A property manager in Cordova called me last month with a question I hear at least twice a week. She manages a small shopping center off Germantown Parkway, three strip retail buildings with about 20 tenants, and she’d gotten bids from two security companies. One proposed armed guards at $24 an hour. The other offered unarmed guards at $16. She wanted to know which one she actually needed.
The honest answer is that it depends. And the factors that determine the right answer aren’t always the ones people expect.
The Baseline Difference
Under Tennessee law, both armed and unarmed security guards must be registered through TDCI’s Private Protective Services division. Both need 16 hours of basic training and a background check through TBI and FBI databases. The difference is that armed guards carry an additional layer of training, responsibility, and legal risk.
Armed guards in Tennessee must complete firearms qualification, scoring at least 70% on an approved silhouette target course. They train on use-of-force law, de-escalation techniques, and the legal boundaries of when a private security officer can draw or use a weapon. Their registrations require renewal every two years with a refresher course and requalification.
An armed guard carries a sidearm on duty. That fact changes everything about the dynamic on the property. It changes the guard’s authority in the eyes of visitors, tenants, and would-be criminals. It changes the liability profile for the security company and the property owner. And it changes the cost.
When Armed Makes Sense
There are situations in Memphis where armed guards are the right call. Not because they’re “better,” but because the specific risk profile of the property warrants it.
High-crime locations with a history of armed robberies or violent incidents are the most obvious candidates. If you’re running a business on the stretch of Lamar between Shelby Drive and Brooks Road, or along parts of Elvis Presley Boulevard, or in certain sections of Frayser, the threat of armed confrontation is real enough that having a guard who can respond in kind makes sense.
Financial institutions are typically armed posts. Banks, credit unions, and check cashing locations deal with a specific type of threat that calls for armed response capability. Most people in Memphis have noticed that the guards standing inside banks carry firearms. That’s by design and in line with industry standards.
Warehouses and distribution centers storing high-value goods often go armed, especially on overnight shifts. The logistics corridor along the I-40 and Lamar Avenue stretch south of the airport is full of facilities that hold millions of dollars in inventory. A break-in at 3 a.m. at one of those sites isn’t a job for an unarmed guard with a flashlight and a radio.
Jewelry stores, pharmacies holding controlled substances, and any business that regularly handles large amounts of cash are also situations where armed guards are standard practice.
When Unarmed Is the Better Choice
Not every property needs an armed guard. And in many cases, the presence of a firearm on site creates problems that outweigh the benefits.
Office buildings, medical offices, schools, and family-oriented retail environments often do better with unarmed guards. The visual of a guard with a holstered weapon can make visitors, patients, and parents uncomfortable. In a pediatric clinic or a family restaurant, the message you want to send is “this place is safe,” not “this place is dangerous enough to require guns.”
Residential communities and apartment complexes typically use unarmed guards for access control, patrol, and rule enforcement. The job is about presence and observation, not armed confrontation. An unarmed guard at a gatehouse or walking a property sends a deterrent message without creating an aggressive atmosphere.
Event security, depending on the event type, often leans unarmed with selective armed placement. A festival at Shelby Farms might have unarmed guards handling crowd flow and access control, with a small team of armed guards positioned at cash handling locations and backstage areas.
The key question isn’t whether a firearm makes the guard more capable. It does, in specific scenarios. The question is whether the added capability is worth the added cost, liability, and potential for escalation on your particular property.
The Liability Dimension
This is where the decision gets uncomfortable, and where property managers need to talk to their insurance carriers and attorneys before making a call.
When an armed guard is on your property, the use-of-force liability chain extends to the property owner and the security company. If a guard draws a weapon in a situation that doesn’t warrant it, or if a round goes somewhere it shouldn’t, the lawsuits will name everyone involved. The guard. The security company. The property owner. And potentially the property management company.
Tennessee law gives private security officers limited authority. They’re not police officers. They don’t have arrest powers beyond citizen’s arrest, and the legal terrain around use of force by private security personnel is full of gray areas that courts are still sorting out.
Security companies that handle armed contracts properly carry higher insurance coverage, conduct regular use-of-force training refreshers, and have clear policies about when a guard can and cannot draw a weapon. Companies that skip those steps are a lawsuit waiting to happen.
If you’re hiring an armed security provider in Memphis, ask to see their insurance certificate. Ask about their use-of-force policy. Ask how often their guards requalify on the range. If the company can’t produce clear answers to those questions, keep looking.
The Cost Difference
In the Memphis market as of early 2020, the typical bill rate for an unarmed guard runs $14 to $18 per hour, depending on the company, the shift, and the contract terms. Armed guards typically bill at $20 to $28 per hour. Overnight and weekend differentials push both numbers higher.
That spread adds up fast over a year of coverage. A single armed guard post covering 12 hours a day, seven days a week, costs roughly $85,000 to $100,000 annually at Memphis market rates. The same post with an unarmed guard runs $55,000 to $70,000. The $20,000 to $30,000 difference pays for a lot of camera upgrades, better lighting, or access control improvements that might reduce the need for armed presence in the first place.
Smart businesses in Memphis are doing the math and sometimes landing on a hybrid approach: unarmed guards for day shifts when the property is busy and well-lit, and an armed guard or armed patrol for overnight hours when the risk profile changes.
Shield of Steel, the veteran-owned company based at 2682 Lamar Avenue, takes this hybrid approach with several of their commercial clients. Their armed officers, many of whom come from military or law enforcement backgrounds, handle the overnight and high-risk shifts, while unarmed personnel cover daytime access control and customer-facing positions. At (202) 222-2225, they’ll walk you through the options for your specific property. The limitation is that they’re a mid-size firm, so if you need large-scale staffing across multiple sites, you might outgrow their capacity. For a single property or a small portfolio, though, the hybrid model keeps costs in check while matching the security response to the actual risk level.
Making the Decision
Here’s a framework that Memphis businesses can use. Answer these four questions:
Has your property experienced armed criminal activity in the past two years? If yes, armed guards deserve serious consideration.
Does your business handle large amounts of cash, controlled substances, or high-value inventory? If yes, armed guards are standard in your industry for good reason.
Is your property in a location where MPD response times consistently exceed 10 to 15 minutes? If yes, having armed capability on site matters more, because the response gap is wider.
Would the visible presence of a firearm negatively affect your business or your customers’ experience? If yes, that’s a real factor that shouldn’t be dismissed.
Most Memphis businesses will find that the answers lead them toward unarmed guards with technology enhancements, or toward a hybrid model that uses armed coverage strategically rather than wall-to-wall. The businesses that genuinely need full-time armed security generally know it before they ask the question.
Whatever you decide, make sure the company you hire is TDCI-licensed, properly insured, and transparent about their training standards. The badge and the uniform only mean something if there’s a real organization behind them.