Kinda hard when they are shooting at you.
This is so childish.
What’s wrong with these people?
What planet are they living on?
And that, my friend, is the essence of the problem with all the Rube Goldberg solutions posted here.
The root cause is ports which will not allow armed merchant vessels to dock. The root solution is to boycott those ports and cut off their trade. Their shipping and insurance rates will either go through the roof or they will allow the merchant vessels to be armed. We can start the ball rolling with reciprocity-- any countires who do not allow U.S. merchant vessels to dock when their armed will not be allowed to dock in U.S. ports either. Small caliber machine guns on merchant vessels are an effective weapon against unauthorized boarding. They aren't particularly effective on a invasion vessel disguised as a merchant ship.
Any port authority who can't figure out the difference doesn't deserve to remain in business.
Does this mean we would have to allow armed Chinese merchant vessels to dock in Long Beach? If we had a reciprocity agreement with them, the answer is obviously yes. If we don't think they are worth trading with, then the answer is no.
Exactly. These are merchant sailors. They aren't necessarily trained in combat, and they didn't sign on for combat when they took the job. They're just trying to make a living. The pirates are armed to the teeth.