The problem with that is that there will be some officious SOB there who will confiscate it from you if you declare it,and threaten you with courtmartial if you are found with a undeclared privately-owned weapon. They take their jobs seriously too,since they make a LOT of money reselling the guns turned in. I remember a big sign before the entrance desk at Camn Rah Bay that said "all soldiers found with a non-issue weapons will be charged under Article whatever",and a big box there they called the "no questions asked box". We were all told to drop any illegal or unauthorized weapons in there and we would not be charged with ever possessing them. When the MP at the entrance desk asked me if I had any privately owned weapons,I said,"You bet. I have my K-Bar,and I have a Buck folder". He then said,"I'm gonna have to take them from you",and my response was,"You got THAT shit right!". Nothing more was said about them,and I was waved past the desk. Like I said,those guys made a LOT of money selling that stuff on the blackmarket.
Lol - Sounds like the way I would have handled it, but with my luck -- They would have taken them!
Yeh, all you said is true. I remember how guys used to write home wishing for sidearms during Vietnam, and how unauthorized weapons were confiscated.
The last I heard, no private weapons of any kind were alllowed on the air bases in Commifornia. Maybe elsewhere, I don't know, I just remember the problems & changes at Edwards.
My uncle claimed to have had a jewelled Nazi pin stolen out of his Army mail home during WWII. He said he chased that postmaster all over Germany!