Economics and Investing:

The overheating real estate market: Even the National Association of Realtors acknowledges that rising home prices without rising incomes is not a good thing. Deep analysis of Culver City home and surrounding properties.

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BlackRock Suspends ETF Issuance Due To “Surging Demand For Gold”

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Math Gone Mad: Regulatory Risk Modeling by the Federal Reserve (Cato Institute) Excerpt: “Most of all, they are based on the na?ve belief that markets are mathematizable. The Fed’s regulatory stress tests are subject to all these problems and more.”

Obamacare Ripe for Fraud While Government Yawns (Government Waste Fraud and Abuse)

Biden’s One-Night Visit to Mexico City Cost $538,528 for Hotels Alone (Washington Free Beacon)

International News

Debtor Days are Over as BIS Calls Time on World Credit Binge (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “The world’s credit boom is beginning to show dangerous signs of unraveling, ushering in a period of fresh turmoil for the over-indebted global economy….”

We’re About to Find Out How Close We are to China’s “Line in the Sand” (Business Insider) Excerpt: “In short, it’s not China who needs these reserves. It’s the entire world.”

Downfall of Brazil’s Lula Marks End of Brics Fantasy (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “One thing Brazil is not doing is managing its finances with care. Five economic institutes have warned that public debt risks spinning out of control.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

5 Foods that are Driving Up Your Grocery Costs the Most (Clark Howard) Excerpt: “From 2005 to 2015, food prices increased 31.5%, faster than general inflation over that period….”

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Apparently there are still a few judges in this country who have heard of the Constitution. Reader K in Tenn sent in this article: No, Turning On Your Phone Is Not Consenting To Being Tracked By Police

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Reader M.P. sent in this article from Wired which writes about a December 2015 cyber attack on the Ukrainian power grid that brought down power for nearly a quarter of a million.

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Britain and Europe at risk of ‘enormous and spectacular’ attacks by Isil. Sent in by A.D.

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Superesse Straps, a small veteran owned and operated business that specializes in survival kit bracelets, has introduced their new “Urban Carry Strap”, which is far more simplistic than their other straps. The idea was to produce a bracelet that was more useful to the average user. (The average guy doesn’t often have to suture his own wound up.) Check them out at superessestraps.com

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FBI quietly changes its privacy rules for accessing NSA data on Americans. Sent in by P.M.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools, and he has not been disappointed.
“If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity.
“Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.” – The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Notes for Tuesday – March 08, 2016

March 8th is the birthday of famed revolver shooter, big game hunter, and gun writer Elmer Keith, who co-designed the S&W .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges. He authored the book Sixguns, which is still considered a standard reference. His fascinating life story is told in his last book, “Hell, I was there!” Keith spent the second half of his life on a ranch near Salmon, Idaho. (Keith was born in 1899 and died February 12, 1984.)

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Pantry Paratusis currently offering 50% off oxygen absorbers (as well as a few gifts) for signing up for their bi-weekly newsletter, which features food production, preparation, and preservation.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 63 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 63 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Why You Need a Rocket Stove And How To Build Three Types- Part 1, by Charles Fockaert

It finally happened. You knew it would. It took longer than you expected, but the Schumer hits the blades scenario you knew was coming is here. It is now “Your. New. Reality”.

To survive, you are going to have to cook food and heat water daily, for yourself, for your family, and perhaps for your friends but maybe without electricity, propane, or natural gas. All you have available for fuel is wood.

Your New Reality

The Federal Reserve Note, a fiat currency created out of thin air by the multiple trillions over the last 100 years, has been rejected finally by sellers of goods and services. The result has been goods, including propane or charcoal, are no longer available in your local area. Your local utility company can no longer purchase natural gas.

Maybe your area is fortunate and you still have electricity, but for how long? What about brown outs? Black outs?

Even if you can purchase the fuel you need, what is the cost? How dependable is the electricity? Is electricity going to be available when you need it?

Do You Have Third-Party Risk?

When it comes to fuel for cooking food and heating water, do you have third-party risk? That is, do you depend on someone other than yourself for the fuel you will need to cook food and heat water? Keep in mind, you will need to cook food and heat water virtually everyday, and for these things, you will need fuel.

Rocket Stoves Use Wood Fuel

Small amounts of wood fuel in your rocket stove will produce large amounts of heat. In other words, rocket stoves are very fuel efficient heat generators.

Electric, natural gas, propane, charcoal, and white gas may not always be available, even at any price. However, you can almost always find scraps of wood to burn in a rocket stove to cook your food and heat your water for bathing, cleaning, hot drinks, coffee, tea, et cetera.

Rocket Stoves Produce Little Smoke

Rocket stoves, once the fire is started, produce little or no smoke, making it much easier to cook food and heat water with a lower probability of detection. Small of amounts wood in your rocket stove will go a long way, which means you will not need to gather large amounts of wood for cooking. Not having to go out and about searching for fuel means you can stay under the radar for longer periods of time.

Rocket Stove Basics

A rocket stove consists of two major parts– the burn chamber and the burn riser. A horizontal fuel and burn chamber cavity is built perpendicular to the vertical burn riser cavity.

Sticks of wood are placed inside the horizontal burn chamber providing fuel for the fire, which burns in the burn chamber itself and the vertical burn riser.

What Types of Rocket Stoves Are There?

You can build a rocket stove from three basic materials:

  1. Brick,
  2. Steel, or
  3. Tin cans.

All three rocket stove types will produce large amounts of heat from a small amount of wood.

Which one is right for you will depend on use, personal preference, budget, and whether you build in “prep mode” or “survival mode.”

A 13 Brick Rocket Stove

By far, the best option for brick rock stove building is High Temperature Thermal Insulating FireBricks– the 2300 degree Fahrenheit variety with dimensions of 9” x 4.5” x 2.5”. These bricks are ideal as they are not only insulating because they have low thermal conductivity (thus keeping heat within the burn chamber and burn riser, producing a hotter fire sooner and with less fuel), but these brick are also much lighter than regular fire brick. The cost is about $7 per brick with free shipping. You may have to purchase a minimum lot of 24 bricks. Check with the supplier. My source for these High Temperature Thermal Insulating FireBricks is http://skylinecomponents.com/In-Stock_Firebricks.html. Regular firebricks can be had at almost any masonry yard.

Further, these fire brick are easier to form or cut, if forming or cutting is ever needed. They can be easily cut by hand-held saw or any other hand tool like a chisel and can be drilled with non-masonry style drill bits.

These insulating brick are good up to 2300 °F, which is well over the temperature you will achieve in your rocket stove. They also have excellent thermal stability and are resistant to thermal shock and corrosion as well as being durable enough to handle contact with the wood fuel you will be using.

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words, so take a look at the pic1 image of the rocket stove I built out of 13 insulating, light-weight firebricks from Skyline Components.

You will need to provide a grill or a grate for the top of the burn riser, elevated off the surface of the bricks. I prefer a grill, upon which to place your pot or to cook meats, such as beef, fish, chicken. You can also use the grill to cook other foods, such as potatoes, that are placed on or wrapped in aluminum foil. Some users find that metal grates off a standard gas stove work well for pots and pans.

One benefit of this light-weight, 13 insulating brick rocket stove is that the bricks are light and durable enough to be put into a container (or even a duffel bag, if you’re careful), making your stove portable.

Gotta move out? Crab your container/bag, which may include tinder, lighter, matches, or other fire starters and even enough fuel for that first fire, and off you go.

Not-So-Portable 13 Regular FireBrick Rocket Stove

You can use regular firebricks to make your stove, as they are the same dimensions. However, they are not lightweight and will make your rocket stove heavier and less portable.

Building a 13 Brick Rocket Stove- In Prep Mode

Please refer to the photo above.

  1. Place four bricks flat on a stable, level surface with the long side facing you. You should now have a surface 9” wide, 2½” tall, and 16” long. This is the floor of your rocket stove.
  2. Stack two bricks on edge even with the back and on the top of the last brick of your floor. These two bricks are the back wall of your stove. This back wall is now 9” tall.
  3. Place two bricks in a vertical position in front of the two horizontal back wall bricks. These two bricks are the side walls of your burn riser. Your side walls are now 9” tall and 4½” wide.
  4. Lay two bricks horizontally in front of the two side wall bricks, on top of the floor bricks and even with the outside edges of both the side wall and floor bricks, ends facing you. These two bricks are the side walls of the burn chamber. Your burn chamber is now 4½” tall and 9” long.
  5. Place two bricks on edge and one brick flat, on top of the two burn chamber side walls, spanning the gap between the two horizontal side walls of the burn chamber. These three bricks form the ceiling of the burn chamber of your stove. Your burn chamber is now 4 ½” wide, 4 ½” tall, and 9” long.

At this point you have a couple of options. You can remove the two side wall bricks of your burn riser, cut about 1½” off both bricks and replace to have a finished stove that you can place a pot over the burn riser to cook food or heat water in a pot. Alternatively, you can place spacer bricks on the top surface of the stove over the burn riser to support a grill, as shown in the image.

This grill gives you the option of placing your pot, kettle, or pan on the grill or cooking meats, fish, potatoes, directly on the grill.

Pat yourself on the back. Your 13 brick rocket stove is now ready for its first assignment, and you are a bit more prepared.

Survival Mode

If you did not gather the high temperature thermal insulating firebricks you need for a lightweight stove or the heavier thermal resistant fireclay firebrick, you can always use regular brick. However, these brick are much less resistant to thermal shock, contain moisture, and will breakdown much sooner. Still, they will get you a hot fire for cooking food and heating water for a short period of time before they breakdown.

4” Square Tube Rocket Stove

Building a 4” Square Tube Rock Stove in Prep Mode

Again, let’s have a look at the finished stove. Like the 3” metal tube paint can stove, which I write about later in this article, this 4” steel stove is a long-term use stove.

Materials Needed

  • Burn chamber/burn riser: one piece 4” x 4” x ?” x 20” square steel tubing
  • Legs: two pieces 2” x 6” x ?” flat steel
  • Fuel shelf: one piece 3¾” x 7” x ?” flat steel
  • Handle/pot support: 28” x ¼” solid round stock
  • 1 can Rust-oleum High Heat flat paint
  • Metal cleaner and a rag

Tools needed:

Build process:

  1. Cut the 20” piece of 4” x 4” square tubing in half at a 45º angle, giving you two pieces 10” in length.
  2. Weld the two pieces together at the 45º angles, giving you with an L-shaped burn chamber/burn riser.
  3. Weld the two legs to the bottom side of one of the two 4” x 4” pieces 2” from the closed end of the tube at a 45º outward angle. This legged piece is now the horizontal burn chamber.
  4. Weld the 3¾” x 7” fuel shelf inside the burn chamber ¾” up from the bottom, leaving 1” overhang at the front. Grind a small radius on the front two corners.
  5. Cut four pieces of the ¼” inch round stock into 3” lengths. Weld these four pieces to the top of the burn riser with 1½” inside the riser and 1½” sticking above the riser. Grind the tops of the round stock smooth. These four ¼” posts are your pot/pan/kettle supports.
  6. Bend the remaining 16” of ¼” round stock into a rectangular C-shaped bend, with two inches at each end, for the handle. Weld the handle to the back of the burn riser. pic3
  7. Clean the surface of the stove with Prep-All or suitable metal cleaner.
  8. Paint with two coats of Rust-oleum High Heat paint.
  9. Pat yourself on the back; you’ve just finished your 4” square tube rocket stove.

And you are a little bit more prepared.

Survival Mode

While in survival mode, you most likely will not be able to acquire the material to build this stove. Refer to prep mode.

Letter: Political Debates and Survival

Mr. Rawles: I made the mistake of tuning in to last Thursday’s GOP debate, where I saw no adults on stage, let alone statesmen or leaders capable of putting our nation back on track and ending the erosion of our liberties, much less restore that which we have lost. I have come to the conclusion that the White House is now Hillary’s to lose, and there is little hope, barring divine intervention (which I do not discount and will continue to pray daily for) of preventing a Clinton regime. Discouraged, I went into town the next morning, and, as is my habit, visited my local gun store to chew the fat a bit. (I am only 35 but enjoy the company and experience of some of the older gents that hang about.) As it was still very early, the store was empty, and as I looked around the proprietor (also a friend) pointed a new product out to me. Now, I have an extensive firearm collection that include ARs and .308s along with a number of handguns and other rifles, but I subscribe to your tangibles theory of investment and am always up for a good deal. The prospect of a Clinton presidency and the inevitable reintroduction of a weapons ban, along with a recent unexpected bonus at work spurred me. I’ll spare the details and get to the point: after some dickering and horse trading, I walked away with a Palmetto State Armory AR-15 (a baseline 5.56 similar to DPMS or S&W M&P 15), a Magpul rear-sight for it, seven P-Mags, and 250 rounds of reloaded 5.56 for $753. This was a cash deal. If you agree with me, please advise your readers that rifles and magazines currently at risk for a ban can be had at extremely low prices that will NOT hold should Hillary win in November. In the words of your fictional character Harry Heston (from Land of Promise), “Panic now folks, and avoid the rush!” God Bless, Jason (still) in Kansas

News From The American Redoubt:

Eastern Oregon has lost a great defender of the Second Amendment: Don Curtis (RIP.) A SurvivalBlog reader wrote to mention some details that were not included in the newspaper obituary: “Don was one of the few remaining Charter Members of Snake River Sportsmen (SRS). He served as our Training Officer on the Snake River Sportsmen Board for many years; in fact since the founding of SRS some thirty three years ago I believe he held that position. Don was a Competitive Shooter participating on the National level in both Small Bore Rifle and High Power Rifle.

He, in years past, dabbled in competitive shotgun and was instrumental in locating and obtaining our first set of skeet houses, which are still in use on our Ontario Shotgun Field. Don both shot on and at various times coached the Army All Reserve Rifle Team and still holds some Collegiant Small Bore Rifle Records.

Don was instrumental in locating and helping us through the maze of Federal regulations in obtaining first on lease and then by purchase of our Vale Range. As an engineer, Don designed and oversaw the development of the Vale Range and at the time of his passing was still involved in the continued upgrading of that range.

Don was a walking encyclopedia of firearms knowledge and didn’t hesitate to share that knowledge with anyone who sought his help.”

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Cheyenne, Wyoming: Residents asking for chickens to be allowed in city limits

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Idaho Constitutional Carry: The ‘GET-ME-REELECTED’ GUN BILL Exposed

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News from Idaho: ‘This is not a gun free zone’: Greenleaf signs send strong message

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Idaho pastor shot after leading prayer at rally for Ted Cruz

Economics and Investing:

K.F. submitted this article. It was written about a month ago but is very compelling: Facing the Next War: Financial Systems

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

German Banks Told To Start Hoarding Cash

In The Past Year, The U.S. Added 360,000 Waiters And Only 12,000 Manufacturing Workers

Jim Rogers: There’s a 100% Probability of a U.S. Recession Within a Year. (Text with accompanying video.)

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Which States Rely Most Heavily on Federal Spending (Mises Wire)

9 Charts Showing Americans Never Recovered from the Great Recession: If You are Wondering Why People are So Angry, Look No Further (My Budget 360)

National Debt(Just Facts) Excerpt: “Comprehensive and meticulously documented facts about the national debt. Learn about various measures of the national debt, contributing factors, consequences, and more.”

International News

Brazil’s Breakdown: “A Political and Ethical Crisis Without Precedent” (The Globe and Mail) Excerpt: “There are no precedents for any of this; there is only a national mood of bewildered anxiety.”

Venezeula’s Opposition is Calling for Foreign Intervention in the Country’s Political Crisis (Time)

Finland: The Sick Man of Europe? (BBC News) Excerpt: “The conclusions of Tuomas Mallinen, an economist at Helsinki University, are more stark: “The main blame on our economic woes should be placed where it belongs, namely on the euro membership.”

Our Pompous, Bigoted Elite Have Not Even Bothered to Consider the Case for Brexit(The Telegraph) Excerpt: “In the 21st century, the world order and financial systems dominated by the free West have been shaken more profoundly than at any time since 1945, and the people in charge do not know how to correct their own errors, or even admit them.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

How a Slowcooker Can Save Your Family Hundreds of Dollars (US News & World Report)

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

J.F. was the first of many readers to mention this essay by Bill Buppert: The Evil That Men Do: Willful Submission To Illegitimate Authority

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Several readers suggested linking to this article: Probable cause: Pursuing drugs and guns on scant evidence, D.C. police sometimes raid wrong homes — terrifying the innocent

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Pat Cascio flagged this bit of BHO Hive Mind insanity mentioned in The Army Times: BCT banishes combat patches, badges to boost morale.

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JWR spotted a useful video from Wranglerstar: Bucking & Splitting The Big Wood. Note his economy of motion. It always helps to have the proper tools.

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You now have your free press credentials from CFAPA.org. Great. Now you are a credentialed journalist. So you might wonder how you can both record and stream video and audio with your wi-fi enabled GoPro at a public event? Check out this little hack. Oh, by the way, to keep your hands free to take notes, it is probably best to use a headstrap or helmet mount. – JWR

Notes for Monday – March 07, 2016

I was saddened to hear that former First Lady Nancy Reagan passed away on March 6th, at age 94. She was born Anne Frances Robbins, on July 6, 1921. She was a devoted Presbyterian Christian. Although their marriage was Ronald Reagan’s second marriage, they were inseparable. In many ways, she was a much more glamorous First Lady than Jackie Kennedy. I’d recommend avoiding Kitty Kelley’s unauthorized biography on Nancy Reagan, which was a hatchet piece.  Instead, I recommend:
Reagan: The Life, by H.W. Brands. That biography includes quite a bit about Nancy Reagan.

March 7, 1707 was the birthday of Stephen Hopkins, (Governor of Rhode Island) one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

March 7, 1925 was the birthday of Rene Gagnon, a US Marine who was seen in the famous photographs of the Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. (He died in 1979 in his home town, Manchester, New Hampshire.)

And March 7, 1944 was also the birthday of Townes Van Zandt, a gifted Texan songwriter. (He died in 1997.)

Occupy Wall Street Versus Occupy Malheur: Clear Cases of Selective Prosecution

This news headline makes it clear that the BHO Administration is widening their net:  Nevada Standoff Indictment Names Bundys, Five More.  These “add-on” indictments are quite troubling. I believe that the assessment by Brandon Smith’s (previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog) may be correct:  A Warning To The Feds On Incremental Prosecutions Of The Liberty Movement.  There may be dozens of more indictments of people who attended the Bundy Ranch protests in 2014 that filter out over a the next six to nine months.

Let’s draw a comparison: There were overt and quite visible physical threats and considerable actual violence in the “Occupy (Wherever)” protests of 2011 and 2012–particularly Occupy Oakland (rock throwing), Occupy Portland (Molotov Cocktail throwing) and Occupy Fort Collins ($10 million in arson damage.) But the Malheur occupiers and Bundy Ranch protesters who never pointed a gun at anyone are being selectively prosecuted. This smacks of partisan politics.  (Note: The Occupy Wall Street (and Wherever) crowd were leftists and hence media darlings, despite their scruffiness and uncouth public ablutions. It is noteworthy that they received zero Federal indictments for conspiracy. In fact only a few of them got local charges, and only then for overt acts of violence, not conspiracy.)

Whenever politics rather than the facts are the main drivers for felony prosecutions, then the end result is rounding up political prisoners.

As I’ve written before: It is important to pick your fights wisely. Discretion is a virtue. Perspicacity is a virtue. Silence is a virtue. Yes, America needs to have some proactive Tyranny Response Teams ready to travel on short notice. But ending up in prison for 40+ years just for being a protester or for being a journalist covering a protest event is a sub-optimal outcome. As previously noted, carrying press credentials could be advantage.  You can get press credentials free of charge, though our spin-off web site: CFAPA.org.

Avoiding prosecution in future protests and confrontations may come down to camouflage, tradecraft, and wise discretion. As I’ve mentioned in my blog previously: Because the owners of vehicles are easily identifiable, it is probably best to park a long distance away from a protest, and hike in. And if you park off the street (with permission) on private property where in most jurisdictions you can legally remove license plates, it is important to also cover up the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on your dashboard, which can be photographed through your car or truck’s windshield.

A few notes on visibility and identifiability:  Check state an local laws before attending a protest wearing a face mask.  (It is illegal in some jurisdictions. But where it is legal, then depending on the circumstances you might consider attending as Guy Fawkes.) It is very difficult to prosecute “an unidentified protester seen wearing woodland pattern camos and a mesh face mask”, but it is very easy to prosecute someone who sits down in a lawn chair and gives interviews to the press.

Likewise, it is best to leave at home any guns or gear that have been customized in any readily-identifiable way. By this I mean custom-made pouches, slings, or boots, guns with unusually distinctive modifications (such and hand-painted camouflage) or an odd combination of features. Ditto for any visible magazines that have painted-on numbers.)  Remember, ARs are modular like a Barbie Doll collection–you can mix and match the accessories.  So if you attend a public protest, I recommend that you bring one of your most “generic”-looking guns, such as an AR with just factory furniture or MagPul MOE furniture, and a generic red dot scope.  Even the unique wear patterns on faded denim blue jeans have been used to identify masked men. On another note, it is important that you carry your rifle slung over your shoulder, so that you won’t be charged with “brandishing a firearm”. Under most state laws, a holstered pistol or a slung rifle does not constitute an overt threat or meet the legal threshold of brandishing. Such laws, by the way are statutory mala prohibitium crimes, rather then a mala in se.)

It is ironic that the Federal government is prosecuting the Bundy Ranch and Malheur Ranch protesters with “conspiracy to intimidate”, when in fact it was their own sworn officers who were the ones doing all of the intimidating. And they were the only ones who did any killing. Now they are following up by suppressing evidence–by only releasing one grainy video of the shooting shot from a long distance and no audio, which would have told us how many shots were fired, and when.  (Many people now contend that Lavoy Finicum only dropped his hands after he had been shot.)

There is one other point that seems to be overlooked in the media accounts of these arrests and indictments:  Several of the recent Federal indictments seem to be predicated upon the erroneous assumption that carrying a gun is somehow in and of itself intimidating. That is a fatuous argument.  Someone choosing to exercise their First Amendment right to attend or journalistically record a public protest does not nullify their Second Amendment right to also bear a firearm in a public place. The two rights are not mutually exclusive. Instead, it was our Founding Fathers’ intent that these rights be mutually supporting. (It is the Second Amendment that is the de facto insurance policy for the rest of the Bill of Rights.)

Only an unconstitutional tyrant should feel intimidated by the sight of guns at public meetings, and only then because they feel guilt and shame for their tyrannical actions. If anyone expresses such angst, then I contend that they either have an irrational fear of guns, or that they themselves are a tyrant (or a tyrant’s sycophant), at heart. – JWR

(Note: Permission is granted for re-posting of this entire article, but only if done so in full, with proper attribution to James Wesley, Rawles and SurvivalBlog, and only if the included links are preserved.)

Pat Cascio’s Product Review: North American Arms .32 Auto– A Closer Look

Over the years, I’ve gotten quite a few requests for a followup article on a gun I tested either on SurvivalBlog.com or when I was writing for the printed gun magazines. I usually decline to do these articles for several reasons. First of all, it’s next to impossible to get one of the firearms printed magazines to accept a followup article. Secondly, I can’t duplicate the torture tests that most gun makers put their guns through. However, I have received quite a few requests for a followup article and report on several firearms I’ve tested for SurvivalBlog.com, and I thought I’d do a couple articles for our readers.

Some time ago, I did an article on the North American Arms .32 ACP Guardian, which you can find in the blog archives. I was favorably impressed with this little gun, in more ways than one. We are talking about a .32 ACP round, fired in a little back-up gun, the size of a .25 ACP pistol. Yes! I don’t want to rehash what I wrote in the first article, but I wanted to give an updated report on this little gun, with long-term testing and with some different ammo.

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Tim Sundles, who owns Buffalo Bore Ammunition, is one of the few premium ammo makers who produces some +P .32 ACPammo. Now, the NAA owner’s guide says that their guns can shoot just about any kind of ammo, but I’m thinking that any longer-term shooting with a +P load in any of their guns isn’t the way to go. There is a lot of pressure behind any +P round, especially in a little hide out handgun. Still, I ran a lot of Buffalo Bore +P rounds through the little NAA Guardian .32 ACP. The round I first tested was the Buffalo Bore 75-gr Hard Cast FN round – a +P round, and it is one that Sundles recommends, if you’re going to carry a “mouse round” like the .32 ACP. I concur with Sundles; penetration is more important than expansion in these calibers.

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Now, since my first testing with the NAA .32 Guardian in .32 ACP, Buffalo Bore added a 60-gr Barnes TAC XP +P all-copper, hollow point loading to their line-up, and I requested some for testing in this article. I also ran some Remington .32 ACP FMJ and Fiocchio .32 ACP FMJ through the little Guardian.

To be sure, the Guardian isn’t a gun you want to go out and fire a couple hundred rounds through, in one shooting session. The Guardian is a very small pistol. It’s hard to hold on to, and it only weighs 14 oz. While the trigger pull is double action only and extremely smooth, it feels heavier than the advertised 10-lb trigger pull. I believe this is because the gun is so small and a little hard to hold onto, plus the trigger pull is long (I believe one of those lawyer liability things, so there won’t be an accidental discharge). There is no manual safety on the Guardian. Still, the trigger pull is smooth, just long. I just didn’t care to fire more than a box or a box and a half of ammo through the Guardian in one shooting session. Usually, 50-60 rounds was it and I’d call it a day.

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The Guardian perked along just fine, even with the Buffalo Bore two +P loads, especially the 75-gr Hard Cast FN round. There were zero problems with the Fiocchio and Remington FMJ loads. The Buffalo Bore 60-gr Barnes TAC XP load fed and fired just fine, for a while. Then, for some reason, I started having some feeding and extraction problems with this load. I kept the Guardian clean and well-lubed, so that wasn’t the problem. The chamber was also smooth, so I don’t know why the Guardian just stopped liking this load. About all I can think of is that this load, with that light bullet that is +P, was just causing the slice to move a bit too fast and it wasn’t picking-up rounds from the magazine and the slide was closing too fast, for the spent casing to fully eject. On average, I’d get one or two feeding or extraction problems per magazine. Still, when I first started shooting this ammo, the gun worked fine. It wasn’t until I went through several boxes of this ammo that the malfunctions started to appear!

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I don’t care how reliable any firearm is, you will find certain brands or types of ammo that it just won’t reliably work with; this is true with any gun!! It’s just strange that the Buffalo Bore TAC XP load worked perfectly for awhile and then started having problems. Plus, I had several spare magazines on-hand, and it was the same with all the mags. So, it wasn’t a magazine problem.

As I pointed out in my first article on the Guardian, I wouldn’t carry a gun chambered in .32 ACP as my one and only gun. However, it makes a dandy back-up gun, carried in a Black Hawk Products ankle holster or any ankle holster, or even in a pocket holster. North American Arms carries a pretty good selection of holsters and spare magazines plus different types of grips for all their guns. Way to go! So, finding a holster to work with any NAA handgun won’t be a problem. My wife “confiscated” the clip-on pouch that doesn’t look like a holster, and she often carries the Guardian in it on her walks down our road with a German Shepherd at her side.

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Now, to drive home the point that Tim Sundles made about penetration vs expansion in mouse calibers, during my testing with the Buffalo Bore 60-gr Barnes TAC XP +P load, it expanded nicely and went through two gallon jugs of water, just barely exiting the back of the second jug, and it expanded nicely. (See the pictures.) However, one of these rounds happened to just nick the plastic patio chair, an old one I had the water jugs on, and it caught just enough of the plastic that the hollow point didn’t open up. The Buffalo Bore 75-gr Hard Cast FN loads really penetrated. I never recovered one, and I fired them into four water jugs. That’s what we’re talking about. You must have enough penetration in order for any round to do their job.

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While the other FMJ loads are fine for target practice, I wouldn’t want to carry one for self defense. You see, while they do penetrate, if they hard bone they will deflect, unlike the Buffalo Bore Hard Cast FN bullet that will crush and punch right through bone doing a lot more damage than the FMJ bullets do.

In all my testing, I have probably run about 1,000 rounds through the little Guardian. Once again, this isn’t a gun you want to fire a lot of rounds through in one shooting session. Then again, it wasn’t designed for that. It is designed for up-close and personal self-defense work with the right loads. My choice would be the Buffalo Bore 75-gr Hard Cast FN load – a +P load that will surely give you all the penetration you need.

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I did find that, if I shot the Guardian for an extended period of time, I was experiencing trigger slap or something akin to it and my trigger finger started getting sore. Once again, it’s not the fault of the gun. This gun wasn’t designed as a target pistol or one you take out to the range and shoot for a couple hours. It’s intended purpose is that of a hide-out, self-defense handgun that you can have on your person all of the time. It beats throwing stones or carrying a stick; that’s for sure.

I found that, with the little pinky catcher floor plate on the magazines, I could get some better groups. All accuracy testing was done at five yards. The groups were a bit tighter, and I believe that’s because I could get a better grip on the gun. It didn’t flip as much in my hand.

Now, to be sure, the NAA Guardian .32 ACP isn’t a cheap (as in cheaply made) little hide-out handgun. It is made out of stainless steel, and the quality is there. The gun is very well made and worth the price. It’s not going to shoot loose, like many other little guns do. Some gun makers only claim that their guns are warranted for “X” number of rounds. Really? If you shoot more than that, the gun falls apart? Strange. There are no worries with the Guardian. It is little but build extremely strong. Compare a Guardian to any similar hide out pistol and you will readily see the quality is there in the Guardian.

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I hope this long-term testing update answers some of the questions I’ve gotten on the NAA Guardian .32 ACP. Oh, and one other reason for not doing many follow-up articles is the cost of ammo. Yes, I do get some of my ammo for free, like from Buffalo Bore. However, I spend a lot on ammo out of my own pocket, and .32 ACP ammo isn’t inexpensive these days. I plan on doing one or two more long-term testing articles/follow-up pieces this year on a few other popular handguns I tested.

The little NAA Guardian .32 ACP is well worth the money, if you ask me, and it will give you a lifetime of service. Just make sure that, you run at least a hundred rounds of ammo through it and use the ammo you want to carry in the gun for self-defense purposes to make sure there aren’t any problems.

– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio

Sarah Latimer: Unrealized Expectations – Part 2

In continuing with the idea of not relying upon others for the “sweet” wants and needs we have, here are a few more ideas that you can provide for yourself (and feel quite good about your independence in doing so!):

  • Fresh and Dried Fruits and Vegetables– Want organic, highly nutritious fresh or dried fruits and vegetables year around, economically? Plant fruit trees and bushes and grow a garden as well as consider using a greenhouse for winter produce. Then, can, freeze, dehydrate, and/or freeze dry your excess produce for later seasonal use. We are still enjoying freeze-dried cubed tomatoes from our garden in late February. Our family is spoiled with my salsa, so I freeze-dry it and then can whip up a 4-ounce bowl of it in a matter of seconds that tastes like it is fresh. It is so much better than the canned (cooked) salsa or store-bought! Using the freezer for produce storage is a risk in the event the grid goes down, unless you have a generator and a very large supply of fuel to keep it running long term. Also, the noise of the generator may attract undue attention by those who are without food and looking for resources. I use the freezer as a holding place while food is waiting to go into the freeze-dryer or dehydrator during the peak garden season and when the meat has just been processed. Our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer has been a fantastic investment in that we have ingredients and also pre-cooked meals vacuum sealed in canning jars that only require hot water to prepare. When the hordes start literally sniffing out food due to their hunger-induced heightened sense of smell, we will only need a few minutes to prepare and consume our delicious meals. It will be gone before the smell leaves the kitchen. All of this work in preparation at the end of the day makes me think it is time for a long, hot spa bath.
  • Aromatherapy Bath Soak– Do you enjoy an aromatherapy salt bath and miss the big city spa treatment for your achy muscles? Make your own with a bit of epsom salt, baking soda, and essential oil, or even better use a sachet of dried herbs from your own gardens. You can use peppermint and/or rosemary to rejuvenate or chamomile and/or lavender to relax. It is easy to just use a large, disposable tea bag or two from Amazon as a sachet for the herbs in your hot tub water. Put several tablespoons of the herbs inside the paper tea bag, twist the top of the bag, wrap the string around and tuck it under to tie it off. As soon as you begin drawing your hot water into the tub, add two cups of epsom salt and 1/2 cup of baking soda, and stir it around to dissolve it. Then place the tea bag(s) at the back of the tub so that it is not under the water faucet (as it is fragile and might tear under water pressure). Let the tea bag seep for a few minutes before getting in. Leave the tea bag in the tub while you enjoy the invigorating or relaxing aroma during your bath. Who needs to pay for a fancy spa day when you can make your own at home? Light a few candles, turn on some music, and enjoy yourself in your own remote Redoubt nest!
  • Whole-grain Breads, Pasta, and Cereals- Want wonderful, freshly baked whole grain breads, pastas, pastries, and even multi-grain hot cereals? Make your own! With our Country Living Grain Mill and motorized attachment, we are able to produce whole wheat and other grain flours that are almost as fine as powdered sugar or that can be ground coarse for cereal. It is amazing! I make a whole wheat angel food cake that is the best angel food cake ever. (I’ll share my original recipe at some point in the near future.) We are able to make wonderful whole wheat sandwich/everyday loaves from freshly cracked wheat berries so that we are getting the live wheat germ and more protein and fiber than what you get from store-bought whole wheat flour, yet we have the fine fluffy texture of fine bread flours, using winter white wheat berries. I could make croissants with this flour! I use it to make whole wheat pasta dough, the best pan pizza ever, and Hugh has a custom, coarse multi-grain hot cereal blend that he makes of oats, flax, millet, (homegrown) corn, and wheat that is so delicious and filling when boiled and then topped with a dot of butter and sugar/sweetener. Who needs a bakery when we can do it ourselves! (I’ll likely have a whole article or series on breads and pastries in the future, so hang on.)
  • Sewing/quilting, aromatherapy, herbal medicine/natural healthcare, candle-making, beekeeping, soap-making, woodworking/furniture making, metal tooling/welding, knife-sharpening, leather cutting/tooling/sewing, mechanical/electrical work, bookbinding, plumbing, photography, music, entertainment, and more– these are all things that our immediate family members provide for ourselves.

    By providing our own wants and needs, we actually often spoil ourselves with higher quality, much healthier items than what are generally available at the stores, and we often enjoy these things that many consider “luxuries” on a more regular basis than most people, because we provide them for ourselves in abundance using predominantly our own renewable resources. We work hard, but at the end of the day we have the resources we need to make sure we have what we need and what we enjoy! We aren’t dependent upon many others to make our creature comforts come true either. It goes deeper than all that. We can share these pleasures with others, too, and that makes us happy.

    For example, we enjoy herbal, flavored teas for free (or nearly free) from our own gardens and fresh roasted coffee every day (though the coffee is purchased green in bulk for less than eight cents per cup and vacuum sealed until we roast it several times a week), and we enjoy a variety of fresh breads, pastries, and/or desserts daily. Whole Wheat Orange-Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls were on the breakfast menu this morning with scrambled eggs, which were provided courtesy of our chickens, which eat our vegetables scraps, weeds, grasses and seeds, and our cast off organic coconut cooking oil in addition to chicken crumbles and scratch. Almost all of the food waste at our homestead gets recycled to one of the animals or into the garden compost. We do not waste; we enjoy!

  • Though I hinted to it above, the last but certainly not the least of ways that I deal with unrealized expectations, is to look for ways to serve others rather than ways that others can serve (or should have served) me, especially within my marriage and home but also in my extended family, group, or community. If I choose to focus on the needs of others rather than on my feelings and expectations that I set myself as well as demands that I engineered unrealistically for someone else, I can more quickly move on and shake off the emotions (whether anger, frustration, or hurt) over someone “failing” these often unexpressed or unrealistic expectations. I realize there are times that, as a woman, I expect my men to read between the lines and somehow know that I wanted something when I didn’t, figuratively of course, “hit them over the head” with the actual words. Somehow, even though I didn’t tell them what I needed or wanted, I still feel disappointment that they didn’t “get it”. My head knows how ridiculous it is that I had these expectations, but my heart is disappointed none the same. This sometimes even happens between women and also in business dealings when terms of agreements are not detailed in writing. Someone makes assumptions that the other does not. We have to learn to negotiate and get beyond the emotions to work through the matter. It’s a fact of life. However, we women are emotional beings, but we must capture our unreasonable emotions and turn those passionate feelings into good actions rather than destructive ones. We have to love rather than grow bitter and angry. It is part of our cherished role in the community of family to be the nurturer and lover, but if we hold on too tightly to our disappointments we will lose sight of this. Don’t do it! Let go! Move on! Put your big girl skirt on and add a smile and give that baggage to the Lord. He can handle what will bring you down. You have too much life to live to let those past disappointments keep you from an adventurous and loving future with people who enjoy your company.

    I’ve learned to simply stop and pray and then choose to look for opportunities to meet the needs of others around me. How? Usually, a simple prayer asking the Lord to show me someone’s need or desire and how I can fill it produces results quite quickly. In giving joy to others and meeting a need, I receive a great blessing and can fix my eyes on godly things and others, whom I am put here to serve. It sometimes can be difficult to get into that mindset. Sometimes, we don’t feel like giving because we feel like everyone is taking from us without giving to us. When I get that kind of “stinkin’ thinkin’” going on, it is because I’m getting a selfish streak. I have to remember that the world does not revolve around me, and that I am looking at things through my own skewed mental balance sheet or invisible scale that is probably far from accurate. If my basic needs are met, then focusing on helping others with theirs will give me a great satisfaction and fulfillment, and it will help me learn to be grateful for what I have when I see others with less, because there are always lots of people with less than any of us. We are all truly put here to give God glory and to serve Him and one another rather than to focus all our energies on being served ourselves.

    Just the fact that most of us live in the U.S. means we live well, even wealthy by most standards when compared to the rest of the world. Think about so many in Greece who are losing their homes and in Venezuela who don’t even have toilet paper! There are many in the Middle East who have lost everything, and children in Israel who go to school every morning after hearing bombs go off in the nights, looking to see which students or teachers aren’t at school that day and were killed or injured the night before. Many are losing jobs or are getting pay cuts, and it is getting rough right here in the U.S., but remember that we still are blessed with much more than many. If you have resources, whether it is stuff, money, energy, and/or time, give a little to those who God puts in your path or heart. They may be in your home or they may not. There are elderly people forgotten in your community nursing homes and orphans feeling a bit neglected in children’s homes or crowded foster care. There are shut-ins and people fighting in hospitals with little or no family to help them through their battles with disease. There are children needing an interested adult to cheer for them and teach them some practical skills.

    As a prepper, you have a lot of practical knowledge that you can pass on to others in need. A family who has lost their income could benefit from some shared garden seeds. Your family could til a garden spot for them this spring, share some of your collected seeds, and help them put in a garden so that they can grow their own food. You’ll be providing food for them and teaching them how to provide for themselves going forward. In your marriage, pay attention to the small things that make your spouse happy and do those “for no reason at all, except that you love and appreciate having him in your life.” You will find that this will be a great encouragement to your husband. When times are hard, as they are becoming, the little things we do to bring pleasure to our loved ones, like preparing a favorite breakfast or dessert or sending a love note in their briefcase or lunchbox, or cleaning something they particularly like to have clean and orderly, goes a long way. You can also gift a little gift by packaging some of those treats mentioned above (teas, candy bars, bath salts, and so forth).

    Seeing their burden’s weight lifted a litttle bit through your efforts will make your heart soar a bit, too. Just be cautious about who you contact outside of your home or trusted friend group. If you are going to see someone outside of your “safe” and local community and if you going into the city to a city hospital to visit someone, be sure you take your get home bag and preparations and also take a friend or family member with you. Be sure your husband is aware of where you are going, that you are always alert, able to defend yourself, and have a plan of how to get to safety quickly. Also, pray thoroughly before venturing into new territory to reach a hand out to any “stranger” or enter into a danger zone. It is my strong advice that women need to reach out to women and men to men, and it is still a good idea to meet someone you don’t know well in a public place, have someone with you, and be prepared to defend yourself with force, if the need arises. Always be prepared to defend yourself and extend yourself, as God leads. He is our reason for living, and He cares for His own!

    Don’t just survive, but thrive and live well!