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You are working on your Go Bag, you have longer term plans and beginning stocks of food and water purification. But what happens if some miscreant or group of thugs comes along to relieve you of your hard-earned preparations?
In truth, the grid doesn't have to go down for that to happen. While violent crime in America has been on the steady decline for the last ten years you still stand a fifty-fifty chance of being the victim of a robbery or burglary during your lifetime. More disturbing is the meteoric rise in home invasion robbery and carjacking. Bottom line…we live in a dangerous world and leaving the protection of yourself and your family to the authorities is foolish. The police can’t be everywhere at once so they are primarily focused on responding to crimes that have already occurred. While somewhat helpful, it is simply too late when you are already the victim of a violent crime. Once again, self-reliance is the most prudent policy. And, as with everything connected to emergency preparedness, developing and following a plan is the best way to enjoy a reasonable level of personal safety for yourself and your family.
It’s all about guns, right? Wrong. It is about planning for your personal safety and protection and using the tools that are most suited for the task as well as you own personal comfort level. For most of us it will probably be a firearm of some sort. It can also be a Taser, Pepper Spray or a serious club of some sort. But let me influence you a little bit here…
Mikey’s number one rule of personal defense – if you are going to get into a gun fight you should bring one (a gun).
Number two rule – never bring a knife to a gun fight or a stick to a knife fight.
Bad guys are usually armed. They are also willing to harm or kill others much more quickly than we are. When faced with an armed attacker turn the other cheek only if you are moving it to get a better sight picture on your weapon. Someone coming at you to rob you or harm your family is acting with evil intent and God doesn’t expect us to do nothing when faced with these situations. In fact, the Bible even tells us to protect our home and possessions, (Matthew 24:42 – 44)
We’ll take a quick look at personal protection and security on three levels and help you start the training you’ll need to be comfortable with your ability to protect yourself and your family.
Security at Home
Our home is our castle! This is where we should feel the most secure, but do we? We can indeed, as long as we have a plan and the will and tools to implement it. There is a lot of really great information on home security out on the web. Here are a couple of excellent articles on the subject:
A Beginners Guide To Home Defense Weapons and Tactics
http://mtano.com/7-simple-home-invasion-self-defense-tactics
Keep the home defense plan simple! Keep the home defense plan simple! Keep the home defense plan simple! Got it? Your home defense plan should be simple and your entire family should discuss and practice that plan. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than this:
The best offense is a good defense. Keep doors and windows locked. Keep the garage door shut and the house should look occupied even when it isn't. Keep the garage door closed and if you have a security system use it. If you don’t have one, then consider getting one.
Discuss all available escape routes. Make a plan to use them in case of a fire or armed home invasion.
Keep your cell phone charged and within arms reach all the time.
Establish a safe room and discuss when to use it. This room should be one that has a minimum of exposure to the outside and only one entrance. If you retreat to the safe room in a home invasion or break-in then stay there until the police have arrived and cleared the house. Establish and keep communications with 911 (you had your cell phone close at hand, right?) Keep your weapon ready but don’t shoot the police!
Don’t be a hero even if you have a home defense gun and are a great shot. Every round that leaves your barrel has a lawsuit attached to it and the emotional toll on the shooter should only be accepted if there is no other way to protect yourself or your loved ones. Shoot only when in fear of your life and only when you have positively identified your target as a real bad guy. Guns are used millions of times each year to stop crimes in progress without any smoke actually leaving the barrel. A gun is both a commanding presence and immense responsibility.
Discuss your plan often and rehearse it. Effective personal protection begins with a mindset of survival. Being prepared to defend yourself means mostly singularly focused on doing whatever it takes to survive when someone else is threatening you or your family.
This plan is a great starting point for a normal life defense as well as a The Grid Has Gone Down and We’re Hunkering Down plan. Katrina taught us a couple of lessons.
The first lesson is we are nine meals (72 hours) from chaos. Once unprepared people get hungry they will do about anything for food. Better be ready to defend.
Lesson two. The initial response from “The Authorities” is likely to be slow and insufficient to fully protect you. Immediately in the wake of Katrina making landfall Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco ordered State Police and National Guard to confiscate firearms from law abiding citizens. The New Orleans Police, who, at that point were functionally unable to protect anyone, joined in the effort to disarm everyone. It took a ruling from U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey to stop the confiscation. He also ordered all confiscated weapons to be returned to their rightful owners. In some cases that took months, but that is a discussion for another time.
Get the picture? When the Grid Goes Haywire or whatever other measure you use to determine that it is time to Hunker Down or Bug Out you are going to need to expand your Personal Defense Plan to a long term “Fortress In” or “Road Show” scenario.
Choosing Personal Defense Weapons
Weapons are classified according to their zone of effectiveness which is directly related to your personal threat zones; 1, 2 or 3.
Zone One – the zone of greatest danger! Less than five feet. Once an attacker is in this zone you are in deep tapioca. Weapons effective within this zone are Pepper and Tear Gas sprays, clubs, Tasers, edged weapons (knives, hand axes…anything sharp), and guns.
Zone 2 – Five to 15 feet. You are still in very serious danger but you have some time to react or perhaps escape. Best weapons for this threat zone are some sprays, Taser guns and firearms. At these distances you usually have time to try to put more distance between you and your attacker and take cover.
Zone 3 – 15 feet plus. Your first decision it fight or flight? If you have to fight then take cover and try to gain more distance. At this distance a gun and some reasonable level of expertise using it are your only options. If you’ve violated Mikey’s Number One Rule of Self Defense (If you’re in a gun fight, have one, gun that is), then you should definitely bug out. Run in an erratic pattern and stay close to cover.
So how do I choose a personal defense gun? This question has a lot of answers but the only correct answer is this; the answer depends on the individual, their lifestyle and experience. Here is my short answer to the question:
What if I Could Only Have…
One gun –It would be a 9mm Semi-Automatic pistol. The 9mm Luger cartridge has relatively light recoil. The pistol is easy to manipulate and most good quality 9’s are accurate and very reliable. Keep them clean and lubricated and it won’t fail you when the chips are down. It is easy to conceal, the ammo is cheap relative to other calibers and normal velocity hollow points have good stopping power. Since it’s very popular as well as the approved military pistol caliber ammo might be easier to obtain if supplies are low. A Ruger P95 is a personal favorite but any Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson or Springfield would be good choices.
Two guns – Next, add a tactical style 12 gauge shotgun. They are very easy to manipulate, inexpensive to buy and very reliable. Someone with little experience can do a credible job of defending against multiple armed attackers with a tactical 12 gauge. If you look in the shotgun rack of any police car in the country you’ll find a Mossberg 500 or Remington 870. Both are readily available and not too pricey.
Three guns – Well. we live in Texas, right? I can have as many smoke-sticks as I want! Third choice is a .223 semi-automatic tactical style rifle. The media calls these “assault rifles” but they are not. The .223 has very light recoil, the rifles are very accurate and everybody has one so ammo is and will be readily available. They are great for defense as well as hunting should that become a necessary food source. Any AR-15 will work as well as the Ruger Mini-14 rifle. The AR platform rifle is a little more accurate and there are multitudes available. The Ruger is sufficiently accurate and very reliable. Both will function well under stress. I like the Ruger because it is classified as a “sporting rifle” and didn't make the assault rifle list during the Clinton era Assault Weapons Ban.
SECURITY WHEN TRAVELING:
Don't want to be tracked when you leave your home? Think turning off your smart phone or tablet is enough to make that happen? Wrong. You must block all signals
Additional Resources:
The Best Defense TV program on the Outdoor Channel
http://outdoorchannel.com/show.aspx?show-id=720
http://www.personaldefensenetwork.com/
Download a copy of D.O.D. Escape and Evasion techniques manual:
Escape and Evasion in an Urban Environment
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