Part 3 1983 in Honduras, two people who we were cruising with were killed by a native with a Machete. If these two had been armed they would not have been killed. One of the person's wife killed the native with a .45, and if she had not there would have been more dead or injured. !983 in Boston a brand new 13 foot inflatable and 25 hp outboard were stolen (most likely by Green Peace activitists) at between 5 and 6 AM, We had bought the boat the day before--no name or numbers on it. No cable with bolt thru the transom. The tow eye fabric was cut from the water(underside), even though it was locked with a cable to the boat. From then on I took the tender aboard the boat every night when in any suspicious areas--such as South Boston! 1984 Patras, Greece, an American we did not know came aboard about 9 PM, and announced he was staying on our boat that night. I ushered him off the boat--but he was able to grab one of our cameras when we were distracted. I had also grabbed a canned air horn to blow in his ear if he resisted. 1984--Split Yugoslavia 3 thieves boarded the boat at night. We heard them, shined a light and yelled the "get the he.. off my boat"--and turned our dog loose--last seen they were jumping over the fence and running down the street. 1985 Islands off Bequia. A native attempted to board our boat. From the description it appeared to be the same man who attacked the couple in "Sitting Ducks". When he was insistent, I grabbed a machete, and Marie was backing me up with a .357 from the companionway. He backed off, cursing us; We left the area immediately and went to a populated harbor. In the 1990s to 2007 multiple trips to Alaska in our boats. Since we had dogs, we always made sure that there were no Brown Bears where we were going to be landing buy careful surveillance and making noise. Several times we had close encounters--which ended well because we remained calm. But we carried both 2% capsaicin bear spray (small fire extinguisher size--30 foot stream) and a .44 magnum any time we were off the boat in less than civilized areas (which included some towns). 1995 Rio Dulce Honduras. There were several murders and kidnappings over the previous several years. We were advised by locals to be well armed when we went to Lake Isabella. We openly carried and we feel that averted a potential encounter. The locals seemed to appreciate that we were prepared. When we hired guides to travel inland they were also armed. During the period from 1970 thru 2000 I am aware of over a dozen people who were murdered on their boats in the Bahamas, Caribbean or Central America, who if they had taken precautions, or had been armed, they would still be alive. Last year, we took a citizen's police academy course. One of the sessions was meeting with a lady whose husband was killed and she was raped during a home invasion. If they had been armed, he would be alive, and she would have not been raped. This can happen on your boat as well as in a upper middle class home area. Also in our town another couple was killed in an home invasion several years ago. I want to have the option to protect myself, and my family. We both take this very seriously and prepare for danger, hoping that we never have to use the skills we have acquired. I realize this is a very personal decision. I would like to see statistics which prove that less households own guns than in the past. I have had a number of people ask me about what type of gun and what type of training they need to protect themselves. I would never suggest that a person buy a gun without extensive training in both its use and range practice. Can I say the world is any safer in 2013 than it was in 1983? Probably not. I would use the same precautions today. Having said that, we have cruised many places where we did not have guns--such as Australia, New Zealand, S. Pacific etc. On the Loop Today, I would have what I normally carry at home aboard. If going into Canada, I would make arrangements to leave any weapon in the US. I have spent many months cruising Canada on the West Coast, and inland with the RV--never had any threats and would not feel the need for a weapon. Bob Austin