DAVE KOPEL: Could President Perry Carry A Gun? “Chris Moody attempts to analyze the issue for The Ticket. The analysis could have been improved by reading the laws of the District of Columbia.” Of course the President could authorize himself to carry a gun. Such powers are, in fact, widely dispersed among the federal government — I remember noticing years ago that the NASA Administrator could authorize people to carry a gun, and briefly considered trying to pull strings to get a NASA carry permit . . . .

Plus, from the comments: “If Harrison Ford’s POTUS character in Air Force One had been packing, I bet the movie would have unfolded differently.” I seem to remember reading that Churchill carried a .38 revolver during World War II, in light of not-entirely-unreasonable fears of a German assassination/kidnap attempt.