Silly thought --
You earn gun perks by using the existing ships' guns and field ack.
You have the option to spend your "gun perks" when you man a soft gun to upgrade it to a quad 40, 5" single or 5" twin turret.
If your gun is taken out, you lose the perks. Land successfully and you keep them (like any other perk ride).
Yep, probably too silly to contemplate, but there it is.