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Should ships be armed to combat pirates?

Arm the ships?

  • Yes

    Votes: 152 81.3%

  • No

    Votes: 20 10.7%

  • Offer the pirates carrots

    Votes: 15 8.0%
  • Total voters
    187
#81
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Somali_Pirates.gif
 
#88
nortonrider said:
Spoken like a true Frenchman!
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LOL

There's a couple of differences between Quebec and France. Our only revolution is called La Révolution Tranquille. France, however...

I meant that unless you make battleships out of every commercial cargo (not likely), there will always be some strong, well-organized pirates to have the upper hand on you.
 
#90
baba said:
Why not arm these ships that are in the Somali pirate danger zone? Would security personnel with 50 cal machine guns and RPG's (or something more accurate) put a stop to this?

You could argue it would increase the violence towards the ships, but I'm not convinced they could get to the ships to do much harm...or even want to try after the first few pirate boats are sunk. Violence or not, we are just playing into their hands at this point and sending unarmed civilians into imminent danger with every ship.
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And what happenes when these "armed" ships, for instance the French Yacht, enteres say, Miami, or a Greek owned, Phillipino crewed, leased by Indonesia ship comes into Long Beach Harbor with .50 Cals and RPGs?

They are merchant ships, and tho' in the days of yore, even merchant ships sailed with light arms, my understanding is that if they are "officially" armed, they are no longer merchants. Besides, do we really want a bunch of private navy/marine corps floating around, no matter what the intentions? No more so than we want Private Air Forces, and giving guns to every stewardess (or Steward, or flight attendant if you want to be PC) on every commercial air liner. And before someone pipes up and says something about armed air marshalls, those people are official reps and sworn law inforcement personnell of the government where they fly from.

Fact is every nation has a right and an obligation to protect its own shipping (just as one of the main tenents of any government since Roman times and before has been to keep the roads safe for open commerce). Then there are international maritime laws, that I am admittedly, not even lightly versed in, that out law or declare as military ships that are even lightly armed. Private security is also another problem, wittness the private security people in Iraq that are coming under international scorn.

Since the USMC was founded and one of the reasons it was founded...."to the shores of tripoli"...one of its main purposes was/is to keep U.S. shipping safe. We just need to deploy them better. Can you really tell me we don't have the capability to take a life boat in open water, manned by 4 Somali pirates with light arms? Where's Arnold and a team of S.E.A.L's when you need them to swin up under cover of darkness and place a few silenced rounds from a 9mm in these guys heads and go have a beer with the rescued Capt.? And, that would be legal.
 
#94
ElMon said:
That looks expensive though. Do you have any other lower-priced option for us sea-faring working-folks?
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Hmm.. A couple of Kord .50's would do the trick for the budget-minded seadog, me thinks.

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Can you imagine the look on the pirates faces, when they see a bunch of guys like this coming at them?
 
#95
Hi Pressure hoses with a mixture of water - some type of slick lubricant and a skin irritant that would irritate both skin and eyes. Blast the hell out of them with this stuff and fill their little ass boats with Slimy Irritating Water.

If they get past that - 50 Cals and whatever other forece required in my opinion.
 
#100
Honk'n_down-low said:
Hi Pressure hoses with a mixture of water - some type of slick lubricant and a skin irritant that would irritate both skin and eyes. Blast the hell out of them with this stuff and fill their little ass boats with Slimy Irritating Water.

If they get past that - 50 Cals and whatever other forece required in my opinion.
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This is actually a REALLY good idea in theory, not to mention youtube-worthy.

RWP said:
Dude! I think these are the same guys that keep sending me emails about all this money they want to send me. :D
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:D
 

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