Fear of escalation
Putting guns on merchant ships is a complicated issue, said Joe Angelo, deputy managing director for the London-based International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, known as INTERTANKO.
Do we really want private industry taking law and order into their own hands on the high seas? asked Angelo, who works at INTERTANKOs North American headquarters in Arlington, Va. Policing international waters should be left to governmental navies, he said. Otherwise, private shipping companies could find themselves in an escalating arms race with pirates.
What if the pirates say, OK, you want to play that game?  Angelo said. And they up the ante. They get bigger guns.
Ship owners are also reluctant to arm crew members because of safety and liability concerns. Sailors might accidentally shoot an innocent fisherman or use weapons in a personal dispute.
His concerns were echoed by Will Bridges, 27, a marine engineer from the Abilene area who travels frequently to the Houston port to find work on outbound ships.
Thats not what we do. Were sailors, not soldiers, said Bridges. Piracy is not a surprise to any of us. The Coast Guard issues piracy reports all the time.
Other sailors expressed a similar sense of stoicism, shrugging their shoulders at the potential dangers.
Its been a problem for quite awhile but not for American ships, said H.B. Rains, an 81-year-old sailor from Houston.
out.
