Thoughts for the Week

Well, howdy, folks. This entry’s later than usual because my class schedule got switched around this semester. I’m at school on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I’m a little behind today – sorry about that!

So…here are my thoughts for the week. They’re a little disorganized because school’s been insane so far, but I’ll do my very best to get back on track as soon as possible.

A good holster makes concealed carry more comfortable…and easier. You don’t have to spend tons of cash on a good holster, either: mine was only eighty bucks, including shipping, which is downright cheap when you look at how much some of the other holsters out there cost. Mine’s custom molded to my firearm’s model, too, which is a huge plus when it comes to retention.

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Be sure to actually wear the clothes that you’re going to put away for the future…or stash in your bug-out or get-home bag. I say that because I just bought two dozen pairs of socks at Payless – they had a “buy one, get one half off” sale, so I figured that I might as well stock up.

The socks turned out to be total crap. I’ve worn only twelve pairs so far, but two of them have very-weak stitching around the toes. In other words, I have holey socks, and I’ve worn the suckers only once. This is the first time that I’ve ever had new socks fizzle on me…weird. Fortunately, I noticed the problem, and will be replacing the pair of unworn ones from my get-home bag – because, frankly, they could be a bigger pain to me than they’re worth if I ever need them in a crisis.

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Mom received her order from Puritan.com today – a crapload of D3, along with a few other things that she wanted. Because this order showed up so quickly, and was exactly what Mom wanted, I’m giving the Web site both thumbs up. If you’re looking to stock up on something like D3, give this site a look: they’re currently having a fantastic sale.

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Have you checked out AllRecipes.com yet? I have no affiliation with the site whatsoever – I just use it to find new recipes. It’s free, easy to use, and even lets you search by ingredients (things that you want as well as things that you don’t). If you’re stockpiling staples, which you probably are, it’s a good idea to have a variety of recipes that use these things. Trust me…you want a somewhat-diverse menu.

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Unfortunately, I have to get busy with homework if I want to pass this semester and, you know, graduate. I’ve spent too much time in school to fail now, so I’m off to study. In the meantime, I leave you with a thought about the future:

When things go wrong, pretty much everyone will rush to the stores to grab all sorts of stuff that they just realized they’re going to need. This is why we have extra food on hand, but what about the little things? Mom and I were talking yesterday, while we were hanging clothes on the line, when one of us said, “You know…it would suck if we couldn’t buy more clothespins.”

The other agreed, and said that getting a few extra packs would be a good idea – just in case. Even though we bring in our (wooden) clothespins at the end of the day, the things still wear out and break. They aren’t made of the best materials, unfortunately.

So…this week, my family is focusing on the “little things” that we regularly use: stuff that we might overlook when we stockpile. Perhaps, this week, you can join us? Keep a small notepad on you and write down everything that you use – especially small things like clothespins, or the eyeglass-repair kit. Even if you use this stuff only once or twice a year, it would still suck to have only one, right? Right. Maybe this week of observing and list making will help us all figure out how to be better prepared in the future.

Guns and Women

It seems that some people are finding my blog by searching for terms along the lines of, “What are good self defense guns for women?” I’m going to focus on handguns, for the most part, because we tend to carry this type of firearm for self-defense purposes. However, please keep in mind that we can defend ourselves with shotguns and rifles as well, though they aren’t typically what I choose when I’m looking for a concealed-carry firearm (for obvious reasons).

The, “What guns are best?” question doesn’t work very well because women come in many varieties, with all sorts of strengths and weaknesses. Asking what guns are best for women is much like asking what shoes are best for us, or what brand of jeans fits us best. There is no one correct answer, and it is inevitable that any one item (gun, clothing, whatever) you deem “good for women” will suck out loud for a certain percentage of us.

There is not even a correct RANGE of answers, to be utterly honest with you all, because so many women prove to be most comfortable outside the “accepted” variety of guns that are “good for women.” You cannot say that a five-inch 1911 is “too much gun” for women, because I happen to shoot a variety of these 1911s on a regular basis without any complications or problems. Not all of us are doomed to have a weak grip on that particular model and, as a result, shoot worse than Stevie Wonder.

You also cannot say that a Lady Smith revolver is “good for women,” because some of us have one problem or another with that firearm. Not all of us like its size, for example, or its recoil. Not all of us are fans of revolvers in general, either.

You will, of course, find women for whom the 1911 is a pain in the wrists, and for whom the Lady Smith is a perfect handgun. However, this does not mean that we’re all going to have the same results – and we shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking about women, and “girls’ guns,” just because I happen to know some women who are quite comfortable within the range that I just mentioned.

Another problem is that it’s very difficult to buy a gun that’s just right for someone else. If you’re a guy, and you’re looking to buy your gal a firearm, it’s best to let her do most of the shopping. If you interfere too much, then she’s probably not going to get what SHE wants and needs. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help her out – I think that’s a very-cool gesture, in fact – but you can’t shop for her gun any better than she can shop for yours. Let her do the research, and let her try out various guns and ammo, to find out what works best for her.

So, then, we women should be asking the questions about the guns that we might like to acquire. Therefore, we would be doing well to ask, “Which handguns would be good for me in particular?” The very-best way to answer this question is to go try the ones that you think you might like. Go to a shooting range that rents handguns, or borrow various models from your family and friends. Send a good amount of lead downrange with each firearm, then evaluate.

Are you comfortable? Can you properly grip, carry, and operate that particular model? Can you easily use the sights on that gun? Would you enjoy shooting that firearm again? Those are just a few of the questions I ask myself while, and after, I shoot a new-to-me firearm. So far, I’ve mostly enjoyed all the guns I ended up “adopting” after my test runs, so my method can’t be too shoddy, right?

You might really like two or three handguns after a day at the range. That’s fine – you can narrow down your selections with some research and thinking. Your budget might eliminate one or two choices for you anyway. And, hey, this is America: you can buy more than one gun, you know. (Well, most of us can, anyway.) Plenty of individuals have at least two carry guns, which they rotate depending on their needs and moods.

All of the above advice applies to other firearms, too, even though I made a point of focusing on handguns. Your husband or father might be madly in love with his AR-15, but this doesn’t mean that it should necessarily be your favorite rifle, too. Shop around, try out some different things, and make your own decision. You’re the one who will have to maintain, shoot, and possibly even carry the firearm, so make sure that you’re getting what you need and want.

Home Security in the Middle of Nowhere

I don’t really have much to say about city or suburban home security because I haven’t spent much time in those environments. For two years, I lived on campus, so security was up to the school. We weren’t allowed to change locks, upgrade security measures, or possess most defensive tools, so I pretty much relied on other people to care for me. This sucked out loud, and I was quite happy to stop doing it after two years.

Most of my life, though, has been spent in the country. Home security is entirely up to my family and me, because nobody else cares. We can’t even install an alarm system because the Sheriff’s Department wouldn’t respond to it. We live too far out in the country for that, and the average response time is more than one hour anyway. We don’t blame the Sheriff’s Department for any of that, but we do acknowledge that we have to either take responsibility or leave ourselves open to criminals.

There are layers to home security. You don’t want to rely on just one method, because Murphy will monkey stomp your face for you if you do that. Overlap three or more layers and you can reasonably believe that your security setup is tough enough to deter most would-be troublemakers.

The key, in my opinion, is making your homestead the toughest-possible target. The average thug is not the sort of fellow who enjoys working up a sweat doing honest labor, so you can reasonably expect him to find a softer target if your homestead’s security presents a challenge. There are exceptions, of course, but a strong effort on your part will discourage most of the people who would otherwise consider targeting everything that you’ve worked to earn.

I don’t want to go into too many details about The Homestead, but I will tell you that we rely on four layers of security to keep things as secure as possible. This might seem like overkill to some of you, but none of the layers were difficult to put in place, or very expensive. They’re all easy to maintain, too.

We have a good layout; fences; dogs; and firearms. These four things all work together to discourage the bad guys.

The Layout
It should be relatively easy for you to see what’s happening outside your house. We can glance out the windows and see exactly what’s going on without letting anybody out there know that we’re looking. At the same time: they can’t just roll up and peer through our windows. Being able to see outside is important because, if you hear something or your dogs alert you to a stranger’s presence, you don’t want to open your door to see what’s going on. You want to keep that barrier between yourself and the stranger. After you take a peek outside and realize that the “stranger” is your aunt or the mailman, well, you can always open the door. The person outside won’t know that you checked him or her out before you opened up, and you can be confident in the knowledge that you’re doing what you can to keep yourself and your family safe.

The Fence
The Homestead’s perimeter is fenced, mostly to keep our dogs on our property. We used field fence, stretched between alternating t-posts and cedar posts. Topped off with two tightly-stretched strands of barbed wire, the fence is just a tad menacing. People, we’ve noticed, don’t like to get too close to it – just looking at all that barbed wire seems to give them the heebie jeebies. That’s fine by us, because even good friends, fellow church members, et cetera, need to be invited in. We hate when people try to just open our gate and walk in without so much as a howdy, and that nasty fence combined with the dogs discourages most visitors from trying it.

The Dogs
We have a few formerly-stray dogs: mixed breeds that just showed up here and decided to become part of the family. None were trained beyond the usual, small things that every (healthy, capable) dog should do: sit, come when called, et cetera. They aren’t guard dogs, and they will not attack on command. However, they happily defend their territory, because they’ve been treated like family members since they came to The Homestead. When you play with your dog…pet him…brush his fur…feed him yummy food…and tell him what a good dog he is…he’ll feel right at home. You’re still in charge, as you should be, but that dog will, more likely than not, defend his turf without prompting.

Our dogs will, when people show up, bark to let us know that we need to investigate. They have a light, friendly “woof” for family members and close friends, and they have a louder, more-aggressive bark for strangers. They didn’t receive any special training: they simply do this because they want to let the pack leaders (the humans) know that someone’s here.

The Firearms
Do I really need to go into details here? I don’t think that I do. Everyone in my family is an adult, and we all know how to safely and effectively handle every firearm in the house. We know the plan, and what each of us are supposed to do if something goes down. The firearms are backups to the other layers, so we aren’t likely to need them. Even so, we’re ready, because we don’t know this for a fact.

The key is to work out a plan beforehand, and rehearse it with everyone in the home. Many parents have their children lock themselves in closets when they (parents) send up the alarm to do so, for example. Adults often work out who will go where, with what, so that there’s no cross fire or confusion in an emergency. Know what you’re doing before you have to do it so that you won’t hurt someone you care about, or leave an important area unsecured or whatever.

Ideally, you’ll find a few layers to include in your home-security plan, and they’ll overlap so that they work together to keep you and your homestead safe. One plan is not ideal for every person or piece of property, so be sure to look at your needs, and your layout, and decide what will work best.

Guns, Women, and Self Defense

This one’s mostly for the women, because I know our perspective best. There are plenty of men out there who are happy to speak with other men about self defense, and related subjects, so I’ll try to leave that to them. Even so, a lot of what I have to say here could very well apply to the gentlemen too.

Survivalism is about preparing for everyday problems – not just about being ready for society to go completely berserk. Having eight years’ worth of food stashed; knowing twelve ways to obtain drinking water when the taps go dry; and being part of a massive network of fellow survivalists for working and prepping are all useless endeavors if you’re dead tomorrow because the bad guy with the knife wanted your purse badly enough to slice you wide open for it.

I strongly recommend handguns for self-defense purposes. The wonderful thing about firearms is the fact that a well-trained female with a decent handgun is on the same footing as a steroid-guzzling, violent offender who wishes to do nasty, unprintable things to her. Screw that guy and his eight-hundred-pound biceps: give the lady, the innocent would-be victim, a decent handgun; her smaller stature and lack of ‘roid-induced muscles will not matter anymore. She’s capable of defending herself, and her loved ones, against pretty much any two-legged threat. (And other critters…more than once, a rabid dog has been neutralized because somebody with a handgun didn’t feel like being mauled.)

There are a few exceptions, though. Many law-enforcement officers will tell you that somebody who’s high on PCP isn’t going down easily, and trying to stop someone who’s wearing decent body armor would be a bit of a challenge with a handgun. However, the average thug isn’t going to have either of those advantages.

The meth addicts where I live, for example, are capable of horrifying violence. If they’ve been addicted to the junk long enough, a bright light hitting their eyes can be enough to make them want to kill everyone around them. However, they don’t have superhuman strength, and they don’t have enough brain cells left to think about acquiring and donning body armor before they go completely out of their skulls. These crazy addicts are, right now, my primary concern, because they’re all over my community – and they’re very easy to set off.

And while we’re on the subject of bad guys: women can be criminals too. I certainly don’t mean to be sexist about this. Goodness knows that there are some nasty, female thugs out there, stealing oxygen from the rest of us. They can be predators, just like their male counterparts, so it’s important to recognize that possibility and be prepared to act accordingly.

Another thing to consider is the pending meltdown. What are people going to do in response? Some are going to either become violent, or continue being violent. I’m not saying that every hungry person will try to stab you for your beef jerky, but some will. Along with the usual “keep your mouth shut” advice, which is an excellent game plan, we need to be prepared to defend ourselves – just in case our tight lips aren’t enough. None of us know exactly what will happen, but would any of us be surprised to see riots, looting, and other dangerous situations?

Obviously, there will be problems after society melts down. We’re going to have to figure out how to deal with those problems, and I’m not convinced that simply lying low and keeping our mouths shut will be enough. Some of us are bound to encounter threats along our way, even though we’re trying to avoid those situations. I already carry, and I already practice and train with my firearm, so I have an advantage: this self-defense bit is one less thing that I’ll have to actively think about, and worry about, when the meltdown finally happens.

So, ladies: take a handgun class or two. Visit the shooting range and rent your way through the handgun inventory. Look for a handgun that you can safely, comfortably, competently use. Do what you need to do to carry that gun, and carry wherever you can, whenever you can. Be prepared to defend yourselves before, during, and after the world goes berserk, because we don’t know when or where nasty things are going to happen in this world.

Useful Links:

Cornered Cat - A wonderful Web site for women, by a woman. There's quite a bit of excellent information about firearms, self defense, et cetera here.

Palm Pistol - If you have hand problems, like arthritis, then this firearm might be useful to you. The Web site is taking pre-orders, but hopefully this gun will be available soon.

CrossBreed SuperTuck Deluxe - My favorite holster. If you do order, be sure to include the "combat grip" option to make your firearm easier to draw.

Get Brass While You Can

Edit (3/18/2009, 10:51 p.m.)

So an anonymous comment informs me that this has just been reversed. Wonderful. But the fact remains that Uncle Sam wanted to do all this crap. Everything that I wrote about stocking up and keeping an eye out for materials still applies, because you really don't know what they'll pull next, or when.

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Apparently, DOD Surplus must now destroy the military’s once-fired brass instead of selling it to We the People for reloading purposes. This ends a long-standing surplus arrangement that, for quite some time, has given people brass for military calibers.

You’re probably going to say that the military’s primers are crimped, making them difficult to remove and, therefore, a big waste of time. That’s true of some calibers, but not all. Besides: those who would, until now, find a way to work with the military brass are now going to buy the “rest of the stuff.”

So now, there won’t be as much brass available, meaning that the price of what’s left will increase. Oh, and We the People will pay to destroy the once-fired brass; Uncle Sam does not, despite what the dumbest Americans believe, generate his own revenue. You and I are going to pay to destroy perfectly-good brass, which civilians could reload and use more than once.

And if you’re pissed off because the two-front war we’re currently fighting is costing us a huge fortune, the price just went up. The government was raking in some money off the brass, but that won’t happen anymore because of this new requirement. The brass can still be recycled as scrap metal, but that’s not nearly as good as selling off the metal as once-fired brass. Uncle Sugar’s going to recoup less of John Q. Taxpayer’s money now and, more likely than not, will continue wanting plenty of cash to kill terrorists.

As far as firearms control goes, this is a pretty-good idea. (A pretty bad idea if you’re on my side of the fence.) Obama and Friends know what they’re doing. They don’t have to go door to door, confiscating your firearms. That would be too risky for them, you know. Some little group of patriots might be deeply bothered by the idea and, you know, respond in a less-than-peaceful manner.

Instead, the tyrants stay in their little ivory tower, signing pieces of paper that give them just a little more control over their subjects. They’re going to keep doing this until they either run out of ways to control us, or we get sick of it and kick them out of office.

This is not a new phenomenon, either. Politicians have been trying to wrest freedom from our hands for years, years, years. Both of the two “parties that actually matter” are guilty, and they were doing it long before Obama was even born. He’s merely doing his part to make things worse, that’s all.

So, continue doing your best to get your hands on ammo and components. Now isn’t a great time to have a military caliber unless you’ve been stocking up for it, but oh well. There’s nothing to be done about that now but to grab extra supplies as best you can and work with what you have.

But stock up anyway, folks. If you haven’t made a good-sized dent in your ammo and component needs yet, get busy. Dad's in charge of that aspect of preps here at The Homestead. He spent the weekend out and about, seeing what he could find to top off the stash. We're basically set, but could always use more.

If you’re still trying to acquire the actual firearms, I’d suggest avoiding the military calibers. You really don’t need those in the first place. I know, I know: it’s really tacti-cool to hang a whole bunch of accessories from an AR-15’s quad rail and make the thing look like it came right out of a S.W.A.T. van. Though I’m all for the right to embrace our inner mall ninjas, I’m a bigger fan of functionality. No firearm is useful without ammo, and rising prices – along with the now-reduced brass supply – tends to make the plastastic wonder a really-expensive club and nothing more.

All of that applies even if you don't reload. Companies that buy surplus casings for reloading and sale to civilians won't be able to get their hands on the government supplies anymore, so they'll have to fight over what's left.