I wonder what they would have said if I'd been carrying my own [private] 9mm Browning with filled magazines from my own [private] stock? "Oh, you can't shoot intruders with that, it's not Gov't issue"?
Ah yes, I used to get funny looks at my annual range qual when I pitched up with my Colt .38 auto (worn underneath the flying suit) or, in latter days my short-barrel .357 Magnum which fitted neatly into Her Majesty’s shoulder holster. Ear duffs definitely needed for the latter, which drilled laser-like holes in the Fig 11 target. That was before the madness that was Dunblane required us to surrender our pieces.
Mog