>A few smart people saved themselves a lot of grief by sitting on their front porches holding shotguns.
I have some friends who were there for that. Luckily their family has a class 3 weapons permit and a couple Mac-10s because they used to said to the Bahamas and Pirates of the Caribbean isn’t just a Disney ride. They stood watch with those and had no troubles.
First, there is no such thing as a "class 3 weapons permit", there are class III FFLs for dealers and class III licenses for manufactures of Class III items but no permit or license for people who buy them. You fill out an ATF Form 4, which requires mug shots, fingerprints, personal information, a sign-off from the chief law enforcement officer of your county/parish, location and name of class III dealer you are buying from with a signature of the owner of the business along with the weapon's serial number. The application will trigger background checks at local and federal levels. When the Form 4 is submitted to the ATF it must be accompanied by a $200.00 certified check to cover the "transfer tax" of the weapon. That's about it, except you must always have the "transfer tax" documentation in your possession when taking your weapon away from your registered home address. You may not take it across state lines nor can you move your residence with out notifying the ATF.
There are a few quirky things about ATF classifications of weapons, for instance if you want to buy a select fire rifle (semi/fully automatic) with a short barrel and a sound suppressor. The ATF considers each feature as a weapon. Therefore you are buying three weapons not just one assembly and must make an application to cover the semi/full auto feature, another for the short barrel, and still another for the suppressor. Each item will have a serial number traceable back to the transfer tax document(s) and each requiring a $200.00 tax stamp.
As to "standing watch" with a legal machine gun, there are likely legal pitfalls to such activity. First, taking your legal class III weapon on board is legal as long as you are within the boundaries of the state you reside in. If not and you get caught (Coast Guard Inspection???), you are looking at heavy fines and/or jail time. If you manage to get out into international waters with your goodies you are now on a par with all the rest of the pirates. And if you do make port in the Bahamas (or any other sovereign nation) you will be in deep kimchi if you start flashing the hardware around. That is also true of non class III stuff as well unless other arrangements have been made with the Harbormaster.
Regards,
GtG
PS Class III stuff is so damned expensive and so tightly regulated, most people consider it an "investment" and keep it locked away in their gun safe.