Can security guards carry guns in Texas?

The commission is the permission

Texas separates the security officer who may carry from the one who may not by a credential. Under Occupations Code chapter 1702, a security officer commission is issued by the Department of Public Safety to an individual who has completed the Level III course, passed the firearms proficiency test with the type of weapon they will carry, passed the background check and is employed by a licensed company. The commission is tied to that employer and renewed with continuing education and repeated proficiency. Without it, an officer may not carry a firearm on duty regardless of any personal license to carry.

What the commission does not do

It does not give the officer police powers, and it does not change when a firearm may be used. Use of force, including deadly force, is governed by Penal Code chapter 9 for a commissioned officer exactly as for anyone else: justified only where immediately necessary to defend life within the statute’s terms, never as a tool of enforcement. On Price Protection’s armed posts, the post orders say where the officer is positioned, how the officer responds to a threat and when police are called, and the firearm sits at the end of that sequence.

Where armed officers are used

Emergency departments and behavioral health facilities with a history of violence, pharmacies, lenders and check-cashing offices, jewelers and pawn shops, cash-handling posts, facilities with a specific threat, executive protection under a Level IV endorsement, and clients whose insurers or policies require it. Most posts, from apartment communities to construction sites, are unarmed, because presence, access control and reporting are what those properties need.

Checking an armed officer

Ask for the officer’s commission number and look it up on the department’s public license search, as you would the company’s license. The commission shows the officer has met the state’s standard; the post orders and the daily report show how the officer works. This page is a summary, not legal advice; the Level III course article describes the training in detail.

What the officer carries besides the firearm

A commissioned officer’s equipment on a Price Protection post is set by the post orders: a radio, a flashlight, the tablet or the log, and the firearm in a retention holster. Other weapons are governed by their own rules and are not carried unless the client and the post orders call for them; the weapons other than firearms article explains the distinctions.