I'm posting this as a courtesy to others who are law abiding. SHTF stands for something, and you got to be ready...I am...Besides having supplies for a natural disaster, you should provide your security when the police can't...It's happening in New Orleans...You have the thugs and the looters having a time, would they take advantage of you if your home and family was over there?... This only further cements my idea that providing for my security in a SHTF situation is an obligation I have to my family and the one above...I have an AR15 rifle for each member of my family, a shotgun, and a pistol for each as well...Of course, my daughter is only 6, but I will instill the training and values of a survival mindset in a SHTF situation when the time comes, and hopefully she will instill this to my future generations... What can you do: 1. Get a severe weather & natural disaster home readiness checklist, (I got a copy from Lowes earlier this year.) 2. Have a place for the supplies in mind. 3. Have a communication plan with regards to loved ones outside your primary family. 4. Get acquainted with firearms...At the very minimum, you should have one semi-auto. rifle or carbine, one shotgun (preferably tactical equipped) and one pistol...The more the better. The choice should be the "evil" types such as AR15, M1A, AK47, with as much 20 or 30 round magazines, and ammo to stockpile as possible. Almost any shotgun is sufficient with an 18" barrel, at least 100 rds. to stockpile, and the pistol needs to be patterned after military types due to them being a proven, and reliable design, such as the Beretta, 1911, or Glock, with as much magazines and ammo as you can budget for... SHTF is not something I wish for, but I believe being ready is better than not being ready, and unfortunately SHTF seems to be happening to some minor degree...
I think thats a great post and something that we all can learn from. I do not own a gun nor have I ever, but I would really like to learn a great deal about guns and how to use them before buying one. Though many may state that its wrong and that if there were no guns, it would be better etc. I have a story to relate from a Bosnian refugee who came to the US. He was in his early 20's and his father and brother were killed and his mother and sisters were raped. He told me how they were helpless as the military (Serbs) came into town. As a post-communist nation, they had no weapons. In the communist manifesto, an essential is to take away the weapons of the people. The Serbs simply went door to door and took the men away and sent them to concentration camps and raped the women. He only escaped because one of his best friends was a Serbian soldier and he helped him hide. His friend also told him they were told to enjoy the women as it would break the Bosnian's spirit. Do you honestly believe that a foreign or local force could ever do that in the United States?? Do you truly believe that if an army marched into Tomball with those intentions, they would get anywhere?? The US has that rugged individualism which cannot and will not be suppressed. Though there are great drawbacks to having weapons in society, the ability to fight off a foreign or local force is the essential reason why the founding fathers allowed us to bear arms. Seeing what is happening in New Orleans is really a good reason why we should be able to bear arms to protect our family and our property if the government can't.
Living in NYC, I have an emergency kit in my kitchen which consists of water, food supplies, small stove and fuel, cash, some basic tools, one of those wind up radios (my wife bought it) and medical gear. I wish I had a gun.
That's what they are doing in New Orleans right now. Unfortunately, the force they are fighting are trying to restore the city.
Believe me, shooting someone is something I want to NEVER, EVER do,...unless I really, really have to... I use to hate firearms, they are loud, inherently dangerous, and when you are unfamiliar they have little appeal, but just like any machine or complex tool...If you familiarize yourself with the details of them, what they do, what they don't do, etc. and maintain standards of safe handling, respect, and responsibility, then you become more comfortable in practicing target shooting, and you then are able to defend yourself or family them in a chaotic situation such as what we are seeing in New Orleans that you hope never happens, but you are ready... Good post F.D. Khan and mateo, I encourage you to do a ton of research on the internet, and to "bother" the salespeople at gunshops with tons of questions...Don't make a hasty decision. See if you can rent one that you might be interested in. Firearms cost a lot of money, and it's best to take your time finding out about your choices, and why one choice is better than another one...
LOL! you caught me wnes, I have a directive from Wayne R. LaPierre's email asking me to contribute via communication propaganda via all sources on community message boards...Sorry just trying to do my part for "the cause"... btw on a sidenote Fox news just showed a dead person on the side of the road of some highway in New Orleans...sad.
First I would defend my home with reason. It seems like looters are generally from the area and so I would assume some familiarity with them. I would use my knowledge and reason to keep my family and belongings safe. If reason failed, I would use a sword rather than a gun to defend my family. If I was disarmed using a sword, I could just grab another and beat the person in a swordfight. If I lost a gun in the struggle then I would have to run. Swords also have a sense of style, and I want to do everything I do in style. Guns, we don't like to use them Unless, our enemies choose them We prefer to fight you on like a man And beat you down with our hands and bodyslam you at the... The wild wild west (repeat 4x) -Kool Moe Dee
Sorry to derail this thread a bit with a gun discussion, but I see this argument a lot. If a foreign force has invaded Tomball, it means they have overwhelmed a US military armed with far better weapons than you have, tanks, jets, etc. I don't think your guns are going to make a whole lot of difference at that point. If you were a threat, you'd just be killed. This would not be a ragtag invasion force that doesn't know what its doing. As for a local force... do you really believe that a volunteer army comprised of people's brothers, sisters, parents, sons, and daughters will turn on their own country? It's a different situation in a non-defensed country like Bosnia or 18th century America. As Juan noted, having all these guns around has led to them being used against the very people who are trying to help them.
Well, police are now spending their time looting gun shops to keep the ammunition off the streets. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.impact/index.html <I> Widespread looting and random gunfire have been reported across the city. Police told CNN that groups of armed men roamed the streets overnight. Officers told CNN they lacked manpower and steady communications to properly do their jobs -- and that they needed help to prevent the widespread looting and violence now prevalent in the city. Police also told CNN that among the first items looted from stores in the area were guns -- and that officers followed behind with looting of their own, taking whatever ammunition was left to keep it off the streets. ... The officer said police are "on their own" for food and water, scrounging up what they can from anybody who is generous enough to give them some -- and that they have no communication whatsoever. Police also told CNN they were removing ammunition from looted gunshops in an effort to get it off the streets. </I> FEMA had to suspend boat rescue operations because of "dangerous conditions". I'm not sure if that's in reference to the flooding or the violence.
Well let's say you do have some sort of firearms - loaded - when looters break into your home. Let's also (reasonably) assume looters' goal is not to get you (your life, I mean), but your belongings. Now you aim your firearm(s) at the looters, when you see they are snatching off one of your treasured possessions. You yell at them, "Drop it and the get the f*ck out or I'll shoot!" Unfazed by your warning, they drag away valuables piece by piece and load them onto their truck. You can't take it anymore and decide to shoot. What do you aim? Heads, asses, legs, arms, bodies, tires of their pickup truck? Or you simply don't care in the heat of struggle, knowing full well someone (looters) may die?
I can't argue too much with this, but if it came to this I'd rather die fighting than live in an existance that would be so anti-american... What I can argue is that the looters, and thugs is a SHTF situation for law-abiders who may be in the general area where at least temporarily the police cannot or will not help...
I agree with this. I think it's one of those prisoner's dilemma situations. The ideal world would be that no one is armed. But if someone else is armed, you're better off armed as well. However, when everyone goes with that philosophy, it just makes the whole situation that much more dangerous (what we're seeing in NO). Unfortunately, there's no good solution there, because people have an obligation first to themselves and their families.
If they come in and breach my home against my will, I have no idea what the intention is, and I aim center of mass for a quick and decisive kill...no questions asked.
Huh! This situation has to be one of the best arguments for gun control you can find. If there weren’t so many guns in the hands of private citizens then the police and National Guard would have been able to get in there much more quickly and stop the looting and evacuate the people much more quickly. They even had to stop the evacuation of the Superdome for a while this morning because someone was taking pot shots at a helicopter! This is craziness! It seems to me that the world was able to get aid into Sri Lanka quicker than they can get it into New Orleans, and the reason is that there weren’t people walking around the streets with guns in Sri Lanka looting, robbing people, car jacking, and shooting at aid workers. The solution to the problem of having guns in the hands of citizens like that is clearly not to put more guns in the hands of citizens. It is to get the guns out of the hands of citizens. What’s going on in NO is simply insane! It comes across like some third world country relief situation, and it’s a direct result of the gun and vigilante culture there as far as I can tell. Heck, most of the people who stayed seem to be saying that they did it to protect their property from looting. If they believed that the National Guard would be able to come in right after the storm and stop any looting then they may not have stayed, but clearly they didn’t think the National Guard was a match for all the guns in the hands of citizens. When all is said and done I think it will be clear that much of the post hurricane tragedy that we’re witnessing now will largely be the result of your 18th century gun laws making it very difficult for relief workers and police and National Guardsmen to get in and do their jobs. I literally can’t think of another place on the world where this could happen. The Congo maybe? Somalia? It’s simply shocking and unbelievable to see it happen in New Orleans.
I forgot to add, please specify whether you are a person of some type of religious belief if you elect to respond to the hypothetical situation above.
