Soon to be known as the "Kill Pirates" bill

While I want mariners to be able to protect themselves I am not sure that I want foreign crews coming into the US with weapons onboard.

nas

And you would be happy going to other peoples countries with weapons on-board would you?

Are you worried there might be an increase in gun crime?

It isn't as difficult to buy guns in the US as you might imagine.

I live in south Florida so gun crime doesn't scare me too much.

I do not have weapons onboard because the crew are not trained to use them. If I asked the crew if they wanted to carry weapons on board I would get a resounding yes. However, when it comes the time to pull the trigger you never know how untrained people are going react. If I was transiting an area with high rates of priacy I would have hire a security force.

In the US each state has its own gun laws, staying compliant here could be problematic, I couldn't imagine dealing with it on an international scale.

Shooting a few rpg's at a pursuing pirate skiff will surely make them think twice, but having these in the world fleet probably is not a great idea. Shotguns would be the best weapon in close quarters, but ineffective at longer range, every weapon is going to have trade offs. If weapons were ever allowed on a worldwide scale I think the best way to go about it is have it considered a piece of safety equipment with regular drills, training and standardization in weapons carried.

I guess I didn't voice my opinion very well earlier, but I think weapons onboard opens a large can of worms. Merchant ships in US "secure ports" with a weapons cache onboard seems ridiculous when I need a TWIC card to rarely enter a port.

nas

Linking your TWIC card to a gun locker on a merchant ship is a bit of a non sequitur.

Merchant vessels enter ports with weapons all the time. Most American flag ships have a pistol in the safe and a "weapons cache" can be locked and sealed as easily as the ship's bonded stores.

A good percentage of the crews of US flag merchant ships already have weapons training as many of them also sail frequently onboard ships contracted to the Ready Reserve Fleet or Military Sealift ships. These ships are manned by professional mariners with professional training, not dayworkers picked up for a crossing.

A Hellfire Robot is a pretty efficient anti-piracy device. You can store it on deck in a special fender...

1 Sniper Rifle (to take out the pirates from a distance), a couple of shot guns for close quarter encounters, and a couple of Glocs for personal protection. Put them all in a weapons' safe which only the Captain has access to and is liable for.

I seriously do not see how pirates can be allowed to go about their terror activities while looting millions from shipping companies. If someone wants to take my boat and I for a ransom, they better be ready for a gunfight.

As for foreign vessels coming into US waters or any other national waters for that matter with weapons on board, there should be an international law which mandates that with a set standard that all vessels abide to globally.

That's pretty impressive for a democrat...

Does anyone know if those noise deterrent devices actually work? I would love to see the look on a pirates face if he though my boat had noise makers - only to find out by the sound that the noise maker is actually a 20 mm machine gun...