Frank Costa, President Nexgen Protection Services –

Certain operational roles in public safety mandate the requirement for a lethal force response, issued in the form of a firearm. Depending on the role, the firearms are usually limited to smalls arms only in the form of handguns and long-arms. With the provision of firearms comes the necessity for appropriate training and regulations governing the issue and use of these operational tools.

If operational personnel decide to undertake job roles that require a lethal force option, they have an obligation to be highly competent in the use of that tool, which includes appropriate knowledge and skills for safe and professional use of that tool in an operational context (as opposed to simply a training context). In the first instance, the burden of responsibility falls to the individual user to survive the operational environment, physically and legally.