Shooting guns off shore?

[Nauti Natured]

The pirate thread reminded me of a question I have had in my head for quite a while:

I typically always carry a gun with me when I run off-shore for various reasons. To date, I have never discharged the weapon.

My question is: Is it legal to shoot your weapon off-shore? I have seen / heard people shooting clays off of their boat. I have done it off of someone elses yacht before, but have never been brave enough to do it off of my own boat. I love to shoot and it might liven up a crew on a slow day to be able to pop a couple clays out of the air.

So ... whats the scoop? Whats the law? What is "acceptable behavior" etc. ?

Thanks on advance for your input.

[Deep C]

Outside three miles the state can't touch you on it. Don't think there are fed regs but past twelve youre in international waters so let fly. Been a while but on calm days on my old center console we used to pop flying fish. Was a blast... litterally...

[obxfish]

I asked a game warden about shooting clay targets off my boat in Currituck sound. Said its perfectly legal, just use common sense, be far away from shore and not near any other boats.

[Nauti Natured]

Thanks for the responses. Kind of what I suspected so far. Get way off-shore, stay away from long-range rifles, and get out of sight of other boats.