[Solved] GetComponent and Inheritance

Hi, short question.
I have a prefab called Helmet which has a component script also called Helmet that inherits from class Item.
If I Instantiate Helmet, can I then get the Item class using GetComponent?

Perhaps this is a rhetorical question because my results say no, but I'm baffled.

Code (CSharp):

1.     private void InventorySlot_Equip(GameObject gameObject)
2.     {
3.         GameObject t = Instantiate(gameObject);
4.         //cannot return GetComponent<Item>().m_itemType, probably because Item does not exist? This GameObject has Helmet that inherits Item.
5.         m_gear.Add(new Gear(t, GetComponent<Item>().m_itemType));
6.     }

EDIT Okay I see what I was doing wrong now. In my defence I was tired as all hell. I forgot to get the component from GameObject t. God knows why I didn't think to do that in the constructor for the gear struct. Bah.