Balancing Preparation vs Preppers

haven't written in a long time, 2021 was kind of a down year for Easy 6 Training, so I wasn't teaching much or writing much. But, as I am looking around the world today, I feel the need to write a bit about how things have changed in the last two years. It has gotten more dangerous. Cops are quitting in droves, and they are not being replaced. Crime is skyrocketing for a number of reasons I may get into more in detail in later blogs, but basically the lack of cops, political changes in the prosecutor profession, economic uncertainty due to the pandemic and prison releases due to the pandemic. In addition, since my last blog, we lost the war in Afghanistan and gave hundreds of thousands of fully automatic weapons to terrorists, and an air force. The new political leadership has thrown the southern border wide open to them. Truckers on protest. Russia has invaded Ukraine. North Korea is testing ballistic missiles every week. China is preparing to invade Taiwan. "Dogs and cats, living together! Mass Hysteria!" Don't get hysterical, but also don't be naive. Arm yourself somehow. If you live in a place that doesn't allow the carrying of firearms, you are in far more danger than people who live in free states, but you can still have something. If you can carry a knife, do so. If you can't, carry a kubaton, preferably one that's pointed, or a heavy steel pen. Or a stun gun. Or pepper spray. Or even something like this self-defense key

Remember, the first rule of unarmed combat is DON'T GET INTO IT! Be armed. The cops are not coming to save you. What few cops there are left in our cities are terrified to lose their job because some cell phone camera footage gets edited to hell to show cops as evil racist thugs who randomly attack minorities. If that's the public perception, why would a cop save you and risk that video? They won't. So, you are your own first responder. Being armed is the best way to do that. If you live in a free state, and you can buy and carry firearms, you need to get a rifle. I have been preaching about pistols for years. I carry a handgun every day, and I have sworn up and down that 99% of any self-defense situation could be solved with a handgun. I am not being a hypocrite; I am saying the level of threat in this county has gone up. Now, I'm not advocating walking around town with an AK on your chest to prove some point. I'm saying you should have one at your house, with a decent supply of ammunition. It doesn't have to be an AR or an AK, or any sort of "modern sporting rifle." It could be an old lever action 30-30, or a .243 hunting rifle. The point is you want something with some range beyond a pistol. You don't have to adorn it with crap, either, like lasers, lights, tactical scopes or any of that crap. An AR with iron sights is good out to at least 300 meters with the bare minimum training. A hunting rifle, even farther. Have a few boxes of ammunition for it. Get a good Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) that you can throw in your briefcase or your purse. I carry a tourniquet, a trauma bandage and a pair of medical sheers in my coat pockets. I wear coats with a lot of pockets. I can put extra mags in them. I put a flashlight in one. I put a cigarette lighter in one (probably the most useful survival tool). And I carry a 3.5" tactical folding knife in another pocket; that length is legal in my state, some states it's longer. This knife is a weapon, not a tool, for that get a leatherman or gerber multitool and throw it in your vehicle with the IFAK. Take a First Aid class! Take a rifle class. Take at least a self-defense seminar, if you aren't already studying some form of martial art. Lastly, most importantly, take a concealed carry class, get your permit, AND CARRY! The best martial arts instructors I have ever known all say carrying a gun is the best form of self-defense out there; they train people for when they can't have a firearm. A note on shotguns. If you are good with a shotgun shooting rifled slugs at long range, then I would say it's even better than a rifle, because it can also be amazing at close range with shot shells. But, if you don't have a rifled barrel, or are not competent with it at long ranges, I would personally recommend a rifle instead. This is my opinion, and obviously some people will disagree and say shotguns are the best all-around self-defense tool. There is merit to that argument, but new shooters I feel can much more easily learn to handle a rifle than a shotgun. But, if you have the means, get all three, a concealed carry pistol, a shotgun for home defense, and a rifle if things get very serious. I'm not trying to sound like a prepper. I don't have food buried in the yard, or geo-cached in the hills, or urine-purification equipment. But I have enough canned goods to last me a month if the truckers go on strike. I have several fully loaded magazines for a rifle in my safe and my concealed carry pistol, and I do have a home defense shotgun loaded with bird shot so I'm not shooting my neighbor's dog. I'm not trying to prep for the end of civilization--I have no desire to live in some post-apocalyptic Mad Max world, folks--I am trying to be prepared for temporary disruptions in our civilization. Like violent crime entering our lives. Like terrorist attacks (which I think will skyrocket in the coming years). Or even strikes of essential services like trucking, farming, power generation, etc. It's not about killing zombies or Russian paratroopers like so many idiots fantasize about. It's about being armed and prepared enough to wait several hours for first responders to get to you. That's the balance I'm looking for. Be Armed. Be Aware. Be More Dangerous Than Him. Thanks, Soule Easy6Training