Common Sense Answer to Pirates

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by xxuxx

but I was referring to the shapes and sizes in central and south america and in the pacific. When one is alone or with 2-3 crew in the middle of nowhere.....it sure is nice to have that GUN!!

Guns worked a treat for Sir Peter Blake

On 6 December 2001, pirates shot and killed Blake while he was on an environmental exploration trip in South America, monitoring global warming and pollution for the United Nations. The two-month expedition was anchored off Macapá, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon delta, waiting to clear customs after a trip up the Amazon river. At around 9 pm a group of six to eight armed, masked robbers wearing balaclavas and crash helmets boarded the Seamaster. As one of the robbers held a gun to the head of a crewmember, Blake sprang from the cabin wielding a rifle. He shot one of the assailants in the hand before the rifle malfunctioned; he was then fatally shot in the back by assailant Ricardo Colares Tavares.

and everyone else on board survived

The boarders injured two other crew members with knives, and the remaining seven were unhurt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Blake_(yachtsman)

What a terrible tragedy
It would seem if the gun wasn't produced, there would have been 10 sailors alive instead of 9.

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by xxuxx

LOL.....the fact really is you are shaping your argumment to suit your criteria. Dude, I think we all can agree that that is the case in the Gulf and the NW Indian ocean but I was referring to the shapes and sizes in central and south america and in the pacific. When one is alone or with 2-3 crew in the middle of nowhere.....it sure is nice to have that GUN!!

OK "Dude" we've heard your personal preference. I'm sure you know yours is an inflamatory point of view, so lets tone it down, shall we? The only places we've heard of pirates regularly hurting people are Venezuela & the Gulf of Aden (GoA), & there are some places on the PNG mainland I wouldn't go. The Pacific was so crime free that in Tonga it was considered rude to lock your dinghy!

Of course, it's much easier carrying in Hampton, VA, than in the rest of the world. We've met people who've had their boats taken away for having an undeclared gun on board, & very few boats get away with having a declared gun on board.

Personally, I think most GoA pirates are fishermen looking for easy targets, & a few rounds from a good rifle at 400m will send them looking for easier prey, but my evidence for that is thin.

And it turns out that I had a gun pointed at me in '81 in almost the exact spot that Peter Blake had one pointed at him, & one reason I'm here & he's not is that I didn't have one to point back.

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by xxuxx

LOL.....the fact really is you are shaping your argumment to suit your criteria. Dude, I think we all can agree that that is the case in the Gulf and the NW Indian ocean but I was referring to the shapes and sizes in central and south america and in the pacific. When one is alone or with 2-3 crew in the middle of nowhere.....it sure is nice to have that GUN!!

With Respect, The OP (Original Poster) in post #1 on the subject "Common Sense Answer to Pirates" dealt specifically with a protective strategy against Somali Pirates. No more no less. That strategy has proven to provide a common sense answer to Somali pirates.

[Jonathan Reiter]

Some of our military defense budget should go towards operating vessels that are heavily armed and loaded with boarding parties aggressively hunting pirates, not just coming to the aid of vessels being attacked. Make it so dangerous and unprofitable to even operate that they are driven off the seas. Any pirate caught in the act would be killed in action or taken prisioner and transported to a holding facility to stand trial. Convicted pirates, if convicted of any physical harm, should be executed. Others serve long sentences. Piracy is piracy; the only harmless or romanically colorful pirates are at a Jimmy Buffet concert. Instead of blowing up Afghan civilians, we should be blowing up pirates and destroying their resources.

[category4jay]

Originally Posted by xxuxx

Here we go......trying to wind me up. First of all pirates come in all shapes and sizes and are NOT always in superior numbers and firepower. Sometimes they come with machetes. Sometimes they come to rob. Sometimes they come to rob and kill. It's nice to have a weapon onboard.
Period!!

AGREED.

[dpons]

Originally Posted by category4jay

Quote:
Originally Posted by xxuxx
Here we go......trying to wind me up. First of all pirates come in all shapes and sizes and are NOT always in superior numbers and firepower. Sometimes they come with machetes. Sometimes they come to rob. Sometimes they come to rob and kill. It's nice to have a weapon onboard.
Period!!



AGREED.

Well, Peter Blake did that and...wait, wait, we are going in circles here

[hummingway]

Thread closed.