Firearms in the Executive Protection Industry

I should caveat this article as being pertinent to the Executive Protection (EP) Industry in the USA and not in the UK. I should also point out that I have no dog in the fight, as I no longer practice the craft of Close Protection nor do I teach it, as a subject and, ironically, the basis of this article makes me very relieved about that.

If you are making blanket-wide, Industry statements about what you must and must not do, as an EP Officer, then the chances are, you are an EP "purist" - that would be bad.

Let me explain what I mean by that...

Acknowledging that a threat can take many different shapes and forms (cyber, surveillance etc.) the EP Industry is, for the most part, people focused; it's about protecting people from other people...and "people" can do the strangest, most bizarre things and behave in the most spontaneous ways possible, for no apparent reason - "...there's now't as queer as folk..." is an extremely accurate description of the EP/CP Industry.

Now, there are many things that an EP Officer can "plan for" but every EP Officer worth their salt, will acknowledge that as soon as that operation starts, the chances are that your "plan" will not go to plan...but guess what? That's ok...change it as appropriate using dynamic risk assessments, flexibility and a massive amount of common sense and simple logic.

There are a gazillion reasons why your "plan" doesn't go to plan; it might be your fault or it might be the fault of someone/something else, that you are not in control of. For example, you ever had a delivery truck/mail man/asshole member of the public park in front of your team's vehicles? If you have, then welcome to the realities of EP work.

But let's get back on track; carrying Firearms as an Executive Protection Officer...

I recently had the displeasure of seeing one of the most definitively negative, blanket Industry posts regarding what is acceptable and what is not, when working as an EP Officer, from a company that I can only assume is a leading and well respected voice in the US Executive Protection Industry:

"...if you're still talking about guns in the industry, you're a dinosaur..."

Another comment on the thread was similarly "purist" in content:

"...as a mentor once told me, if the guns come out, you have failed in your core mission..."

Both of those statements is one of the many reasons I stepped away from the Close Protection Industry in the first place; it has become too "purist" in content and application.

There seems to be a growing trend in the EP Industry to stick rigidly to specific tradecraft and mechanics, when the reality is that CP/EP operations are so diverse and so different to each other, that the application of rigid tradecraft and mechanics is not only counter-intuitive, it is also dangerous.

When I think back on the amount of jobs I conducted as both an Executive and Hostile Close Protection Officer, that didn't go as planned, I think they outnumber the ones that did and without that flexibility and humility to change the plan accordingly or react to an event appropriately, those jobs would have been a Laurel and Hardy-type event.

I constantly hear this unrealistic chant of:

"...if you have to use a Firearm, then you've done something wrong..."

What kind of buffoonery is that? Of course is doesn't always mean that and even if it does mean that you have done something wrong, it still does not change the fact that you need "options" to get you and your Client, out of it.

Carrying a Firearm, as an EP Officer, does not mean you HAVE to use it; it simply means that you CAN use it, should you need to.

I carry a torch in my car but cannot remember the last time I used it, so perhaps I'll just take it out? Oh...wait...but what if I might need it?

There are approx. over 70 million "registered" gun owners in the US...that's about 40% of the population and that's not taking into account "illegally" held firearms held by criminals and to opine that EP Officers are "dinosaurs" for carrying a firearm, is a little bit disconcerting, to say the least.

Carrying a firearm, as an EP Officer, is an individual choice or, it might be the wishes of the Client, that their EP Officer do NOT carry firearms and that's absolutely acceptable. If you do not want to carry a firearm or your client does not want you to carry one, then that's fine. However, opining that the entire EP Industry are dinosaurs for carrying one is as outrageous as it is stupid.

A firearm is a tool of the trade and, like any other tool, the craftsman takes it out the tool bag when they need to use it and puts it back when they do not. Carrying and, more importantly, knowing when to use, and not to use, a firearm requires training, judgement, clarity of thought and an understanding of the law. All of that, when put together, gives you "options" to choose from; it does NOT mean that your firearm is the immediate "go-to" option for anything threatening.

As a Firearms Training Provider, we pride ourselves in NOT being "purists" in the application of firearms training or tactics, for the exact same reasons as I've explained in the article - there are too many "what if's" that cannot be planned for or controlled and if you truly believe that you are in control of everything or that you can plan for every eventuality, then you've either been taught wrong or you're doing it wrong.

Like politics, "purism" in the teachings and/or the application of Executive Protection or Firearms is toxic and should be avoided like a Winston Smoking Area at an airport.

The EP Industry and the types of situations that can happen on an EP operation, is simply too diverse and chaotic for blanket-wide statements like "you must not do this".

Alas, I could have (and perhaps should have) just scrolled down and ignored the article, which is what I normally do, when I see such buffoonery. However, there are some things that just rip my knitting and require addressing for the sake of my own sanity and the preservation of what used to be a proud and common sense driven Industry.

Glad I'm out of it...