Notes for Thursday – January 21, 2016

January 21st Eliza Moore, the last surviving individual born into slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation died on this day, in 1948, in Montgomery County, Alabama, at age 105. Since 68 years have now elapsed since her death and 151 years have now elapsed since 1865, JWR perhaps presumptuously hereby declares that it is now fully high time for Americans to Get Over It, and instead focus on current slavery issues, like the uncounted thousands of slaves now being held by Muslims in North Africa. There is no cause for so-called White Guilt in our generation, but we should feel badly about doing little or nothing (both individually and collectively) toward seeing modern slavery abolished once and for all!

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Today, we present another entry for Round 62 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 and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw Code Red 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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 62 ends on January 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.

2015 – The Year In Review of Starting a Small Business(es), by T&BR

In our goal of self sufficiency, we established that being self employed was at the top of the list. We also wanted to apply the idea of redundancy to this area, meaning multiple businesses.

Our criteria:

  • Income now, income during a collapse, and income in the recovering of a collapse.
  • Allows us to be good stewards of the land.
  • Something that allows us to strengthen our community by providing jobs and affordable services.

Web Store

One of our ventures started from a failure. We saw the sale listing for the Homestead Store site and business. We weren’t able to get our financing together in time and were not able to make that purchase. That, however, got our wheels turning, and we decided on our own web store where we would carry items we manufactured as well items via drop shipping.

Anyone can build a website, or so we thought. Sites that say you can build your own website like “hostgator”, while affordable to start and easy to build basic pages, become more difficult as you try to build a web store. Watching several different YouTube videos that take you step by step, we found that the website builders change things so often that the techniques used by the YouTube video makers were obsolete sometimes in as few as six months after the how-to video was posted.

Though we haven’t given up on this business, the cost of having someone else to fix our website-building errors is pricey. Our local community college offers website design as a course, but they seem to only graduate two or three people per year and they usually jump straight into a job. Our hopes were that this would have been something we could start and operate as we still had a regular job and were in school, and as it grew we could scale back on the regular employment. This would have satisfied the income now criteria and eventually provided a job or two for our community. While this has been a disappointment, it’s allowed us to research what we need to as well as focus the scope of the site when we get it going again. We have started just using eBay to sell but haven’t really done anything wild with it yet, due to our next business idea.

Sandblasting

In March of 2015, we came to realize that what we really needed to do was start a business for which we already had all the equipment and little cash was needed for the upfront investment. Being an industrial maintenance technician by trade, I knew that sandblasting was a widely used service. However, in our area, most of the sandblast businesses had gone out of business due to the owner deciding to retire and no new young people wanted to take over or buy out the businesses. Personally-owned blasting equipment was already available to us, so we began advertising a mobile sandblasting service. The first issue we came upon was that a 20-gallon pressure pot blaster can really only do small personal jobs. The fitting and lines were so small that it would clog up and make unclogging take up more time than actual blasting. This will cost us about $9,000 to rectify, and we just don’t have it yet, but we are pushing on with this blaster. The second roadblock we came to was lack of air. Everybody knows about PSI, but really CFM (cubic feet per minute) is the bigger issue and not just with sandblasting. The pancake compressor we used with our nail guns for projects around the homestead only makes 3 CFM. The big compressor in the shop for sandblasting makes 10 CFM, but it runs on electric and can’t really be moved to jobsites, so we ordered a Northern Tool wheelbarrow style, gas powered compressor for $700. It produces 13 CFM and seemed to be a nice unit until we got our first big job– a 22 foot wide by 18 foot long disk/plow. We worked on it for three days, and I even hired a couple day labors to run grinders with wire wheels. We still didn’t get a quarter of it done. This led to us bowing out gracefully and not charging the customer; that was $1,200 out of our pocket for nothing. Some brainstorming led us to two options– either a 30 CFM truck-mounted unit or a used, towable 150 CFM unit. (We wanted both for different possible applications), which brings us back to money, or the lack of it. The next issue was a business location. The shop we use is a family member’s and wasn’t available for business use. With a location, we would have a dry location to store our blast media (sand, coal slag, etc), which is very important to reducing clogs. We could buy the media in bulk, which is a huge savings, and we could work indoors in the winter on small- to medium-sized jobs. A location would also give us a spot to secure our tools and equipment and a place to put customer items before and after we work on them. There was a shop not a half mile down the highway from us that would be available if we had $65,000 but we don’t.

This business satisfies the criteria of income now, during, and after a collapse. We will also be able to hire a number of employees and provide a much-needed service to our community. As a side note, it would probably be a huge money-maker going by the number of customer calls (even the ones we must turn down, due to our reduced capabilities) and that is with almost no advertising!

Let’s take a moment to talk about money. I’m sure that you are asking yourself, “Why don’t you go and get one of the government grants that you always hear about?” Well, it’s because they don’t exist unless you are opening a girl’s school in Afghanistan or possibly if you are working on some really high tech product. Going to “grants.gov” just reminds you that our tax money often goes overseas. Even being a minority (TR is mixed black and white) and a vet (he also served as a mortar maggot for almost 12 years) or even being a woman doesn’t help any when raising money to start or expand a business.

Over the last couple of years, we have drained 401k’s and savings trying to get our businesses running, to the point that our cash flow and credit are suffering. That means that our own bank won’t give us a secured loan for the sandblasting building or equipment. Not to be held down, we are trying angel investors and crowd funding (Indiegogo) now, with the determination that we WILL figure this out. Just as a bit of background, our first business was biofuels in 2007. This fits the criteria of before, during, and after and is, to me, the key critical business as an after-a-collapse business; fuel will be the big resource that will be in short supply. Manufacturing biodiesel and biobutanol will fulfill the needs of keeping us, our businesses, and our community going. The problem is money. The equipment for producing 200,000 gallons a year, plus the location and associated infrastructure, would cost about $250,000. (Note that the sandblasting shop we want to buy is on enough acreage that we can set up a building and tanks for biofuels and if we bargain basement the equipment, we could get up and running for $50,000.)

Sunflower Farm

This brings us to the next business. Our homestead is a small farm. We were able to buy it for $75,000. It is 20 acres with our home. We want to clear it and plant a crop of sunflowers for dual usage cooking oil, to sell and then get it back after the customer uses it for biodiesel, with eventual lease or purchase of more land to plant more. Of course, clearing it is costly, but we thought we could use a lot of “sweat equity” and clear it ourselves, but farms down the creek from us have allowed beavers to build dams and now most of our land stays marshland. This means building dikes and so forth, which only adds to the money we need to put into it. An offshoot of the farm plan is also to purchase more land for Christmas trees, pumpkins, and setting that portion of the business as a destination service, which can operate as a event venue, host school field trips, et cetera. We also would like to host farmer’s markets and offer seasonal baked goods and other treats, including classes teaching folks to make Christmas wreathes or churn butter and the like. We also wanted to do a CSA kind of like a club where members pay dues and get a basket of produce and such each week and maybe offer eggs and milk, but when we purchased 30 chickens and ducks we never expected a family of raccoons to feast on our birds and just leave us two buff orpingtons.

So $140,000 later, we still aren’t making money, yet. I have a lot of respect for those who can build small businesses with little money and make it successful. I can offer that we have only gotten as far as we have by improvising. For instance, we purchased two tractors with front loading buckets– a 35-hp 1958 Massey Ferguson and a 1981 50-hp John Deere for a grand total of $7,500. The Massey was originally a back hoe with no PTO, and it will become that again. The Deere has enough HP to farm the 20 acres we have. If we were to buy it new, it would have been too costly, but with a bit of wrench work they fill our needs nicely. We look for free dirt all of the time (for dikes). Flea markets often supply tools and equipment. My military experience and my mechanical knowledge has allowed us to go a lot further than we would have without it. (A fella once total me that if you can weld nothing is impossible, and though it’s not true it’s a good mentality. I currently feel that if you can build a smelter and cast things out of aluminum, nothing is impossible.) My wife’s business experience, knowledge of commercial real estate, and general ability to do anything and talk to anyone has been the glue that holds everything together. (You can’t do anything without a good spouse who has the survivalist mentality too. Thanks, Survivalistsingles.

Letter Re: The Latest Wave of The Sagebrush Rebellion, Response by N.E.

I was glad to see JWR and SurvivalBlog writing about this topic. There are many historical aspects to this situation that seem to be lacking information. From a macro perspective, what is interesting to me about the entire discourse of the BLM and the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act is how the entire law was largely about resources. The Oregon situation is also about resources. Sure, there are many narratives and news stories that provide different information and details about differences in perspective. However, let us not lose sight as prudent people to a major theme that surrounds the entire situation of the BLM and currently Harney County.

The 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) began in 1964 with the congressional appointed Public Law Land Review Commission. The short history of the FLPMA is that no one really cared, and there was really no support for any legislation from 1964 to 1973. There are two narratives that surround the FLPMA. One is of environmental concern that was supported by the Democrats and environmental lobby, while the second was of the Republicans and their concern for conservation of natural resources. Due to population growth in relation to people leaving rural areas for urban centers post WWII with the creation of suburbia, congressional members argued that the federal lands were managed by outdated and archaic laws.

As I mentioned that no one really cared from 1964 to 1973, the 1973 Saudi oil embargo changed the entire situation. The 1973 oil embargo spurred legislative action and calls for accounting of the America’s natural resources. Congress stated that the public lands needed to be “managed in a manner which recognizes the Nation’s need for domestic sources of minerals, food, timber, and fiber from the public lands.”i The Los Angeles Times wrote, “The nation lacks an inventory of the mineral resources and the natural phenomena that make up this priceless land. It has no coherent guidelines for setting up fees and recording claims for its use. There is just no plan.”ii President Nixon launched an initiative on 11-7-73 called “Project Independence” that was meant to allow America to achieve energy independence from foreign sources by 1980. If you know your history, America’s energy dependence upon foreign oil increased at a rapid rate from 1973.

How this quick and dirty history relates is that within the FLPMA there was a grandfather clause. The grandfather clause provided protection of existing mining, grazing, and mineral leasing that was being conducted prior to October 21, 1976 and would allow continuation of these activities.iii In the 1980 case law of Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association (RMOGA) v. James G. Watt, The United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, stated that the FLPMA was intrinsic to congressional concern over the nations mineral inventory and that James Watt’s interpretation of the law “sacrificed mineral development for environmental concerns and thus was ‘statutorily erroneous’”iv The court ruled in favor of the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association in which interpretation of the ruling suggests that “the court apparently construed the language of the grandfather clause to mean that all mineral leasing activity, including activity on leases granted before and after the FLPMA was enacted, was insulated from the nonimpairment standard.”v This suggests that grazing disputes may have a case in the court of law. As such, we are not hearing any real historical, political, or law references in the media but rather we are hearing emotional appeal that fits a narrative.

Why you should be concerned about this historical context in relation to the current Harney County situation is that this entire discourse is about the availability of resources. From my perspective, availability of resources is a large reason why all of us read this blog daily. Is this current situation in Harney County another recent indicator that resource availability is diminishing and people that are impacted by diminished resources are basically putting their lives on the line to secure their way of life? Regardless, if you’re a supporter of the Bundy’s or very much against what they are doing, take note that a major theme here is resource availability. This topic of resource availability could be crossed referenced to other recent examples of civil unrest in Ferguson, Syria, the Arab Spring, among many other examples. While politics and media narratives play a role in our understanding of how the examples I have mentioned differ, let us take a moment to reflect on the similarities. Some similarities are availability to resources and people responding with violence.

Economics and Investing:

The U.S. Is At The Center Of The Global Economic Meltdown – D.R.

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

World faces wave of epic debt defaults, fears central bank veteran – Folks on the inside are starting to let it out. These are very interesting times; stay alert.

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Stocks Drop as Oil Prices Tumble (Fox Business) Excerpt: “…the International Energy Agency on Tuesday said it expects excess supply to keep the oil market oversupplied through late this year, which the IEA said could make 2016 the third-consecutive year of supply exceeding demand by one million barrels per day.”

International News

World Faces Wave of Epic Debt Defaults Fears Central Bank Veteran (The Telegraph) Direct and hard hitting, this comes as a highly recommended reading. One point of difference in opinion… It’s my personal view that growth as it’s suggested here only slows or staves off a reconciliation of current conditions with economic reality. Although I don’t necessarily agree, I do understand the growth argument and view this as a “best bad idea” or “lesser of the evils” recommendation. My primary objection is not growth in and of itself but managed inflation masked as growth. Excerpt: “The global financial system has become dangerously unstable and faces an avalanche of bankruptcies that will test social and political stability, a leading monetary theorist has warned.”

People are Afraid These “Zombie Ships” are the First Sign of Global Economic Collapse (Business Insider) Excerpt: “The dry cargo market was used to growth approaching 10% for quite a few years on the trot,” said James Kidwell, chief executive of the London-listed broker Braemar Shipping. “All of a sudden you’ve hit a market that’s gone flat. That is a radical change.” A brief explanation of the Baltic Dry Index is linked here as helpful additional resource for readers.

IMF Survey: Weak Pick Up in Global Growth, Risks Pivoting to Emerging Markets (International Monetary Fund) Excerpt: ““All in all, there is a lot of uncertainty out there, and I think that contributes to the volatility…”

Fitch: Emerging Market Risks Abound in 2016; Private Debt Key Challenge (Reuters) Excerpt: “Fitch Ratings says emerging markets (EMs) are facing a wide range of risks across many sectors in 2016 and sovereign, corporate and bank ratings will continue to be under pressure.”

Bank of Canada to Cut Key Rate to Zero, May Move to Negative Interest Rates (The Globe and Mail) Excerpt: “In our view, risks are tilted toward further easing, which would imply negative rates,” the strategists said. “The experience of countries like Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and the euro area has taught central banks that zero is not the lower bound.”

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Just Gave an Utterly Unconvincing Explanation for the Plunge in Oil Prices (Business Insider) Read on for the minister’s argument and the response that follows… Excerpt: “There’s a transparent problem with this entire line of argument, though. The oil price is partially set by production and price targets set within the OPEC oil cartel, of which Saudi Arabia is the most influential member.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Quick Start Guide for New Preppers (The Organic Prepper) Excerpt: “Take a deep breath. You can devote yourself to getting prepared without breaking the bank.”

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

SurvivalBlog’s Podcast Pick of the Week:

Prepper Recon.com recently had Dr. Kirk Elliot of McAlveny Financial on their podcast. Titled Market Meltdown-Weathering the Storm, Dr. Elliot gives the listener an update on the massive market upheaval we currently see and some tips on how to prepare to survive it in this two part Podcast. Additionally, Dr. Elliot gives some tips on becoming financially fit in 2016.

Each Podcast is roughly 27 minutes long and is well worth the time spent listening to it. Head on over to Prepper Recon.com and get both parts:

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalRealty has what I would term the “coolest” survival property ever in it’s listings. It’s a 165 acres located in the Western USA with a half mile tunnel (20 feet wide, 30 feet high and 2,400 feet long) on it. The property is 200 feet wide and seven miles long.

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K. in Tennessee sent in a link to 25 PVC projects. While some of these rate high on the coolness factor as well as the impracticality scale, some actually look useful.

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Reader GJS sent in the link to this article that explains What Amending the Constitution Cannot Do. Exerpt: “It should be clear from the foregoing that the answer is “no”. Amendment of the Constitution cannot abolish a right that was not granted by the Constitution in the first place. People who fail to grasp this understand neither the law, nor the Constitution, nor the Constitution’s ethical foundations.”

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B.F. sent in this interesting idea: Pocket FM radio transmitter. It’s a compact, covert FM radio transmitter that downloads news from a satellite source and re-transmits it over local FM radio bands currently being used. Once it gets a bit more technologically advanced, I wonder what applications it might have for preppers?

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A reader wrote in from AK today. They get two ships a week and a couple of barges for supplies up there. It seems that a barge of supplies couldn’t make it in due to storms in the Gulf of Alaska this week. They were shopping on Monday and the shelves were bare. On Tuesday, the Fairbanks News Miner had an article that their store shelves were also bare. They missed one day’s shipment and the stores were emptied. Imagine what it would look like if the shipments stopped for a week or two? or perhaps longer… How are your preps?

Notes for Wednesday – January 20, 2016

Today, we present another entry for Round 62 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 and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw Code Red 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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 62 ends on January 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.

Making A Conceal Carry Vest, by C.E.

Surviving is really a willingness to accept the challenge of a life-threatening change that is forced on you. A world that requires a grandmother to conceal carry has been one of my biggest challenges. Can I keep a firearm close at hand for self defense, be legal, be safe around my grandchildren, and still be comfortable? I rarely wear any clothing that will handle a holster. I like the belly band system but find they don’t always work with dresses, and at the end of the day they can be rough on the skin. A conceal carry purse seems too risky for me. That same black hole that swallows my car keys could just as easily hide my gun when I need it. A purse opens too many doors for failure. Do I take my purse with me to the garden or on a walk? There are too many times when my purse is just beyond my reach, and will I remember my gun is in my purse when I run into a school, the courthouse, or a hospital? What if my purse gets snatched? Not only do I lose my money, I have now provided a criminal with another gun.

Since my style is casual, I came up with a way to refit a blue jean vest to hold a gun. It is tucked away under my arm, out of sight and in my control. It is also easy to access and does not print. My personal comfort level is to not have a bullet in the chamber. I wear my gun with the clip in but needing to be racked. I try to stay away from dangerous situations and hope that if I have to take out a gun, I will have time to rack it and shoot. My first level of defense is awareness and caution. After that, I rely on the element of surprise and not the speed of my draw. I would not be picked from a crowd as “the person most likely to be carrying a concealed weapon”. That is how I practice and that is where my comfort level is at today. New times will require new adaptations. For now, this vest gives me a great option for carrying a weapon. It is discrete, readily available, and I am constantly aware of its presence without it being uncomfortable.

IMG_3023

To make an inexpensive conceal carry vest, I recommend you shop Goodwill, Salvation Army, or your favorite thrift shop. Even in my small town, I can usually find two or three vests to choose from. Select a vest with lots of seaming topstitching and/or pockets– the more the better. Every seam adds places to secure the pocket to the vest and draws the eye away from any unusual bumps or indentations. Also buy some extra jeans fabric or medium- to heavy-weight cotton. I have a few skirts or jeans dresses in the sewing room for patches. You will want to have several shades of medium weight fabric or denim for pocket options. For this vest I used a piece of a blue jean dress with an embroidery embellishment and a decorative pocket. It isn’t the best match, but it was too much fun to pass up. Survival doesn’t have to be boring and mundane. Joy and creativity should always be an option. Why survive just to be miserable?

Set up your sewing machine with a jeans (size 16) needle and medium-weight thread that matches the top stitching of your vest. Most jeans are top-stitched in a pale beige or a pale brownish orange. As you make this, remember that the function is far more important than the form. If you are the only one who ever sees this, you are wildly successful.

Determine right or left hand access, and mark the inside of the vest for the pocket. Yes, I made my first one backwards! It would have been wonderful if I was left handed instead of right handed. The weight of your gun will be supported from the shoulder, the lapel seam, the side seam, and the pocket area. I like to design the pocket so that the gun sets just under the bust line and towards the side seam. In a relaxed stance, it is just under my arm. I can cross my arms and reach into the vest in a very natural position and pull out the gun. If you cut the pocket right, your gun will not shift and move around while you wear it. This vest has a yoke front, so I will use it for securing the top of the pocket. I can hand stitch the inside pocket piece to the vest seams. Every vest you make will have a slightly different pocket shape.

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I always start by making a paper pattern. Pin your paper to the area you will be installing the pocket and trace around the inside of the vest. I prefer a light-weight paper that can shape to the vest. It may take you several attempts to get it just right. Start big; you can always trim. I have found that I like the bottom of the pocket to drop an inch or two towards the side seam. This allows the gun to always fall into the pocket. I also like the opening to finish a few inches back from the lapel area. You will need to wear the vest open to access the gun, but you don’t want it to be visible from the outside. Make sure you add an inch all around for seam allowances. Take the time to lay your gun on the paper template to be sure it will fit. If you have an inch or two around the gun, it will be more than big enough to handle the bulk and tight enough to keep it stable.

Cut two pocket pieces out of fabrics that best match the inside of the vest. The piece that will show if your vest opens should blend naturally into the vest. Your goal is to blend this pocket in as much as possible, unless of course you find that perfect piece of embellished denim. The piece of fabric closest to the vest can be any kind of medium-weight scrap fabric. It can be similar to what you find in a jeans pocket.

Pin one pocket piece to the inside to check one last time how it fits before sewing. Ripping out stitches is very time consuming and gives sewing a bad name. If you like the size and fit, unpin it and begin to make the pocket. To finish the pocket opening, turn back the fabric one turn to the inside (wrong side of fabric) and sew down. I am blessed with a serger so I used it to finish the edge first. You do not need to do that step. If you use traditional methods of hemming this part (double turn) you will have some very heavy seams later. Use a zig zag stitch or sew several rows of stitching to keep this area flat. This “facing” will get the most handling and will need to be free of anything that will catch on your gun. Repeat this process for the second piece.

Now with your fabric right sides together sew shoulder (yoke), armhole, side, and bottom seams starting one or two inches up the pocket side (blue line). I find it easier to access the gun if the front and back pocket piece don’t match evenly at the opening. Make one piece a little wider at the opening than the other. Isn’t it great when you are better off not being perfect?

Clip the corners and then turn the pocket right sides out. Press flat and topstitch the pocket piece for added durability. Topstitch the blue line area.

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If I am going to carry a gun I want to make sure I have an extra clip, so I add a line of sewing across the top of the pocket to hold an extra magazine. The sewing line should run slightly down so that the clip always falls into the vest. You need to have it handy, but you don’t want it rattling around in the gun pocket. Put your clip in the top of the pocket and mark your line. Your clip should go in and out with a slight bit of friction. Sew that before you place the pocket in the vest.

It is time to attach the pocket to the vest at the shoulder (yoke for this one), armhole, and side seam from the outside sewing over the original topstitching. Make sure you increase your stitch length and go slow. You are sewing through quite a bit of fabric. You want to match the original sewing as close as possible. This vest had a front pocket, so I could also hand tack the inside lining down at the pocket and decorative front seam. This allows for the pocket to stay snug to the vest. IMG_3024 Try on your vest with your gun in it for a final fitting. Make sure everything lays flat against the lapel area. Occasionally you will need to tweak the fit. The pocket may fit a little differently when you go from a flat work table to a three dimensional body. Hand tack down the lapel area where needed.

This is the after picture with a gun in the added pocket. It’s concealed but available and tucked away in your own personal space. You now have one more option for protecting yourself that looks great and is very inexpensive to make yourself.

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Letter Re: Active Shooter Response

In light of both the mass shooting in California as well as a shooting scenario that my sister-in-law dealt with on the same day with a non-lethal shootout in her neighbor’s home, it has become apparent that the time has come for families, churches, and communities to take measures to avoid being soft targets. My sister-in-law gave asylum to her neighbors after an angry ex-boyfriend went over to her neighbor’s house and threatened them with a gun. A 2-year-old and a 4-year-old were left in the basement of the neighbor’s house while their mother and two other men dove out windows and ran to the house of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and hid there screaming hysterically while shots rang out. By the grace of God only the dogs and cats were killed, but folks that was in a rural area with weapons everywhere. Let this not happen in our neighborhoods.

I am going to be honest; I am enraged right now, enraged at quotes I have seen from ISIS filth about leaving the Crusaders in fear. We are not afraid. We are not trembling. We are not cowed. There is a rifle behind every blade of grass, and despite a generation raised on social media and compromise the backbone of the greatest nation to ever exist is still strong and true. I will not allow my house, I will not allow my brother’s at work, and I will not allow my neighborhood to lay supinely on their backs until a jihadist is shooting on every porch. We will take steps to bring the fight to whomever attempts to harm us or harm others while we are present.

The first step is understanding that it is our responsibility to care for the needs of our families. The government of the United States of America will not save you in time, should you or your loved ones be involved in a shootout. The response time from police and SWAT will be too late, especially in rural areas. So understand that should a situation unfold, we as citizens are the first line of defense.

On forward operating bases in Afghanistan, we carried our weapons at all times. We were never without our rifles, because one never knows when some “normal” person will get a jihadi itch and want to be sent to his god. First line of defense: carry a weapon, carry extra mags, and train to use them proficiently.

My family trains on rapid response to emergency. My oldest is seven years old, and the other four are barely able to comprehend emergencies, but that does not mean we do not train. Battle stations in my home means the oldest grabs the second youngest and heads for the bathroom with his brothers. Mom grabs the baby and heads to the bathroom, letting our mastiff into the house, if he is outside and time permits. In the bathroom they all lay down in the bathtub (it works because they are small) and my wife kneels in the bathtub with her .45 Kimber pointed at the wall and her entire body shielded from the door except for the weapon. If anyone stands on the other side of the door and does not announce themselves as me, she will shoot until they stop moving through the door. I am a soldier; I have the combat mindset. I’ve shot rounds in anger, and I’ve remained calm under fire, but my wife is not. Therefore, it is imperative to insure that she understands that when there is a bad guy in the house, shoot first, kill, and reload. Mercy is not an option.

Have a large dog, a man-stopper. I have a Beorboel, a South African Mastiff. In the religion of Islam, dogs are the spawn of Satan. They fear them. I know this to be true. There is no better home security than an active, intelligent, family dog.

My neighbors believe in liberty. They own guns. We have rapport and that is a huge asset when doing contingency planning. In most rural areas the good people have hunting rifles and shotguns; get to know your neighbors and keep your eyes on anything out of the norm.

Know the capabilities of your weapons, your own capabilities, and the capabilities of your family members. If you live with large open areas around your home, get a laser range finder and figure out different ambush locations/elevation markings for all the distances you might have to shoot. The implied task is that you own a weapon capable of effective fire at those ranges and you train and set up that weapon to be proficient at those ranges. That requires another conversation entirely, but honestly, as a military sniper, I can assure you that with .308 and practice at 500-800 meters, minute of man is not a difficult shot.

Do not be a soft target, ever. Keep your head on a swivel and understand your operational environment at all times. If some crazy person begins shooting, take him or her out, whatever it takes. Do not allow the cycle of terror to continue. Stop them cold, take their weapon, clear the area, then stand by in a non-threatening way when LE eventually comes. I long for one story of a potential shooter shot in the face by a civilian before they could do any damage. What better illustration of the power for good by an armed citizen? Molon Labe – Swamp Fox

Economics and Investing:

As this “Recovery” trudges on, the numbers are starting to become known. SurvivalBlog reader B.B. sent in this link showing that Americans are giving up on jobs. “As many as 40% of capable Americans without a job have completely given up looking for work”

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Why U.S. Retail Sales Ended 2015 Poorly – RBS

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

More Pain Seen Ahead for US Banks Exposed to Energy Loans (Yahoo) Excerpt: “”Everybody was hoping for a bounce through most of last year and it hasn’t materialized so I think both the regulators and the auditors are going to be taking a much harder look at these credits…”

Lawmakers Push Bills to Reform Wyoming Asset Forfeiture Laws (Casper Star Tribune) Excerpt: ““Asset forfeiture is an extraordinary remedy, and it should be done only after we make sure that the constitutional protections of the innocent are in place…”

Feds Stop Sharing Forfeiture Funds with Local Law Enforcement (The Tampa Tribune) There are better ways to provide for the appropriate funding of costs associated with law enforcement. Civil forfeiture is not the solution. It’s deeply troubling that one must read substantially into this article to find a reference to the rights of citizens. Excerpt: “Nobody should lose their property without being convicted of a crime…”

International News

European Dark Pools Expand, Spiting Regulators Ambitions (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “The region’s dark pools– venues that don’t display prices before trades take place– enjoyed a 45 percent jump in the value of trading they handled in 2015…”

Italian Banks Hammered (Contra Corner) The opening line says it all: “Things don’t matter until they do.” Bloomberg is also reporting on this concern: Italian Banks Lead European Decliners on Bad Loans Concerns

Chart of the Day: Which Bank is Most Exposed to the Struggling Oil and Gas Sector (Yahoo) All eyes are on Singapore and DBS. Excerpt: “Singapore’s largest banks should prepare for more non-performing loans (NPLs) as oil prices drop to their lowest level in twelve years…”

IMF Cuts Global Growth Forecast as China Slows (Reuters) Excerpt: “The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year on Tuesday, as new figures from Beijing showed that the Chinese economy grew at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century in 2015.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

In a Post-Boom World, Auto Prices Will Fall (Mises) Beware of the dangers of credit expansion, the enticements that encourage debt-fueled spending, the leverage effect and the consequences of its reversal. Excerpt: “Last week, Tommy Behnke in Mises Daily predicted that auto prices will fall as the bubble bursts from the artificially created demand generated from excessive credit creation.”

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SurvivalBlog is not a paid investment counselor or adviser. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

Child of War Son of Angels by Curtis Whitfield Tong was recommended by SurvivalBlog reader M.G. It’s a child’s memoir of horror and reconciliation while imprisoned in World War II-torn Philippines.

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SurvivalBlog reader P.B. recommended both In the Absence of God and Bridging the Abyss. Both works deal with different people approaching crises from different world view perspectives. Moderns and Post-moderns find themselves without any objective basis for forming moral judgments or hope of justice.

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Reader E.L. writes in:
Taylor Caldwell’s The Devil’s Advocate, a novel first published in 1952 is distopian fiction right up there with “1984” and “Brave New World.” She predicts a United States that has turned completely “progressive” (e.g., communist), a collectivist totalitarian entity called “The Democracy,” ruled by the military. It’s a Leftist nightmare world, one that seems to be encroaching upon American reality more and more each day. Many of the things Caldwell writes about in this novel mirror what is going on today. Unfortunately, “The Devil’s Advocate” is out of print, and the copies available on Amazon are pretty expensive. I paid $36 for a used paperback copy.

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R.B. recommended two books: A Guide for the Perplexed by E.F. Schumacher and Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by R.J. Maybury. He has given each of these books to his six children because they are the backbone of a sound understanding of what life is all about (the Guide) and what’s going on in our economy (Penny Candy).

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Reader P.W. suggested the movies Defiance and The Pianist. She rarely watches movies a second time, but she watched Defiance three times in one day. She asks that you pay attention to the shoes in Defiance and the use of color (or lack thereof) in The Pianist.

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Do you have a favorite book, movie, or video that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Odds ‘n Sods:

RBS sent in this link: Drone Catcher Is Every Drone’s Worst Nightmare (video) – My favorite comment: “Inevitable, a counter-drone. Next will be a counter-drone-catcher”

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Clinton-Appointed Judge Dismisses RICO Case Against Clintons
JWR’s Comment: This adds new meaning to the word racketeering. (Any ethical judge would have recused himself.)

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Inspector General: Clinton emails had intel from most secretive, classified programs – Apparently Hillary had “several dozen” emails classified as special access programs (SAP) on her private server. SAP indicates a level of classification beyond even “top secret”. Anyone placing bets on whether a Democratic controlled justice influenced by a Democratic socialist/marxist/Muslim president will indict? – Sent in by P.S.

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T.Z. sent in this article about 10 beautiful under-used edible trees and shrubs that can transform yards into a raw food paradise

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State of Emergency Declared As Legionnaires’ Disease Spikes in Flint Michigan – Sent in by D.S.