Back in the mists of time I used to be a civilian working at a military establishment. On some Fridays I had to draw a pistol from the armoury for a demonstration in the afternoon. However, the armourer finished at three o’clock on a Friday and so I was told to hang on to the pistol until the following Monday.
I shared an office which didn’t have a locking door or even a locking cabinet (I kept the pistol ammo in an unlocked desk drawer) and so I wasn’t too happy leaving the pistol in the office over the weekend.
The only solution was to cycle home with the pistol tucked into my bar bag, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was (it was single shot). Luckily I never encountered any bears (not too many in Wiltshire) or crack dens (not many of those either). Good job I was never stopped by the police (I didn’t have a gun license), but back in those days I expect the MOD police would have smoothed things out for me……………
Looking back on it, it was a strange way of doing things. The establishment had its own gun and explosives licenses which I could borrow to purchase whatever ammunition and explosives I wanted.