Having followed Benno & Marlene's travels, I've often wondered about what most folks do as far as arming themselves on their boats. I remember the story Benno told of grabbing a flare gun when a boat load of would be pirates approached them at anchor. Do you run in to trouble in foreign countries if you have guns on board? Just curious, I've never seen this discussed. Mike

Thanks for the info Dave, I really had no idea
about how all that worked.

actually it's been discussed lots of times on trawler world list; passage-making under power; noon-site; it's actually quite a complex issue. I spent 33 years in law enforcement, and it's still not a easy question to resolve. first, yes, you must declare weapons when entering a new country; in some cases the weapons are "sealed" in a locker and this seal is checked prior to the boat leaving to assure nothing has found it's way off the boat during your visit; in some cases the weapons are taken off and stored by the police in the country being visited; in some cases the weapons will actually be shipped to your departure port (if different than your arrival port) and delived back to the vessel prior to leaving. in some cases Customs does not want to know anything about your weapons, leaving you in the position of possessing arms, but not having declared them (and that is a seriously vunerable place to be). As for actual usage. My experience is that one cannot always tell the good guys from the bad guys, until you're actually smelling their bad breath, and that's too late to be pulling out weapons. Further, while during my working life I conciously utilized a broad range of weapon "display" (merely wearing to pointed directly at) to send a message; in the parts of the world one would be concerned about, it's really all or nothing; displaying a weapon ups the ante and will likely get you killed where this was not likely to happen until you displayed. If one recognizes the situation, and things are that dire, and one has the weapons, then the only choice (other than give them what they want and hope they don't hurt anybody) is to make them pay dearly, and maybe you'll disuade them -- neither are "good" choices. How likely are you to acurately recognize the situation in a timely manner? How willing are you to act decisively? How likely are you to make a mistake? (we've seen many officials in 3rd world countries on boat with no insignia, wearing weapons, but no discernable uniform or indication or authority; not really a good idea to be shooting at the local police, just because you didn't recognize who it was as they approached) Are you willing to suffer the consequences because someone on your boat over-reacted? And (legally) acquiring weapons for your vessel (outside the US) is no easy task either. One last thought is that those who are carrying are unlikely to even discuss the issue; the last thing anyone wants (in the parts of the world that are problematic) is to advertise that firearms are aboard.