Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.
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Wayne in Canada sent this from the leftist/statist National Post: Noah Schwartz: Liberals’ botched gun buyback program may create a dangerous ‘grey market’ [1]. Wayne’s Comment:
“Power-grabs/gun-grabs like this will no doubt amplify calls for secession of the western provinces!”
Here is related news with some details: Buyback program for banned firearms to begin in Nova Scotia next month [2].
And,
The Public Safety Minister accidentally tells the truth about Canada’s gun-buyback program [3]. Here is a key quote:
“During his press conference, Mr. Anandasangaree erroneously told the public the buyback program is “voluntary.” The minister responsible for public safety ought to know, however, that it would be a criminal offence to own a prohibited firearm after the government’s amnesty period ends on Oct. 30, and that anyone found in possession of a prohibited firearm could be found guilty of an indictable offence and face a prison sentence of up to five years.”
JWR’s Comments: A government cannot “buy back” something that it never owned. Canada needs a new conservative government that recognizes the individual right to own guns and carry guns.
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A web search led me to some useful insights for Bugout Vehicle planning: I’ve Spent Over 300 Nights Camping in My Truck. This Is My Packing List [4]. JWR’s Comment: You should have contingency plans for a variety of situations. This includes being ready to camp out of your car for several days, or perhaps even weeks.
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Portland Anarchists Firebomb Rapper Ice Cube’s Tour Bus After Reportedly Mistaking It for ICE Deportation Bus [5]. JWR’s Comment: Well, well… That is quite the way to “Make Friends and Influence People.”
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Several readers sent the link to this AP wire service article: Foraging revival: How wild food enthusiasts are reconnecting with nature [6].
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Judge rules USPS ban on guns is unconstitutional [7].
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Reader D.S.V. spotted this in the Wall Street Journal: Meet the People Who Eat 100-Year-Old Military Rations [8].
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Reader G.S. mentioned this piece: Bugging Out via Vehicle – A Bugout Vehicle Guide [9].
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Duke in Alabama wrote:
“I thought SurvivalBlog readers would be interested in my recent experience with storage and use of VP branded Four Cycle fuel. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with VP fuels, Zoro Tools, and any other distributor of said product. Just a satisfied survivalist customer.
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China introduces new ‘bone glue’ inspired by oysters for fast fracture repairing [11].
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Reader Richard T. wrote:
“When I read about SurvivalBlog’s Editor JWR’s new neighbors in their weekly preparedness progress report, I couldn’t help but to make an assessment of our neighbors and our neighborhood in our small town in light of the preparedness lifestyle. In the event of a disruption of normal utility operations due to flooding, storms, and power outages, most residents just wait it out and some have made emergency preparations, quite a few are willing to help each other and some make a fuss about why it is taking the city or the utility so long to deal with it. There is a potential for chemical spills due to farm supplies, trucking, and railroading. In such an event of evacuation routes out of this town are extremely limited. Senior living facilities would be in serious trouble.
During a recent power outage in the evening most homes had lanterns on and when we had a prolonged outage years ago neighbors shared generators with power cords criss-crossing the streets. One of those events took place due to a tornado and high winds. The volunteer firefighters were quick to clear streets with chainsaws and tree branch grinders. Most of our neighbors have chainsaws.
In recent years, when the town was without a local grocery store for over a year we upped our food storage and gardening, but otherwise the local response was to drive to the next town to get groceries, and quite often. I did not observe anyone putting in a garden or invest in food storage. At most, there are a couple of “BLT” gardens (for bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches), but for most residents a garden and a clothesline is too much work or too unsightly. We have several neighbors that are expert gardeners who have very advanced gardens and preservation techniques, beekeepers, and chickens, but none of them are into preparedness. We don’t know of anybody here who is. Politically, some are liberals from the Ralph Nader era school of thought and are in favor of abortion, gun control and everything that we are against. Others are Christians that homeschool their children. We are close friends with them all. We have tried both big city and rural life; small town America living works out the best for us.”
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Gun company investing $15.7M to relocate headquarters to Andersonville, creating 72 jobs [12].
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR [13]. or AVL [13]. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact [14] form.