ENGLISH WEAPONS OK ON THE HIGH SEAS

By Bob Barr

The threat of Somali pirates commandeering British ships on the
high seas off the east coast of Africa has forced even the gun-shy
Brits to re-think their abject aversion to firearms. Unfortunately,
the change of heart is pinched and will not help the home folk
protect themselves from domestic “pirates” in the form of looters,
muggers or home invaders.

Still, the fact that Prime Minister David Cameron has dared breach
the Holy Grail of gun control in any manner whatsoever provides a
small glimmer of hope that further cracks in Britain’s wall of severe
gun-control laws might appear in the future.

Piracy around the Horn of Africa has grown rapidly in recent years.
The goal of these modern-day pirates is to attack and intimidate
commercial ships, knowing they are unarmed, and then hold the
crews hostage long enough to gain a ransom. Despite occasional
setbacks — as when the U.S. Navy intervened and thwarted a
hijacking in the area last year — the strategy has been remarkably
successful. These 21st-century, rag-tag Somali pirates bear no
resemblance to the dashing Captain Jack Sparrow, hero of the
blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but they have grown
rich off the ransoms they have been able to extract.

The economic toll to the shipping industry, coupled with the threat
to the crews as a result of these acts of piracy, has led to calls that
laws against carrying firearms be relaxed for vessels that hail from
the United Kingdom and Cameron has responded positively.

The Mirror, a U.K.-based paper, recently noted that the ban on
firearms on ships “will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a
licence [sic] to have them on board in danger zones.” The licenses
will be issued to private mercenaries or security firms, but likely not
to the sailors themselves.

According to the report, Cameron made the decision based on evidence
from other countries showing that allowing guns on board vessels reduced
the likelihood that they would be attacked. Imagine that — firearms
in the hands of potential victims of crime actually reduce crime!

Cameron explained that the armed security forces will be given the
right to “shoot to kill,” rightly arguing that such a drastic step is
essential to combating the threat of piracy. The prime minister, of
course, is absolutely correct to legally allow the owners of these
vessels the ability to protect their crews and cargo. As Ross Perot
famously noted in 1992, however, “the devil is in the details,” and
whether the bureaucratic strings attached to Cameron’s policy will
doom it to ineffectiveness remains to be seen.

[All emfasis has been added by David.]