The point of doing that is??? Instead of making it easy for yourself and making it an item? Or make it both?
asdf
Have you used the simple well hats mod? If so, it'd be similar to that, except that it would mount the hat when you spawn as a specific playertype. Making it an item kind of defeats the purpose of wearing it before you go into battle. Yes, you could enable it before you start shooting it, but that's one less weapon slot for you to use.