Thank you to everyone who is responding to my question.  Each respondent
has taken my question seriously and the answers have been very informative
as well as adding a bit of humor occasionally to lighten the subject.

Thank you, Judith.  This describes our situation quite well.  Our P.I. will
be doing field work in Alaska and apparently has received information about
the presence of bears in the area.

We definitely want our researcher(s) to have full protection during field
work.  We just had not been faced with this specific request before.
(P.S.: This is a post-award question.  Also, it is reasonable to assume
that this would not be the last field trip to Alaska as we have had several
researchers doing research there over the years.  Therefore, this question
may come up again.)

One respondent suggested hiring a local guide/guard as an alternative to
<purchasing> a weapon, lethal or non-lethal.  I have forwarded this to the
negotiators.

Several respondents have mentioned evaluating the state purchasing
regulations as well.  We have done so, but the results are not in yet.
(It's nice to know we have been on the right track.  :-)))

Ownership:  This would need to be addressed by our Property Office and
comply with state law.  Thank you for also pointing out that registration
and insurance issues need to be addressed.  I will also forward to the
negotiators the suggestion to check with Campus Public Safety.

Training & expertise:  Definitely needed, or needs to be verified.

Again, thanks to everyone.

Have a nice day.   :-)

At 02:27 PM 7/6/98 -0700, you wrote:
>>From the perspective of a field research support person, I do not find
>Phyllis' question and the PI's question to be unreasonable.
>
>For instance, we operate a research aircraft that is actually an airborne
>laboratory for atmospheric science studies.  We recently participated in a
>project in the high Arctic near Barrow, Alaska, where polar bears are not
>uncommon.  A suitable rifle was part of our survival gear.  Furthermore,
>the US DOE personnel at Barrow all received required firearms training for
>survival protection from the Sandia National Laboratory firearms expert
>who flew to Barrow expressly for that purpose.  Finally, I was told that
>many persons who participated in the interagency (NSF, ONR, etc.)  SHEBA
>experiment aboard the ship floating with the Arctic ice also received
>firearms training.
>
>Polar bears are no joke.
>
>However, our survival rifle was not purchased with grant funds.  During
>some past experiments, we secured a loaned rifle from a local sporting
>goods store.  Considering, though, that DOE required such training for its
>personnel, I tend to believe that the purchase would be an allowable
>expense at least on a DOE award.
>
>
>____________________________________________________________
>Judith Opacki, Administrator            Tel: (206) 543-6026
>Cloud & Aerosol Research                Fax: (206) 685-7160 or 543-0308
>Department of Atmospheric Sciences
>University of Washington
>Box 351640
>Seattle, WA  98195-1640  USA
>
>
Phyllis T. Shaw
Research Accountant
Financial Affairs
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
xxxxxx@comp.uark.edu