A Classical Education: The Greatest Educational Opportunity for Our Children by J. M.

My wife and I are preppers primarily for our children.  Though we have lived rich, full lives, they are not yet even adolescents.  If what we are prepping for happens, it will be this generation that will rebuild this nation to greatness.  We want them to be equipped intellectually and spiritually.  We want them to understand the influences of the Greeks, Romans and British that helped our Founding Fathers craft the greatest nation this planet has known.  I refuse to entrust America to those that do not understand these truths or those that are not up to the task. When …


Letter Re: A Parent’s Guide to Surviving School Rampage Shootings

James: I’m writing regarding A Parent’s Guide to Surviving School Rampage Shootings, by Greg Ellifritz. One important item I think that was missed was allowing any/all adults who choose to do so to be armed.  In the October, 1997 school shooting in Pearl, Mississippi an assistant principal ran to his car, got a gun, and stopped the episode.  Gun free zones give the criminal huge numbers of potential hostages and victims.   The presence of armed folks makes it a bit more difficult for the bad guys to prevail. – W.B.


Letter Re: After the Shooting

Mr. Rawles, Mr. Tupreco has made some salient points in his article on your actions and statements after a shooting to protect you and yours. However some of what he says is blatantly false, at least in my neck of the woods. I am a retired police officer who was involved in five separate instances of deadly force during my career so I think I speak with some experience that Mr. Tupreco lacks. He states that police officers are focused only on clearing cases so they will interrogate you with that frame of mind even if your use of deadly …


Economics and Investing:

SurvivalBlog’s G.G. flagged this ominous news: U.S. on Pace for $1 Trillion Deficit. [JWR Adds: Beware, the debt service costs will explode, once interest rates rise!] K.P. suggested this at Zero Hedge: Chris Martenson Interviews Robert Mish: Front-Line Evidence That We are Nowhere Near a Gold Bubble. [JWR Adds: Keep in mind that we are still staring down barrel of a big, albeit brief pullback in the precious metals and equities in next 30 days, as margin calls will likely cascade from CDS derivatives fallout. Buy on the dips!] Goldman Sachs director quits ‘morally bankrupt’ Wall Street bank. (Thanks to …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Ah, the amazing world of social networking. There are now niche web pages for every interest. I discovered that most states now have web pages specially tailored to help corrupt, gun-hating politicians keep track of their old friends, like this one. (To keep tabs on Bloomberg buddies like former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Now awaiting trial under a 38-charge felony indictment for an additional set of corruption charges, with a possible sentence of 30 years.) These sites are handy for planning future meet-ups and hang time. For example, this page will let you know that former Mayor Larry Langford has …



Notes from JWR:

This is the last day of Ready Made Resources’ sale on Mountain House canned freeze dried foods. They are offering 25% off and free shipping. The sale ends at midnight Eastern time, so order soon! — Today we present two more entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day …


A Parent’s Guide to Surviving School Rampage Shootings, by Greg Ellifritz

I walked into the high school wearing two guns and a bullet resistant vest.  I had a rifle, six spare magazines, and a ballistic helmet stashed close by in my car.  It was Wednesday, April 21, 1999, the day after what had been the worst school shooting in United States history.  Two high school kids had just killed 12 of their fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado.  The television was awash in the news coverage and everyone was scared. Parents, students, and teachers were worried about a copycat shooting in the town where I worked …


Family Planning, Post-TEOTWAWKI, by Lisa F.

Bring to mind one of the post-TEOTWAWKI scenarios you most frequently imagine, be it the after-effects of a worldwide flu pandemic, series of natural disasters, economic collapse, or nuclear war.  Is this a world into which you’d want to bring children?  At least for the short-term aftermath, I bet you wouldn’t.  Not while you may be on the move or actively defending your retreat or community from danger.  However…”birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it”…c’mon, sing along with me and Cole Porter…”let’s do it, let’s fall in love!”  As the song says, love is natural and …


Letter Re: After the Shooting

Dear JWR: In response to Tupreco’s After the Shooting submission in SurvivalBlog, I have two observations to offer:   1: None of the scenarios or situations in that essay reasonably described those I’ve encountered in the aftermath of three separate lethal force incidents. Happily, in two of those, there were multiple witnesses, so the situation was pretty far removed from the Home Alone scenarios so described in Tupreco’s thoughts. That is not to say that they aren’t valid, in some locales; just an observation that in some areas, things may not go nearly as simply as described; in others, the investigatory process …


Two Letters Re: Pat’s Product Review: SIG Sauer P226 MK25

Mr. Rawles,  A couple points of interest regarding Pat’s article on the P226.  I’ve owned a P226 Extreme for over a year now, and I love it.  Pat’s review was dead on in analyzing the gun’s performance.  As for the Mecgar magazines and their apparently magical ability to fit three extra rounds in practically the same space, the trick is in the construction of the follower and length of the spring.  Mecgar played a clever trick on geometry that allows the follower to seat farther down the body of the magazine on top of the fully compressed spring when it’s …


Economics and Investing:

K.P. sent a link to a guest post by Jeff Clarke of Casey Research, over at Zero Hedge: Time to Accumulate Gold and Silver? Uncle Sam’s Teaser Rate: Low interest rates disguise the federal debt bomb. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) J.K. in Florida sent this: Trade Issues with China Flare Anew Items from The Economatrix: Warning of “Real” Anger at Banks Greek Debt Swap Could Be Short-lived Reprieve Alert From European Investment Banker Handicapping The Collapse


Odds ‘n Sods:

J.K. sent this: Three American Redoubt Cities Top List of America’s Top Micropolitan Areas: Bozeman, Helena and Gillette    o o o And speaking of Bozeman: Urban chickens not causing flap    o o o A bit of bad news: I’ve heard that SI Defense as well as CMMG have both dropped production of their AR-10 variants that could use ubiquitous HK G3 magazines. Oh well, Plan B will be for me to buy a few Rock River LAR-8s. Those are AR-10 variants that can use L1A1 and FAL magazines. That way, I’d have AR-10 magazine commonality with my L1A1s …



Notes from JWR:

Today is the official release day for Lisa Bedford’s first book: Survival Mom: How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst-Case Scenarios. It is well worth getting a copy. (My wife Avalanche Lily has read it, and she loved it.) — Today we present two more entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted …