Ship captain arrested for assault rifles aboard

This is a very different matter. International maritime law actually allows for commercial vessels to carry firearms aboard... but they must be registered in the ship's logs, for which the captain is responsible. Both the guns and the logs are inspectable by customs officials in any port of call. Discrepancies "found" by an unfriendly, unstable government with a point to make or axe to grind result in arrest of the captain and impounding of the weapons (if not the vessel and cargo). Considering the situation down there right now, and the captain's nationality, I am really not surprised.

Man, I thought you're supposed to dump the guns off these vessels when you go to enter no-carry zones like Venezuela. This whole episode is more international incident theatre than anything (Chavez making a name for himself), but I've heard the same problem arises around the piracy hotbed of Somalia--many of the countries there count ship-board arms as trafficking, so they must be discarded overboard before landing.

Sounds wasteful (and is), but compared to the millions in cargo (and millions in potential hostage bribes), it's worth it to buy a couple grand worth of pistols and whatnot before nearing the Horn again.

PS: Humorously enough, it sounds like the arresting officers saw fit to steal the crew's cigarettes and grub while securing the ship...

TCB

Actually, there is a LOT of pirate activity in the Gulf/Caribbean due to the drug trafficking that happens between islands on the way to the US - another aspect unfortunately from our"war on drugs" that has resulted in collateral damage. I have several friends with boats capable of going all over the Carib - yes they carry guns and no, they aren't listed or publicly shown

Three years ago or so, a guy at the ammo aisle in Bass Pro told me that he was robbed after midnight, having fallen asleep on his private boat in the Caribbean.

When you hear steps or other noises made by strangers up on deck, the robbers' gun sights are already lined up on the hatch or door.
This happened to a naive professional bicycle racer (reported years ago in the former "Escape" magazine), who went up through the hatch with a gun and was immediately killed, while anchored in the Caribbean.

Because the local country's laws prohibit guns on board where the Bass Pro customer was robbed, he was planning to take either a shotgun or AK clone next time, and was therefore silent about where the crime took place.
I suspect that the Bahamas or Cayman Islands have firearms laws similar to those in the UK.

Yeah, and professional cargo is WAY different than private sailing

A commercial ship I doubt is much interest to Carib drug runners, you sail a large vessel into US waters and the Coast Guard is going to be on you.

Pleasure craft, less crew, less people tracking it, it goes missing, less people looking, and stripped out and repainted, not likely to attract attention.

I hold a small captain's ticket and earn my living with it down here in "paradise", south Florida. Every few years some local boater runs afoul of Bahamian weapons laws (and the same can be said of charter or private boats down along the Mexican coast...). Put as simply as possible - if you leave US jurisidiction make sure you know the local laws regarding weapons and follow them to the letter. You don't need a "Hugo Chavez" type country to find yourself in deep trouble over weapons once you're outside the States... and that's not only firearms but aso ammunition.

You don't need a "Hugo Chavez" type country to find yourself in deep trouble over weapons once you're outside the States... and that's not only firearms but aso ammunition.

Click to expand...

That's for sure. Crossing into the Canadian side of the Great Lakes with any gun is just asking for it. Make it a handgun and you are totally up the creek.

When I run over to the Bahamas ...

I have my Mini 14 and 1911 that goes with me when I run my Center Console over. You have to declare the weapons, the ammunition (count of rounds) and they must be kept locked (I have a case in my console). If you are organized and straight up, no problems...

Those that claim it's a PITA are the ones that think they don't have to obey Bahamian law.... Probably a mistake. As a cop for more than 20 years I can say there's plenty of those types right here at home....

I'm a commercial sailor, and our vessels routinely carry 12ga shotguns, and have on occasion carried AK-47 and/or their Semi Auto counterparts. Our company doesn't allow the ship's crew to operate the weapons generally, they contract security guards to join the ship to be a full time security force while in piracy waters.

Most ports just put a tamper seal on the safe, but some ports do not allow their presence, and we have to either pull in somewhere else first to offload them, or in a few occasions, have just disassembled them and tossed them over the side I really wanted to shed a tear that day, that's for sure. They were FA Russian AK's.

Zombienerd, y'all can't make a hidden compartment to hide them in or would it be so bad to not justify it if they were discovered? I would be terrified to be out on the ocean for weeks at a time with no protection. But I have no clue of the laws or penalties.

As I understand it, once you are out in international waters there are no gun laws. the kicker is that you must eventually dock somewhere. Unless you found a way to swap it back and forth with other ships before coming to port you will find yourself subject to some governments gun laws.