As a security officer myself, let me jump in to the guys defence some and say that it's likly that he is not really into firearms like we are. It's just a necessary tool that he's required to have. He probably had to buy it himself and he probably doesn't plan on doing security as a career but only for a short while.
Most guard jobs are the equivilant of McDonalds summer jobs. They are a low pay, short term solution to a gap in employment for most people. The guy speant as little as possible on a weapon he may never use outside of whatever mandatoy training he got after applying for the job.
I've seen guards with old .22 long rifle revolvers and even .380 semis in their cheap nylon holsters.
I worked for a company which issued a S&W mod 10 with 5 lead nose bullets and it was not assigned to the officer but the post with each officer passing it on to his relief at shift change. The bare minimum required to be "armed" on that post.
I have read, but not personally seen, posts in forums dedicated to security officers, where the post describes working for a company or seeing a company issue "dummy" guns which are inert. I've also read posts at those security forums of guards with guns which were somehow glued/welded into the holster so that they can not be removed. The gun and holster are there only for show, not for acual use. The OC deterent is supposed o be enough and the company doesn't want the liability of a minimum wage, short time employee getting bored and shooting himself or someone else with thier weapon. Or getting in a firefight/shototout.
Honestly, after years of working in the industry I can see where some of these security business owners are coming from with their ideas but I would never agree to work for any of them. The profit margins in security jobs are razor thin and it really doesn't pay to hire gungho squaredaway guys for many of those jobs because they will want more pay and benefits than you are able to get from the account. So you staff it with the cheapest peorson who is willing to do the job, give him the cheapest uniform possible or even have him buy the uniform himself, which I've seen. Tell him he needs a holster and a gun. He will get go our and buy the cheapest POS he can find at the pawn shop and plans on selling back as soon as he gets a job with his uncles landscaping business.
It's honestly one of my pet peeves when someone refers to guars/security as rent-a-cop, wannabe, etc.... If you ever work anytime in security you find the vast majority of security have no desire to be police nor are their jobs anything like law enforcement. They are there to be a deterent to theft and to enforce polices for the company, not laws of the town. Rarely do they have arrest powers over that of an average citizen and most are not allowed to perform any sort of detentions or arrests at all for fear of lawsuits against the company.
It's just another job. Sometimes a temporary part time or second job. Guards I work with may come to work straight from a job working as a janitor at a hotel (we actually have 2 of them that do that working tonight) and we have one on shift right now that works at a car dealorship cleaing/detailing cars. This is nothing but a second paycheck for them. They are not "gun people" any more than they are "flashlight geeks" just because we are issued a maglight at rollcall to carry on post.
Sorry for the long post.
Steve, hospital security guy