Bangstick considered firearm

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by onthewateralot

I have not used this bangstick yet. I hope I never have to, ditto for my flare gun. However when my arm is stuck in a jaw of the shark I'll be damn glad I had one, screw the authorities. I work for a living on the water and I try and be prepared as well as I can but the choice of being in conformance with local authorities versus staying alive is mine. As your choices are yours. I only seek actual experiences of others on this topic.

In the Bahamas it is considered a gun and as noted, the ammunition is also regulated very strictly and will be counted going in and out and the count better match. Same thing in Jamaica and many of the countries in the Caribbean. Mexico is worse.

If you choose to not be in conformance with the local authorities be prepared to see the local jail. Fox Hill in Nassau I hear is pretty bad. Met a sailor once that spent a week in a jail in Jamaica and it sounded worse than a medieval dungeon. Jails in Haiti you will starve if you don't have money to pay them for food.

By the way, I've been diving in Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean for 40 years and never needed a bang stick. I did get a bit nervous once doing open water deco after a deep wall dive in the Bahamas when the local bull shark got curious but that was as far as it got.