PREPS PART 7: PERSONAL PROTECTION

Well, I expect this to be a BIG discussion since so many folks here have concerns about lawlwessness if TSHTF......

What will you do to protect your loved ones and property and preps if all hell breaks loose?

What are your every day protections vs the more intense ones needed in a bad sitiation?

Deadly weapons

Use your most deadly concealed weapon...that'd be the one between your ears. The best way to avoid losing fights is to avoid fights. In a societal collapse scenario, keep your head down, engage only in low profile activities and do not become a target. This is one of the better reasons why you should prep, as preps allow you to stay off the streets - initially - during troubled times, as the idiots are out scrambling for resources, rioting, stealing, etc.
Be sure that all in your household are well-trained in weapons and unarmed defense. If you must use deadly force techniques, apply them with immediate, overwhelming force and eliminate threats quickly.
The decision to do this - or not - is one of he most difficult you will make.

Best regards
Doc

Excellent advice, Doc! Far too many people approach the topic with the attitude that the goal is to win a fight. For me, the goal is to avoid a fight if possible, and win if one is unavoidable. That's one reason that I put my emphasis on concealable weapons that can be carried at all times (as I have done on a daily basis for years) rather than the latest super-duper rifle with all the lasers, lights, night vision, etc., stuff hanging from it. Being seen with something like that makes you a very tempting target. To me, the handgun is king when it comes to defense. It's all part of keeping a low profile.

By the way, I don't discount the potential need for the heavy stuff. I spent yesterday firing my M1A at silhouettes at 400 yards. That is mainly just for fun though. I suspect that the probability of that ever being needed is extremely low. It's good to have the equipment and the skill though.

i found some of the following items of tremendous interest. most are legal to possess. and are unobtrusively and EASILY carried almost wherever you go.

Self Defense

the stinger keychain: http://www.themartialist.com/pecom/stinger.htm, http://www.themartialist.com/gear.htm



GREAT site on stingers: http://www.donrearic.com/stingerchinook.html

wild cat keychain: http://www.selfdefenseproducts.com/Keychains/wildkat.php (we ordered 5 of these .. the kids love 'em)


Silver Ninja Spike Keychain : http://stores.yahoo.com/karatemart1/ninspikkeysi.html and http://www.karate-mart.com/nkp006.html


Black keychain w triangular spike: http://www.selfdefenseweapons.com/keychain-knife.htm


Plastic Black Knuckles: http://www.admiralsawesomeknives.com/black_abs_plastic_tactical_lite_brass_knuckles.htm


Travel Wrench: http://themartialist.com/gear.htm



Heart Attack Keychain Weapon: $1.95 http://www.pebbleco.com/item.html?UCIDs=184099|1042749&PRID=146289

Brass Knuckles (high end): http://www.bsproducts.net/index3.htm
plastic knuckles (wholesale) $5 ea: http://www.your-self-defense.com/knuckles.htm

Keychain Self-Defense Products: http://www.keychaindefense.com/

Regarding protection and the use of same, the following are in my view relevant.

1. As the good Doc sez, the decision to use force is one of the most important one will ever have to make. The catch is, that decision must be pre-made. During the event is no time to be deciding if now is the time to smoke someone causing you grief. Your personal line in the sand must be pre-determined, as in 'If x happens, my response will be y'. Mindset, mindset and training are paramount if one presumes to survive an encounter of the potentially terminal kind.

2. One's choice of weapons will be in large part mission specific. That is, particular to your circumstances and the situations you foresee as being most likely. I would draw attention to the 'man with one gun' adage, but more than this, you must be comfortable with the device and be able to use it effectively, with little warning, and deliver force in an efficient way, thus improving the chances of stopping the fight before it really has a chance to get going in any kind of serious way. As with any other variety of social work, the personal touch makes a big difference.

3. Situational avoidance is of course the biggest defence any of us have. Not being in the fight in the first place will pay much bigger dividends than any rounds-per-minute ratings. Learning to live in Condition Yellow, at the very least, will enable the ready and timely identification of potential targets and the inittiation of the appropriate measures to deal with same. Avoiding such targets is first on my list, anyway.

4. Again, as the Doc so rightly pointed out, once the line is crossed, force must be immediately applied with maximum violence and minimum warning to the intended recipient. One is required to initiate hostilities in such a way so as to overwhelm the response options of the target, thus eliminating or greatly reducing the potential for retaliatory activity. It is difficult to get over the 'this isn't really ahppening to me' response, which costs precious seconds of reaction time, but it can be dealt with, which brings us to the subject of...

5. Training. Training, training, training. The US Army Rangers say that 'you will fight the way you train', and I have discovered this to be true. It is imperative that you practice with your devices of choice in a diligent, disciplined way, so that the actions required to run the device and keep it running during situations of dire need will be instinctive. Ideally, one must become 'unconsciously competent', as it is called. Failing this, one can at least be comfy with and intimately familiar with those devices.

All of the above begins with mindset.

I fervently hope the above has been helpful.

Diligentsia, Vis, Celeritas

Bailey

Any quality Lethal Force instructor/organization will beat the following concepts into your brain:

Avoid. De-escalate. Evade. Fight.

And...

Observe. Order. Decide. Act. (OODA Loop)

Try to avoid the situation all together. If the situation can't be avoided, try to diffuse it. If you can't diffuse the situation, try your best to make a safe exit. If you can't exit, and you are if fear for your life, or grave bodily harm, act violently enough, quickly enough, long enough, to preserve your safety and remove the threat. Then be sure to visually scan your area 360 degrees, and plan your egress to a safe location.

Before, during, and after the process above: You should be ever Observant, that you may Order (catalog) your threats, that you may make sound tactical Decisions, that enable you to Act appropriately and soon enough. After you Act, you start the loop again at Observe.

Weapons and gadgets are secondary to Mindset, Training, and Practice.

Unless you're facing Zombies. Then your only hope is to get to a fortified position and wait for them to rot-out... If you have the foresight, a Ruger 10/22 and fifty-thousand rounds of ammo would help you pass the time. Just don't let the corpses get stacked so high as to create a path over your defenses!

All of the above.

I would want to add make your plans in accordence with your personal situation.

Make your plans and preperations in advance.
After TSHTF you may not be able to buy ammo, or that gun that you put off getting.

Learn to think outside of the box, and you will have greatly upped you survival odds in time of possible conflict.

Don't forget phych-ops as a way to avoid problems.
If people thank your house if filled with contagious desease they are not as likely to want in, as one example.
I am sure you will be able to think of others.

Booby traps make for good neighbors.

Our situation is very rural.
We have a few family/home protection dogs for warning, security and protecting our livestock.
Even in a urban setting a good protection dog might be a option.

Be as low profile as possible. example....
If the power grid is down you may not want the sound of a generator being heard, or bright light streaming from your windows, when the other houses are in darkness, and so on.

Even thought we all try to guess what the possible problems that could come up may be, expect to be blindsided by something.
Be mentally prepared to react quickly.

If you think that at some time in the future you might need to take a life in defense of yourself or your family, work to overcome your natural inhibitions ahead of time.

NO. I don't mean become a serial killer.
Decent humans have a unwillingness to hurt or kill other human beings.
If you have to make a split second decision, you do not want your intelect battling with your emotions.
One way to overcome this is to run scenerios in your mind, where a situation comes up requiring you to hurt or kill a not so decent human.
Imagine yourself taking care of the situation.
If the time ever comes you can feel remorse later, but you will be alive to feel it.

Buy the best equiptment that you can afford.

IMHO it is better to have a $60 used, beat up old shotgun in your hands, that a $1,500 combat rifle in your dreams that you might have the money to buy in a few years.

A pretty good start IMHO would be a 10/22 Rugar rifle with spare mags and at least 1,000 rounds of .22 long rifle.
Read Mel Tappon on Survival guns. He just plain makes sence and cuts through the B.S.

"When it's time to shoot, SHOOT. Don't talk."

You may only have one small "window of oppertunity" to protect yourself, or your family.
Maybe you can see the armed puke(S) before he/they see you.

if you wait too long too take action they may not only see you but be firing at you.
Trust me, Anybody that breaks into your house and is armed is not there to give you a kiss on the cheek.

Training, training, Practice, prcatice, practice.
Even if it is only doing mental scenarios will help you react properly if the time ever comes.

We all hope none of this happens. We all hope that we won't be in a car wreck too, but we have auto insurence and buckle our seat belts, just in case.

BUMP for evening crew

Bump for the new members...