I have a better idea: Air drop lawyers into Mogadishu.

In a few days, maybe a week, all the pirates would be suing each other.

Problem solved.

Good plan, we can get rid of some lawyers.

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uh, i get it, its a running joke about lawyers.

yes, very funny.

what we need is tort reform.

so then no one can be sued.

makes sense to me.

its like glenn beck sez,...

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Bringing a knife to a gunfight doesn't usually work well. I think the better idea is to bring a gun to a knife fight. IOW, they have a pistol, you have 2 rifles. However, there is also a more important weapon. The will to use it. What you need are mercenaries that will use whatever weapons they have to the max.

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That literally made me laugh out loud! Thanks Bot.

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Water cannons are what they have now; they obviously don't work.

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yes carpet bomb with lawyers, make sure its from high enough to get full coverage. and leave their cards in there pockets so survivors can sue the lawyers next of kin for smashing their home or car or relative. but please only use the bad lawyers, I guess there are a few good ones out there

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lets send in glenn beck and bill o'reilly. they'll take care of business.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

Yes I know they are unarmed, and I'm not suggesting we arm THEM, just put some ex military guy, weapons trained, to stop them before they can board.

Botnst re
Ever been on a ship at sea? It would take a hell of a sniper to hit an engine.

Shooting from a ship like this in normal waters is a fairly stable platform, I didn't necessarily though mean to aim for the engine. Hit the boat, and hope for the engine.
With the 50cal rifle I've used the hole would put any small or medium sized craft in real trouble. We put a 3 or 4" hole in a 20" wide tree stump from 1500 ft. This rifle was not rapid fire (bolt action), but extremely long range, very accurate, and extremely destructive.

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I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

This thread is beginning to become reminiscent of -

The Crimson Permanent Assurance!!!!!!!!

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https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

I think the pirates would take them in as a professional courtesy.

1) deleted =)

2) THREAD RECAP SO FAR:
So the question is: Why do the cargo ships not have weapons on them ?
The answer (proposed by BOT) is that since, at least here in the US, people get the shiznit sued out of them (only in certain states) for defending their homes/selves with deadly force, it would follow that if the ship had weapons, and it used them to kill someone then someone (either the gun wielder or shipping co) would get sued for using deadly force.
this is totally ignoring the fact that if you hit someone who **wasnt** a pirate, you'd be in legal hurt. If you damaged a boat/ship/co-worker/expensive piece of electronics, the shooter/his employer could be on the hook big time.
It'd only take 1 pirate RPG to negate a 50cal anything. And no one is gonna be sniping anything from the deck of a ship - it just moves too much so the 'just get a bigger gun' argument is kinda pointless until we can sell Phalanx/CIWS's over the counter =)

Non-military organizations using deadly force has always been a dicey legal game. Police in Cincinnati don't even need to get sued for there to be riots by the "oppressed people"

3) The idea I saw on another forum is that cargo ships dont carry weapons becuase many countries have many different regulations on what weapons you can have on board (and still dock there). And if country X says "no docking here with **name your favorite weapon** then this is definitely not in the shipping company's best interest.

I just wanted to clean up the logic here so people can debate the arguements as presented.

...we still need to export lawyers though =)

-John

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The issue is that there is no government in the area the pirates use for bases. If a combined flotilla was to steam into these ports and destroy every floating POS and wharf shack (Think the USS Constitution's mission in Tripoli in 1803) it would put a stop to this crap. What passes for a government in Mogadishu would probably welcome the destruction of a rival power base.

Another thing that could be done is to run convoys of ships through the area. Send 10 or 15 merchant ships with a frigate or destroyer as an escort ad you would have no problem. The Naval ships would not have to patrol a huge area as they would be with the targets at all times.

As for arming merchies, we did it during WWII. I say outfit at least SOME of them with a couple concealed guns. A dual mount .50cal or even a Bofors gun set up in the bow and the stern would stop anybody. The idea is that by arming some of the ships the pirates won't know if the ship they are stalking is armed or not. (The Q-ship idea)

As for the lawyers, on the high seas lawyers don't count for poop I would like to see an Admiralty court take the pirates side in a lawsuit!

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The ship, large and relatively stable under most circumstances is moving and so is the target boat, usually a small boat. I've never shot a rifle from a moving vehicle (a shotgun on the other hand ...) but I'll bet it's not easy to make a precision shot. It's not a bad idea, I just don't think the run-of-the-mill mercenary is going to have the skill set for that. And certainly not an ordinary seaman. Most sailor would be as likely to hole themselves or a shipmate and probably couldn't hit the water from a still deck.

So you hire a couple of gun hands to ride. Probably a minimum of 3 of them so they can stand 8 hr watches in troubled waters. Pick them up at the Suez Canal and drop them at the next port of call for a flight home. Uh, what happens to the weapons? Many countries wont care for armed men entering their territorial waters so they would have to be screened by the host country before entry. Etc.

I'm picturing President Obama making that call.