Dec 01

Or you could use a gun

Self-Defense, Shooting, War on Terror Add comments

It turns out that one expert think it is a bad idea to use a gun to defend an oil super tanker from pirates:

As Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House, says, "You’re sitting on a huge ship filled with flammable liquid. You don’t want somebody with a gun on top of that.

Instead they suggest non-lethal approaches:

anti pirate ship Or you could use a gun

And hey, I’m all in favor of not turning the boat I’m riding on into a fireball….

BUT the article report that the pirates are armed with RPGs and guns. And it even covers that the last tanker attacked used guns to defend themselves:

According to a statement from the US 5th Fleet, when a pirate skiff approached the ship, the security team on board responded with evasive maneuvers, and blasted them with Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) and small-arms fire. The pirates then broke off the attack.

It seems odd to not list firearms as a valid approach WHEN IT JUST WORKED!

Sure, an interviewed expert said no firearms, but IT WORKED. IN. REAL. LIFE. Maybe its time to ask another expert or two….

Is this an example of some liberal journalist, who wants to be the next Karl Woodward, but is stuck earning a paycheck at a trade rag but still injects liberal bias?  I don’t know. I’ve only known one trade rag journalist, and that description fit him to a tee.

3 Responses to “Or you could use a gun”

  1. Kevin Says:
    December 1st, 2009 at 9:01 am

    Did anyone think to ask how firing a gun from the deck of a ship would cause it to explode? Is he suggesting that having one would draw fire? Well, what do you expect from someone who advises tactics from the safe confines of a “think tank”.

  2. D E Says:
    December 1st, 2009 at 11:27 am

    It seems as though the appropriate use of trained personnel with firearms has been effective in the past…. oh yeah.

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/12/somalia.pirates/index.html

    If there is an explosive danger due to standard ammunition on supertankers we need to be VERY afraid of their design and integrity overall.

  3. TR Says:
    December 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    Roger has seen too much James Bond and too many episodes of 24! None of the petroleum products on board could be ignited, not even LNG which only burns. Cargo compartments have oxygen replaced by inert gas. Bunker fuel is like ashphalt. Double hull negates RPG explosions and may protect against AK-47 rounds. Tracer rounds would be extinguished by oil.