> Hence, the trick is not to ask because the more people are involved the higher the chance that one of them will say 'no'.

So in my case at IBM the trick to being able to keep a hand-and-a-half sword in your office is to just have it appear there one day. My boss did a bit of a double-take the first time he saw it but that was the only reaction I got.

They did have a "no firearms in the building" policy but that didn't extend to medieval edged weapons, although there may have been a change made after I left.