The guns were only for self defense and shooting rocks etc. It was an exploratory vessel, of course it would pass through asteroid belts and need to defend itself.
And no I never recieved a message asking for the specifics of the ships design or to turn it around.
I have had failed Messages once or twice before in other games... ahh the hazards of interstellar communications.
I guess if you want to avoid that E-mail diplomacy is the way to go.