• Presidential bodyguards are Secret Service agents.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  After the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901, the Secret Service was ordered by Congress to protect future U.S. presidents from potential attacks. Indeed, according to the U.S. Secret Service website, "the Secret Service is authorized by law to protect the president." Presidential bodyguards are trained in the use of a wide range of weapons; these include the SIG Sauer P229 and the FN Five-Seven sidearms. Secret Service agents also carry close-combat weapons such as the HK MP5 submachine gun and the Remington Model 870 shotgun.
  
  

SIG Sauer P229

• The first prototype of the SIG Sauer was showcased to a few writers in 1991 by the manufacturer Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft. Nowadays, SIG-produced pistols are used by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other smaller federal government agencies. The SIG Sauer handgun used by the Secret Service, the P229 model, is chambered with .375-caliber SIG cartridges. This firearm makes use of a machined stainless-steel slide; it was specifically made for the purpose of absorbing the recoil from firing shots. On previous weaker models, the slide was too strong for the recoil and could potentially fracture or shatter the gun frame alloy. According to the Remtek Arms site, the sidearm utilizes an automatic firing pin: "This means the SIG operates without need of traditional safety control levers. It is a double action / single action semi-automatic and the first shot when the hammer is down requires a double action trigger pull."
  
  

FN Five-Seven (5.7)

• The European-made FN Five-Seven is so named because of its 5.7-mm bullet diameter. The Five-Seven is made mostly of a plastic compound with the slide and grip frames crafted from sheet metal. With such a large amount of plastic, the gun looks a lot like a BB gun or airsoft pistol. The plastic makes the gun incredibly lightweight; a fully loaded Five-Seven weighs 1.64 pounds --- only slightly more than a Glock 17 pistol fully loaded (1.40 pounds). According to the Savvy Survivor website, the Five-Seven has an innovative safety feature: "The unique safety on this single action pistol is engaged and disengaged with the trigger finger. This cleverly ensures the trained user keeps their finger out of the trigger guard."
  
  

Other Firearms

• Agents are also trained to use the Remington 870 Model shotgun.less lethal shotgun and shells. image by Kevin Chesson from Fotolia.com
  
  Security Service bodyguards are also trained in the use of close-combat firearms such as the Remington Model 870 shotgun. This particular gun is a pump-action shotgun that began life some 50 years ago as a hunting firearm. Since the early 1970s, the shotgun was picked up by the military and eventually incorporated into Special Service arsenals. The World Gun website says that "military shotguns have extended magazines for 7 or 8 rounds, bayonet mounts, heat shields around the barrels and non-glare, protective and rust-resistant finishes." Secret Service agents also are trained in the use of the HK MP5 submachine gun, the IMI Uzi and the FN P90, a selective-fire personal defense weapon (PDW).