On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 23:46:38 GMT, "Steve Schwartz"
wrote:

I have a little flare pistol on my boat (in New York State, Lake Ontario). I believe this is required by US Coast Guard.
Yep, same here, depending on the boat size. Probably Orion brand.

I was told by West Marine that we cannot take these to Canada as they
are "weapons."

Well, maybe they can be "weapons", but so can my fid if I jam it in an
eye socket. I am not aware that Canada gives a damn about flare
pistols...as long as it IS a flare pistol (plasticy orange things) and
not a sawed-off shotgun...which could be conceivably USED as a flare
pistol. G

Is this true? Can this pistol be used as a weapon?

It was in the movie "Dead Calm", but I won't spoil the ending for you.
Sure, why not? Those shells are powerful enough to get to a couple of
hundred feet up, so I bet getting one in the nads at close range would
compromise fatherhood and lead to a blinding headache. Also, I recall
that older flare pistols were metal and generally heavier. They might
be able to take a real 12-gauge shotgun shell, and thus would make a
plausible weapon. Lousy aim, though.


Can it shoot regular shot gun shells?

Maybe once out of an Orion flare pistol, before it melted, blew apart
or fell to pieces. The "standard" modern flare gun is "light-duty"
only. A shotgun shell is more powerful by far than a flare shell. They
are, however, the same size, I believe.


Are the flare shells lethal?


See above. Picture maybe 20 firecrackers in one package.

Is it a danger to anyone?

If one goes off in the boat, it's bad. If all twelve in a standard
package go off due to a fire or something, it would probably kill crew
with the toxic smoke and the burning of the flare in an enclosed space
might set the fiberglass on fire...certainly the settees...


Does anyone know anything about this? I'd appreciate any info?

All I know is from "flare-offs" run by my boat club in which
out-of-date flares are disposed of under supervision. We are adjacent
to a small airport, and we had to get permission from them (because
firing into a flight path would be nasty) and from the cops because we
wanted them to ignore what looked like about a hundred SOS signals in
five minutes.

Very festive, loud and it took a week for the gulls to resume
crapping.

R.