The last time gunboats sailed the Great Lakes with angry sailors intent on shooting something was the War of 1812. Since then, the Great Lakes have remained largely free of gunboats from either the U.S. or Canada. But now, in this new age of terror, the U.S. is prepared to anchor machine guns to the decks of U.S. Coast Guard ships patrolling the Great Lakes.
The Coast Guard plans to train its personnel to shoot these weapons and is asking for comment on the idea of cordoning off certain areas of the Great Lakes to conduct live fire training exercises. Though these Great Lakes are a shared bi-national resource, the U.S. Coast Guard, at this point, plans to hold meetings only in Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio.