Buy a gun.
Saw this article claiming last year Americans bought 14 million guns which is up 10% from the previous year. Many new gun buyers cite uneasiness and mistrust in government as a reason to either buy a gun or stock up on ammunition. While I’m firmly behind the Second Amendment, I often wonder why my gun nut buddies buy and hoard so many guns. I also wonder why survival websites are primarily firearm centered as if the two concepts are interlocked. This is a type of positive feedback loop where the hoarding generates more anxiety and more subsequent hoarding.
My hypothesis is that more guns temporarily makes the owner feel safer or even more empowered. Because guns exist, and I can’t exactly unmake guns, I’m a big advocate of a shotgun in the closet. However, I’m at a period where I’d rather have the knowledge of casting and boring barrels than buy more guns. I believe gun and ammo hoarders are no different than any other type of hoarder because all this is simply stuff that eventually rules your life if not careful.
Guns are tools, so I understand the reality of needing and being proficient with a variety of tools if your livelihood depends on it. Of course the great news about all these guns being widely distributed throughout the US is that government control will always be limited. Think Fallujah was tough? Try taking down pieces of the Sunbelt or American West where guns are an embedded culture. Paradoxically, it’s not the wide distribution of guns in America that contributes to increase governmental control, but the intent of which the owner buys it.
Each side to the coin contributes to the weight of the other with neither the gun owner nor the agent improving his outlook about the situation. Each purchase and counter purchase is self-solidifying.
In the meantime, controlling ammunition has been a great investment as the price has more than doubled in recent years. The prevalent Armageddon memes are great for ammo sellers and speculators but not necessarily great for American citizens in a productive or meaningful direction. Just remember that gear might save your life in the short run, but skill will will always trump gear in the long run.
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Have you ever read or seen a book called “Patriots, a Novel of Survival”? It’s an ode to gun ownership in post-apocalyptic America, and it’s not pretty. For some reason, everyone but born-again Christians seems prone to cannibalism, too…but the gun thing is lunatic fringe. It makes a person fear that the Long Emergency will be one big shoot-out! On the one hand, I’m by nature a gun-control person, particularly against hand-guns and automatic weaponry. On the other hand, my father, husband, and sons are hunters…and I’m certainly inclined to encourage stocking up on the rifle and shotgun ammo. A bit bi-polar, I suppose. I do see the practicality of some hunting gear in the brave new world, although if you don’t know how to make your own ammunition, guns will be useless in the long run anyways. Bows and arrows, anyone?
Hi Kate,
I’ve got that book on my shelf right now. I really liked it but in more of a Dungeons and Dragons sort of way. That book seems like a grown man’s pseudo fantasy that justifies thousands of dollars and years of time spent worrying and stockpiling.
I’m all for stocking up — it’s like putting money in the bank, and it totally makes sense to store some surplus when times are good. However, there seems to be a growing population of people out there who believe that stockpiling is the key to something called, “survival.” I’m more aligned with Charles Hugh Smith and his vision of things to be. He points out that you can prepare perfectly for 6 months of anything, but what happens in month 7? Much better to be flexible and have a mind that is pliable in many different scenarios than to rely on a single strategy — fortify.
Perhaps you could tie this post to an experience from your own life? For example, an event in which your skill trumped your gear… I’d love to hear anyone else out there with similar stories. Thanks.
Don’t get me wrong, the right tools are essential to doing a job, but I see too many instances of people relying on tools alone to do the job for them.
I can think of many examples, but one that a lot of people can relate to…
I’ve been big into backpacking for years — long enough to see this form of recreation totally transform to the epitome of “gear over skill.” One of my favorite things to do was to go on completely unplanned, multi-day trips using a school bag, tennis shoes, and a loaf of bread. This isn’t exactly so revolutionary in light of thousands of generations of humans enduring far worse, but to fellow backpackers deep in the country, it seemed downright unsafe. It’s hilarious to watch people fumble with high tech, expensive, and unnecessary gear while I drank from the river (oooh, giardia) and ate non-jet fuel heated food — or, no food at all (whoa).
I should post a “how-to” guide on how to build an alcohol stove with a beer can and some everclear (I love dual purpose). The process takes about 5 minutes and rivals any $200 backpacker’s stove I’ve ever seen. Plus, I’ve haven’t seen a shortage of beer cans in the back country lately.
It’s better to know HOW something works than to be reliant on it working.
Great idea for a post. I’m also more of a “know how it works” person. My dad taught me “If you can’t fix it, you shouldn’t be using it.”
Skill out trumps tools: One word: “MacGuyver”. Sure, it was a TV show, but the guys at Lindsay’s Books sent them the material. (http://www.lindsaybks.com/)
Kate: “Zen bow, Zen arrow” is a great little book, too. I have recently learned that I can shoot arrows up to 50 yards to a 3 inch group with no sights and very little practice (while watching kids at my son’s archery classes who have ALL the gadgets do much worse).
Tommy: The armageddon paranoia got me to finally break down and finish out my collection (.22 handgun, .45 handgun, 30-30, and shotgun and a decent pellet rifle for hunting without gunpowder) to cover the general bases for hunting and defense. Practicing reminded me how I enjoy just shooting stuff. Archery with my son taught me to do something renewable and simple that is very effective. When I talked to Kunstler about it, we agreed that sword-making might be a useful occupation to pick up. If I start to hoard anything, it will be for trade goods in the future. Ammo and good steel might be more valuable than gold in some places, and it’s a lot easier to acquire right now.
Staccato thoughts, I know…but one point I want to make about weapons: the terrorists and criminals are just as much a part of the System of systems as the cops and soldiers are. Shooting is a fine sport involving many skills and precision metal work that can be used in other places. Killing is a natural part of the world and evolution. Unnecessary killing takes a lack of imagination and a certain amount of marketing (you have to be sold on it). Very rarely is actual insanity involved (cultural insanity is more or less planned). An ironic part of my reawakening to weapon use is my simultaneous interest in eating less and less meat (for health reasons) while wanting to raise more animals to care for my land.
Oh, books: “The Survivalist” series, if you can find it, is post-nuclear fun. Also, books by Jerry Ahern tend to get into the details of the guns. Warning: if you pick up his books, you’ll want a pair of Detonics Scoremasters in Nickel plating.
(Just in Case).
(Personally, I like the Automag III in .30 carbine caliber, but it tends to be jammy due to the long slender cartridge).
For reliability, go with a big revolver. Second best is the 1911 Colt for stopping power and firing speed. The popular 9mm is a drug dealer’s caliber: a showpiece that just puts people in the hospital but will rarely stop them with one shot (This from a cop friend who was shot 4 times).
Back to your regularly scheduled program..;-)
Tommy — I totally agree with you about skill vs. gear. We’ve gone gear-crazy in our Consumer-topia keep-up-with-Icrap western world. The push to expensive camping gear is just an outgrowth of the whole thing. A well-written post-apocalytic novel “Into the Woods” focuses on the idea of the “month 7″ situation, and how little gear one really needs to survive. Knowledge is Key! (I think that’s someone else’s catchphrase…). Skills. We should start a “Month 7″ movement. Danny, I’ll look for the book — it sounds excellent. I was just thinking this morning, also, of items to save for “trade” in the long emergency. And we’ve talked of buying ammunition now for our hunting guns…I’m so NOT a survivalist, though, I feel almost like a parody of myself.
A couple of thoughts. Sureley the fact that the most militarized nation on earth, which believes nearly all international disputes are ideally settled by either the threat or use of military force, also has one of the most heavily armed citizenries is not merely circumstantial. That’s a fairly easy call to make.
I believe arming yourself to the teeth is also an outgrowth of a hyper-competitive imperialist capitalist society that’s addicted to linear thinking solutions – bigger, more, increased exploitation of, is always better – at every turn. That would also explain why all of the problems we face during the coming age of resource depletion have been and will remain so very intractable. Retracing our way back down the linear growth slope – never mind its actually been exponential – is certainly not going to be fun for a society that is wedded such silly notions.
Although I’m very much anti-gun personally, I long ago realized that restricting them was always going to be a political non-starter. Restricting any vice, be it alcohol, drugs, or sex,is usually problematic and more trouble than its worth (although why we can’t seem to grasp THAT fact in entirety I don’t know), and firearms would certainly be no exception.
That said, I wonder how much the impulse to hoard firearms might be a response to point number 1 above. Certainly during the initial stages of the coming dissolution of the American empire the greatest threat to individual liberty will not come from marauding hoards, but from the forces of the dieing military/police state. The powers that be have a lot invested in maintaining the current status quo, and I can’t imagine that they’ll let it all go without a good spirited round of totalitarian crackdown.
Finally, at some point I too plan to get a personal sidearm. I’m retired military, so I know how to shoot and have no aversion to such things. Not that I imagine it will ever be much use against “marauding hordes,” whatever their affiliation. No, that little baby’s going to be my catastrophic care “opt out” health insurance policy / retirement plan. I rather think that might end up being the best solution for a lot of people in the coming decades who never would have considered such a thing previously, as pensions default and increasingly hard end of life decisions begin to be made on a mass scale in a society devoid of financial resources.
Just another quick note. I stumbled on to an extraordinary blog last week called the Archdruid Report, posted by John Michael Greer. An EXTREMELY provocative discussion of all things post cheap energy. All of his weekly posts are simply amazing, but this one is a pretty good illustration.
James, I also found the Archdruid report last week — as good as you say it is! We must be following the same threads through the ether. And I second your notion about our militarized nation and armed citizenry. Not a coincidence. And I hope it doesn’t come down to your “The Road” end-of-life decision, but I certainly respect your impulse in that direction. It’s definitely something to ponder.
Kateseconomy,
None of knows how or when we’re going to die and I’m sure almost everyone of us would be shocked if we could magically get a glimpse beforehand. That said, pondering and preparing for likely outcomes, especially if they’re likely to be sub-optimal, ahead of time is probably well-advised.
I’m currently making my way back through the Archdruid Report post by post. Bar none the most insightful writing I’ve come across in years, maybe decades. Might be something to the hive mindset idea, as I was just drifting from blog to blog looking for something new when I came across it. Call it divine coincidence.
I just read a post of his where he recommends further readings, so that will open up a whole range of more stuff as well. Just can’t recommend this site enough.
Wow, great reading list. Thanks.
Yeah, Greer does some good work, but I can do without the mysticism it often leads to. As for the reading list, skip anything that pretends to help you understand why we are the way we are and jump right to things that are of practical use, such as “Small is beautiful”, gardening, permaculture, woodworking, forestry, community building, and possibly general religious studies textbooks so that you can deal with the fanatics that will be crawling all over things as they always do when disaster strikes.
The key word for everyone is “useful”. With “useful in the future” to be more precise, while understanding that entertainment isn’t ‘useful’, but recreation (re-creation) is. That’s the difference between “Rock Star” and an actual guitar. One makes your brain more useful for other things.
I play the guitar. What other things does it make my brain more useful for?
Will: Playing musical instruments is a brain-building exercise (recreational) when one allows themselves to be lost in the process. Much like REM sleep, it allows the brain to reorganize nerve connections and rebuild connections between the motor areas and the thinking areas.
It makes you more able to do things with your hands, in other words. The psychological effect of active relaxation is also important. Should be 20 min per day of ‘losing yourself’ in the act.
2 cents worth of pop psychology for today from the brain science books.
Thanks. I just got lost in both the piano and guitar for the last hour and really enjoyed being “elsewhere.” Quite therapeutic, actually.
RE: playing music
I believe it’s completely true. Anytime you can release your mind from your body through activity is a building period. It all started with drumming. It’s one of the perks of being human.
I play the mandolin every day, and look forward to it every day. Indeed, when I’m really cranky my wife orders me to either play mandolin or go run. I hate running, but like the effect.
It’s guitar for me, when I can remember to make time for it. Running…yeah. I should jog everywhere I go on the farm, but hard to do when carrying 50 lbs of tools (picture the bearded, wild-eyed crazy man running by your car with a running chainsaw). I need Dean Kamen to make a Segway tool box that follows me around. (Now picture the crazy man being chased by a two-wheeled, greasy dented robot.)
I’m thoroughly disgusted with the cost of ammo. I love to take my .44 to the range for target practice but haven’t been able to justify buying a box of ammo just to blast off at paper targets on a Saturday morning. Maybe THIS summer…
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