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One thing I've noticed and always wondered about was the weapons/food ratio of most survivalists.
Having met a ton of folks over the last 24 years I can tell you that it would seem the majority of survivalists (probably 70% or more) are too heavy on the weapons side and too light on the food side.
Why is this?
Let's be honest here- GUNS ARE FUN! I mean really.... can you take a couple of buckets of food storage out and blast away converting money into sound? Nope. And I can't remember the last time I saw a contest trying to find out who could get the tightest grouping on a target pitching #2 1/2 cans at the targets!
To be serious now- weapons ARE a very important part of our preparedness, no doubts there. And lest I sound like a hypocrite, we are fairly well stocked ourselves (all BB guns of course, no real guns ;) .
The problem remains that weapons are cool and people like collecting them. When you have a survivalist friend you TRUST come over, what would you be more apt to show them? A few things from your weapons collection or some #10 cans?
As having been in the "visiting survivalist friend" position more than a handful of times, 99% of the time people WANT to show you some of their gun collection. I don't EVER remember asking either.
By this point on average a dozen or more weapons were paraded out to me. Usually their is one or zero duplicates of any weapon. More times than not their is not even 3 weapons in the lot that take the same ammunition. I've seen a lot of archaic stuff that's been rationalized as "hand out guns."
On a few occasions I've been also shown "the pantry." Usually by the female of the house with sometimes the man barely showing interest.
In comparison to the gun collection, the pantry is usually pathetic. Rarely any true long term storage items. Usually a mish mash of wet packed canned goods from the store along with a plethora of poggee bait stuff like candy bars, bags of chips, soda, etc.
When asked I usually say "have you considered selling a few of the weapons and getting a little more food storage?" Boy if you ever want to feel "outed" by a gun guy, suggest to him that he sell some of his weapons!!! Ouch!
But really we should seek a proper BALANCE in our preps.
I got "gun happy" in the late 90's. I was making a good bit of money and ended up frequenting a lot of gunshows. Not realizing, I amassed quite a number of weapons. We had a good amount of food storage at the time as I made preps for my extended family as well as myself (single at the time).
A couple of reasons including a severe need for money in 2000 and 2001 got me thinking what I needed all those FOR? Some of the weapons were clearly "locker queens." Some were clearly neat guns I bought that I always wanted- a.k.a the PRIDE purchase. More than a few proved to be unreliable.
During a two year period I sold probably 40 weapons off because of the reasons above.
Another consideration no one ever considers is this- what happens when the single family living in a city or area that ends up being overrun has 40-50 extra weapons? They become a RESUPPLY POINT for looters.
Looters might go in with Lorcin .25's and come out with a dozen AR's and AK's. Seriously, think about that.
How many weapons can you really USE? This isn't a video game where you can carry 6 different long guns and toggle between each one. This is real life.
Even the "I'll sling a shotgun on my back, carry a rifle and pistol" types rarely ever consider it again after even a mile long patrol in the woods with that kind of setup.
Will you need more than just one rifle and one pistol? Sure you probably will, but you have to know when your off balanced in your preps.
A family of four doesn't REALLY need 40 weapons. 20 might be stretching it but that's more realistic. Dare I say at least 10% of what you have should either be cached or put in another secure location also.
So be sure to keep a good balance. The folks that have nothing but guns and gear and 2 cases of old moldy MRE's are going to be forced into becoming looters later on.
Do you really want to have to FIGHT for each meal? That's counter productive to survival don't cha think?
Your thoughts on this?
Lowdown3
Having met a ton of folks over the last 24 years I can tell you that it would seem the majority of survivalists (probably 70% or more) are too heavy on the weapons side and too light on the food side.
Why is this?
Let's be honest here- GUNS ARE FUN! I mean really.... can you take a couple of buckets of food storage out and blast away converting money into sound? Nope. And I can't remember the last time I saw a contest trying to find out who could get the tightest grouping on a target pitching #2 1/2 cans at the targets!
To be serious now- weapons ARE a very important part of our preparedness, no doubts there. And lest I sound like a hypocrite, we are fairly well stocked ourselves (all BB guns of course, no real guns ;) .
The problem remains that weapons are cool and people like collecting them. When you have a survivalist friend you TRUST come over, what would you be more apt to show them? A few things from your weapons collection or some #10 cans?
As having been in the "visiting survivalist friend" position more than a handful of times, 99% of the time people WANT to show you some of their gun collection. I don't EVER remember asking either.
By this point on average a dozen or more weapons were paraded out to me. Usually their is one or zero duplicates of any weapon. More times than not their is not even 3 weapons in the lot that take the same ammunition. I've seen a lot of archaic stuff that's been rationalized as "hand out guns."
On a few occasions I've been also shown "the pantry." Usually by the female of the house with sometimes the man barely showing interest.
In comparison to the gun collection, the pantry is usually pathetic. Rarely any true long term storage items. Usually a mish mash of wet packed canned goods from the store along with a plethora of poggee bait stuff like candy bars, bags of chips, soda, etc.
When asked I usually say "have you considered selling a few of the weapons and getting a little more food storage?" Boy if you ever want to feel "outed" by a gun guy, suggest to him that he sell some of his weapons!!! Ouch!
But really we should seek a proper BALANCE in our preps.
I got "gun happy" in the late 90's. I was making a good bit of money and ended up frequenting a lot of gunshows. Not realizing, I amassed quite a number of weapons. We had a good amount of food storage at the time as I made preps for my extended family as well as myself (single at the time).
A couple of reasons including a severe need for money in 2000 and 2001 got me thinking what I needed all those FOR? Some of the weapons were clearly "locker queens." Some were clearly neat guns I bought that I always wanted- a.k.a the PRIDE purchase. More than a few proved to be unreliable.
During a two year period I sold probably 40 weapons off because of the reasons above.
Another consideration no one ever considers is this- what happens when the single family living in a city or area that ends up being overrun has 40-50 extra weapons? They become a RESUPPLY POINT for looters.
Looters might go in with Lorcin .25's and come out with a dozen AR's and AK's. Seriously, think about that.
How many weapons can you really USE? This isn't a video game where you can carry 6 different long guns and toggle between each one. This is real life.
Even the "I'll sling a shotgun on my back, carry a rifle and pistol" types rarely ever consider it again after even a mile long patrol in the woods with that kind of setup.
Will you need more than just one rifle and one pistol? Sure you probably will, but you have to know when your off balanced in your preps.
A family of four doesn't REALLY need 40 weapons. 20 might be stretching it but that's more realistic. Dare I say at least 10% of what you have should either be cached or put in another secure location also.
So be sure to keep a good balance. The folks that have nothing but guns and gear and 2 cases of old moldy MRE's are going to be forced into becoming looters later on.
Do you really want to have to FIGHT for each meal? That's counter productive to survival don't cha think?
Your thoughts on this?
Lowdown3
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