This undated handout picture shows the Maersk Alabama container ship, formerly Maersk Alva. Somali pirates seized the Maersk Alabama, a Danish-owned and U.S.-flagged ship off Somalia, earlier on April 8, 2009, with 20 American crew on board, the U.S. Navy and the shipowner said. The vessel was en route to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was attacked some 310 miles off the Somali coast, Maersk said. (AFP/Getty Images)From Washington Times:
Gun-free zones are dangerous at sea.
Somali pirates attacked a U.S. vessel and captured a Dutch ship on Thursday. These raids could be prevented if merchant mariners had guns and could defend their ships.
Richard Phillips, the heroic captain of the crew that fought off pirates on the Maersk Alabama a month ago, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee April 30 that armed crews "should be part of the overall debate about how to defend ourselves against criminals on the seas."
Read more ....