Monday, June 21, 2010

NOT your 1930's Depression

Sunday, May 30, 2010

NOT your 1930's Depression

We have some wonderful, preparedness minded friends that live close by.  They raise cattle (about 60 head), grow a huge, beautiful garden, have a large flock of chickens and can and freeze copious amounts of food.  They feel like they are sitting pretty, and justifiably so.  They are capable, hard working, God fearing country women.  Why do I worry?  They have one .22 rifle and a small caliber varmint rifle.  Between both of them (a mother and daughter), they have about 50 rounds of ammo.

In their enviable position, they assume they can barter for just about anything they need that they don't already produce.  My concern is that this isn't 1930.  People aren't interested in trading work for food.  They aren't interested in trading one commodity for another.  The people of the 2000's are interested in being given something for nothing.  In 1930, a down-on-his-luck fella from the city would have knocked on their door looking to exchange a little fencing for a bowl of soup.  In 2010, the punks knocking on their door won't be interested in either their fences or their bowl of soup.  They will want it all.  And they won't be asking politely.  A .22 and a varmint rifle, with 50 rounds of ammunition won't be much of a deterrent, either.

The Katrina fiasco is a perfect case in point.  People became  hostile almost immediately.  Grocery stores, equipped with a 3 day supply of food, quickly emptied.  Looting began well before anyone could have become truly hungry.  They weren't simply trying to feed hungry families.  They were looting and destroying for no other reason than because they could.  We have a nation full of angry, indolent people just looking for a reason kill and destroy.  A natural disaster, TEOTWAWKI, WTSHTF or any other number of scenarios is perfect fodder for these gang members in the making.

We preparedness types aren't simply trying store appropriate foods, medicines and toiletries for hard times.  We HAVE to be aware of the necessity of defending our stores and our families.  We can't naively assume that people will take "no" for an answer and meekly go on their way.  This isn't the 1930's.  People aren't going to ask.  They are going to form gangs and they are going to take what they want by force.  Are you prepared to let them?  Men, are you prepared to watch your wives and daughters be raped and killed?  Women, are you prepared to watch your husband be slaughtered while you cower behind the door jamb?  Are you prepared to go the long way around a roadblock set up by bandits so the next hapless folks that stumble into the ambush are killed, just so you don't get your hands "dirty" by taking care of the business at hand?  I, for one, am not.  I will not see my daughters raped, my husband slaughtered or my sons used for target practice.  I, for one, will defend what God has blessed me with.  This is not the 1930's.  We WILL have to stand up and defend our food, our children, our very lives.

As preparedness types, you will have to know what the days ahead hold.  You will have to deal with the harsh realities of life.  You will have to know what YOU are willing to do.  You will have to be ready to stand and fight or lay down and die.

1 comment:

  1. An inexpensive 12 gauge pump shotgun would serve nicely as a home defense weapon at the same time it can bag an occasional pheasant. Just stock up on 00 buck and some birdshot.

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