The TSA is still dragging its feet in allowing pilots to be armed, despite the Congressional mandate, which they continue to interpret, apparently, as an option.

Price said the response to the mechanics of how the weapons will be handled, transported and stored has been mixed.

“We are pleased that we will have immediate access to the weapon on the flight deck,” he said. “But in terms of [transportation], it’s a huge problem.”

Storing the weapon inside a locked box, rather than on their person – where law enforcement officers and armed private citizens transport their handguns – poses a number of problems for pilots, Price believes.

“That just makes us a huge target. It just paints a bulls-eye on every pilot, whether he happens to be an armed pilot or not,” he argued.

“Now, all of the sudden, my pilot’s uniform gives the criminal element – that may be in the employee parking lot at three in the morning when I show up for work – some idea that I may be carrying a very high-value weapon,” Price explained, “and they know that that weapon is unavailable to me to use in self-defense.”

Gee, is it possible that they’re trying to discourage pilots from carrying guns? Couldn’t be…

One of the many reasons to dislike this Administration. Not, of course, that any Democrat would be any better.