Why not? The EPA does.

Now that everybody in the Federal bureaucracy from the head of the FBI to the lowliest janitor at the Department of Health and Human Services is armed up like an extra from the movie Platoon, the trend seems to be trickling down to state level more and more often. It appears that SPCA dog catchers in the Keystone State, who aren't even real government employees in the first place, are the newest ones to get to go the full Barney and add a shootin' iron to their bat belts, starting last month.

Now, lord knows that I think carrying a pistola on your day-to-day rounds is simply prudent, especially if dealing with fifty-pound rabid carnivores is just another day at the office. What annoys me is the idea that the pistol needs to come with some shiny boots and a tin star, lest you not be The Only One In The Room Professional Enough.

This is the same mentality that winds up with train conductors dressed like field marshals so that everyone knows that they Work for Authority. I know Pennsylvania is full of Jerry-sounding place names, but we don't have to dress and act like the Boche because of it, for heaven's sake.