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I carried a Colt 1911A1 .45ACP, loved it, and refused the "offer" to convert to a Beretta when that change came down. Never liked the 9mm for lots of reasons that I won't bother with here, except for this: Sure, with the Beretta you have 15 rounds... and you need every single damn one of them. :-)

But it is quite true that when the CG does a boarding, they do it with "overwhelming" force. The boarding party is large. They are always well-armed. If at sea there is a cutter there with Browning fifties ready and big deck artillery piece ready to go. There is also a small boat circling the boarded boat with at least an M-16 at the ready.

There is a reason for this. It shuts down any thought of fight from the boarded boat. There is no hope of fight, therefore there is no fight.

The Coast Guard almost NEVER has to fire a shot in anger. They go many many years between events where they actually have to shoot and kill somebody in a boarding. This even includes the boardings where the boat really DOES have some tons of cocaine on board. By the time the boarding party is on board, the crew is generally already on the fantail on their knees with fingers interlaced behind their heads. The fight is so OVER that there is no point in putting up some sort of last stand.

I fail to see the problem with this.