I also have to ask...
"tramp steamer?"
I haven't seen that term outside of books from sixty years or more ago.
Almost all the cargo vessels that come into our ports are registered in places like Liberia, Panama, and Hong Kong. The crews are third-world indigents hired for a few dollars a day. They're not interested in Americans "working" on board, and if you were to book passage as a passenger on a working ship, you'd need full travel documents. They don't want their port privileges revoked.
And there'd most certainly be no guns taken with you. Doing such a thing would require finding a smuggler, and they'd just kill you and take the guns as soon as you were in international waters, drop you overboard with a weight.
You're a little late, there. There's no such thing as escaping the country on an anonymous ship, not for American citizens.
I used that term as a figure of speech to infer that one would leave the country by any means necessary as all would appear to be lost and a search for greener pastures would be in order.
My intent of this poll was to gauge the Firing Lines members current thoughts and attitudes of such a mandate through the poll data and debate.
It would appear that some would rather not have this subject discussed in a public forum for fear of government watchdogs collecting ip's for the big gun owner roundup and if that's the case we have lost one of our most precious freedoms, the freedom of speech.
Others don't mind saying what they honestly think they would do if such a scenario came to pass and aren't afraid to say publicly. I admire your candor and courage to stand up and say so.
My position? No, the government cannot have my guns and I will not stand idly by while they try to confiscate them. I do and will continue to do everything in my power to promote responsible gun ownership to my friends and family and work with my elected representatives to prevent such a scenario from ever coming to pass.
Should such a day ever darken our doorsteps I thinks it impossible to say with certainty exactly how we will all react but I do believe any such attempt at gun confiscation will be a failure and would be a major turning point in our country.
The pressures and stresses we endure in our lives build on a daily basis. Everyday it's more bad news when I read the paper and listen to the news.
From the economy to immigration, from the war on terrorism to socialist propaganda being taught in our schools. From soaring fuel and food prices to outsourcing our countries industrial might.
A breaking point WILL come in the not too distant future and I think any attempt at gun confiscation would be the straw that would break the proverbial camel's back and the real men of this country, the real patriots who believe in the constitution and wisdom of the founding fathers, would stand and take our America back