Last week, Fox News noted that there is a growing trend among celebrities to surround themselves with beefy overbearing body guards. That's right, while many of these celebs are out speaking out against your right to carry a firearm, they are surrounding themselves with lots of hired muscle. Apparently it has become almost cliche, and stars are going on a bit of a power trip watching fans get manhandled.

All of this begs the question: How much security do celebrities really need and how much of it is just power tripping?

Former bodyguard-to-the-stars Michael Francis, author of the soon-to-be-published "Star Man: The Right Hand Man of Rock 'n' Roll," said even the brightest stars need only one good guard.

"It's an accessory now, that you have to have four or five guys who weigh 400 pounds. The big stars should have one good one that they trust," said Francis, who has worked with celebrities including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Cher, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney.

Autograph Collector magazine editor Jeff Woolf, who recently ranked the best and worst stars at doing "the write thing," said Spears and Christina Aguilera are known for their gangs of goons.

"The celebrities play innocent while Big Bubba is throwing you up against the wall. With Britney it is a well-known thing - she gets a kick out of it."

In many cases, celebrities really do have a need for some hired muscle. But when your protection becomes more of a status symbol, how effective is it?

"Especially Britney and Christina, they're pretty young girls and you don't want some nut-job coming up to them," said Woolf. "John Lennon probably should have had a bodyguard. But the guards focus so much on people with a camera and a pen when they should be looking out for someone who could really hurt the celebrities."

It's one thing to have some muscle present to handle a threat. It's altogether different to act like you own the sidewalk and start pushing people around.