How much training a guard needs before working, state by state — from California's 40 hours to states with no statewide minimum at all, plus the extra firearms training for armed officers.
When you contract a security company in the US, you are trusting its officers to enforce your policies, de-escalate conflict, and respond correctly in an emergency. But the training standing behind that badge is wildly inconsistent from one state to the next. There is no national security-guard training standard — Congress has never set one — so what a guard must complete before working your site depends entirely on where the site sits and, in many places, on the provider you choose. This guide explains the national pattern, shows how the headline states stack up, and tells you what to ask when the law asks for little.
Quick answer
US guard training is set state by state, and the range is enormous. High-requirement states like California mandate 40 hours plus annual continuing education; New York requires an 8-hour pre-assignment course plus 16 hours on the job; Illinois requires a 20-hour basic course plus 8 additional hours. Several states — Georgia (for unarmed officers), Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan — set no statewide training minimum at all and leave it to the licensed employer. Armed work always adds a separate firearms course on top. Check the table below, then vet the provider's own program.
Why training requirements vary so much
Private security is regulated at the state level, so all fifty states built their own rules — different agencies, different licensing schemes, different priorities. Two structural models drive most of the variation. Under a company-license model, the state licenses the security firm and holds it responsible for its people, trusting the employer to train them; individual guards may need little more than a registration card. Under an individual-license model, each guard must personally complete state-defined coursework, pass a background check, and hold a state-issued credential before working a post.
Most states blend the two, but where they land on that spectrum determines how much protection the law itself gives you versus how much rides on the company you hire. States that lean on the company-license model tend to have thin or no training mandates, because the assumption is that the licensed employer will train appropriately. States on the individual-license end codify hours, curriculum, and refreshers. Neither model is automatically better for a buyer — but they demand a different level of scrutiny, which is the whole point of understanding where your state sits before you sign. If you're early in the process, our guide on how to hire a security guard company walks through the full vetting sequence.
| State | Guard credential | Training required | Armed training (added) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Security Officer license/certification | board approved training with a certified trainer, consisting of a minimum of eight hours, plus board approved use of force training; refresher training is required before each renewal | the eight-hour initial training and use of force training, plus board approved firearms safety training (the statute delegates the firearms hour count to board rule) |
| Alaska | Security guard license (every individual guard, not just the agency) | at least eight hours of general preassignment training before a temporary permit or an application, plus at least 40 hours of in-service training within 180 days after employment covering law of arrest, law of search and seizure, duties to the employer and client, fire prevention, first aid and patrol techniques, plus an annual refresher of at least eight hours on those topics — 13 AAC 60.110(c) provides that failure to pass the refresher course “may be grounds for revocation”, permissive rather than automatic | at least eight hours of pre-assignment firearms training from a certified instructor, covering use of firearms under state and federal law, handling, and safety and maintenance, plus demonstrated competence with any firearm issued; competence must be maintained at an annual practice firing review or the armed licence is subject to revocation (13 AAC 60.085) |
| Arizona | security guard registration card | 8 hours of pre-assignment training | 16 hours of initial firearms training plus an 8-hour annual refresher |
| Arkansas | Private Security Officer (PSO) credential | Phase I, a minimum of eight hours covering legal authority (classification of crimes, arrests and detentions, use of force and its civil and criminal penalties), company and site-specific legal issues, the licensing Act itself, and field note taking and report writing; renewal training is a minimum of six hours | Phase II on top of Phase I — a minimum of sixteen hours, at least eight in the classroom and eight on the firing range, covering deadly force and Arkansas law, weapons safety and live fire with a pistol qualification course mirroring the state law-enforcement standard; twelve hours of refresher training annually |
| California | Security Guard Registration (the “guard card”) | 40 hours of training — an 8-hour Power to Arrest course before the card is issued, then 32 hours of skills training — plus 8 hours of annual continuing education | a firearms training course with a written exam and live-fire qualification, plus range requalification twice a year |
| Colorado | a municipal guard license where required (for example, Denver's security-guard license); there is no statewide credential | set by the city — Denver requires 16 hours of police-approved training, Colorado Springs 8 hours; there is no statewide standard | set by the city — Denver's armed endorsement adds roughly an 8-hour firearms course with a range qualification |
| Connecticut | Security officer license (issued as the Security Officer Training Certification Identification Card; “guard card” is informal) | a minimum of eight hours covering basic first aid, search and seizure law, use of force, and basic criminal justice and public safety issues — waived for equivalent military training. Since 1 October 2025 an applicant who intends to carry a less lethal weapon must ALSO complete training in its lawful use conforming to the manufacturer's recommendations; Public Act 25-157 defines the term in the statute itself as “a baton or oleoresin capsicum spray, commonly referred to as 'O.C. spray' or 'pepper spray'” | a commissioner-approved course in the safety and use of firearms plus a yearly refresher; the statute delegates the hour count to regulation (DESPP's own FAQ states an eight-hour course plus annual refresher — regulator-asserted, and separate from the eight hours of unarmed training) |
| Delaware | Noncommissioned security guard licence (the “Yellow Card”) | a Board-approved security guard training programme certified by mandatory testing with a passing grade of 75%, covering rules and regulations, legal requirements and limitations, use of force, ethics, emergency services, diversity, communication, asset protection and terrorism — Delaware sets NO hour count; the standard is competency-based | an approved firearms course and initial qualification administered by a Professional Licensing Firearms Instructor, with a minimum of 40 hours of training (waivable on prior law-enforcement credentials), then at least three qualifying shoots per calendar year on at least two separate days, at least 60 days apart, one of which must be a low-light shoot |
| Florida | Class “D” Security Officer license | 40 hours of training for the Class “D” license | a 28-hour firearm course plus a 4-hour annual requalification |
| Georgia | employee registration (armed officers are registered; unarmed guards are not individually registered) | training set by the employer/agency (no fixed statewide unarmed hour count) | roughly 40 hours — about 24 classroom hours plus 15 hours of handgun training — with an annual requalification |
| Hawaii | Guard Employee registration — required of all guards and of agents, operatives and assistants acting in a guard capacity, whether employed by a guard agency, a private business, or a government agency | eight hours of board-approved classroom instruction before the first day of service, plus four hours of supervised on-the-job training and a written test, covering arrest, search and seizure and use of force; access control, safety, fire detection and emergency response; homeland security; notifying public authorities; observation and incident reporting; patrolling; professional ethics; and professional image and aloha training. Thereafter four hours of classroom instruction during each TRIENNIAL registration renewal period — not annually, as an older printing of the statute has it — including a refresher on professional image and aloha training | no armed-specific training hours are set by the chapter; arming is gated by the county firearms permit instead. HRS §134-2(g) requires a qualifying firearms course completed within the four years before the permit issues, and the generally available route sets a floor of at least two hours of live firing at a range and at least four hours of classroom instruction |
| Idaho | none required statewide | none required statewide — there is no licensing scheme for a training standard to attach to | none required statewide for guards |
| Illinois | Permanent Employee Registration Card (PERC) | a 20-hour basic course within 30 days of hire, 8 more hours within six months, and 8 hours of annual refresher training | a 28-hour firearm training course (20 hours classroom or online plus 8 hours on the range), on top of the PERC |
| Indiana | no individual guard license — guards are fingerprinted, vetted, and trained by the licensed agency | no state-mandated training hours — training is set by the agency | no state security firearm course; general firearms eligibility applies |
| Iowa | an Employee Identification Card issued by the Department of Public Safety under Iowa Code 80A.7(1), which the guard must have in their immediate possession on duty; the background investigation defined at IAC 661—121.2 requires fingerprints to be submitted to the FBI (note the statute at 80A.7(5) words this permissively — the mandatory “shall” is in the rule) | none required statewide — neither the statute nor the administrative rules set pre-assignment or annual training hours for security guards. The 12-hour continuing education requirement at IAC 661—121.22 is expressly limited to private investigative agencies, and the only other training rule, 661—121.25, is a narrow carve-out for private school security officers | none generally. On a college or university campus an armed guard must file evidence of approved firearm safety training with the county sheriff, hold a sheriff-issued permit, and file a sworn employer affidavit justifying the need to go armed |
| Kansas | none required statewide | none required statewide | none required statewide for guards |
| Kentucky | none required statewide | none required statewide | none required statewide |
| Louisiana | a security officer registration card | §3284(B)(1) requires, within 30 days of the first work assignment, “either eight hours of classroom training or an approved curriculum-based training course” under a board-licensed instructor — covering orientation to the licensing law and board rules, the legal powers and limitations of a security officer, emergency procedures, and general duties, field notes and report writing — followed by “an examination on the prescribed material” (unquantified). §3284(B)(4) then requires, within 60 days, “either an additional eight hours of classroom training or an approved curriculum-based training course”, and it is THIS segment that carries the 50-question test at a minimum score of 70%. The classroom hours are therefore an alternative, not a floor: a curriculum-based course satisfies either segment and the statute sets no hour count for it. No more than two of the training requirements may be conducted in a 24-hour period (§3284(B)(5)) | firearms training and range qualification by a board-licensed instructor before any armed assignment, covering legal limitations on use of weapons, handling, safety and maintenance, dim-light firing, a shoot/don't-shoot programme and stress factors; written exam at 70% minimum and marksmanship at 80% on a board-approved silhouette course, with annual retraining and requalification |
| Maine | none issued — Maine has no individual guard licence or card. The statute instead sets minimum qualifications a person must meet to be employed as a guard, and the licensed company must notify the Commissioner of every guard before they begin work and complete a background investigation within 60 days | none prescribed — the chapter imposes qualification and background-investigation duties on the licensed company rather than a training curriculum, and sets no hour requirement anywhere | none prescribed by the chapter |
| Maryland | a security guard certification | training as set by the agency (confirm current state requirements) | 16 hours of firearms training with a live-fire qualification |
| Massachusetts | no individual state guard license — officers work under the agency license | no state-mandated training hours — training is set by the agency | a Massachusetts State Police–approved Basic Firearms Safety Course |
| Michigan | no separate individual guard license — guards are vetted and employed under the agency license, with employer-run MSP and FBI background checks | no state-mandated training hours — training is set by the employing agency | the Concealed Pistol License's certified pistol-safety course of at least 8 hours, including live-fire |
| Minnesota | no separate individual guard license — officers are employed under the agency license and must meet the board's training requirements | 12 hours of pre-assignment training within 21 days of hire, plus 6 hours of board-certified continuing education each year | an additional 6 hours of annual weapons training with a live-fire certification |
| Mississippi | none required statewide for unarmed guards | none required by state law | none stated for guards — the permit is conditioned on a written application, the fee, a fingerprint-based state and FBI criminal history check, and no felony conviction ever. The weapons-training-course requirement in the same statute applies to listed public officers, not to private security guards |
| Missouri | a municipal license class (St. Louis: watchman, courier, security officer, or corporate security advisor; Kansas City: Class A or B) | set by the city — St. Louis requires a two-day course and a 70% exam; there is no statewide standard | firearms training as set by the city, completed before on-duty carry is authorized |
| Montana | a private security guard licence | a minimum 16-hour training programme, completed BEFORE undertaking any duties and certified by the employing company as part of the licence application, covering the role and function of security guards; federal, state and local statutes applicable to private security; interaction with law enforcement; limitations on the use of force and self-defence and the use-of-force continuum; emergency procedures and hazardous material preparedness; communication skills, report writing and radio communication; crisis intervention and crowd control; patrol techniques; and ethical and legal issues. Note the anti-padding rule: ARM 24.182.807(4) provides that training on policies, systems and procedures internal to the employer may NOT be counted toward the 16 hours | evidence of satisfactory completion of a firearms training programme taught by a board-certified firearms instructor, plus a shooting proficiency test; the endorsement covers only the firearms qualified with |
| Nebraska | none required statewide | none required by state law | none required by state law for security guards |
| Nevada | a PILB work card, registering the guard as an employee of a licensed agency | no statewide pre-licensing classroom-hour requirement for an unarmed work card appears on a PILB source; the board issues a study guide and processes the card through the employing licensee | eight hours of training and instruction on carrying, handling and using a firearm safely, including a written exam passed at 75% or better, plus a minimum of five hours of firing-range instruction qualifying with the same type and calibre carried on duty; requalification every six months |
| New Hampshire | a Security Guard Employee licence for a guard working for a licensed agency, or a Security Guard Individual licence for a self-standing licensee | none set by statute. RSA 106-F:9, X lets the commissioner adopt initial and continuing education requirements by rule but CAPS them at 10 hours per licence period — so guard competence in New Hampshire is a contractual matter, not a regulatory one | four hours of instruction on firearms techniques and safety, the law on use of deadly force, and the moral and ethical use of force, plus a scored course of fire (36 rounds, 75% pass, fired twice consecutively) or the state Police Standards and Training course; armed applicants also submit fingerprints |
| New Jersey | SORA registration (the “SORA card”) | a 24-hour SORA training course | the SORA course plus firearms qualification for the Permit to Carry |
| New Mexico | security guard registration at level one, two or three | level one (unarmed) requires an eight-hour curriculum as the minimum, completed within twelve months before application, taught in person by a department-approved instructor, plus a department jurisprudence examination | level three requires a sixteen-hour curriculum including the law on firearms and deadly physical force, on top of level two's twenty-hour curriculum, plus a psychological evaluation by a licensed psychologist and a biometric federal background check |
| New York | Security Guard Registration | an 8-hour pre-assignment course plus 16 hours of on-the-job training within 90 days, and 8 hours of annual training | a 47-hour course plus an 8-hour annual in-service firearms course, on top of a valid New York pistol license |
| North Carolina | security guard registration | 16 hours of training (4 hours within 20 days of hire and 12 within 30 days) | a 20-hour armed course, with an armed refresher on renewal |
| North Dakota | registration as an apprentice security officer, security officer or commissioned security officer — the agency is responsible for registering all its employees and independent contractors | an apprentice security officer needs a minimum of twelve hours of classroom instruction or twelve hours of field training, completed within thirty days of registration, with field training supervised at no more than four trainees per officer; a security officer needs 1,000 hours of apprentice service plus a further thirty-two hours of classroom instruction; a commissioned security officer needs 3,000 further hours plus another eighty hours | compliance with all state and federal weapons laws plus completion of the same firearms training required for North Dakota peace officers — the rule sets the standard by reference rather than by hour count |
| Ohio | an employee registration card issued through the licensed provider | training set by the employer (Ohio sets no statewide unarmed training hours) | firearm training as required by PISGS (confirm the current hours with the agency) |
| Oklahoma | Security Guard License (unarmed) | Phase I (20 hours) and Phase II (20 hours) plus the unarmed security guard state examination — 59 O.S. §1750.3(B)(3) independently caps unarmed guard training at 40 hours, matching that total. Continuing education is eight hours from an approved source. The CADENCE is contested in our sources and we do not assert one: OAC 390:35-5-2.1(a)(2) and 59 O.S. §1750.3(B)(4)(a) both frame CE by “the licensing period” (the statute capping it at 24 clock hours per period) while other summaries describe it as annual. Since the licence runs three years, the difference is threefold — ask CLEET directly rather than relying on either reading | Phase I, II and IV, where Phase IV is 32 hours, plus both the unarmed and the firearms examinations; armed applicants also submit a psychological evaluation |
| Oregon | Unarmed Private Security Professional certification — Oregon reserves “licensure” for managers, instructors and entities, and “certifies” line officers | fourteen hours of unarmed basic classroom instruction, an exam and assessments; renewal requires a four-hour unarmed renewal course and exam | the fourteen unarmed hours plus a minimum of twenty-four hours of basic armed instruction, a written examination, a safe gun handling test and marksmanship qualification — thirty-eight hours in total; armed professionals requalify annually |
| Pennsylvania | no statewide individual guard registration | training set by the employer (no statewide unarmed requirement) | a 40-hour Act 235 course |
| Rhode Island | employee registration with the Attorney General; no person may perform the duties of an employee of a licensed business without first being registered, which requires a verified registration statement and a national fingerprint-based background check before starting work | none required — Rhode Island sets no training hours or curriculum for unarmed security guards; the regime is qualification- and background-check-based | marksmanship qualification rather than a training-hour requirement — the applicant must certify qualification with a pistol or revolver of a calibre equal to or larger than the one to be carried, scoring 195 or better out of 300 over 30 consecutive rounds at 25 yards, slow fire |
| South Carolina | a SLED-issued security officer registration card, coupled to employment: a registered person may perform security duties only while employed by a licensed business | four or more hours of training by a company-certified Security Training Officer using South Carolina Technical College material, plus a written exam the training officer designs from the lesson-plan performance objectives, all completed BEFORE the officer begins duties at a client site. The often-quoted extra two hours of orientation are not part of this route — they attach only to the alternative SLED-approved course delivered by a nationally accredited institution, which yields a “Certified” rather than “Registered” officer | a minimum of four hours of SLED-approved firearms training beyond the basic course, following state technical college lesson plans and courses of fire and including a documented live-range demonstration, completed before initial registration, with annual requalification for each type of firearm carried |
| South Dakota | none required statewide | none required statewide | none — no training requirement attaches to the optional permit |
| Tennessee | a Security Guard/Officer Registration Card (issued as unarmed or armed) | a 4-hour training course plus a passing exam | roughly 16 hours — the 4-hour course plus 8 classroom hours of firearms training and 4 hours of marksmanship, with a qualification |
| Texas | Level II non-commissioned security officer registration | a state-approved Level II training course | an approximately 45-hour Level III course including firearms and self-defense |
| Utah | unarmed private security officer licence | a minimum of eight hours of classroom or online basic education and training, plus a division examination | the eight hours of basic training plus a minimum of twelve hours of firearms training (58-63-302(2)(h)); the classroom/range split and the 80% pass mark are set by administrative rule rather than by statute |
| Vermont | two credentials — a Licensed Security Guard, who may work as a sole proprietor or agency employee, and a Registered Security Employee, who may work only as a supervised employee of a licensed agency | a Licensed Security Guard needs 40 hours of approved training plus an examination plus two or more years of security experience; a Registered Security Employee needs eight hours of approved training. All security personnel must obtain CPR/AED certification within three months of hire | at least twelve hours of approved classroom instruction in safe handling, proper use and legal responsibility, plus at least four hours on the specific weapon to be carried, plus range qualification for that weapon; renewal requires a valid firearms recertification certificate |
| Virginia | security officer registration | 18 hours of entry-level training | a 24-hour handgun course, with the endorsement renewed annually |
| Washington State | security guard license | 8 hours of pre-assignment training (plus additional hours in the first year and an annual refresher) | at least 8 hours for the firearms certificate, with live-fire qualification |
| Washington, D.C. | a Security Officer certification (or a Special Police Officer commission, which carries arrest powers on the protected premises) | 24 hours of pre-assignment training, 16 hours of on-the-job training within 90 days, and 8 hours of annual in-service | a Special Police Officer commission — 40 hours of pre-assignment training, with an additional 40-hour firearms certification for armed SPOs (about 80 hours combined) and 8 hours of annual in-service |
| West Virginia | an Individual Security Guard License. Critically, employees who conduct security guard business UNDER a firm's licence are not separately licensed by the Secretary of State: they must meet the statutory eligibility criteria except the one-year prior-employment requirement, and the firm must keep a recent photograph and a complete set of fingerprints for each of them at its central West Virginia business location | no state-specified training hours. For an individual licence the applicant needs at least one year of verified full-time employment conducting security guard or investigation business for a licensed firm, or one year of substantially equivalent training or experience. For firm employees, the licence holder is responsible for supervision including any education or training reasonably necessary to ensure compliance — but the statute sets no hour count | none specified in statute |
| Wisconsin | a Private Security Permit (the holder is a “Private Security Person”) | no state-mandated unarmed training — the permit requires an application, fingerprints, and a state and FBI background check with an absolute felony bar | a 36-hour firearm training program for the DSPS Firearms Permit (valid one year, with a 6-hour annual refresher) |
| Wyoming | none required statewide — Wyoming issues no guard card, registration or permit | none required by state law — training is set entirely by the employer or by any applicable municipal ordinance | none required by state law |
High-requirement vs no-minimum states — and what that means when you hire
At the demanding end, California requires 40 hours of training plus annual continuing education, meaning officers refresh their skills every year rather than training once and coasting. New York layers an 8-hour pre-assignment course before a guard steps onto any post with 16 additional hours completed on the job. Illinois pairs a 20-hour basic course with 8 more hours. In these states, the statutory floor already guarantees a baseline of competence — a guard legally cannot work your site without meeting it.
At the other end, Georgia (for unarmed officers), Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan set no statewide guard-training minimum and leave it entirely to the licensed employer. This does not mean guards in those states are untrained — reputable firms train them well — but it means the law guarantees you nothing. Two companies quoting the same site in Columbus or Detroit can put dramatically different officers in front of your building, and the state won't have vetted the difference. As the table shows, the gap between a 40-hour mandate and no mandate at all is the single biggest variable buyers overlook. Before you sign in a no-minimum state, treat the provider's own program as the real credential.
What guard training typically covers
Whether mandated by statute or delivered by the employer, a credible basic curriculum covers a consistent core:
- Legal powers and limits — what a guard can and cannot do: observe-and-report authority, the rules around detention and citizen's arrest, trespass enforcement, and where private-security authority ends and law enforcement begins.
- Use of force — the force continuum, de-escalation first, and when physical intervention is and isn't justified. This is the area most likely to create liability for your business if it's done wrong.
- Report writing — accurate incident documentation, because the officer's report is what your insurer, attorney, or the police will rely on after an event.
- Emergency response — fire, medical, evacuation, active-threat, and severe-weather protocols, plus how and when to escalate to 911.
- Site-specific post orders — the procedures unique to your property. Even a heavily trained guard is only effective if trained on your access control, patrol routes, and escalation chain, which is why post-order onboarding matters as much as the state minimum.
Continuing education and refresher requirements
Initial hours are only part of the picture. Some states require ongoing training so skills don't decay — California's annual continuing education is the clearest example, forcing yearly refreshers rather than a one-and-done certificate. Many states require nothing after the initial course, which means a guard trained years ago may never have revisited use-of-force law or emergency procedures. When you evaluate a provider, ask how often officers requalify and refresh regardless of what the state requires; in low-mandate states, a company that runs its own annual refreshers is signaling a standard the law doesn't force on it.
Added training for armed officers
Everything above concerns unarmed guards. Armed work always adds a separate firearms course — classroom instruction on weapons law, safety, and use-of-deadly-force policy, plus a live-fire qualification to prove marksmanship — layered on top of the basic guard curriculum, usually with periodic requalification to keep the armed credential current. This is an entirely separate track from unarmed training, and the state rules for it differ from the unarmed rules, sometimes sharply. If you're weighing whether your site even needs armed coverage, start with armed vs. unarmed security guards, and confirm the specific armed mandates in your jurisdiction using armed security guard requirements by state before you specify armed officers in a contract.
Why the differences matter for buyers
The practical takeaway is this: in a high-requirement state, the law does meaningful vetting for you, so a compliant provider clears a real bar. In a low- or no-minimum state, the provider's own training program is the actual differentiator — the state has abdicated that job, so it falls to you. In both cases you should look past the quote and interrogate the training. Concretely, ask a prospective provider:
- How many hours of initial training does every officer complete before deployment, and what does the curriculum cover?
- Do you exceed the state minimum — and if the state has none, what is your internal standard?
- How often do officers requalify or take refresher training, and is use-of-force retraining part of it?
- How are officers onboarded to our site's specific post orders before their first shift?
- For armed posts, when did each assigned officer last complete live-fire qualification?
Tip: Verify, don't just trust the pitch. You can confirm that a company and its officers hold current, valid state credentials using the security guard license lookup by state — a fast way to catch a provider whose registrations have lapsed.
Training quality is one of the clearest signals separating a serious security partner from a low-bid staffing shop, and it rarely shows up on the invoice. When you're ready to compare providers who train to a real standard for your location and site type, get quotes from licensed security companies and put these questions to each one.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a national training standard for US security guards?+
No. There is no federal or national security-guard training standard. Private security is regulated at the state level, so requirements vary enormously — from 40 hours plus annual continuing education in California to no statewide minimum at all in states like Ohio and Indiana. Always check the rules for the state where your site is located.
Which states require the most guard training?+
Among the high-requirement states, California mandates 40 hours plus annual continuing education, New York requires an 8-hour pre-assignment course plus 16 hours completed on the job, and Illinois requires a 20-hour basic course plus 8 additional hours. In these states the legal minimum already guarantees a baseline of officer competence before a guard can work your site.
Do any states require no security-guard training?+
Yes. Georgia (for unarmed officers), Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan set no statewide guard-training minimum and leave training to the licensed employer. Guards there aren't necessarily untrained, but the law guarantees nothing — so the provider's own program becomes the real differentiator, and you should vet it closely before you hire.
How is armed guard training different from unarmed training?+
Armed work always adds a separate firearms course on top of the basic guard curriculum — classroom instruction on weapons law and use of deadly force, plus a live-fire qualification to prove marksmanship, usually with periodic requalification. It's a distinct credential track with its own state rules, separate from unarmed guard requirements.
What should I ask a security company about its training in a low-minimum state?+
Ask how many hours every officer completes before deployment and what the curriculum covers, whether the company exceeds (or, absent a mandate, sets) an internal standard, how often officers requalify and refresh use-of-force training, and how they're onboarded to your site's specific post orders. For armed posts, ask when each officer last completed live-fire qualification, and verify current licensing through a state lookup.
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