I visit your blog daily and the link to a map showing gang presence in the United States caught my eye. I note that my home is within one of the “moderate” gang activity areas. That is not news to me.
We are about a mile from the perimeter of the “war zone” of our city in a semi-rural part of town. We hear gunshots (within a half-mile of the house) nightly and the roofers who replaced our shingles last year remarked at the number of bullet holes in our roof. Those shots came from the street in front of our house. Gangbangers are notoriously bad shots, and the holes in the roof were from “wannabes” just firing at anything big enough for them to hit.
I keep a a “rapid response” kit next to the bed for anything that seems to be more of a threat than punks indiscriminately firing weapons out of the windows of their cars. I am up two or three times a night every week to check out the action.
Immediate survival may necessitate the use of a “pre” bugout bag such as my rapid response kit. You need, of course, a firearm that you would want knowing you were going to a gunfight. In my case, it is a 12 gauge riot gun fully loaded with 00-buck and the hammer down on an empty chamber (I’m anal about gun safety). My gun belt will be on my hips with a .45 Colt and two additional magazines on the belt. My cell phone is also part of the kit.
I wish I had night-vision goggles. But lacking that, I have a small flashlight to light the trail through our woods, and a larger hand-carried “Second-coming-of Christ” beam to light up the whole scene when it seems appropriate.
Thankfully, I have been “called to action” for serious gang related activity only a couple of times. The police were on scene within 15 minutes, but that’s a long time to wait when punks are shooting at you…even if they are miserable shots. – Ken F.