Piracy :-/

[David_Old_Jersey]

For me a trip anywhere stops being called a vacation when I think there is a chance I will need to shoot my way out of Dodge.....clearly (by this thread and others!) many do not share that definition .

Originally Posted by Group9

Again, I don't mind, or object, to anybody making the decision that they would rather themselves, or a loved one, be hurt, raped, injured or killed, rather than be prepared to stop that from happeining. Just don't expect me to do that, and don't object to my decision.

Whilst I view simply carrying a gun akin to putting faith in a Juju charm or a book about Cheeses nonetheless I respect (lol) the "right" of others to do exactly that.....

.....but me doing something else does not mean that I am choosing for me (or a loved one) to be "hurt, raped, injured or killed". and for me (and mine), so far so good ......admittedly I have not sailed to the 4 corners of the earth, but I have survived more than my fair share of sh#tty encounters in sh#tty far flung places (and some not so!). Admitedly most of which have been not entirely surprising , nor without some input from meself .

.........and none of those required me to have a gun (nor have I ever felt that the situation would have improved by me having one, let alone going all Chuck Norris ), nor any air cover either .......I mention the latter simply as an illustration that no matter what you are packing (is that the right word? ) their will always be people better armed, more numerous, more alert, more willing, smarter than "you" (and sometimes all of those! and more!!) - so "you" are always going to be less than 100% "safe" in every circumstance, including at "Home"..........Therefore there is never any single magic solution - no matter what someone may try and sell you (Gun, EPIRB, Juju Charm, Cheeses , Liferaft, etc etc etc).....keeping self (and loved ones) safe from harm comes down to making choices, sometimes less than conveniant ones and sometimes hard ones (between sh#tty choices) - and for those the weapon you need is a brain and a willingness to deploy it. For others there be Juju charms etc etc.......

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Why have we become focused on USA guns on this thread? Or are we mostly concerned about the US pirates now?

BTW, I'm much more worried about crazy people than I am about guns. A crazy person with a gun isn't a gun problem, it is a crazy person problem.

by the sounds of things in the media and on this forum one is far safer downtown Mogadishu with out a gun,than anywhere in the us

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by atoll

by the sounds of things in the media and on this forum one is far safer downtown Mogadishu with out a gun,than anywhere in the us

Yep, the US has had a bad run in the media of late, and a big handful of crazies are going out with a bang but we're not all carrying guns. Some of these episodes truly do boggle one's mind.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

Yep, the US has had a bad run in the media of late, and a big handful of crazies are going out with a bang but we're not all carrying guns. Some of these episodes truly do boggle one's mind.

i put it down to natures way of culling the flock,with a bit of darwinism thrown in for good measure

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by atoll

by the sounds of things in the media and on this forum one is far safer downtown Mogadishu with out a gun,than anywhere in the us

maybe in Mogadishu they have already shot the crazy people, but here we seem to have no end to the supply

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by yoda slayer

Anyone from Louisville knows that we have the best bats, and the biggest one!

Yoda slayer?! Are you after me? if so, I can change my avatar back to Yoda if you like

[yoda slayer]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Yoda slayer?! Are you after me? if so, I can change my avatar back to Yoda if you like

Change it back you must, or die you will!

[tightgroup]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Ummm yes. Every other country in the world.

The "rule of law" that you espouse is backed up by a countries Police and the Judiciary. Not by armed citizens blowing peoples heads off, forming vigilante groups, or lynching suspects.

You mean countries that have Policy enforced controls like Congo, Somalia, Turkey (genocide of Armenians) , Sudan, Haiti (TonTon Macoute) or Iran, Syria, Libya, Germany (WW2) , Japan (WW2) , lest not forget UK and the massive destruction of Africa, or also Spain with Cortez, and shall I go on.

Do you see a pattern here, when a citizenship is disarmed the policies of which you speak cannot be arrested. I would rather live in a country of a million armed citizens than in a .......

[tightgroup]

Originally Posted by atoll

by the sounds of things in the media and on this forum one is far safer downtown Mogadishu with out a gun,than anywhere in the us

Have you been to Mogadishu ?? When and how long did you stay ??

[atoll]

Originally Posted by tightgroup

Have you been to Mogadishu ?? When and how long did you stay ??

my family have been running a hotel 700miles away from mogadishu for the last 20 years on an island that shares a common language and culture with somalia,i speak some amharic and swahili,so probably have 100% more experince than 99% of cf posters on the current situation in downtown mogadishu..........how many times you been anywhere near the place?

[Group9]

Originally Posted by tightgroup

Have you been to Mogadishu ?? When and how long did you stay ??

I have a friend who was there in October 1993 with the 10th Mountain. He doesn't make it sound like a place I wanted to visit.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

For me a trip anywhere stops being called a vacation when I think there is a chance I will need to shoot my way out of Dodge.....clearly (by this thread and others!) many do not share that definition .




Whilst I view simply carrying a gun akin to putting faith in a Juju charm or a book about Cheeses nonetheless I respect (lol) the "right" of others to do exactly that.....

.....but me doing something else does not mean that I am choosing for me (or a loved one) to be "hurt, raped, injured or killed". and for me (and mine), so far so good ......admittedly I have not sailed to the 4 corners of the earth, but I have survived more than my fair share of sh#tty encounters in sh#tty far flung places (and some not so!). Admitedly most of which have been not entirely surprising , nor without some input from meself .

.........and none of those required me to have a gun (nor have I ever felt that the situation would have improved by me having one, let alone going all Chuck Norris ), nor any air cover either .......I mention the latter simply as an illustration that no matter what you are packing (is that the right word? ) their will always be people better armed, more numerous, more alert, more willing, smarter than "you" (and sometimes all of those! and more!!) - so "you" are always going to be less than 100% "safe" in every circumstance, including at "Home"..........Therefore there is never any single magic solution - no matter what someone may try and sell you (Gun, EPIRB, Juju Charm, Cheeses , Liferaft, etc etc etc).....keeping self (and loved ones) safe from harm comes down to making choices, sometimes less than conveniant ones and sometimes hard ones (between sh#tty choices) - and for those the weapon you need is a brain and a willingness to deploy it. For others there be Juju charms etc etc.......

Unfortunately for me, my circumstances for the last 25 years or so, have required the use of a firearm on a fairly routine basis. Firearms are not a boogeyman to me, just a useful tool to have when the boogeyman does come a calling.

It's good you can always predict when trouble is coming. I can't tell you how useful you would have been where I worked.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Group9

Unfortunately for me, my circumstances for the last 25 years or so, have required the use of a firearm on a fairly routine basis. Firearms are not a boogeyman to me, just a useful tool to have when the boogeyman does come a calling.

It's good you can always predict when trouble is coming. I can't tell you how useful you would have been where I worked.

LOL... its even more useful when you live amongst them...

[angelfish2]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Back to the piracy part of the thread, I don't recall ever reading a story of a cruiser fighting off pirates while underway. If anyone knows of one how about a link?

Don, I don't have a link as I can't remember which blog I read this in and I hesitated to relate the story but it was pretty amazing so I am going to tell it, anyway. It went like this:

Instead of joining a slow moving convoy, while going through the sea of Eden, a couple of boats chose to travel with no running lights and at night. Thankfully, they made it all the way with no incident, except one of the boats thought they saw a pirate boat on their radar and it turned out to be the buddy boat. It scared all of them, but they laughed it off.

The next day, a couple other boats came into the anchorage, one having a couple of bullet holes in the hull. Well, as it turned out those guys DID run into pirates and the pirates fired at them. Wrong boats. The cruisers had a 12 gauge aboard and blasted the pirate boat to pieces. I guess it was quite a shoot out.

I'm not a gun person, at all, even though I know how to shoot. But, to be honest, I would never sail in those parts without a 12 gauge. Just cocking one levels the playing field. Just sayin'....

[Tomm0]

Which part was BS?
Private sale ... No checks. I just called some guy who had it advertised on a gun website, went to his house, money, shake hands, handgun. 3 minute transaction.

As for the law, a hunting licence in any state makes possession legal in every state for a non-resident. (Subject to carry laws and exclusions in various states for crims and in certain places like govt buildings, schools etc.) The law ain't rocket science.

Part of how i tour is cultural immersion... In the states (especially in the south) that felt like it included a gun.

In Australia I take the 22 mag and the shotgun for lunch, not for pirates.