Armed guards aboard cargo ships and an international naval armada that carries out onshore raids have put a huge dent in piracy and might even be ending the scourge...
No vessel with armed guards has ever been hijacked, noted Cyrus Moody of the International Maritime Bureau. A June report from the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea said armed guards have forced pirates to “abort attacks earlier and at greater ranges from targeted vessels.”
Go figure. Personal weapons -- likely rifles -- wielded by private merchants are apparently 100% effective in preventing piracy by organized groups with heavy weapons in a lawless corner of the world. Even the UN admits this. It almost makes one wonder why the UN wants to severely restrict firearms possessed by non-state actors.
Also, think of the cost/benefit. How much taxpayer money does it cost to put an armada of naval and air assets in the Gulf of Aden? How much does a four man security team with ARs or FALs and a water cannon cost?
Hell, the same ship whose captain that the Easter SEALs had to rescue had driven off a Somali pirate attack of roughly the same size, same water, when a different captain fired THREE ROUNDS from a 9mm Browning HiPower.
ReplyDeletePredators don't like food that hurts. Go figure. Pretty true throughout nature.