Oh boy, here we go again on the guns on board vs. no guns on
board issue. This has been pretty well worked over in the past,
but...

To summarize as I understand it: When you clear into most countries
you are required to declare any firearms, and in many countries they
are impounded until you clear out. In some countries your guns may also
disappear from the impound area mysteriously, which means they can't be
found when you come back to claim them and clear out. The official just
shrugs. No one has any idea what happened to them.

So:

a) Your guns won't do you any good in a customs impound storage locker.
b) You may not get them back when you leave
c) Even if you get them back, you will have to come back to the port
you left them at to clear out.
d) Getting caught with undeclared guns will get you tossed into the
local jail in a lot of countries (Mexico for sure).
e) If you did use your undeclared gun in a 3rd world country, and you killed
a local in self-defense you are in for a _major_ hassle, including
most probably a long stay in their jail while you await trial, and
possibly the presumption that you are guilty of murder unless you
can _prove_ otherwise
f) If you kill someone with your undeclared gun, and then leave without
clearing out... hmmm... I don't think you want to go there. My guess
is that you are arrested at your next stop and extradited back to the
country that you fled. I'll bet even the USA would extradite you back
to Columbia to face a charge of murder.

These people were lucky that they had a steel boat with serious hatches
so that they could resist for a while. And they are also lucky that they
didn't get shot or cut up by the bad guys. Notice the MACE didn't help
at all.

Reading their story made me wonder whether you could put together a legal
and _effective_ defense system using things you can already carry legally.

Electrify the topside of the boat with a 220/440VAC inverter? On a steel boat
this has many possibilities given judicious application of conductive paint or
uncoated stainless steel in the right places. You might have to be extra careful
of galvanic corrosion problems You'd also have to be careful not to fry
yourself. What else?

Don W.


Vito wrote:

Larry Starr wrote:

I and probably others would also contribute to pirate-victims relief, if
we knew how to do so.

For sure! But the tale got me wondering why are so few are into self
defense? If there was time to hop out, lock the hatch then hop back in
there'd have been time for two armed determined persons to kill all of
the pirates. I'm not talking waving a gun and asking them to leave, I'm
talking a quick deadly ambush as in bang, bang, bang - woops one still
moving - bang again - followed by "break out the champaign Honey, we got
'm all in under 10 seconds"! What'd likely happen had the couple done
that and simply sailed away? Not exactly a clean wake but ....

Seems that, worst case, Colombian officials might pursue them when/if
the bodies washed up. What's U.S. Government/ Navy policy on protecting
US ships pursued by foreign gunboats on the high seas?

What are the legal issues pertaining to having a couple shotguns aboard
a US registered cruising yacht - provided, of course, you never took
them ashore?

Howard