Category: Self-Defense

Do-It-Yourself Prepping, by L.J.D.

In the past year, prepping has gone from an interesting concept to a way of life for us. There are countless resources for information, products and equipment available to the person who has an open calendar and a bottomless bank account. Unfortunately for the rest of us, even if we can carve out enough time to fully devote ourselves to prepping, we tend to find a large portion of supplies to be out of the realm of our current budget. And, with the economy in crisis, it doesn’t seem probable that the budget will be increasing anytime soon. In our …


Letter Re: Report on the Dulles Gun Show

This afternoon I went to the 3 day gun show (Friday 3-8 and all day Sat, Sun) which began on Friday at 3PM.  Being retired it was easy for me to go but clearly a very large number of people left work early to get ahead of the Saturday morning crowds. So we all got the Friday afternoon crowd instead! Parking in a disabled slot, a gentleman in security noted that I was a 100 percent disabled Veteran and allowed me to walk straight in rather than wait in either of the two lines which went at least 500 meters …


Lessons Learned on My Prepping Journey, by Tim K.

As Seen on TV – My Humble Beginnings I admit I’ve watched just about every episode out there from all of the popular survival shows – Survivorman, Beyond Survival, Man vs. Wild, Dual Survival, Man Woman Wild, and yes, even Worst Case Scenario with Bear Gryllis . I ate it all up. Those shows got me hooked on wilderness survival. My Christmas and birthday lists went from a focus on video games and computer upgrades to things like paracord, solar blankets, magnesium fire starters, etc. I also got a few great books that gave me vast amounts of knowledge. Everything …


Nunc Pro Tunc: The Coming Day of Burn Barrels and Blessings

This is a standing invitation to my fellow Americans: If congress ever enacts a law mandating the registration and/or a production ban of detachable magazine semiautomatic rifles then you are hereby invited to the town square of your local community. There, burn barrels will be set up and we will publicly burn Form 4473s, FFL Bound Books, state and local registration records, and the sales receipts for every firearm in the United States. On that same day, FFL holders and public officials holding electronic firearms records will simultaneously erase those records, permanently and irretrievably. (Using special file erasure software such …


Feinstein’s Ban Bill: A Study in Stupidity

Senator-For-Life Dianne Feinstein’s recently-introduced firearms and magazine ban bill is not only unconstitutional but also incredibly poorly written. It is riddled with typographical errors, inconsistencies, illogical construction, lapses, and some redundancies to existing laws. For example, the bill calls out the “Streetsweeper’ and “Striker 12” even though several years ago both of those those shotguns reclassified as “Destructive Devices, making them subject to a $200 Federal transfer tax! FWIW, I am not going to spell out the typos and the nonexistent models, simply because I don’t want provide Comrade Feinstein with potential corrections to her horrible legislation. Suffice to say, …


Bang For Your Buck: A Guide To Affordable & Reliable Firearms For Preppers, by I.K.

What We’re Shooting For This article is intended as a guide for preppers who want to buy their first or first few guns, but have very limited funds to do so.  It will give specific recommendations for affordable and reliable firearms in the .22 Long Rifle caliber category, shotgun category, handgun category, and rifle category.  It will also endeavor to keep Boredom Poisoning to a minimum. For whatever reason, I’m betting that you’ve been thinking about getting a gun for the first time or expanding your gun collection to make it more comprehensive.  Perhaps it’s because you’ve been watching C-SPAN.  …


Letter Re: New York Gun Ban: TEOTWAWKI is Here

Sir; The end of the world as we knew it is upon us in New York State.    New York’s recent SAFE Act legislation (see the full text) immediately prohibited the sale of what misguided politicians call “assault weapons” and any magazine that holds more than seven cartridges effective January 14, 2013.  Sales within New York were immediately halted and are now forever forbidden unless there is an unlikely repeal or successful legal challenge.  This means that if you live in New York state and wanted to get a PTR91, AR15, WASR, Saiga, or a standard capacity magazine for any …


Self Defense When Your Options are Limited, by L.J.

It started with a pirate story. I was chatting up an old sea captain and asking how folks might take countermeasure against the threat of pirates (think Somali-like, not Disney-like).  He explained that most pirating these days in North and South American waters is either drug related or opportunistic.  To avoid the former, avoid anything associated with the drug trade.  To avoid the latter, harden your target a little bit.  I was particularly interested in the non-firearms related aspects of this, since when cruising on the ocean, many ports of call are in countries with less than friendly firearms laws.  …


Is it Evolution or an Alternative Semi-Auto Personal Defense Rifle?, by Racker

Once again, we have people using a tragedy to push personal agendas; they have little respect for the victims of those tragedies or their respective families and friends. These kinds of people maneuver to develop hysteria to use like a blanket masking their real intent and many of them have been sitting on the edge of their seats with prepared slogans and programs awaiting such tragic opportunities (i.e., “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” – Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s current Mayor and President Obama’s former Chief of Staff and mouthpiece). Meanwhile, as citizens and as proper planners, …


Four-Tier Survival for the Newbie, by C.H.

A little about me: I am 27 years old, I have been married to my wife for 7 years. We have two boys, ages six and 22 months. Both my wife and I are school teachers; I also coach football and power lifting. So, we are the epitome of the American middle class. I have always enjoyed hunting, camping and the outdoors. So I have developed some basic “outdoorsman” skills throughout my youth and early adult hood. As a young child and early teen, I was very interested in survival, homesteading, and living off the land. I remember reading Foxfire …


Letter Re: Advice on M1A Rifle Assembly and Disassembly

Mr. Rawles, Great information, as always.  I read with considerable interest the article on 308 battle rifles by Ulysses in Montana, and it made me think once again of my M1A and the one dilemma I have with it; how to break it down for cleaning.  I come from an M16/AR-15 background, having spend some years in the Army.  It is also very easy to find a wide variety of videos on the AR-15 platform,  many with great video closeups of how to break down and clean that weapon.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a similar video for …


Letter Re: A Lifetime Gun and Magazine Purchases in Just a Few Months?

Brother Rawles, Thank you to you and Ulysses in Montana for the detailed article on .308 battle rifles.  The current political environment kicked me into high gear, buying one.  Ulysses information helped me out tremendously.  It will help me save time and money on getting familiar with a new caliber and rifle.  In the beginning hours of the Gun Grab I picked up an Armalite AR-10 lower receiver and mags. I’ve got a number of 5.56 AR’s but have been putting off getting my “dream” rifle for a couple of years.  Depending on what happens in Washington DC, I might trade it toward a FAL …


Marksmanship and .308 Battle Rifles, by Ulysses in Montana

Like a lot of guys I did some shooting and hunting while growing up, only to set it aside in early adulthood as the frantic task of making it in life overcame interest in such ‘boyish’ pursuits.  When I returned to shooting later on it was with an emphasis on self-defense, particularly pistol shooting, which provided a fresh and stimulating way to ease back into it, as I had previously never fired a pistol.  I quickly settled on the Glock models in .45 ACP, keeping it simple and relatively inexpensive, and have kept at it steadily ever since, wanting above …


Two Letters Re: Many Police and Firefighters are The Good Guys

Dear Jim, Over the last 4 years, I have read your blog almost every day! As a committed “prepper”, most of the advice found herein is good to excellent. Likewise the recent comment by a public safety officer regarding his concern that he not be lumped into a category of untrustworthy “guvmint” agents. My professional work as a physician and my recreational pursuit of shooting activities put me into contact with many, many local policemen, sheriff’s deputies and even Federal agents, e.g., FBI and ATF. In my opinion, based on conversations with these folks, most are good guys who are …


Legally Prepared?, by L.C.

Picture this: On some not-so-remote night, you are awakened by an insistent thumping on your door, or perhaps by the sound of breaking glass. You stagger up and groggily go toward the noise, maybe muttering or worse. Perhaps you have the time and presence of mind to grab your home defense tool of whatever description, and maybe you awaken your spouse and get him or her (and any children) to a more secure part of the house. Now what? What are you prepared to do? Like many of you, I have been self-sufficient and responsible for more decades than I …