Firearms Training in the UK

I am often asked why the close protection training course that I wrote does not include firearms training. The answer is simple but relatively long and that is, the course I wrote was to be used by Vanquish Training Academy from which Vanquish Security would recruit candidates from. The type of close protection tasks that Vanquish® deploy operatives onto are usually for two main principal types; celebrities and high-net-worth individuals and are more often then not, low threat. Also, most of these tasks take place in the UK where it is ILLEGAL to carry firearms as a method of protection, please refer to the Firearms Act 1968. In essence, the Vanquish CP Course is written to train candidates in a setting that is realistic to the environment in which the company operates and therefore where the

Something else to consider is that, if you are considering attending a training course with plans to work for a company in a hostile environment then;

1) Most companies that operate in this field will specifically only recruit ex-military personnel. And,

2) If you are ex-military, why do you need further training in weapon handling?

Also, if you still want to do firearms training after your bodyguard course then why not do it as part of your continuos professional development (CPD)?

CPD is essentially something that you do after you have passed a course in order to remain up to date as a professional in your chosen field. That could be with legislation, equipment, new procedures and so on. For example, a bodyguard in any country should endeavour to remain physically fit, consider learning a foreign language, looking into new equipment that is available in the security industry etc.

My honest opinion, and this comes after having firearms training both with the British Army and as a civilian as an optional extra on a CP course, is that it's infringes on valuable learning hours. By that I mean if you have a set amount of time on a training programme, why waste it on something or a skill that is more than likely never going to be used. Firearms should be considered a last resort regardless of which country you are in and as such, should be considered far less important to learn in as opposed to threat assessments, surveillance and all of the other relevant topics and units in a modern bodyguard course.

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