Ban on crossbows

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mrostov

Nomad
Jan 2, 2006
410
53
59
Texas
Interesting thread. Because of governments the last few decades treating their people more and more like children in respect to weapons ("OK, now Bobby misbehaved so ALL the children get their sticks taken away"), my traveling with a firearm on my boat is getting to be more of a hassle. I would love to carry a crossbow since in the USA there are some very fine ones available (400fps), but the laws against crossbows in many places are equally silly. Many countries also have laws these days against air rifles of any meaningful power. I wish smaller lasers were more potent.

These laws are NOT what keeps you safe, Brazil is proof of that. It's just the illusion that it is accomplishing something. Contrary to the shooting gallery image the media portrays, most of the USA actually has a lower violent crime rate than the UK and in the last 20 years the violent crime rate has dropped by 49%. Most US violent crime is concentrated in a few hotspots in only 5% of the counties. One of my big concerns for crime isn't the USA but the Caribbean and Central America.

Fortunately I'm a very good shot with a bow and around the world there are relatively few laws regulating bow ownership. There has also been a wave of re-legalizing bow hunting in 'civilized' countries that formerly had it banned. It's a silly thing to ban a 20,000 year old tradition.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Sail to the Cayman Islands! One of the safest Caribbean countries.
And do stop in Cuba, super safe country, and now accessible to you Norte Americanos!

If you decide to sail to the Caymans, please lave your bow at home as they are illegal here!
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
It should be repeated that the ban on x-bows was just an idea from two MP's ( I guess to show their voters they are not sleeping or drunk at most of their weekly working hour) and not something that has been widely discussed in Parliament.

I suspect you x-bow lovers can sleep soundly.
 

mrostov

Nomad
Jan 2, 2006
410
53
59
Texas
You can have a bow on your boat when you show up in the Caymans, you just have to declare it and customs impounds it for the stay. The same goes for your spear guns. You notify customs before departure and they return it to you. It's when you don't declare it that you get into a jam if they find it.

The general rule of thumb is that whatever is legal in your home port it is legal on your boat in international waters. When you enter a foreign port you declare your weapons and then they impound it, let you keep it or If you have a suitable customs locker on your boat some countries may chose to keep it there for the stay with a customs seal. Virtually every country but Mexico and North Korea abides by this. Being from Texas it's legal for me to sail with almost anything short of a nuclear weapon.

The problem is that even if I tone it down and bring something gentlemanly and sporty, like, say, my single shot 12ga H&R trap gun, the paperwork and bureaucratic hassles are a total pain even for that. In the Caribbean not so bad sometimes, but Europe, massive hassle. Unlike the Bahamas and Latin America, the general concept in much of Europe is not to use guns against humans for defense, just target shooting and hunting. However, I can do that with a bow.

There are cool places in Central America like Rio Dulce Guatemala. The primary place to avoid right now is Venezuela.

Oddly enough, the drug trade means that most of the outlaw types with any real moxie are out running dope, not slumming it by knocking over yachts for watches, spare change, and maybe a laptop. Your typical water bandit is a moonlighting fisherman, usually active in a harbor, sometime out on the water with an outboard and an open skiff with rusty shotguns. They are not supermen nor invincible. Usually, if they just see a gun, they back off. Brave, they are not.

Cuba would be good to see before it goes mainstream and they have to tear down most of old Havana (decades of neglected maintenance).

One idea is to check your gun into customs at Gibraltar, do the Med, and get them on the way out. But that adds inflexibility to a trip that doesn't really have a time schedule.

In British waters they want you to have a customs locker suitable for guns by their standards. This means bolted to a bulkhead and the deck with a separate lockable space for youe ammo.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
I live in Cayman. I know many police officers. They recommended me not to entrust them with our guns.
(I asked because I wanted to have them kept safe at the Police HQ when we travel)

The Police took ( 'confiscated') a longbow signed for me by Mr Robert Hardy I treasured.

(for you 'transatlantics', Mr Hardy was an eminent actor, and a very knowledgeable longbow expert)
 
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Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
1,981
975
Canada
After the shooting in Toronto this weekend, the Mayor, a conservative, has called for a ban on handguns (its not a new line from him) and called on the Federal government to support it. I doubt the new Provincial leadership (also conservative, but more conventionally pro-gun) will go near the idea with a stick. It is going to be interesting times in Ontario in the rural/urban political divide .. as most people regard themselves as kind of both.
 
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