Quake2 MD2 WEAPONS Loading

I''ve been able to load animated MD2 models into my D3D programs, but I''m now trying to attach weapons to the models. Of course I can use the same model loading routines to load the geometry / textures for the weapons as for the characters, but are the WEAPONS animated in relation to the original models? In other words, can I just load the models and apply the same tranformation matrix to it that I''m using for the character model and the weapon will then ANIMATE itself? Or is the weapon non-animating such that I have to in some way attach it to one of the frames of the character? Thanks, Tony