The piracy case in Somalia is a perfect example of victim disarmament at sea. Most merchant ships are forbidden by their countries’ laws from having weapons on board (a ban which is enforced by rigorous inspections), which leaves a 20.000tn ship worth hundreds of million of dollars vulnerable to a pirate dinghy with a crew of five armed with AKs and RPGs worth a few hundred bucks. So do we allow owners to spend a few thousand dollars on weapons and private security on board? God forbid! No, much better to send a carrier group, or just nuke the high seas.
At present the war navies of India, Russia, Britain, the US, Malasya and a NATO taskforce are in the Gulf of Aden playing cat-and-mouse with a few Somali pirates. An EU fleet is on its way.
So what has happened with the Russian ship that was loaded with tanks? It seems to have dropped off the radar screen. Our ships had it blocked in for weeks while the Russians were coming..........then it all dropped off the screen. Did Russia pussy out and pay the ransom or what became of that situation?
You know gun control means only the Regime has guns.
Your right, as I understand it you can have a few rifles or hand guns on board but as soon as you come into port you must either hide them (at risk of imprisonment) or throw them overboard.
Solution to piracy- Q-Ships
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship
... then the law is an ass, and should be ignored.