By Cassie Mielke
Sailors, cruisers and even pirates are not allowed to roam the oceans freely. Maritime laws have been put in place to govern the seas.
The Britannica Encyclopedia defines Maritime law as the body of legal rules that governs ships and shipping.
Nationally, the United States has a law placed in the Constitution under Article III, section 2 according to admiralitylawguide.com. This addresses treaties made under maritime jurisdiction as legitimate and legal.
But it goes much deeper than that. There is a Maritime Transportation Security Act that was written in 2002. According to the document, which has 435 sections, the act was put into place to protect both ports and vessels that belong to the U.S. The document states that all vessels must have a response plan and security plan in case of attack by pirates or any other threat.
In the recent pirate attacks, maritime laws became more than just a national incidence. According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, most cases are national, but when dealing with international, the procedures become harder to handle. “In doubtful cases, courts of one country will often look to the precedents or statutes of another country,” the encyclopedia said.
According to Cornell University’s website that provides the Maritime Laws, carrying weapons aboard a ship is considered a threat and an act of terrorism under Title 6 of the US Code. In the past, this mostly pertained to weapons of mass destruction, but now it carries over to piracy.
The US Code also states under that same title that the U.S. government is allowed to protect against the use of weapons at sea by unauthorized persons. Currently the law does not allow the use of weapons on board vessels going in and out of ports that the U.S. interacts with.
Under Title 18, no weapons are allowed in any federal facility, which includes federal ships.
These laws all lead up to one question: is it or is it not a good idea? There are two sides to every argument.
Of course this law is set up to hopefully prevent piracy. It is illegal so some people might assume that most would follow the law. However the recent actions have proved otherwise and have left the world wondering if weapons should be allowed for protection.
Paul Motter of Cruisemates.com thinks they should be allowed. “Three cruise ships have been unsuccessfully attacked by Somali pirates in three years,” said Motter. Even though these three were lucky, the last attack almost did not end that way.
“Personally I think cruise ships should be able to arm their onboard security forces,” continued Motter.
While this might be good protection, some people still argue that weapons are too dangerous to carry because of suicides or hijackers on board ready to take the weapons and use them for other reasons.
Whatever the argument, so far the law will not yield.
Western State Writers Spring 2009 