Pilots carrying guns creates a “double-edged sword” for airports, according to Ray Bishop, Kern County airports director.

While he said he personally is neutral about the idea, such proposals create challenges for airport administrators.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, pilots with guns makes sense,’ because when you get hijacked, you’ve got guys with guns. Easy to say. In practice it’s a very difficult thing because now, what do you do with the gun when the pilot lands?”

The pilot has to leave the airplane carrying a gun and somehow not create a security problem, Bishop said during an interview at Meadows Field Monday.

“What happens when somebody bumps him on the head and steals his gun?” he asked.

So what seems like a simple solution also becomes complicated with how to store pilots’ guns.

“Well you have to have an armory, you have to have a lock on it. You can’t just put them in the closet and lock the door,” he said. “It’s got to be fire-safe, gun-safe, all this kind of stuff and now, all of a sudden, it costs a lot of money to make all these kinds of changes. So I think you have to look at the concept and say it’s not as pretty as you think it would be. It’s very difficult to do.”

Bishop explained that since Sept. 11, a few armed marshals have flown on airliners. In addition, security procedures at airports have increased. But airports would have to deal with storage and armory issues if pilots began carrying weapons, he said.

Others interviewed at Meadows Field also expressed concerns about the proposal.

Nick Longanecker, 66, a retired law enforcement officer, said he has mixed feelings about arming pilots.

“If a weapon goes off, it could pierce the fuselage and everybody’s going to go down,” he said.

Antoine Cleveland, 27, Bakersfield manager of America West Airlines, said it could create an unsafe situation if pilots were armed.

“You don’t know what their (pilots’) reaction will be if someone was to get on the plane,” he said. “How would they shoot the gun?”

Cleveland said he would prefer pilots carry something with a “less deadly force so that everybody doesn’t die.” One option would be a stun gun, he said.

Perhaps pilots should carry tranquilizer guns, said David Velasco, 48, a food salesman who was distributing products at the airport gift shop.

But Maryann Salinas, 38, a GET bus driver, said they could carry guns if they could keep them in a safe spot.

“Only they have access, maybe just the pilots have the keys, that would be good,” she said.

Anthony Mankins, 37, an Arcadia electrician passing through town, disagreed.

“Just because you’re a good pilot doesn’t mean you’re a good judge of (shooting a gun),” he said.

Mankins said he has a friend who is a pilot who supports carrying guns. But he recommended that instead of guns, airlines strengthen cockpit doors, as some already are.

“They lock them more now,” he said. “If they reinforced them somehow so that they couldn’t easily be kicked in, then I think that would offer enough protection for the pilot.”