LND: On Guns...

   When it comes to guns, the LATOC, prepper, and survivalist folks run quite the gamut.  From hippies who think the oncoming discontinuity will finally give Mankind the chance to discard evil weaponry and live together in harmony (good luck with that), to Rambo wannabes who are obsessed with having enough military-style firepower to hold-off the Zombie Masses, all the way back around to Apocalypse Absolutists who argue that pointed sticks and fists are the way to go because guns will become useless when the ammo dries-up...

   In practical terms, guns are useful, sometimes essential tools for the doomsteader.  Calling 911 is already an iffy proposition out in the country, and will become more so as the collapse continues.   We're even less likely to be able to rely on Animal Control to deal with feral dogs, coyotes, and other menaces to the livestock.  Hunting has usually been a way to augment rural diets.  And farm animals sometimes need to be dispatched.  (If you think Old Yeller was sad, imagine if Travis had to use a fence post instead of a rifle!)

   Even if it were a good idea, you can't un-invent technology.  Guns are going to be around whether you're a fan of shootin' irons or not.  So you'd best familiarize yourself with them.

Gun Tech...

   Guns are really pretty simple technology.  If it were somehow possible for the Authorities to eliminate enough of the hundreds of millions of guns that are already out there in America to create a shortage, making more would be no great difficulty.  Never mind the new 3D printable firearms.  Anyone with a little skill and access to a typical garage can whip-up zip-guns and slam-fire shotguns easily.  A hobbyist with a decent backyard machine shop can produce fully-functional, modern firearms.  In fact, it is far easier to fabricate a modern submachine gun than a common revolver.  So attempts to disarm the public could actually result in weapons upgrades.

Training Hype...

   "Get training!" the parrots love to squawk when you talk about guns.  And it certainly is important that anyone handling firearms know how to do so safely and with a reasonable degree of skill.  But the obsession with formal, standardized instruction and certification plays into the hands of hoplophobes.  Modern guns are designed to be simple and easy to carry and use safely.  Stick to a few rules (covered in another chapter) and you won't shoot anyone you don't mean to.  A modest amount of practice, and you'll be able to competently shoot someone or something when you need to.  It just isn't rocket science.

   There are also a lot of folks out there selling tactical / combat / advanced defense shooting courses.  If it looks like something you'd enjoy, go for it.  But don't take it too seriously.  More than a few of the wannabe gunfighting experts are working to prove Barnum's theory about suckers being born every minute.  Even those with legit combat or police cred have training and experience in something that has rather little bearing on anything we're likely to face defending our doomsteads.

Guns Do Not Imbue Superpowers...

Biggest gun doesn't automatically win!

   After a much-publicized incident where one jihadi reportedly gunned-down dozens of people in a nightclub, some noted that one patron with a handgun might have cut short the rampage and saved many lives.  I was struck by how many people thought this was ridiculous because there's no way someone with a pistol could stop a maniac wielding an "assault weapon".

   Picking up a gun... Even a scary, black, modern-looking rifle, does not make a person invulnerable to a humble .38 Special bullet from a cheap revolver.  Or a tire-iron to the the back of the head for that matter.  Remember that a gun isn't a magical trump card, whether it's in your hands or someone else's.

Gun Jocks, Range Snobs...

   Guns are like a lot of other things in that you can go cheap and get junk, spend a bit more and get decent quality, or spend a king's ransom to get something just a little bit better.  Most people find the price-to-quality balance that suits them, and the brand / design type they find most appealing, and are comfortable with their choice.  They also respect that others have their own priorities and will choose differently.

   Then there are jackasses who hang around firing ranges and Internet forums and seem to think that anyone who buys less than the Super-Elite Deluxe Custom Special Platinum model firearm is pathetic trailer trash.   Sometimes it's a Fudd who believes his engraved and inlaid over-under fowling piece is morally superior to your economy model pump shotgun.  Other times it's a wannabe Operator who belittles any rifle not chambered in the latest super-cartridge and fitted with optics that cost more than a nice used car.  Frequently it's someone with an irrational fixation on their favorite brand.  (Looking at you, Glocktards.)

   Also acting as the rain on everyone else's parade are the know-it-all types who have to rag on anyone who doesn't (yet) shoot quite as well as they do.  Or uses a different grip or stance, even if they DO shoot better!

   Basically, try to ignore these jerks.  If you need to shoot a deer to feed your family, an old thutty-thutty with factory irons will get it done just fine.  If you have to stop a punk who just kicked-in your front door, it's not going to matter if you can shoot 100% in the ten-ring, or if you teacup your grip.  And the bullet holes will be the same whether you use a Kimber or a Hi-Point.  If today turns out to be the day you have to defend yourself, a Taurus revolver in the hand is worth much more than a Colt Python you're saving-up for.

Safety Sally...

   You can't emphasize safety too much, right?  ...WRONG!  Harping on something incessantly doesn't get your point across.  It gets you tuned-out and ignored.  And, after a point, it becomes lame "virtue signalling".

   Yes, it is essential to employ safe gun handling habits and procedures.  But check out Internet videos and you'll see it taken to weird levels.  Some gun reviewers verify their guns are unloaded so many times I think they are going to wear the things out with all that compulsive slide-racking.  What?  Do you think it magically reloaded in the two seconds since you last checked it? 

   Then come the comments.  "You swept somebody/something!"  "Can't you see that traffic downrange?!"  "You don't have a good enough backstop!"

   Of course everyone muzzle-sweeps themselves and other people sometimes.  It is impossible not to.  That traffic downrange is miles beyond the range of the shotguns we're shooting.  (You can't judge distance on a video screen.)  We know what is beyond that treeline or hill rise you think we're counting on as a backstop. 

   So chill-out.  You can practice and encourage safe firearms handling without being an obnoxious nag.

Shot Placement Is Everything...

   When discussions turn to choice of caliber, someone is bound to spout the old chestnut about shot placement.  And it is true that a hit with a BB gun will do more damage than a miss with a 12 gauge slug.  But, given the same shot placement, caliber can make a huge difference.  When you're a split second from dying if you don't shoot the other guy first, you will not be a perfect marksman, no matter how much time you've put in on the range.  Caliber can be the difference between a bullet that slows down in clothes and surface flesh before stopping against a rib, and a bullet that crashes through that rib and the vital organs beyond.

   Yes, the humble .22 rimfire has an impressive record of lethality.  But having a maniac die of internal bleeding or peritonitis hours or days after you shoot him won't do you much good.  You need something that is going to end the threat immediately.

   Choose the most potent caliber you can shoot well and reasonably carry.

Back to LOW-NONSENSE DOOMSTEADING Index.

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LND: Security.

   There's no point in building up a well-stocked, self-sufficient doomstead if the unprepared can just waltz in and take everything from you.  So security and defense are essential considerations.

   Guns and other weapons are always a popular topic among preppers, and I'll be getting to those shortly.  But, if you find yourself going through a lot of ammo resisting constant siege, your prospects for long-term success are pretty miserable.  Old Horseman's First Rule of Gunfighting: Stay the heck out of gunfights!

Be out of the way and out of sight.

   Perhaps the most important aspects of doomstead security were touched upon in the Location and Layout sections.  Many doomers have the notion that people from the city will pour out into the countryside in the event of a discontinuity.  Like a plague of locusts, the unprepared will sweep across the land, looting the farms, picking the woods clean of game...

   Historically, that is not what happens.  Urbanites don't disperse, they gather.  Most just wail about how SOMEBODY needs to make it all better for them.  The worst of the lot will loot their own neighborhoods.  They do not embark on multi-day hikes into the boonies, then spend hours pushing through the woods in the hopes of finding resources.  Not even if their city is literally in flames or under water.

What city people really do when SHTF.

   So putting your doomstead a good distance out from the big city, laid-out so that it's not visible from a major thoroughfare, is your first line of defense.

Activate SEP Field.

   One strategy survivalists like to talk about is being a Gray Man.  Someone utterly unnoticeable whom nobody would bother to mess with...  The same concept applies to a doomstead.  The appearance of the place should say "Nothing worth stealing here!" with an undertone of "You got a real purty mouth".

   This actually seems to contradict the basic idea of prepping, which is to have a relatively high standard of living despite TEOTWAWKI.  But looking like Poor White Trash doesn't mean you really have to live that way.  A storage shed or smokehouse built to look like an old outhouse creates the impression that you don't have functional indoor plumbing, even if you do.  Dilapidated vehicles rusting in the barnyard can provide storage space, spare parts, scrap steel for the smithy, all while creating the impression that looters are going to come away with nothing but rat bites and tetanus.

Silence is Golden.

   "Loose lips sink ships", the old idiom goes.  The last thing you need is a lot of people knowing where they can go to mooch, beg, burgle, rob, or 'confiscate' your limited doomsteading resources when things get rough out there.  So don't advertise, brag, or show-off too much.

   On the other hand, you don't have to treat your preps like nuclear launch codes.  It's not like someone who saw your FaceBook post in a doomer group is likely to come halfway around the world to grab your Spam stockpile when SHTF.  For all he knows, you were lying to begin with!   Most people, especially the criminally inclined, wouldn't have the competence or know-how to make use of doomsteading stuff anyway. 

Latest doomstead investment was four tons of concrete for Maudie's night corral.

Good luck stealing that.

   Don't aggressively evangelize or recruit preppers.  Let networking with other prepared folks happen organically in its own time.  Everyone has access to the same information you do.  It's not up to you to carry people whose idea of planning for trouble is to show up on your doorstep when they could have made their own preparations.

Perimeter Defenses.

   If you have to defend your doomstead, it's generally best to do it at as great a range as possible.  So long as civil authority is a thing, hardcore perimeter defenses like landmines and punji traps can get you into a lot of trouble...  Even in a WROL situation, maiming someone for simple, possibly unintentional, trespassing isn't going to go over well with the victim's people.  But less brutal approaches like maintaining thick brush with plenty of briars and difficult to navigate access roads can discourage strangers from taking an interest in your place without making it obvious that you have anything worthy of defending.

Alligators In the Moat.

   Animals have long been valued for their ability to detect (and perhaps deal with) intruders.  Most obvious are dogs.  But guineafowl and peafowl are also known as great natural alarm systems.  Horses will usually detect anything out of the ordinary well beyond their fence line, and a horseman who knows the herd can deduce what they sense by how each of the individual horses respond.  Even the wild animals serve as perimeter alarms, as it's nearly impossible to push through the brush without causing SOMETHING to be noisily startled.

   Getting chomped by the mongrel hounds is relatively low on the trespasser's list of concerns on a rural doomstead.  Cross into the wrong paddock and one could be set upon by an ornery bull, territorial stallion, defensive mamma cow or mare, or worse.

Cue 007 Theme.

   Whilst technology holds out, it can be used for additional perimeter security.  Discrete, wireless video cameras allow you to watch and record what's going on at remote parts of the doomstead.  You can even use camera drones to fly in for another look.

   If you're technically inclined, you might even consider more... assertive... remote security systems.

Community.

   I've always been a bit dubious of the hippie ideas of post-collapse communes, but that doesn't mean we expect everyone to be isolated in their own bunkers.  Mostly self-sufficient doomstead folks will still form ties with their neighbors for their mutual benefit, and that includes security.  This means everything from an informal neighborhood watch, so that problems can be identified and guarded against, to forming a posse or ad hoc militia to cope with more serious threats in WROL situations.

When things get real, you don't need Hollywood action hero wannabes.

Reconnaissance.

   Hunkering down too hard for too long can leave one oblivious to encroaching threats until it's too late to react.  It may be wise to quietly venture out, both to touch base with neighbors, and maintain awareness of what's going on beyond the boundaries of the doomstead.  Such patrolling can be hazardous.  If one encounters unfriendly elements, superior mobility, back-up, and force may be essential.  Approach strangers with caution to the point of paranoia.

Stay Connected.

   Communications are covered elsewhere in this book, and are essential to coordinated security.

Worth the Hernia.

   The last line of defense.  Big gun safes are roomy, relatively affordable, and can store much more than just guns.  I prefer the old fashioned mechanical locks over modern electronic types because the latter don't have a centuries-long track record.

   Buying gun safes can be a tricky endeavor.  Sometimes an expensive, prestige-branded safe and a generic brand are identical (from the same factory!) except for the label and price.  "Premium safes" are often glorified lockers that can be defeated with a crowbar, while mid-range safes from other manufacturers are dramatically stronger.

   Real safes are made of plate, not thicker-LOOKING hollow sheet metal.  So even modest-sized examples are obnoxiously heavy.  Our office safe is 5' x 26" x 20", and weighs around a quarter ton empty.  The doors should fit well enough that a heavy tool can't get in to pry at the seams, and the design should be recessed into the jam in such a way that even a thin screwdriver blade can't be inserted more than a fraction of an inch.  External hinges are not a liability, because the hinge side of the door should lock-up independently of them. 

   The safe should be bolted to the floor from the inside, both for safety (with the heavy door open, it may be possible to accidentally pull a safe over!) and security (so bad guys can't wrap a chain around it and drag it off with a truck or something).

   Hiding or disguising a safe adds that much more security.

   Because the safes are fire-resistant and humidity-moderated (with cans of silica gel beads), I keep my stockpile of reloading supplies, including 'gunpowder' in them.  It wasn't until I saw a video of someone demonstrating how he could break into a gun safe with a cutting wheel power tool that I realized anyone doing such a thing would send a shower of sparks into the confined space in the powder-laden safe, creating a massive forced chamber explosion.  Since, in order to get to our safes in the first place, the thief would have to kill our dogs, we think it's totally worth blowing up the house to make sure they get an express ticket to Hell.



   There is no such thing as impenetrable security.  But thieves and assailants don't have unlimited time, energy, or resources.  Your doomstead just has to seem like more trouble than they think it's worth.

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