and the aggressors don't go down, round three is a head shot. Then again, few guards are trained and proficient enough for that.

If my gun won't reliably feed hollow points, I’d repair or replace it. Saving a buck takes a distant 2nd place to my survival, and when I oversaw security companies, that was drilled into my people's heads a lot.

I did have one guard that refused to carry anything but FMJ even though his gun shot hollow points just fine, and when he actually got into a shooting situation, his rounds over penetrated. The subject didn't stop after three rounds of 9mm FMJ went through him and the wall behind him, one of which struck an innocent bystander. The subject's hollow point rounds didn't over penetrate my guard - but he didn't survive to compare. If he had, I would have fired him after. My company's insurance had to pay the medical bills for the bystander's wound, the damage to the building, AND my guard's funeral, and more.

Security is indeed one of the lowest paid jobs for what it entails, and too many companies hire guys who probably shouldn't be armed. I refused to work for those companies, as well.

I usually carried hollow point ammo in the gun and two reloads of the same, and a 3rd reload of FMJ. I also tended to work tougher posts and dealt with subjects (we weren't allowed to call them suspects) who would indeed use cover, which FMJ has more chance of penetrating.