Senator Mike Lee’s latest idea might sound like it came straight out of a history textbook or a Hollywood script, but he seems pretty serious when he says that he wants Congress to refer back to an old article from the constitution that would allow private citizens to act as pirates out on the open seas! 

Senator Lee recommended using privateers to help with border security by allowing state-sponsored piracy to fight back against the drug cartels. Lee referenced Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress the power to declare war and it also grants Letter of Marque and Reprisal. The Letter of Marque and Reprisal give private citizens the right to turn their personal boats into private warships. They can then sink or capture the enemy vessels, and after turning over whatever drugs, weapons, money, and contraband that they find they would be able to keep a part of it. I am going to assume that it’s only the monetary part. 

It’s not the most modern solution. The Letter of Marque hasn’t been authorized since the Paris Declaration respecting Maritime Law of 1856 which formally banned the practice of privateering. If were put to use now the act would be considered a violation of international law, but Lee doesn't want a little thing like international law preventing us from fighting off the cartels. 

I say go for it. If the government makes it okay, then why shouldn’t you be able to outfit your wave runner with a .50 Cal and take it to the high seas. Personally, I have no desire to fight some of the most dangerous men in the world out in the middle of the ocean, but if there are some people with the means and the desire then all I have to say is, “bon voyage.”

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