Mr. Rawles:
In every decent sized town I've lived in there has been at least one "discount" grocery store. The stores that sell almost-expired food, dented cans or torn bags, local farmer over-production, that sort of thing. (And FWIW, only one can in a flat has to be dented for "the powers that be" to deem the entire batch unfit.)

My most recent good buy has been repeated three years in a row here. It's May, and the local store is selling one-pound bags of black-eyed peas at the discount price of 3 for $1. New Year's Day was 5.7 months ago and the bags are marked 2012. It's a seasonal product, like Thanksgiving cranberries or Christmas and Easter candy. The peas will be good for 4-10 years, at least, if treated properly. Given that every other grocery store in town still has black-eyes at anywhere from $1.29 to $2.29 a pound, three pounds for a buck is ridiculously cheap. The best price I usually see on any form of dried beans in pound bags is about a dollar. The best price I've EVER seen at a normal store is 50 cents a pound for pintos at Sam's, but that's gone up recently, and it's a 25-50 pound bag.

Point being, smart shoppers should know what average prices are, know what the "buy" price is, and (best yet) know when to buy everything the store has, or all they can afford. I now have about 60 more pounds of viable food for a $20 expenditure. The buckets are free at another store's cake-frosting department, and the mylar bags are a necessary, arguably negligible expense.

For those who don't know: Red beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, field peas, pintos, etc. can all be put in a crock-pot or solar cooker with good results. One pound of dried beans and four cups of water (more or less, with no pre-soak usually necessary) and you have food. Add an onion, half a pound of smoked sausage and Tony Chachere's to taste, and you've got a Southern classic, best served over fresh cornbread with sweet tea on the side. Just don't add the sausage or spice mix until the beans are cooked, or the beans will get tough.

And up next (starting in about two weeks) we've got blueberry season, organically grown pick-your-own for $9 a gallon. - J.D.C. in Mississippi

Mr. Rawles,
Greetings from the occupied territory of Coloradostan. 

I am a long time reader and first time responder to the blog. I am an agricultural economist and read Woody's perspective with interest, as I am sure many did. I just examined USDA's crop progress report from this afternoon. Much progress was made in the 18 primary corn producing states. We are now 71 percent planted versus the previous five year average(which is skewed by last years data) of 79 percent. Woody's home state of Ohio, about which he's was particularly alarmed is now 74 percent planted vs. 58 percent for the five year average. To be clear his quote of 12 percent planted on 12 May 2013 is in error as the latest report shows 28 percent planted last Sunday and 71 percent last evening. We are now further along in corn planting than we were in both 2009 and 2011. 

His disdain for USDA is a little troubling as they do a far better job than the ag department of any other. Are they perfect? Certainly not, but as one of my mentor always said, "but they are official!".  Common wisdom may hold for common corn varieties but that isn't what is being planted in the US. Mote than half of this year's planted acreage will be stacked gene varieties and nearly 90 percent will be some form of biotech variety. Stacked gene varieties accounted for only 1 percent in 2001. Even if we lost the 8 percent we are behind vs the five year average it would still be the fifth largest corn planted acreage in US history. 

Corn price haven't responded or rallied because the acreage number is record large and even with conservative yield estimates corn ending stocks for the 2013/14 crop are expected to more than double to the largest corn surplus since the late 1980s. The renewable fuel standard will keep corn prices from approaching prices seen for the 1987/88 crop but they are still expected to drop by 25 to 35 percent. Just wanted folks to know before they loaded the boat so to speak. I'd buy some if I didn't have any but wouldn't lay in my entire needs of a lifetime. 

Most respectfully, - D.W. in Colorado

Sir:
As a retired corn farmer, I find it quite interesting that the Fed's USDA is still keeping to it's hard-and-fast immutable "projections" of 97.3 million acres of corn being planted this year. Just like building a house, call the Fed's number the "planned" or projected blueprint idea.

But now let's look at the "as built" story. Here, where the "rubber meets the road," or I should say "where the planter tucks in the actual corn seed,' the "actual" or real situation is quite another story due to very late corn plantings, if at all. The surprise is that the market has not yet reacted much.

Last Monday USDA reported that only 12% of the nation's corn crop was in as of Sunday night (12 May 2013.) This should have shocked the markets--but didn't. As of today, US corn planting is up to 28%, but a far cry from the "fast planting" of last year which stood at 85% [on the same date] one year ago.

Western states show significant delayed corn planting because of wet soils.

With long corn crop maturation days here in Ohio's Corn Belt, common wisdom is that if you don't have your seed in by May 10th, you may as well forget it (or switch to planting soybean.) Here we are almost the middle of May and very little corn is planted and the media and markets seem to say: "Ho-hum...nothing to see here, move along folks." This is not good; we are not being told or shown the truth that a nation can rely and act upon.

Maybe this all just doesn't matter; maybe all the corn will eventually get in, maybe we'll have excellent weather and no drought or natural disasters, maybe insects and diseases won't affect the corn, maybe the price at harvest will be just ducky. "Maybe" is the operative word here and that word ain't even good a notion as "close enough" like when you play horseshoes or toss hand grenades.

My thanks to Marlin Clark, commodity trader at "Market Monitor" on pages A6-A7 in Ohio's "Farm and Dairy" newspaper, issue of 16 May 2013, for is alert on this same subject..

Thoughtfully submitted, - Woody in Ohio

JWR Replies: Thanks for that early news tip. SurvivalBlog readers should consider themselves forewarned. This would be a good juncture to buy few more super pails of whole corn and cornmeal. Be sure to buy them before prices jump!

James,
To follow up on a recent letter: Yes, stock up on shotgun shells! The availability of shotgun shells here locally (northern Gulf Coast) seems to have improved in some stores-but by no means all retail outlets- in recent weeks. For a while there wasn't much to be found. Shells that were available generally had a high price or were of a variety that fell outside the range of everyday use (i.e. high-priced shells loaded with tungsten or steel shot.) If a person needs shotshells and you can find a good product that meets your needs, then I suggest you buy them by the case. If you don't, then your only regret will be not buying them when you had the opportunity. - J.B. and Co.

JWR,
 I am struck by the continued availability of a variety of 12 gauge during this severe ammo shortage.  As we all know, the 12 gauge is probably one of the most versatile and powerful firearms we can have in a survival battery, or even just to have around during normal times.  I live in Houston, Texas and can't vouch for the rest of the country but I see plenty of 12 Gauge ammo everywhere I go.  The Bass Pro Shops flyer I just got even has Federal target loads in it for $6.49 per box of 25, that's 26 cents per round!  With 9mm, .223, and the like hovering around an average of $1 per round, this seems like a steal, by comparison.  Anyway, all the sporting good stores used to have plenty of sales on a variety of ammo, but now the only thing anyone seems to have enough of to even bother advertising is the 12 Gauge.  Yes, maybe some 20 gauge and .410 as well.  My point is: like-minded individuals should take this opportunity to make sure they are fully stocked with all flavors of shotshells.  Just six months ago it seemed absurd to think that we would now have a hard time finding .22 Long Rifle ammo.  Most would say we have not entered TEOTWAWKI as of yet, but the bare ammo shelves at the store make me wonder.  Even my 12 year old son is taken aback by the continued sight of these bare shelves.  Could the shotgun shells be gone in the next six months?  What a scary sight that would be. - David O.

Consider the implications of some recent events in America:

• The entire city of Boston is locked down under the equivalent of martial law, and house-to-house searches are conducted in one neighborhood without warrants. No uproar. No publicized post facto inquiries.
• John Corzine is not prosecuted for stealing more than a billion dollars from farmers and ranchers at MF Global. Nary a peep from the mainstream media.
• An Out-of-state "Marketplace Fairness Act" sales tax bill is ramrodded through the Senate. No uproar.
• The Fast and Furious scandal results in NO high-level dismissals from the BATFE or Justice Department, even though it was clear that it was ordered from the top. Few people are asking the President: What did he know and when did he know it? No uproar.
• Multiple Benghazi Cover-Ups. No huge Iran-Contra type congressional hearings. No dismissals.
• Asset Forfeiture by the Department of Homeland Security has become institutionalized. Hardly noticed.
• Justice Department snooping of Associated Press journalists' phone records. No uproar.
• The Obama administration intentionally makes the sequester budget cuts as painful as possible by slowing down air traffic control, in a grandstanding move. No uproar.
• Attorney General Eric Holder threatens the State of Kansas for daring to assert its sovereignty. No uproar.
• An amnesty deal for illegal border-crossers is negotiated in the Senate back rooms with a mixture of bribes and arm-twisting, and it now awaits a perfunctory debate and a floor vote. No public outcry.
• Meanwhile, Legitimate hard-working, law-abiding refugees (homeschoolers) who properly applied for visas face deportation. This gets barely any notice in the mainstream press.
  
• A jury finds a late-term abortionist guilty of multiple murders and he is handed a life sentence. Hardly mentioned by the mainstream press.
• Bitcoin's main banking interface (Mt. Gox) has its assets seized by the Department of Homeland Security. No mainstream news banner headlines. No uproar.
• Most blatantly, there were revelations of systematic targeting of conservative and Jewish groups by the IRS,--perhaps as many as 500 groups. At last there is some indignant bleating heard, but only because mainstream press deems it "newsworthy." Few people are asking the President: What did he know and when did he know it?
• And as all of these monumental, riveting events are going on, what is the most sought after news story by Americans querying Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines? Angelina Jolie's hooters.

So much for enjoying "The most ethical and transparent administration in history."

Eleven years ago, when the Department of Homeland Security was formed, were were promised that it would merely be an umbrella organization that would just coordinate the activities of existing agencies, and have no policing powers of of it own. Well, look at what it has become. With more than 230,000 employees, DHS is now the third largest Cabinet-level Federal department. DHS now has legions of cyber sniffers, blue-gloved crotch gropers, and asset seizers. I suspect that internal DHS checkpoints will be coming soon.

The worst sort of tyranny is the sort that isn't even recognized by those who suffer beneath it's yoke.

Can't folks see how the nooses are being tightened around our necks? Don't they recognize the collusion of the mass media? Where is the outrage? Where are the protests? I've concluded that the America's rams got elastratred by the Public School system years ago, and now there are just a bunch of useless wethers. This is pathetic. If this continues, American liberty and free enterprise will end with just a few plaintive cries of "baa." The sheep have eagerly followed a bucket of grain. Welcome to the slaughterhouse--or at least to the anteroom. - J.W.R.

A recurring theme in western journalism, academia, and collectivist politics is the quaint notion that firearms are intrinsically evil. That is, that they have a will of their own, that somehow inspires their owners to murder and mayhem. I liken this nonsensical belief to voodoo.

The "guns are evil" viewpoint was encapsulated by social psychologist Leonard Berkowitz when he wrote: “Guns not only permit violence, they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger.” I am astounded that something like that can be earnestly said or written in modern times, and not immediately get shouted down. This statement betrays an outlook that is not much different than that of a practitioner of Voodoo. And to see this espoused by some with a nomen appendage like "Ph.D." makes it even more absurd. (Leonard Berkowitz was awarded a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan in 1951. But apparently U. of M.'s doctoral program did not include courses in logic. And his study of what he called "the weapons effect" was conducted quite unscientifically.) Just imagine if he or one of his academic cohort were to proclaim: "Typewriters not only permit libel, they can stimulate it as well. The fingers tap the keys, but the keys may also be pulling the finger toward the keyboard by an unseen force, stimulating libel.” Any psychologist who trots out such nonsense needs to consult a psychiatrist.

I have a few questions for Dr. Berkowitz and his peers:

1.) What is the mechanical difference between a "target pistol" and a "murder weapon"?

2.) What is a "Nazi Luger"? Can a Luger pistol join the National Socialist party, and share their hatred of perceived Untermenschen and wish to exterminate them? By the same token, what is a "Communist AK-47"?

3.) How many people have been killed by guns without someone physically pulling the trigger? And in any very rare exception to the norm, was it a mechanical defect or negligent handling at fault, or did the gun really wish to do harm and "go off by itself."?

4.) Why have gun makers been sued for wrongful death because of murders committed with their products? (If a gun does indeed consistently fire a bullet at high velocity when the safety mechanism is disengaged and the trigger is pulled, then isn't that device working just as designed?)

5.) What, pray tell, is the distinguishing characteristics of an "assault" rifle, and what differentiates it from a "hunting" rifle? Does the attachment of a black plastic buttstock make a gun in any way more wicked, murderous, or bent on assault than attaching a pretty wooden stock?

6.) Is a magazine capacity of 16 rounds inherently more evil, criminal or sinister than a capacity of 15 rounds? (This was threshold that the geniuses in the Colorado legislature recently declared, complete with jail term penalties. OBTW, Canada set the threshold of evil at a mere five rounds, for semiautomatic long guns.)

Let step back and look at these tools logically and dispassionately: A firearm cartridge can be thought of as a simple single-use internal combustion engine, with a piston that does not reciprocate. Instead, it takes a one-way flight. The engine housing is a brass cartridge case, and the "vehicle" is the entire gun. The pistons as are called bullets. The fuel for these engines (gunpowder) creates the expanding gasses that drive the pistons. Cartridge firearms are compact vehicles for change that have shaped modern history. The righteousness of their use is entirely up to their users, since like any other tool they can be used both for good or for ill.  A firearm is just a tool with no volition. A rifle is no different than a claw hammer. To wit: A hammer can be used to build a house, or it can be used to bash in someone’s skull—the choice of uses is entirely up to the owner.  A bulldozer can used to build roads, or to destroy houses. A rifle can be used to drill holes in paper targets, or to dispatch a marauding bear, or to murder your fellow man. Again, the choice of uses is entirely up to the user. But, alas, even though it is the 21st Century, we are still dealing with voodoo-like superstition. If you get angry or drunk and you then use your Chrysler car to run over a neighbor's child, should your neighbor then launch an organization called "The Coalition to Ban Chryslers," to punish all Chrysler owners?

I am also opposed to all so-called “gun control” laws because they are a form of prior restraint. The gun grabbers presuppose ill-intent on the part of law-abiding citizens and even the guns themselves. I find these laws akin to the concept of “pre-crime”—a term coined by science fiction novelist Phillip K. Dick, in his novel Minority Report. (It was later turned into a movie, starring Tom Cruise.)

If a firearm is used by a criminal or psychopath with evil intentions, then it is a tool for evil. But if it is used for good (to defend life and property), then it is a tool for good. A firearm by itself has no sentience, no volition, no moral force, and no politics. The proper term for this is an adiaphorous object--something that is neither good nor evil. A firearm is simply a cleverly-designed construction of metal, wood, and plastic in the form of a precision tool. Granted, a firearms magnifies the reach of a man's volition. But so does a long bow, and so does a telephone and the Internet. But to deride the tool itself instead of someone who abuses it is profoundly illogical and superstitious.

So why do they disparage the tool and not the one who wrongly wields it? Why isn't gasoline seen as evil, since Julio Gonzalez used it to kill 87 people at the Happy Land Club in his murderous arson, in 1990? And why aren't there calls to ban nitrogen fertilizer, since Timothy McVeigh used it to kill 168 people in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995? And shouldn't Boeing brand jet aircraft be banned, since they were used to take nearly 3,000 innocent lives on September 11, 2001? And aren't pressure cookers now the weapon of choice of Islamic terrorists?

Ever since the invention accurate rifled firearms, the course of human history has been set by the men who wield them. For someone to exclude themselves or seek to disenfranchise others from owning or carrying them is the most absurdly illogical and downright suicidal attitude imaginable. It is obvious that so-called "Gun Control" laws have nothing to do with the criminal misuse of guns, since criminals ignore all laws, by definition. Only honest, law-abiding citizens obey these laws. Rather, these laws are just about control--namely people control. Dictators cannot dictate unless they have unarmed subjects.

Here it is, in quintessence: You are either a man with a gun, or you are mere human cattle for the slaughter. The choice is yours. I prefer to be armed and vigilant rather than being at the mercy of some would-be slave master. There is no notch in my ear.

Because they are such useful tools, our founding fathers recognized the great importance of safeguarding our ownership, carry, and free use of arms. Like the printing press, they were specifically protected by the Bill of Rights. These enumerated rights should be taken at face value and not misconstrued. The Second Amendment is about protecting your right to go deer hunting the same way that the First Amendment is about protecting your right to publish poetry.

Conclusion
Please speak up when you see someone preaching voodoo gun hatred. Violence involving firearms is actually down 39% in the U.S. since 1993. But anti-gun rhetoric has recently been increasing. All of the "evil gun" talk is nothing more than an unfounded irrational fear and loathing that has no place in a modern society that recognizes facts and logic. Anyone who engages in this rhetoric should be immediately suspect. Odds are that they are halophantae with a hidden agenda. While they rail against an inanimate tool, I suspect that they are actually plotting against the liberty of a group of people with whom they disagree. They want to disarm you, so that they (or their hired armed thugs) will have a monopoly on force. And if the history of the 20th century taught us anything, it is that a monopoly on force inevitably leads to genocide. - JWR

I've encountered a few folks who don't realize that slavery still exists in the world. I'm not talking about figurative slavery--like every April 15th, here in the States. Rather, I'm talking about literal contemporary slavery, with kidnapping and a life spent in chains or locked up in a cell or prison-like dormitory every night. Slavery is still commonplace in North Africa, most notably in the Sahel. Wikipedia sums it up: "The [slavery] problem is most severe in the Sahel region (and to a lesser extent the Horn of Africa), along the racial boundary of Arabized Berbers in the north and blacks in the south. This concerns the Sahel states of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan in particular, continuing a centuries-old pattern of hereditary servitude going back to the Muslim conquests." It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 slaves in Sudan, alone. Many of these slaves are Christian, and virtually all of their slave masters are Muslims.

You will have to look hard to find many mentions of slavery in the politically correct mainstream media, which is still dutifully chanting the "Islam is the religion of Peace" mantra. Most western liberal journalists have conveniently twisted the concept of modern slavery to focus almost entirely on sex slaves in Eastern Europe and in places like Thailand, while ignoring much more blatant slavery in North Africa. To be fair, it is much easier for a journalist to get a picture of a teenage prostitute on a street corner in Bangkok than it is for them to get a picture of slave toiling in field near Al-Fashir. But there still seems to be a lot of willful ignorance and misdirection. Thankfully, we do hear about what is going on in Sudan on CBN, from bloggers like Chuck Holton, and through other Christian media outlets.

How can you help stop modern-day slavery? Please support active resistance in the Sahel region. Just a few brave folks are liberating slaves and teaching villagers how to shoot, so that they can fight off would-be slaver kidnappers. One charitable group that will soon be doing firearms training on the border of South Sudan and Sudan is Christian Reformed Outreach, South Sudan (C.R.O.S.S.) I support and highly recommend their unique ministry. OBTW, they have a few volunteer support positions open, here in the United States that would be ideal for retirees.

Just buying up modern-day slaves and giving them their freedom hasn't worked. The Islamic slavers simply go and kidnap more of them. The only way to effectively stop armed slaver kidnappers is to train and equip large numbers of armed free men in the border villages. In the modern context, you can "Just Say No" to slavery only with a battle rifle.

Jim:
I just heard from my long-time friend, Gene Sockut, who lives in Israel. Gene was the chief firearms instructor for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) for 26 years. Even though he's now in his mid-70s, he's still very active - he's a sniper/sniper instructor with the Israel Border Police, and has written several books, and videos and is a much in demand speaker on security matters in Israel. So Gene e-mailed me this morning, and he mentioned they are experiencing ammo shortages in Israel, much like we have here, and when you can find ammo there, it is double and triple the usual price. So, things are bad all over... Make It Count, - Pat Cascio (SurvivalBlog's Field Gear Editor)

Reader Joe K. sent this news link: Bill Seeks Steel Cents, Nickels, Dimes, and Quarters. Note that the bill's main sponsors are from Ohio, which is a steel manufacturing state. But this legislation is more than just grandstanding. Unlike similar legislation in previous sessions of congress, this new bill will probably gain traction in the current congress, since the government has now been losing money with the seigniorage costs of pennies and nickels for many years. Well, I've been warning you since 2009, folks. While this bill is still in committee, I suspect that a coinage composition change will take place before the end of 2013. The ravages of inflation made the change inevitable. The Coinflation web site presently lists the scrap value of the base metal content of the current U.S. zinc penny at $0.021192 (211.92% of face value) and the cupronickel five cent piece at $0.045671 (91.34% of face value), and their actual minting and distribution costs are actually much higher. According to Coin Update, it cost the US Mint $0.1009 to produce and distribute each nickel, as of fiscal year 2013. They can't go on spending 10 cents producing each five cent coin much longer.

You gave been warned. I strongly urge you to go to your local bank or credit union and ask them to order you some $200 U.S. Mint Boxes of nickels. In just a few years, after the debasement is completed and the rational self interest of Gresham's Law psychology purges all of the real cupronickel nickels from circulation, rolls of pre-2013 nickels will sell at a substantial premium. Because nickel is a base metal, this premium will never be as high as that for silver coins, but at least you'll know that you possess some genuine money that will hold its value, even if the Quantitative Easing monetization process continues indefinitely. (Quantitative Easing is debasement of the dollar, writ large.)

In addition to hedging against gradual inflation, holding nickels will also provide you insurance against the less likely sudden revaluation of the Dollar. As I've explained previously, if a zero is ever lopped off the Dollar, new paper currency will be issued, but the old coinage will probably still circulate. (Since it would be too expensive to replace.) This will make anyone holding coins the beneficiaries of an overnight 10X gain.

This may be your last chance to stock up on nickels at face value, and without any sorting, folks! If you don't already have four or five .30 caliber ammo cans full of rolls of nickels, then you are behind the power curve. Don't dawdle any longer. - J.W.R.

Mr. Rawles;
I had a conversation with a friend and the question came up: "I wonder how the rest of the world is on prepping or is it mostly just the US?"

Can you shed some light on that by any chance? Thanks, - P.W.

JWR Replies: Preparedness is indeed catching on, globally. Just look at the visits map for SurvivalBlog. (We have had visits from 200 countries!) Granted, survivalism is primarily a phenomenon of the English-speaking world, but there is also considerable interest in France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and in the Scandinavian countries. And there probably would be greater interest in the Third World, if not that income levels are so low that it is difficult for most families to get beyond a subsistence level of Hamsterungen. But I have heard from some American travelers that wealthy families in India, Pakistan, Panama, Honduras and several other countries have also been seen stocking up.

JWR,
One topic that has come up recently is that license holders are more law-abiding than the general population, presumably because they’ve undergone background checks by the state.    The reality is that this has been shown in multiple case reviews.
 
A 2011 study in Texas concluded that CCW/CCL permit holders generally do not use guns to commit crimes and they commit crimes of any nature much less frequently than the general population of Texas.
 
According to an article by the Beaufort Observer concerning the study:
 “The Texas Department of Public Safety published a list of crimes committed in Texas in 2011 by everyone convicted and by those convicted who also held CCL's. The bottom line: Concealed carry permit holders commit less than 1% of the crimes. If you want to be exact, they committed two tenths of one percent of the crimes in 2011. And not all of those involved firearms or violence.”

“The data show that 63,679 people were convicted of a long list of crimes. Of those 63 thousand, only 120 were CCL holders.”

“Ironically, if you drill down into the data it shows that the most frequently committed crime by CCL holders were domestic violence related crimes.”
 
Likewise, a recent article looking at Kansas CCW permit holders by the Wichita Eagle concluded the same:
“Of the 51,078 permits that have been issued by the state since the law took effect in 2007, 44 permit holders have been charged with a crime while using a firearm through late October, according to records provided by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office.    That works out to one charge for every 1,161 permit holders, or 0.09 percent.   The numbers squeeze even tighter when you consider that of the 44 permit holders charged, 17 licenses have been revoked because they were convicted of a crime that disqualifies them from having a permit.
 
Additionally, a 2011 New York Times article derived that among North Carolina permit holders, they were 5.48 times less likely to commit a violent crime.
 
Granted, there is no guarantee that someone with a clean past cannot commit a future crime – we are all born without a criminal conviction.     However, it would seem impossible not to concede that those who legally carry a weapon are the Good Guys.

Thanks again, - Doc C. in Flyover Country

I currently provide consulting services to major global corporations. One effective way to do battle with a competitor is to place yourself in their shoes and plan out your own demise – exactly what I will do here today. Below is my concise strategy to completely ban firearms in the US within 10 years. I am not alone here, rest assured there are many groups that have paid tidy sums to have the same roadmap developed and are currently rolling it out in a very deliberate manner.

Step 1 – Divide to conquer. We know there were not enough votes to maintain the AWB and there are more gun owners now then there were in 2004. We know there is Youtube and forums that people gather on and multiply like cockroaches. We know that about 5 million AR-15s have been sold and probably the same magnitude of AK-47s if not more. We have surveys, Freedom of Information requests and NICS records at our disposal. We cannot defeat the entire gun owning US and we know it, but it doesn’t matter one bit. Let them believe the NRA is all powerful and they don’t have to act on their own, much less as a group.

First, make this a Democrat versus Republican issue. This will cut their forces in half immediately.

Next, divide the gun owners into niche groups and get them to turn on each other. We know there are gun owners that only hunt. We’ll craft a message that explains they hunt with three shotgun shells, why would anyone need a Saiga baby killer that can accept 10 or 20? That gun is only meant to destroy lives, you can’t even legally carry one into the field. That will resonate with at least some. We also know some only target or competitively shoot. Why would you need a 100 round drum magazine? Find a time when it was used to kill and convince them to give up someone else’s 100 round drum, in return for not touching their 1911. Then, find all the new concealed handgun people and show them how ridiculous it is to have a flash hider and PVS-14 night vision scope. These are offensive tools for the military and how would you like it if they got in the wrong hands and the bad guys entered your home one night with them? If we can make a reasonable law about offensive weapons, I’m sure we can live with your right to defend yourself against criminals trying to get them to kill your family and steal your guns.

This is by far the most powerful and greatest strategy to achieve our goal, divide the group off and pick them off one at a time. If we do nothing else, do this.

We will also hit them at the local, state and federal level. We have politicians and the media at all levels and they don’t. Make them defend several fronts and confuse the issue by launching similar but different bills. Have ten different definitions of an “assault rifle” and make them tell everyone how great assault is. “Assault” is a crime, force them to defend it daily. Our goal is to chip away and develop a base to build on; we just need small victories and don’t really care where they are or what we take out of their hands. Let the genie out of the bottle and she won’t go back.

Finally, divide the supply chain and make independent deals. Make a deal with Wal-Mart to slack off the government heat in exchange for them to voluntarily agree to stop selling semi-automatic weapons and 5.56 ammunition. Make a deal with the NRA to expand background checks in return for a larger voice or a few extra cops. Amazon.com is probably willing to do just about anything as are the other retailers from the west coast. People will see all of these big companies coming on board and each deal by itself will make some sense. Together, we gain a tremendous amount without giving anything up. It’s like winning without the burden of a congressional vote. Church groups are golden, get them on stage with you and host discussions about how bad guns are. Pass out candles and framed pictures of the fallen. Make sure we develop the agenda and makes sure it is gun control.

Step 2 – Hearts, not minds. Babies dying. Families destroyed. Tragic accidents. Candlelight vigil. Sensible steps. Moral obligation. Reasonable response. Blood. Funerals. Mothers crying. President’s crying. Enough is enough. Why is the US so much worse? Emotion sells, don’t deviate.

We sell to the heart and ignore the mind. People on average don’t know history and won’t take the time to research anything we or the other side says – plus, they tend to be limited by the truth. If we say it, it is true. “Assault weapons” are what we say they are, and can and should expand over time. The 5.56 is a high-powered killing machine designed to mow down military enemies 1,000 yards away and has no civilian use. Tyranny is so dead we don’t even bring it up unless we are talking about the Middle East. The second amendment applies to hunting with muskets. High capacity is anything over one round. Everything is high-powered.

Make up new names or find ugly names like “street sweeper.” “Tactical” companies play right in, go out and find guns with pictures of snakes, infidels, skulls and goblins on them. Put them on the news, in the press and on the morning and evening shows. Use those pictures for stories they aren’t even related to. Make famous a few YouTuber mall ninjas and tough guys who don’t shave. Use the word militia and northern Idaho with pictures of skinheads from the 1980s.

Answer questions with questions. Q: Do you believe in a natural right of self-defense? A: How many little children have to die before we act?

Statistics are great, start with strong societies like Japan that are inherently peaceful. They have no guns and just about no murders, case closed. Don’t worry about places like Chicago, nobody outside inner city Chicago knows or really cares. Chicago doesn’t even care. Canada and the UK are safe too. We want to be just like them, probably even better. The university brigade is your best friend here, start with UC Berkeley and go out from there. Find the janitor at Harvard and get him on MSNBC and CNN. He is an expert in a suit and tie and we all believe him. Combine university experts with their anecdotal statistics. Better yet, find a crazy gun owner and have a debate showing everyone how rabid they are.

Our side is the “pro” side and their side is the “anti” side. Remember how we turned the pro-life crowd into anti-abortion activists? Activists shoot people and blow up buildings. Pro-safety is the first step but not the last. Develop a name other than “gun owner” or “gun rights” and certainly stay away from the word constitution. Our enemies are anti-_____ activists, fill in the blank.

Finally, send every gun death story to the media and discuss it during all press briefings. Every issue can be tied back to the tragedy of the day. Are you old enough to remember when the nightly news read every American death nightly during the latter part of the Vietnam War? It is flat out effective. If it ends up showing something you don’t want to see (like the Oregon shooting stopped by a legally armed citizen who didn’t even need to fire a shot), simply let it fade. Nobody will pick it up except maybe Faux News. Every article should contain the following words: high-powered, high-capacity, military style, arsenal, explosives, cache, bulletproof vest, legally owned and certainly assault rifle. Have a high count for something; the number of deaths this year, the number of mass shootings, number of guns at the scene, number of bullets, just find big numbers. Don’t worry about accuracy, who is going to argue with you and take the side of the killer? Nobody will notice when the 10 assault rifle cache discovered in his car turns into only one two weeks from now.

Publicize reloading. Send the ATF in to inspect illegal ammunition factories cranking out thousands of high-power rounds in garages. Did you know your neighbor had a stockpile of explosive gunpowder, 5,000 detonators and 5,000 armor piercing bullets and was assembling them in the garage near the playground your kid uses? Let them argue terminology and defend the terrorists. We probably need a hotline like we had for drugs as well as several stock homemade videos of explosions and anarchists for the news to use.

Step 3 – Diversion - “an attack or feint that draws the attention and force of an enemy from the point of the principal operation” (from meriam-webster.com).

Beat the “ban” drum. Beat the executive order drum even louder. Let Feinstein and all of the pro-safety groups whip them into a frenzy. While the other side is all lathered up and running around putting out fires, we are free to get work done. Use existing powers to limit or tax imports (creating US jobs or protecting US manufactures from those pesky Russians and Chinese dumping illegal cheap imports into the US). Pass regulations to make it just about impossible to be an FFL. Raid a few. Send IRS auditors to the rest.

Work on Internet sales, how can they actually verify someone is 18 or 21? There should be a couple dozen hoops to set up somewhere. A good raid or ten would work well here too and doesn’t require anyone to vote on anything. Use stock pictures of a gun shop in the seedy part of town and tie it back to a shooting – “in a store like this…..” even if the store had nothing to do with any crimes.

Undercover gun show footage is great – everyone knows that is where evil goes for fun. We prove our point and make people afraid to buy or sell. Beat on the gun show loophole but never define it. “Narrow” it six or seven times, always limiting something but never quite fixing the problem.

What about shooting ranges? Do they comply with zoning requirements? How about making new ones? Noise ordinances? Have we tested nearby water for lead? I bet we can find a few holes in the outside wall the local news would love to hear about. What chemicals are in primers or powder that can hurt people or damage the environment? Same goes with gun stores, the city really should find a way to ban the sale of arms and ammunitions within city or county limits, don’t we have an attorney they could borrow or a “best practice” from another city we could share with them?

Get the point yet? Make life miserable for gun merchants and owners. Many will throw in the towel and give up. Make them drive long distances, spend lots of money and take tremendous amounts time to do the simplest task. Their group will get smaller over time and eventually they will go down in a whimper.

Step 4 – Money talks, especially when they don’t have any. Remember sin taxes on cigarettes and liquor? We make more money from smokes than Marlboro! Tax ammunition 50% and use the money for victim support and trauma bandages for first responders. Put it up for a vote with no riders, let them vote against grieving mothers.

Parlay this with Step 1 – people accept more taxes as long as we tax someone else. Go round and round and eventually you have everyone. Divide ammunition up and start with taxes on military ammunition, “armor piercing” or hollow points. What is military ammunition you ask? It is something we don’t want them to have. Expand it over time. A .308 or 30-06 can and will pierce a police officer’s Level IIIA vest, do we even have a name for ultra-high power cop killer armor piercing bullets yet? Vilify reloading, they are some of the most dedicated.

An NFA firearm or accessory now costs $200 just for the tax stamp, simply expand it to include things we can’t yet ban. Who would argue against a more solid background check for assault rifles (remember the truth doesn’t really matter here). $200 for the rifle stamp, $200 for a magazine stamp, $1,000 for a rifle (isn’t supply and demand great?), $600 for a case of ammo, $100 for mandatory locks and cases for the home and vehicle followed up with $150 for a state license = Joe be too broke to be a gun owner.

Levy a $1,000 annual FFL renewal fee plus $50 per firearm sale and use the money for more inspectors. We probably only have a few, or at least that is our story. Shouldn’t they also need $50,000,000 in liability insurance as a minimum? How can a hairdresser be required to be licensed, but not a guy selling the most high-powered weapon known to man? The owner and all their staff needs to be federally certified and licensed as well and that’s going to cost money a guy making $12 an hour just won’t have. The instructors are private citizens that also need to be certified. To protect the workers and gun shop owners, we’ll limit what they can charge to $50 for the four day course which will naturally restrict how many classes they offer and where. Add a test that they send in to us for an eight week grading process. They will have found another job by the time they get the results. Annual renewals with excessive paperwork work well.

Don’t forget about the local level, they deserve love too. They need the money new licenses and permits can provide – plus two sets of permits beats one any day. Inspectors are people that need jobs too, especially if we reward the ones that issue the most citations with promotions. Let’s see how they like “pay for performance.”

Step 5 – Frame it and hang it on our wall. We experienced a near miss when the NRA proposed an idea to end the real problem – social violence. This should serve as a stark reminder of our need to completely define the discussion. For anyone not paying attention, we are aiming to end gun ownership. Use tragic events to frame the discussion of gun control. Debate gun control, not violence or our society.

What would have happened if the NRA proposed a gathering at their headquarters to develop a comprehensive proposal to curb violence by addressing it as a social problem?

We frame the issue, we choose the venue and we choose the participant list. The issue is always gun control, we don’t debate the problem, we debate a version of the solution – gun control. The only question we want to hear is what type of gun control is best? How many rounds do people need? Should this gun be legal?

Use tragic events, then quickly transition to the core issue of disarming the nation. Every tragedy has the same solution.

Debrief – It would be almost comical if it weren’t playing out on the news every night. President Obama has chosen this place and this time as the battle royale. This is the big one. Canada had theirs, so did the UK and New Zealand. Today in the UK, you can be arrested for carrying a baseball bat in your car. I say this to reinforce the fact that you are either in support of private gun ownership or not. This isn’t the time to debate what types of magazines are “necessary”. Win this battle or the only magazine you will be buying will be Newsweek.

Six main reasons were cited by the authors as to why the Second Amendment is necessary (reference Wikipedia):

• Deter a tyrannical government
• Repel invasion
• Suppress insurrection
• Facilitate the natural right of self-defense
• Participate in law enforcement
• Enable the people to organize a militia system

Hunting and target shooting are notably absent. In fact, all of the above justifications involve fighting or war-time activities. The Second Amendment has nothing to do with deer or pieces of paper with circles on them. Noah Webster perhaps summarized it most eloquently (my emphasis) “Before a standing army can rule the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.”

I now take the liberty of combining the six known justifications for the Second Amendment into two:

• Defend the country against a tyrannical government
• Defend ourselves, our family and our neighbors against people who wish to harm and kill us

The most effective (and only logical) argument that the Second Amendment is antiquated and should be removed or revised would be to argue that these are modern times and the two bullets above longer exist. Regarding tyrannical government, as of this writing the world has witnessed the beginning of at least five revolutions in the last two years: Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia. In the last decade, at least five additional governments were overthrown by their citizens. I refuse to participate in the fantasy that American leaders are somehow genetically immune to future tyranny – it is an unfortunate human trait.

Neither can a sane person assume that Americans will never again face war or crime that requires citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves or the nation. Our armed forces and law enforcement are the best trained, best equipped, finest organization that has ever walked the Earth, yet we cannot expect them to be everywhere, always. Reference the LA riots, 9-11, Katrina, or any of the 6.6 million violent crimes committed every year in the US during “peace time.”

We need semi-automatic rifles with full capacity magazines for the same reason the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, police, National Guard, FBI, CIA, State Department, Secret Service, Border Patrol, and Homeland Security do – they are a very effective tool for stopping bad people from doing bad things to those we care about. Go back to the LA riots, if you were looking out your window and an armed group of thugs was heading to your front door, what weapon would you want?

If you think this is a republican vs. democrat or liberal vs. conservative debate, please wake up. Republicans, if you ever want to find a concentrated group of gun enthusiasts, head over to the union hall. The fight is those for the constitution and those against it. If one amendment falls, what holds the other ones up?

What do we do? Easy to say, hard to do – act as one unit and stand for someone you may not even agree with. You may only hunt birds and actually really despise the AK-47 and the punks on Youtube. The thing is that someday you will probably need that guy with the AK to stand for you. If he falls, who do you think is next? My daughter’s NRA instructor hit the nail on the head by having a student break a pencil. Then he handed 15 to the strongest guy in the class that couldn’t break them all at one time. Realize that there is an agenda to disarm you and this is simply the first fight.

The future depends on sportsmen and gun owners, make more of them. Find more like you and band together – you’ll need reassurance and a strong partner. Join whatever organization floats your boat, better yet join three or four.

Take your kid hunting. Take a neighbor shooting. Teach them both to be safe and respectful of life. Attend a rally or protest in a suit armed with children, mothers, an honest face and a bunch of facts. Volunteer as a gun owning group, volunteer to teach hunters education. Take the Scout troop to the rifle range to shoot arrows. Take a class or teach a class. Host a swap meet at the range. Invite people out to your property for shooting or hunting. Turn a fisherman into a hunter. Turn a bird hunter into a defensive pistol shooter. Buy them all a pocket constitution. Have you ever heard of Project Appleseed? They will send someone out to talk to your group for free.

You don’t have to be a gun owner to respect the constitution. Talk with as many people as you can, you may be surprised how many non-gun owners are just as afraid as you.

Buy arms and ammunition, a right not exercised is a right lost. You shouldn’t need another reason to pick up a new gun, magazines, ammunition or parts right now. Do it. Buy whatever you need, buy whatever you may need - the industry needs your support. Firearms, ammunition, magazines, parts, holsters, targets, everything. Make sure to tell the vendors your support is based on their support, one big happy family. Find the ones that actively donate and work with GOA and the NRA. Send them a letter thanking them – they will probably be getting a lot of heat soon. Convince others to do the same. Could you talk to 10 people to get them to send a single e-mail, letter or call? Do they support second amendment groups? Ask them why not and remind them their competitors do. Keep the heat on anyone that starts to go soft on our rights. Use your Youtube channel or your blog to magnify your efforts. Link to other like-minded messages.

Get a concealed carry permit and use it. In my state, each and every one either goes across the desk of a sheriff or police chief. What message will the small town sheriff that is up for re-election next year get if 500 cross his desk this month? Meet your local sheriff or police chief and thank them for what they do. Go as a sportsman’s group and hit the fire station on the way home.

Watch each company that meets with the administration or state and local government. Write them a letter thanking them for what they do and letting them know your continued business 100% depends on helping defend our constitutional rights. Let them know about your YouTube channel with 50,000 subscribers or the 10 forums you regularly post to. Send the letter out to other companies just in case. They may be caving or preparing to fight, you don’t know without asking.

For an offensive strategy, how about we also talk about the 2,500 babies killed every day in abortion clinics? Maybe we can discuss how Obama and David Gregory’s kids go to a school with 11 armed guards? Remind them this is in addition to the Secret Service, the school had the guards long before the Obama kids showed up – Obama and David chose to protect their kids with guns and now want yours. What about Bloomberg’s bodyguards? Hypocrisy doesn’t play well with most Americans. They already know politicians have a tendency to be elitist hypocrites, feed that fire with some good old facts.

The solution is measured, appropriate action in massive quantity. Pull people toward us, don’t push them away. Act as if your life depends on it because it just may. What are you going to do TODAY? What can you do during your lunch break? What about for 30 minutes tonight?

You have a natural right of self-protection that you enjoy today because patriots banded together and gave their life so that you can be free. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring; liberty is the one gift we must give to our children and grandchildren just as it was handed down to us.

Dear Sir:
Many are dismayed by the recent Colorado law restricting firearms. But a cursory reading shows that the law only applies to "persons liable" and not the people at large.

Regarding any new law, tax or regulation, remember to ask servant government:
[ ] Whose endowed rights are being secured by this ?
[ ] How and when did I give consent to be bound by this ?
[ ] What privilege is the subject of this tax ?

Because the Declaration of Independence states that
Job #1 = secure rights, and
Job #2 = govern those who consent.

As to consent, let us recall that the republican form of government, as defined, recognizes that the American people are sovereigns, served - not ruled - by government.

Furthermore, the courts recognize that the laws are often limited in scope and applicability.

"In common usage, the term 'person' does not include the sovereign, [and] statutes employing the [word] are ordinarily construed to exclude it."
Wilson v. Omaha Indian Tribe, 442 U.S. 653, 667, 61 L.Ed2. 153, 99 S.Ct. 2529 (1979)
(quoting United States v. Cooper Corp. 312 U.S. 600, 604, 85 L.Ed. 1071, 61S.Ct. 742 (1941)).

"A Sovereign cannot be named in any statute as merely a 'person' or 'any person'".
Wills v. Michigan State Police, 105 L.Ed. 45 (1989)

If you thought "government" was sovereign, read these:

The people of the state, as the successors of its former sovereign, are entitled to all the rights which formerly belonged to the king by his own prerogative.
Lansing v. Smith, (1829) 4 Wendell 9, (NY)

At the Revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people and they are truly the sovereigns of the country.
Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 440, 463

It will be admitted on all hands that with the exception of the powers granted to the states and the federal government, through the Constitutions, the people of the several states are unconditionally sovereign within their respective states.
Ohio L. Ins. & T. Co. v. Debolt 16 How. 416, 14 L.Ed. 997

In America, however, the case is widely different. Our government is founded upon compact. Sovereignty was, and is, in the people.
[ Glass v. The Sloop Betsey, 3 Dall 6 (1794)]

Sovereignty itself is, of course, not subject to law, for it is the author and source of law; but in our system, while sovereign powers are delegated to the agencies of government, sovereignty itself remains with the people, by whom and for whom all government exists and acts.
[Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370 (1886)]

Finally, a non-legal reference that shows our ancestors were better informed:

ALIEN, n.  An American sovereign in his probationary state.
- "The Devil's Dictionary" (1906), by Ambrose Bierce

His audience knew what an "American sovereign" was, to understand the joke.

Reference:
GOVERNMENT (Republican Form of Government) "One in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people ... directly ..."
- Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, P. 695

BTW - citizens, by definition, are subjects, because they are obligated to perform mandatory civic duties (i.e., militia duty, jury duty, etc.).
There is no such thing as a sovereign citizen (with a lower case "c".) Which also means that if American people are sovereigns, no one was "born" a U.S. citizen unless they were (a) slaves and (b) outside the jurisdiction of the 50 States united (see: 13th Amendment).

With My Regards, - J.G.

JWR Replies: Sovereignty claims are root-level jurisdictional challenges to the court's relationship to the defendant. While I agree with what you've written in principle, as a practical matter for the past 30+ years the American courts have run roughshod over anyone who has attempted to make any such jurisdictional arguments. This has been true at every level--all the way from local traffic courts up to Federal tax courts. In effect they've corralled everyone into their jurisdiction, and they have selectively tossed out any legal precedents that they dislike, especially those dating from before 1913. Once you step inside their courts, they have you. Even those who rightfully claim to be outside of their synthetic jurisdiction become ensnared by it. And virtually all of the policing organizations enforce that make-believe jurisdiction, despite its contrived origin. So no matter where you go in the 50 States, you are likely to end up in the court system at some point in your life, and 99 times out of 100 you will lose, and this is regardless of how many precedent cases you cite.

Over the past 25 years I've spent hundreds and hundreds of hours researching this, and everything that I've read leads me to the same conclusion: There is precious little justice left in our justice system. It is now more of a "just us" system. And their definition "us" includes just The Powers That Be. My heart goes out to those who have tried to use sovereignty and other jurisdictional arguments in the courts, but the sad truth is that those arguments are regularly ignored--regardless of their relevance, their merit, or their import. We are now faced with a well-entrenched court system that is adjudicating statutory cases (malum prohibitum) just as if they were malum in se cases.

Don't expect to find any "silver bullets" in case citations that pre-date their more recently created (and corrupted) court system. In effect, the courts are now little more than tools of the cabal formed by the fractional reserve bankers, the statist/collectivist state and Federal legislatures, the FDR/BHO school of executive action, and their taxing agents with the BATFE and the IRS. If you fight them on jurisdictional grounds you will nearly always lose. Tilting at windmills may seem noble, but it isn't when they've put liens on your bank accounts, garnished your wages, snatched your kids with their CPS goons, thrown you in jail, or caused you to lose your job/shut down your own business. I've seen many lives, marriages and fortunes ruined by folks who did not choose their fights wisely. Be wise as serpents and meek as lambs. Don't go to war with them over trifles!

Yes, I know, I know, "The first in the order of pleadings is to the jurisdiction" and a court can't proceed with the facts of a case until its jurisdiction has been established. And yes, there are some strong cites out there, such as:

"Once challenged, jurisdiction cannot be assumed, it must be proved to exist." Stuck v. Medical Examiners, 94 Ca 2d 751. 211 P2d 389.

"Once jurisdiction is challenged, the court cannot proceed when it clearly appears that the court lacks jurisdiction, the court has no authority to reach merits, but, rather, should dismiss the action." Melo v. US, 505 F2d 1026.

"A universal principle as old as the law is that a proceedings of a court without jurisdiction are a nullity and its judgment therein without effect either on person or property." Norwood v. Renfield, 34 C 329; Ex parte Giambonini, 49 P. 732.

"The law requires proof of jurisdiction to appear on the record of the administrative agency and all administrative proceedings." Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U. S. 533.

"A court cannot confer jurisdiction where none existed and cannot make a void proceeding valid. It is clear and well established law that a void order can be challenged in any court" Old Wayne Mit. L. Aassoc. v. McDonough, 204 U. S. 8, 27 S. Ct. 236 (1907).

"There is no discretion to ignore lack of jurisdiction." Joyce v. U.S. 474 2D 215.

"Court must prove on the record, all jurisdiction facts related to the jurisdiction asserted." Latana v. Hopper, 102 F. 2d 188; Chicago v. New York, 37 F Supp. 150.

"The law provides that once State and Federal Jurisdiction has been challenged, it must be proven." Main v. Thiboutot, 100 S. Ct. 2502 (1980).

"Jurisdiction can be challenged at any time." and "Jurisdiction, once challenged, cannot be assumed and must be decided." Basso v. Utah Power & Light Co., 495 F 2d 906, 910.

"Defense of lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter may be raised at any time, even on appeal." Hill Top Developers v. Holiday Pines Service Corp., 478 So. 2d. 368 (Fla 2nd DCA 1985)

"There is no discretion to ignore that lack of jurisdiction." Joyce v. US, 474 F2d 215.

"The burden shifts to the court to prove jurisdiction." Rosemond v. Lambert, 469 F2d 416.

"Jurisdiction is fundamental and a judgment rendered by a court that does not have jurisdiction to hear is void ab initio." In Re Application of Wyatt, 300 P. 132; Re Cavitt, 118 P2d 846.

"Thus, where a judicial tribunal has no jurisdiction of the subject matter on which it assumes to act, its proceedings are absolutely void in the fullest sense of the term." Dillon v. Dillon, 187 P 27.

"A court has no jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction, for a basic issue in any case before a tribunal is its power to act, and a court must have the authority to decide that question in the first instance." Rescue Army v. Municipal Court of Los Angeles, 171 P2d 8; 331 US 549, 91 L. ed. 1666, 67 S.Ct. 1409.

But good luck citing those decisions in today's courts! In most instances they will simply be ignored. The courts are no longer concerned with what is right, fair, and just. Rather, they are concerned with gathering revenue and perpetuating their new-found powers.

The only good news that I have to offer is that although jurisdictional challenges have been consistently ignored, there has at least been some success in getting juries to nullify bad laws. I enthusiastically support the Fully Informed Jury Association. In summary: We The People have failed to convince the judges that they lack jurisdiction over Sovereigns, but at least we can still educate the juries of our peers, and convince them to nullify bad laws, on a case-by-case basis. As long as there is still a jury system for criminal trial in this country, then there is still hope for justice.

If ever you end up in court fighting an unconstitutional felony charge or if you are at risk of losing custody of your children to the state, then yes by all means, challenge the court's jurisdiction from the very outset. But if you fail that, then do your utmost to educate the jury that they have the long-established power to weigh both the facts of the case and the validity of the law itself. Lex mala, lex nulla! And jury nullification can work regardless of the wording of the Jury Instructions from the court. In the end, once the jury room door is shut, the judge is powerless and your fate it is entirely up to the jury. May God Bless You and Protect Your Liberty!

On March 10, 2013, the Governor of Colorado signed into law three new statutes that pertain to gun and magazine owners throughout the state. In this post, I will address the addition of C.R.S. 18-12-112, having to do with “Private Firearms Transfer”. No reader should consider this post to be legal advice for themselves or anyone else. My intent is to educate you on the law and for you to make your own decisions. 
On and after July 1, 2013, a person who is not a licensed gun dealer, before they transfer or attempt to transfer possession of a firearm to a transferee, they must:
1. Require that a background check be conducted of the prospective transferee;
2. Obtain approval of a transfer from CBI after a background check has been requested by a licensed gun dealer.
In order to understand the law you must start with the definitions. A “Transferee” means a person who desires to receive or acquire a firearm from the “Transferor”. A “Transferor” is the person who either owns or has possession of the firearm for a number of reasons.

BACKGROUND CHECK
If you are not a licensed gun dealer and you want to transfer possession of a firearm to a transferee, you will have to utilize the services of a licensed gun dealer for the purpose of having them provide you a background check of the transferee. The licensed gun dealer will provide the same background check and fill out the same paperwork as if they were selling the transferee the firearm themselves. For this service, the licensed gun dealer may not charge more than ten dollars.
Once the licensed gun dealer completes the background check of the transferee, they shall provide the transferor a copy of the results of the background check, including CBI’s approval or disapproval of the transfer. The approval will be valid for 30 days and valid only for the transferor and transferee.
The licensed gun dealer will be required to record the transfer and retain the records as they would on any retail gun purchase.

VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW
A person who violates this statute shall be guilty of a Class 1 Misdemeanor. This is the highest level of Misdemeanor and is punishable by six months to eighteen months imprisonment and/or a Five hundred dollars and up to a Five thousand dollar fine or both. There is an additional punishment associated with a violation of this statute. The violator shall also be prohibited from possessing a firearm for two years, beginning on the date of his or her conviction. If convicted, the State Court Administrator will report the conviction to National Instant Criminal Background Check System. You will not be able to legally possess a firearm in Colorado during the prohibition time. What is not clear is how other states will view this restriction. Will they too also determine that you are not to carry in their state?
Remember prohibition time period starts at the time of your conviction. That means if you go to trial on the matter, it could be anywhere from six months to a year before your conviction actually occurs.
Additionally, if you violate this statute you MAY be jointly and severally liable for any civil damages proximately caused by the transferee’s subsequent use of the firearm. I will expound on this below.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE LAW
There are numerous exceptions within this statute. The background requirement does not apply to the following:
1. The transfer of an antique firearm; [JWR Adds: See my FAQ page on antique guns. I predict that pre-1899 antiques will become increasingly important, as gun laws expand in some states in coming years.]
2. A bona fide gift or loan between immediate family members;
3. A transfer that occurs by operation of law or because of the death of a person for whom the transferor is an executor of a will or trust;
4. A transfer that is temporary and occurs while in the home of the unlicensed transferee if, the transferee is not prohibited from possessing firearms and the unlicensed transferee reasonably believes that the possession of the firearm is necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily injury to the unlicensed transferee;
5. A temporary transfer of possession without transfer of ownership or a title to ownership occurs at:
a. At a shooting range;
b. At a target firearm shooting competition;
c. While hunting, fishing, target shooting or trapping if:
1. All hunting, fishing, target shooting or trapping is legal in all places where the unlicensed transferee is possessing the firearm; and
2. The unlicensed transferee holds any license or permit that is required
d. Any temporary transfer occurs while in the continuous presence of the owner of the firearm;
e. A temporary transfer cannot be for more than 72 hours. Should the transferee use your firearm unlawfully, you may be jointly and severally liable for damages proximately caused by the transferee’s use.
f. A transfer that is made to facilitate the repair or maintenance of the firearm.
g. A transfer from a person who is serving in the Armed Forces of the US who will be deploying within 30 days and the transfer go to an immediate family member.

MY THOUGHTS
All I have heard over and over from the politicians in Colorado is that this is not a gun registry. Yet, now all private guns sales will be recorded in the books of licensed gun dealers. These records are required to be kept for twenty (20) years after the transfer occurs and the records are open for inspection at any time by the ATF. Additionally, should the licensed gun dealer go out of business or decides to retire, he/she is required to forward all of their gun records to the ATF. Knowing this, please tell me how this is not a gun registry.

The punishment for the violation of this statute is severe. A Class 1 misdemeanor can include jail time if the Judge chooses to sentence you with such and the monetary fine can range from five hundred to five thousand dollars. But the addition of the loss of possession of ANY firearm for two years is well beyond what I would consider to be fair punishment.

As with the Large Capacity Magazine law, it appears that the goal of these laws are to disarm and remove guns from citizens as opposed to punishing them for not completing paperwork. I would like to see the true statistics relating to how many criminals are buying guns from private citizens before committing their crimes. Using common sense, we know that is not how they are arming themselves. The criminals are acting as criminals by stealing the guns and then using them in the commission of crimes. This law does nothing more than regulate (control) law abiding citizens when selling their own private property.

Another punishment for violation of this statute is the attachment of joint and several liability for any civil damages proximately caused by the transferee’s subsequent use of the firearm. Joint and several liability means that if three people were involved in the matter and all three were found to be liable, the damaged party could pursue all three people or just one to recover the whole amount. Given this, the person with the deepest pocket looses.

Read alongside the Large Capacity Magazine law, this law will allow firearms that utilize Large Capacity Magazines to be transferred but just without the Large Capacity Magazines. Again, just a coincidence or the grand plan all along?

Currently, 40 out of 62 Sheriffs in Colorado will be filing suit against the state of Colorado to determine whether this law and the large capacity magazine law are constitutional. While this is good, it will be a long and expensive route to take in order to get a resolution.

I will continue to update my blog as more information about this statute becomes available. Visit  www.legal-tactics.com and leave me your questions.

Just as I warned SurvivalBlog readers, it appears that the BHO Administration is taking executive action on firearms importation. Take a few minutes to read this: After Senate setback, Obama quietly moving forward with gun regulation. Here is the key portion of the article:

"The Importation of Defense Articles and Defense Services -- U.S. Munitions Import List references executive orders, amends ATF regulations and clarifies Attorney General authority “to designate defense articles and defense services as part of the statutory USML for purposes of permanent import controls,” among other clauses specified in heavy legalese requiring commensurate analysis to identify just what the administration’s intentions are. Among the speculations of what this could enable are concerns that importing and International Traffic in Arms Regulations [ITAR] may go forward to reflect key elements within the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty." [Emphasis added.]

Depending on how it is implemented, the implications of this change could be huge. With the stroke of a pen and without the consent of Congress, ATF bureaucrats could make ANY gun part or accessory (including magazines) or ammunition that were originally manufactured or perhaps even those designed for military use no longer legal for importation for civilian use. That might mean no more milsurp parts sets. No more milsurp magazines. No more milsurp ammo. No more milsurp optics. Perhaps not even spare firing pins. This could be ugly.

I strongly recommend that you stock up on magazines, ammunition and spare parts for any of your imported military pattern guns, as soon as possible! Once an import ban is implemented, prices will skyrocket. Importation of Chinese military guns and ammunition was banned during the Clinton Administration, but importers quickly worked around that, by tapping other sources. But imagine if all of the channels for military surplus are cut off. That mean no more spam cans of any of the Russian calibers, no more battle packs of .223 or .308, and no more affordable AK, HK, FAL, Galil, or SIG magazines.

This may be just the first of several executive actions/orders. There is also the possibility of a blanket ban on the importation of any civilian magazines (Glock, SIG, Beretta, etc.) of more than 10 round capacity, by declaring them "non-sporting." There is a precedent for that, as well, set in 1989. That ban could be grossly widened. And don't look for too much support from American gun makers on this issue. They actually benefit from import bans. They benefited in 1968, when import of most of the milsurp rifles stopped. And they benefited again with the 1989 Import Ban.

Don't dawdle. Be proactive! If you wait until after the door slams shut, then you will be paying two or three times the price. If there is a gun show near you this weekend, then you should be there, with a wad of cash. - J.W.R.

James Wesley,
I should  have known I was in trouble when it took an hour to get in the gates, my wallet was light with cash and some of the parking areas were "4 wheel drive only", due to rain.  Later, after 36 hours of driving fueled by Caffeine, Caffeine and oh yeah, more caffeine (otherwise known as Coffee, Coca-Cola and chocolate) I was flattened my some kind of sabotage by my heart. The doctor told me I needed to start slowing down in life. I replied that the Revolution/Economic Armageddon  freight train was bearing down on me and I didn’t have time to stand around gawking like a tourist. He then told me he wished he was ready to retire to avoid Obama Care and asked how much .357 SIG was at the show. (True story, I hadn’t even known that he owned a gun!)
 
The only 9mm for sale by Friday (dealers and shooters can buy on Thursday) was one guy with Tula steel cased $259 for 500 rounds. I managed to buy some 9mm for a friend with Federal and Remington selling on the dust choked side market for $20-25 a box from people wandering around. One of these guys with a backpack full of ammo sold me two Olin-Mathieson (Winchester) M14 mags with the GI pouch for $50, which with the current craziness, I considered a minor victory. I believe the lowest retail price I have found original 50’s-70’s contract magazines for since the Clinton 1994 crime bill was $20each, about seven years ago.
 
I didn’t see any .223 for less than the range of $600-to-$800 per thousand. I passed two kids who were each carrying a half case that they said they got for $500/1000. It didn’t have the usually Russian markings on the boxes so I am not sure what it was. .308 was unaffordable at basically $1 round. I did see a case of Lake City match for $30 a box, but couldn’t find it later so I imagine it disappeared pretty quick. AK/SKS ammo was $325 -$375 with J&G ammo the lowest I believe.  AK74 ammo was $450 a case of 2400 (instead of the normal $275-300) which I told one dealer was highway robbery considering how little demand and how few people used it. Mosin ammo was $160 to $180 for two tins of 440 in a case.
 
Copes Distributing had several types of AR mags for $15 bucks new but one of them intrigued me. It was a dull gray in color and made in Oconomowoc, the same town La Belle Industries used to produce them in Wisconsin. It was by H&K tactical with what I was told were Magpul anti-tilt followers with similar top of the follower design as the Belgium FN-FNC mags. Looked and felt slick so I bought a few. They also had new Checkmate industries M14 mags for $30 so my backpack swallowed a few of those as well.  APEX Gun Parts had the best buy on HK Alloy G3 mags for $3. Saw several dealers with Original German Contract G-3 steel mags for $9-10. I don’t know why you would chose alloy at that price except to dump, lose or barter later. All the CETME ones I saw were over $20 per. DSA wants $10 for FAL  mags. Guy told me that if I bought 20 he would go $8 for me. Apparently, my pathetic look still needs work and some accessories like one of those old iron-on lettered t-shirts that states some kind of wisdom like “unemployed since 92” on it. He apparently was too young to have much experience reading faces, as mine obviously had a stupid looking painful grimace and said $5 all over it.
 
One old codger had 30+ cases of .22LR he was selling for $50 a brick and he had CCI mini-mags for $60. I looked at the shipping label and it was from 1982 and said “pkg 1 of 32”. He assured me they tested a brick and it all fired. I bought a brick or two for a friend and went on my way. Everything else at the show was $80 a brick unless they had some of this guys 1982 score. When I went back later, a dealer had bought all he had left and put $70 on it. This new dealer told me when he got back to Ohio he could get $80 all day long for it.  He told me the subsonic 22Lr was going for $90 minimum a brick. Seems like early last year I thought that $30 a brick for that was akin to rape.
 
My ongoing AR conversion to 5.45mm took another step back since the October show as I am getting at best 1 out of 7 primer ignition. Model 1 sales who sold me the barrel and bolt was strangely absent from this show (due to lack of product I suppose, although it could have been they had gotten wind through the grapevine that I was coming to talk to them, yet again) so I talked with the guys at Doublestar/J&T who opined that I should try to file a very small amount off of the tube where the firing pin flange hits against it. Ok, I will investigate this further. At this rate I will have this thing running like a finely tuned racing engine about 2 days after Jesus returns.
 
I bought a bag full of FAL parts (springs, firing pins, flash hiders, recoil and gas springs) from Dan the FAL Guy for $50. Sarco wanted $15 bucks for a firing pin itself. Cripes. I picked ups some stainless steel AP 8mm bullets for $20 a 100 and (API) 7.62x54r  full rounds for .50 a piece/$50 per hundred. I would tell you were but I want to try and get some more. I got all the brass cased ones they had left. I hiked back to the swampy hill my car was tenaciously clinging too, alongside some guy who said he had an FFL and had a NIB Springfield Armory MIA he said he got for $1300. He stated that he couldn’t even get them in due to the late unpleasantness so he jumped at the chance. I absolutely would have traded one of my perfectly functioning kidneys and a bad check if I had seen it first.  I also bought 2 dozen large orange floating smoke grenades? For ships and life rafts for $5 per. Someone asked me what I was going to use them for. I stated that if something was chasing me I was going to pop one or two and keep running. Everyone but this guy, has obviously read their JRR Tolkien and knows that Obama’s Ring Wraiths cannot stay in the presence of iridescent orange?
 
There were a number of items that I normally buy and see that shouldn’t be mentioned on a public forum that disappeared rather quickly, when normally there is plenty of it. Huummmm? Lance, the seller of eclectic books and videos, added “Saints and Sinners” to my collection, a WWII movie about some survivors at Malmedy trying to get back to American lines. Kudos to the writer for correctly (according to both sides) showing that the massacre started when a USGI jailbreak started and not pre-meditated murder. Sadly, it was more about a bunch of guys trying to mesh together in trying circumstances than combat. Good production values though. Still waiting to watch “the war of the arrows”. My big Berkey water filter is gleaming with pride  and strutting around the kitchen now that it has some new black chemical reducing filters and bottom fluoride filters. It set me back about $150 dollars along with some other parts, but here’s hoping that it will delay my chances of a chemical induced neurological disorder from the municipal water supply for at least another year. - T.A.B.

Mr. Rawles,
In the aftermath of the apparent hostile takeover of Colorado by immigrants from California, I have been wondering about the status of the States that comprise the American Redoubt. Is there any information available about demographic shifts within the Redoubt as a result of immigration? I've heard a little here and there, particularly about some of the resort type areas of Idaho and the coastal regions of Washington and Oregon, but nothing about significant shifts within the states as a whole.

Thanks, - Thetonedeafbard

JWR Replies: The American Redoubt region is conservative, and gradually getting more conservative, year by year. Wyoming's recent enactment of permitless concealed carry is indicative of this trend. Take a look at the 2008 Presidential election returns versus the 2012 Presidential election returns. There are indeed a few liberals moving in, but they are vastly outnumbered by conservatives who are coming from the same states. With higher taxes and more draconian gun laws, I expect this trend to accelerate in the future. In effect the Red States are getting darker red and the Blue States are getting darker blue. Colorado was an example of a purple state that gradually turned blue, at least in the larger cities. But now that it has enacted sweeping civilian disarmament laws, I expect that Colorado will lose conservatives (through out-migration), and conservative states like Wyoming and Montana will be the beneficiaries of those who have "voted with their feet."

The key goal of the American Redoubt movement was to simply solidify an existing demographic trend. Back in 2011 I wrote: "I'm inviting people with the same outlook to move to the Redoubt States, to effect a demographic solidification. We're already a majority here. I'd just like to see an even stronger majority."

Echoing these trends, the likelihood of partition of Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington will continue to grow. The residents of the eastern counties have little in common with the folks west of the Cascades, and will have less and less in common with them, as time goes on. I predict that inevitably either taxes or civilian disarmament laws will be the triggers that will force a separation.

Wikipedia sums up this divide between the eastern halves of Oregon and Washington: "East of the Cascades, in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and Idaho, the population is much more conservative. The eastern portions of Washington and especially Oregon, due to their low populations, do not generally have enough voting power to be competitive at the state level, and thus the governorships and U.S. Senate seats of both Oregon and Washington are usually held by the Democrats. Idaho, being a separate state located entirely within the conservative interior of the Pacific Northwest, is a Republican stronghold. Conservatism in the US part of the Pacific Northwest tends to be distrustful of federal government interference and strongly protective of gun rights."

Don't over-rate the influence of a few liberal enclaves like Sun Valley, Idaho and Missoula, Montana. They are so vastly outnumbered that they are politically irrelevant.

Sir:
This is in response to a letter published on Sunday, 4 April "Letter Re: Advice on U.S. Military Service"

Jim M. says the person should consider joining the Navy Seabees. I am writing to say the exact opposite. Do not consider joining the Seabees at least not at this time. The Naval Construction Force (NCF) consist of six active duty Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCB) and 12 reserve NMCBs. (Along with various Cargo Handling Battalions (NCHB), Maintenance Units (CBMU) and others.) With the current fiscal problems and general changes in needs of the DoD, there are heavy cuts in the works.

Between now and 2015 you'll see this force effectively cut in half. Three of the active and six reserve NMCBs will cease to exist. Each is typically manned at about 80%, the unfilled billets (job positions) of the untouched NMCBs will be filled with some of the Bees from the battalions being cut. This will leave about 60% of the remaining half without a position.

These Bees will be in essence 'laid off'. Not pink slipped exactly but will be in a state of limbo. They'll be transferred to Administrative units. Not actual training units, just holding units that will take care of their paperwork (admin/medical). On the plus side, about one-third of those will be retiring in the next 2-4 years and about one-third weren't going to make a career of it and will get out at the end of their contracts in 2-4 years. The remaining third will have to change rates to non-construction related fields and join fleet-type units. Some percent of the total are so hardcore (don't call a Seabee a Sailor), they'll get ticked off and quit rather than change and finish their 20 years. - Seabee B.

Captain Rawles:
I read the text of the draft Toomey-Manchin-Schumer Amendment. It does not define the word "publication." Because there are several common definitions of the word, including the transitive verb ,"publish" could include just telling two or more people at once that you have a gun for sale. 

Also the "safe travel" provision does not include magazines, so if you are stopped in New York or Connecticut or Maryland with a 30 round mag while driving from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire (for example) then you are a felon.  Also NY SAFE act bans transport of Guns AND Ammo,  the Toomey-Manchin-Schumer Amendment only protects transport Guns OR Ammo, it may seem a small distinction, but as an attorney  I can tell you it does matter.  If under the SAFE act you are stopped traveling through, with an AR-15 and some ammo, both locked in your trunk, you are not protected by McClure-Volkmer. Regards, - W.M.

James,
Many reader may be stunned by the drop in COMEX silver prices. However, holders of physical silver need not despair. The price to obtain actual coins has hardly been affected at all.
Both Kitco and eBay testify to this:

On Kitco, single silver eagles are now $29.10, or $4.15 over the Friday silver Comex close of $25.95 and a monster box of 500 eagles at $14,300 is still $28.60 each.

Kitco at present is not even listing "junk silver bags", they're just not available through them (sometimes this happens), but others are selling the $1,000 face value bags of 715 ounces for $21,403, or $29.93 per ounce. Wow! That is about $4.00 per ounce over spot! (Just before year's-end, Camino Coin was selling junk silver at $0.50 over! And that was at just a minimum purchase of $1,500 to avoid California sales tax!)

More telling however are eBay actual completed auctions:
Rolls of 20 Eagles are going for at least $645, and often over $650 or $660 a roll. At $650 that is $32.50 each.
And individual coins are even selling for up to $36.00 each. ($10 over spot!)

The divergence between the paper and physical markets is here and we can expect it to remain, and even widen.
No one who holds physical needs despair. The optics of the COMEX are for the sheeple.

Maybe a far-fetched notion, but with the bank raids on deposits in Cyprus as a precedent for the future of all, and PMs beat down on the COMEX, but the DJIA at record highs (nominal) a slightly paranoid outlook may be the central bankers are herding the sheeple of means from off the sidelines and back into the stock market. Meanwhile central banks stock up on gold and billionaires and corporations are quietly divesting of the market. Caveat Emptor.

Respectfully, - Douglas C.

JWR Replies: I still remember the angst that my friends and readers expressed back in October of 2008, when spot silver briefly dropped below $9.00 per troy ounce. (It had been over $19, in July of that year.) One SurvivalBlog reader even demanded an apology. But I held fast to my prediction, and time proved me right. Later that same month I observed that the COMEX market and the physical market had become disconnected. Some folks laughed at my "buy" advice, but thankfully most others heeded it.

Silver had slumped to $25.85, when I last checked. (Saturday, April 13, 2013.) Yes, that is down substantially from the high of $33.23, back on January 23rd. But look at the big picture-- look at the ten year chart. The current sell-off is another buying opportunity in a long term bull market. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Buy on the dips! In the long run, the U.S. Dollar is doomed. Invest accordingly.

Mark my words: In ten years we'll look back and laugh about the current metals market slump, and wish that we'd stacked more silver.

Dear James,
Concerning joining the military and prepping:  If the person has the aptitude then joining the Navy Seabees [Construction Battalion] would definitely be something to consider. The Seabees are primarily builders but do get training to fight.  Being as they are not "combat" troops the deployment should be less than a combat arm. And the training [they provide] as a builder would be very handy if the Schumer Hits The Fan.

Best Regards, - Jim M.

Greetings Mr. Rawles and thank you for your service to this great country.  

I would like to commend you on your knowledge, mindset, and ability to create a web site where we all can come together as like-minded individuals and expand our relative knowledge of survival during these harsh social times in this place we call, and will fight for, home.  

I am currently 28 years old, and I have a strong urge to do whatever it takes to prepare for the unknown, to protect my wife and I against anything that rears its ugly head, and most of all survive.  I have been aware of your site for quite some time now thanks to my father, but I have only been an avid reader for the last 6 months due to the current state in this country.  I have limited knowledge in survival and general preparedness and I am trying to increase my level everyday.  

My work colleague and I were discussing the military reserves the other day and I started to really think about it.  I have always had the patriotism and urge to fight for my country, but never made it a priority.  Especially now that I have a very stable and well paying job, wife, planning to have a baby, house, dog, etc., it is more difficult to pack up and leave.  My life is really great and I couldn't accept anything else.  

With all the added bonuses of military benefits, and supplementary pay for the reserves, I can't help but push this aside.  Of course the training and experience that ensues is really starting to weigh itself in my mind a lot.  As a beginner prepper and future survivalist of the apocalypse  assuming I will need to use these skills in the near future, the military training and experience is something that I would consider a huge push for my future survival.  Yes I could remain in the civilian sector and take numerous training and survival classes, but at the expense of my own wallet as these kind of training courses are very expensive. 

With that said and the current state of our country, our personal liberties and freedoms are being thrown out the window, and our constitution and bill of rights being trampled, a piece of me would like to halt my decision of military involvement.  I can't help but think that, if our politicians continue along the path they are currently on, I might end up on the top of some anti-veteran list that would consider me a home-grown terrorist and my rights, liberties and freedoms are now out the window because of some UN-siding dictator.

Given your background in the military, and eye into the current situations in our country, would military involvement be a good strategy for the survival and protection of my family? - Steve in Washington

JWR Replies: I do still recommend military service. My background was in the Army, so I will only address that. Your mileage may vary with the other services.

The training for the Reserves, National Guard and Active component are just about identical. So your choice of component can be based upon how many years you want to devote to the military.

Given your age, the clock is ticking if you do want to join.  Generally, the door closes at age 31, except for JAG officers and a few rare waivers.  If you have a college degree, then I think that you should apply for a Direct Commission. This is a little-known but amazing opportunity. It is mostly for Medical Service, Chaplains, and JAG officers, but in the Army Reserve, direct commissions are sometimes available for other branches. Someone with a Police Science degree, for example, is a good candidate for a direct commission as a Military Police officer.

Since it appears that the GWOT will grind on endlessly, I recommend that you pick a branch that is least likely to get you repeated overseas deployments. So avoid the Combat Arms branches, except perhaps for Air Defense Artillery.  With the Combat Support and Combat Service Support branches, you'll ge a lot of the same great training, but much less likelihood of deployments. And working in the support branches, there is a higher correlation for equivalent civilian careers. So it is generally more useful for your resume. (I'm not denigrating the Combat Arms--they have my utmost respect--but there not a lot of civilian jobs for trigger pullers and cannon cockers.)

Hey Jim,
This guy lived within 30 miles from me for 27 years. An interesting story to be sure. I'd like to bail him out just for the chance to talk but for $5,000 it would be too expensive. This is not wilderness. It is a 30 minute walk from Pine Tree Camp - I have been there a few times. My buddy in high school worked there as a cook.

Here is some news coverage about him, from another source.

Keep up the good work. - Bubby

JWR Replies: After you wrote me to mention this, I found an article that has much greater detail about his camp. And here is one more article.

Reading these accounts, I couldn't help but be reminded of Idaho's "Wild Man" or "Ridgerunner," Bill Moreland, who has been previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog. He wasn't on the lam nearly so long (only 11 years), but he was notable for walking tremendous distances, even in the dead of winter. He is also notable for killing 24 deer with just 24 cartridges (.22 Long Rifle rimfire!)

James,
A brief article I saw on underground homeless camp in Kansas: Underground homeless camp cleared near the East Bottoms.

Although the article does not give much detail, I find it an interesting use of space, staying out of the way and a lesson to learn regarding people who may be close to your proximity without one even knowing it.  It also drew my mind back to the Bielski partisans and the camps they dug in Naliboki Forest.
God Bless, - John in Ohio

On March 10, 2013, the Governor of Colorado signed into law three new statutes that pertain to gun and magazine owners throughout the state. In this post, I will start with the addition of C.R.S. 18-12-301, having to do with “Large Capacity Ammunition Magazines”.

We will first begin with the name of the bill. As many of you know, a magazine which holds more than 15 rounds is not a “Large Capacity” magazine but in many cases just the stock or standard magazine that comes with the firearm. However, if you asked my mother, who is not a gun owner, “Do you think people should have access to “large capacity magazines”, she would answer,”No, why do you need any more bullets than a standard capacity ammunition magazine can hold? ”.  So without knowing about magazines, she would say she is in favor of such a law. Same could hold true with a jury, more on that below.
Next, this piece of legislation was passed without guidance or suggestions from those who would be most affected. The politicians did not care about input from the citizens of Colorado. They knew their window of time was limited and they had to get this passed post haste. Whenever this occurs, we get bad law. This is bad law.

Some of the people tasked with having to enforce this law, namely law enforcement and district attorneys, have come out against it. For example, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa and Weld County Sheriff John Cooke have stated that this law will do nothing to protect the citizens of Colorado and that they will not enforce it. El Paso County District Attorney Dan Mays has come out recently being critical of the law stating, “Quite frankly, that’s what this is, window dressing”.

I am not so naïve to believe that the sponsors of this bill had our best interests in mind when creating this law. This law was created for other purposes. As is coming out in the news in New York, Mayor Bloomberg’s group has been writing these laws or openly “assisting” with their creation. As such, they are heavily flawed and designed to be able to remove guns from the public. The true effect of the recent New York laws are coming to light and the citizens are not happy. New Yorkers have found that what was sold to them in the name of safety is making life for them more dangerous. The New York politicians are placing the blame on Mayor Bloomberg’s people and stating that they did not fully understand the impact of the laws when enacted. I feel the same will happen in Colorado.

But for now, we have these laws and we will be impacted by them so you need to know how they can affect you. As usual, I am not providing the reader with legal advice. I am just educating you on what the law is and how I will respond to them. You will choose on your own how you will choose to respond.

DEFINITIONS UNDER THE NEW LAW
Most statutes begin with certain definitions so that it is clear when we use words contained within the statute, we all understand how the word is to be used.
C.R.S. 18-12-301 (2)(a) defines the term, “Large Capacity Magazine”. It states, (I) A fixed or detachable magazine, box, drum, feed strip or similar device capable of accepting, or that is designed to be readily converted to accept, more than fifteen rounds of ammunition.
As you can see, there is a huge problem with this definition. The wording, “or that is designed to be readily converted to accept”, is flawed at best. Why? With this definition, a police officer or prosecutor could expand the definition of a magazine.
If I am a prosecutor who is deciding whether to charge someone with a violation of this law, I would want to see what magazine the person had on his person when arrested. If the magazine had the capacity to hold fifteen or less rounds of ammunition, I would not charge the person. But if I did not like citizens possessing guns or magazines with fifteen rounds because of my personal agenda, I would use the defining language to state that the magazine “could be readily converted” to hold more than fifteen rounds so it is a chargeable offense.

As many of you know, a magazine has a certain capacity for the number of rounds it holds. But on many magazines, you can remove the bottom plate and add a device that will extend the magazine. By doing so, you allow for more rounds to be loaded into the magazine.

So in the hands of a district attorney, jury or Judge who are against a citizen’s Second Amendment’s rights and do not like people having the ability to protect themselves with firearms, it could be argued that all magazines that people possess are designed to be  “readily converted” to accept more than fifteen rounds of ammunition. If so, you can be found guilty of a Class 2 Misdemeanor for possession of standard magazine.  Incredible coincidence or the grand plan all along? You decide. [JWR Adds: Magazine extensions are indeed available for a wide variety of pistol magazines. See for example, those made by Taylor Freelance and Scherer.]

There are two other points to note from the definition section of this law. First, if the magazine is only capable of operating with .22 caliber rimfire ammunition it is not affected by this law. Perhaps the discussion of the capability of the .22 round will become more popular again. Second, a magazine that is contained on a “lever-action” firearm is not affected. This would include the cowboy style rifles that were used in the movies and old tv shows.
 
PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING THE LAW
C.R.S. 18-12-302 deals with the penalties and exceptions to the law. Section (1)(a) states as follows:
Except as otherwise provided in this section, on and after July 1, 2013, a person who sells, transfers, or possesses a large capacity magazine commits a Class 2 Misdemeanor.

This means starting on July 1, 2013, if you have what is defined as a “large capacity magazine”, you cannot sell, transfer or possess it legally. We will talk about the exceptions to this below but for now we will start with the definitions again.
For the individual, I think we all understand what it means to “sell”. But what does “transfer” mean in this circumstance? Does this mean that we cannot give away such a magazine when we die through a will or trust? I think that is what could and will be argued by a prosecutor. What if I am at the range and someone offers to me a chance to shoot their firearm and they have a non-compliant magazine? By allowing me to borrow the firearm to shoot for a minute or two, is that a “transfer”? Again, it could be argued that way.

The same holds true for the word, “possesses”. Who “possesses” a magazine if the non-compliant magazine is found in a house or car? Will my children be charged with such a violation if I am found to have a non-compliant magazine in my home? Can more than one person possess a magazine?
In People v. Garcia, 595 P. 2d 228, the Colorado Supreme Court stated “The common sense definition of "possession," as it is used in this statute, is the actual or physical control of a firearm.[4]  However, they included a footnote to that statement. That footnote reads:

[4] The determination of whether or not a firearm is within one's actual or physical control is a question of fact for the jury. However, it is clear that the mere ownership of a firearm is not sufficient to constitute "possession" under the statute. Some of the factors which could be considered by the trier of fact in making this determination are: (1) the proximately of the defendant to the firearm; (2) the ordinary place of storage of the firearm; (3) the defendant's awareness of the presence of the firearm; (4) locks or other physical impediments which preclude ready access to the firearm.

Using this legal precedent, a prosecutor could use those four factors to charge anyone with a violation of this statute. Not just the owner of the firearm but anyone near or aware of the magazine(s).  I hope you can see how in the hands of an overzealous Government agent, this could become ugly very quickly.
The first conviction of the statute will be a Class 2 Misdemeanor. If you are convicted a second time, you will be facing a Class 1 Misdemeanor.  If you should use such a magazine during the commission of a felony or any crime of violence, you will be committing a Class 6 Felony as well. Crimes are divided into two categories, Misdemeanors and Felonies. Within each type of crimes, there are different classes. Class 1 is the highest class within that crime category and a Class 6 class is the lowest.

THE EXCEPTIONS TO THE LAW
While there is a grandfather clause within this statute, it is limited or conditional. In order to possess a large capacity magazine, you must have owned the large capacity magazine before July 1, 2013 and you must have maintained “continuous possession” of the magazine. See section (2)(a).
So again, we start with the definitions: what does it mean to “own”? Can more than one person “own” a magazine? Again, back to my previous example- if a non-compliant magazine is found in my house who owns it? Me, my wife, my children? In Colorado, it is illegal for someone under the age of 18 to possess a firearm, unless certain exemptions apply. Since my children can not possess a firearm, they cannot own the magazine that comes with the firearm. In that circumstance can my children be charged with possessing a non compliant magazine found at my house even though they do not own it? Or what about my wife? Will I be forced to say that my wife “owns” the magazine so I get arrested for not having the exception apply to me?

For the exception to apply, we must have also “continuously possessed the magazine”. So what does that mean? If we take the firearm and magazine to be worked on by a gunsmith have we lost our continuous possession? If we loan the firearm and magazine to a friend, have we broken the possession? Again, can more than one person continuously possess a magazine? If the magazine is listed within a gun trust, has the possession be broken? As an NRA certified instructor, if I let a student shoot my firearm, have I broken my continuous possession? I do not know.

Remember that the exception only allows you to possess a large capacity magazine. It is still a violation of the law if you “sell” or “transfer” a large capacity magazine.

ASSERTION OF THE EXCEPTION
In order for the exception to apply, the person who is charged must assert the exception mentioned above, i.e., you owned the magazine as of July 1, 2013 and you maintained continuous possession of the magazine.

Unlike the provisions of C.R.S.  18-1-704.5(2), the so called “Make my Day” law, this law does not allow for a defendant to raise the assertion and receive immunity from further criminal prosecution.  Instead, in order to raise the assertion it reads to be an affirmative defense. This means that in order to assert the exception and not be found guilty, you must fight the charge. This means that you will  have to go to trial. Once there, you will be required to raise the exceptions by presenting some credible evidence supporting the exceptions. Once done, the prosecution must then refute your assertions beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a higher burden of proof than the defendant’s burden of proof when asserting the exceptions. While is this better for the defendant, you still must go to trial to assert the exceptions.

But how can a person prove such an assertion? Will your personal statement that you owned and maintained continuous possession of the magazine satisfy the Judge or jury? I don’t know. I, for one, will be finding and keeping any and all receipts that I have for any large capacity magazine(s) that I own. No receipts? I would suggest that you take a photograph or video of any of the large capacity magazines that you now currently own. Make sure that the video or photograph includes a date stamp.

After you assert the exception, the burden of proof shifts back to the prosecution to refute your assertion. How will they refute my assertion? Calling my wife or my children as a witness against me? Subpoena my credit card statements to show when the purchase occurred? Call friends that I shoot with to determine if I allowed them to borrow the magazine? If in the hands of a biased prosecutor, this law could provide them with the backing to abuse the gun owner and his/her family.

PROBLEMS WITH THIS LAW
To conclude, here are some of the areas where I could see the police and district attorneys using this statute to abuse gun owners:
Police:
1. If you are open carrying a semi-automatic handgun, this law will provide the police probable cause to stop and detain you while they determine if you are violating this statute (which the police could not do legally before this law);
2. This law will provide the police the ability to disarm you while they determine the capacity of your magazine (which was not legal before this law);
3. If you inform the police that you are conceal carrying a handgun, you can be stopped and detained to determine the capacity of the magazine (which before this law was not a valid reason to detain you);
4. If your magazine carries more than 15 rounds of ammunition, you could be arrested or cited for a violation of this law and your firearm and magazine taken as evidence while you prove your innocence. Remember, in order to fully assert your exemptions, you must go to trial. This will take time and you will be without your handgun and magazine until after the trial.
5. Should you now claim your Fifth Amendment right if asked by a police officer whether you are carrying a firearm? Perhaps if your magazine holds more than 15 rounds of ammunition. If you do so, what will be the police officer’s response? Arrest you? Let you go?
6. As stated above, who possesses a magazine when it is found in a person’s home or car? And, for the exception, who owns and maintains continuous possession of a large capacity magazine when it is located in an area where multiple people are?
Prosecutors:
1. After receiving the firearm and magazine as evidence, the district attorney could use the threat of a trial on defendants to make them accept a plea deal that will include the loss of your firearm and magazine forever.
2. What will they do when you die owning a large capacity magazine? Would they charge the executor of your will if a transfer per your will takes place after you die? What actually is that executor to do with the magazine at that point? Turn it in to the police? Given that, it will not be that long before all of the current owners of large capacity magazines pass away and their magazines destroyed after being turned in the police. Call it self- directed gun confiscation.
3. Going on a “fishing expedition” trying to refute my exception assertions. This can be accomplished by requesting any and all documents, people, etc that could be used to refute my exception assertions.
4. Tying up the defendant in a long, expensive trial while at the same time not allowing the defendant to have possession of their handgun(s) while the trial is ongoing.
5. With the way that this law is written, if you plan on asserting the exceptions you will be waiving your 5th Amendment rights to self incrimination. By that I mean you will have to testify to assert the exemptions. This will give the prosecutor the ability to cross examine you as they attempt to refute your assertions.
What can you do right now? First, support your local Sheriff if they are opposed to these gun laws. Call them and voice your support. They need to hear from their supporters. Second, join the effort to recall Senator John Morse. He was the gang leader in the creation of this legislation. As we all remember from grade school, if you do not fight back hard when the bully picks on you, he will return again and again. A message must be sent to our local legislators. You can look up the recall effort on Facebook for more information. Alternatively, you can go to www.bfdf.org.

I will continue to update my blog as more information about this statute becomes available. Visit Legal-Tactics.com and leave me your questions.

Connecticut is known as a progenitor of American Liberty. There were some small War of Independence battles fought at Stonington (1775), Danbury (1777), New Haven (1779), and New London (1781.) But sadly, legislators in Connecticut just dutifully lined up for their Kool-Aid cups and voted for a ban so-called "assault" weapons, a ban on private party sales of used guns, creates a new "ammunition eligibility certificate," and mandates a ban on the manufacture or sale and a registry for high capacity magazines. Do these buffoons have any concept of how many millions of magazines larger that 10 round capacity exist, or that virtually none of them carry a serial number? How do they expect to register a commodity? And what happens if someone miscounts their magazines, or misses a few of them in some forgotten box in the back of a closet? Does that make them a felon? And how, pray tell, is someone supposed to register each link in a disintegrating belt? (The last time I bought .223 and .308 links, they came to me in boxes of roughly 1,000 or 2,000 links per box. They are difficult to count, so they are sold by the pound. You can buy 1,000 of them for as little as $17, and of course they can be assembled ("manufactured") into belts of any length desired. So exactly how will that part of the registry work? Would someone have to ask to have a belt de-registered, once it is fired and hence no longer of 11+ round length? And how could a belt be linked together longer than 9 rounds, after the effective date of the new law? Talk about "Unintended Consequences"!

Oh, and let's not forget the new Connecticut law's New York style "honor system" provision, which dictates that owners of full capacity magazines can load their magazines up to 30 cartridges, but only at home, but just 10 rounds if they are carried outside of their homes unless they're at an approved shooting range. Miscounting cartridges and loading just one too many would be a punishable offense. Stopping short of enacting an outright ban on full capacity magazines and this idiotic honor system provision were characterized as "gracious compromises." As one commenter at the Northeast Shooters Forum aptly put it: "... how generous our Overlords are." Do any Connecticut legislators believe that mass murderers will abide by any of this arbitrary nonsense?

It is noteworthy that the vote on this legislation came on Monday, April 1, 2013. (April Fools Days.) What fools (and tools) they are!

I urge Connecticut residents to do your best to fight this legislatively in the courts, but if all else fails, then vote with your feet. Speaking of which... I just heard that in light of this new legislation Todd Savage of SurvivalRetreatConsulting.com has announced that he has added Connecticut to his list of states that qualify for a 20% discount for "gun law refugee" clients. He is now extending the 20% discount to residents of California, Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York who identify themselves as gun law refugees. - J.W.R.

Dear Editor:
In response to R.B. and his comments on "Things to Understand When Interacting With the Police," I'd like to share "Some Things He Needs to Understand When Interacting With Civilians."

We've long abandoned the idea that the police are interested in helping us when they interact with us. We expect, for good reason, that any encounter with a police officer is going to be a reminder that right or wrong, he or she is a cop, they must be respected no matter how inhumane their behavior, and that any error on the part of the officer is inconsequential. I may have to accept the ticket for allegedly running the red light, pay the fine, and suffer the insurance consequences, but if my dash cam video shows that the officer lied, the most I can expect is that the ticket is thrown out. No matter that my time was wasted in by a fraudulent traffic stop and a day off work to come in and prove my innocence in the absence of an officer actually being able to prove I was guilty. What we almost never see happen is that the officer is reprimanded for lying.

We also know that in nearly every encounter with police, the only reason they speak to us is to find something indictable. They aren't looking for a reason to exonerate us or for a reason not to cite or arrest us, and that means any discussion with a police officer has the potential to lead to consequences for us, and silence will never incriminate us. That is why we have a right to remain silent, and it's ludicrous for an officer to suggest that it's a good idea to talk to the police.

For the perspective that only 5% of defense attorneys are honest, I don't disagree, but that statistic can be just as easily applied to the police, but with a more insidious element; defense attorneys are only trying to defend the impropriety of their client (a potential criminal) while the police routinely defend the impropriety of each other.

There is no denying the fact that there are a lot of bad cops out there. They are truly a stain on the tradition of law enforcement, but the idea that they are a "few bad apples" ignores several facts. 1. Their fellow officers (the supposed 'good' cops) never interfere when one of these bad officers is violating someone's rights. 2. They usually cover for these bad cops, whether through silence, looking the other way, or outright lying. 3. The police enjoy immunity from the mistakes they make which often ruin lives.

These things considered, please don't be surprised that the public view of the image of law enforcement is crumbling. We are tired of the videos of perpetrators being assaulted by the police while not a single officer steps in to stop the assault. The ludicrousness of the police justifying their actions when they asphyxiate a subject and then beat him for "resisting" when his guttural instinct for survival kicks in. The repeated instances of the police demanding that civilians turn off cameras in public places, where they assault people for recording them, and where they illegally confiscate recording equipment which so often goes 'mysteriously' missing. This indicates two key problems; the police know that their words don't match their behaviors, and such evidence cannot be tolerated, and that we really need to think about the level of accountability among an institution that loses more video evidence (both police dash-cam and confiscated video) than Hollywood.

The one thing that is predictable in these discussions is that the blame for law-enforcement misbehavior is quickly directed back at the citizens, where civilians are somehow at fault for the misbehavior of the police and that we can't possibly understand why they do what they do. This is illogical and insulting. The bottom line is that the police are responsible for their own image, whether good cop or bad, and it's not enough to say "those are the bad cops, I'm a good cop" and leave it at that. Unless you are taking specific action to protect the citizens (as sworn?) from bad cops, then you are no better than them, falling somewhere on the 'respect' list between used car salesmen and the Nigerian prince who wants me to help him collect his inheritance. It's your responsibility as a police officer and as an institution to consider why your image is falling like a North Korean satellite, and to address ways of resolving it. Blaming us is not the answer. Calling other people a liar is not the answer. Look inward and then show a good faith effort the people who are losing trust and respect for you, and therein you might regain our trust.

One thing I've learned is that when an "executive officer of the state" tells me that someone else is lying, that someone else is probably telling the truth. We aren't "anti-police," we are anti-bad-police-establishment." - S.T.

Mr. Rawles,
The recent article by G.S. suggested that prepper's maintain a distrustful attitude when interacting with law enforcement personnel.  This was followed by R.B.'s disdainful view of the defense bar and belief that law enforcement personnel can be trusted to protect the constitution rights of citizens.  Taken together, these viewpoints demonstrate something that preppers should carefully consider; the law enforcement environment in which they are operating, and what steps to take to protect themselves.

I have no doubt that in the Western state that R.B. works to keep safe, law enforcement officers use common sense and can be trusted to understand the Constitutional rights of Americans.  Similarly, we have seen enough stories to know that there are parts of this country, certainly where G.S. resides, where police view Constitutional rights as nothing more than a hindrance and common sense plays little role in decision making.

It is vitally important to learn about your legal and law enforcement environment before significant contact with law enforcement, rather than after the fact.  Here are a couple ideas:

- Talk to a lawyer.   If you don't already have one or know one, it is much easier to shop around for a good plumber before your pipe breaks. The same is true for attorneys.  Ask around, find one with a good reputation.  Many attorneys will set up an appointment for a nominal fee.  While attorneys cannot divulge the content of your discussion, there is no need to share details about your preps, numbers of firearms, etc.  It may be enough to ask "what should I do if and intruder is on my property or breaking into my home?"  or "Do we have a 'stand-your-ground' law here?"  The answers may be different depending on where you live.

-Find out about the prosecutor in your area.  Is the prosecutor elected or a political appointment and if so, by whom?  Are judges elected or appointed?  Is your local prosecutor or police chief involved with anti-Second Amendment groups?  The mayor?   Does your local prosecutor have a history of filing charges against citizens protecting themselves and their families? 

-Learn about the police and sheriff.  Knowing what precinct and beat you live in is particularly helpful if you are monitoring a radio scanner or an online police scanner.   If there is a neighborhood police meeting, take the time to show up and meet the officers working in your area.   You can get a read on the officer's view of public safety and information about the crime trends in your area could be critical to your family's safety. 

-Check the news.  Have there been a string of police misconduct complaints?  In proven cases of misconduct, have offenders been punished or is everything swept under the rug?   Do the police have a written or unwritten policy of making an arrest every time someone defends them self from attack?

In many cases, the law enforcement environment in an area is reflective the quality of local government in general,  the area economy, level of personal freedom, and so forth.    When it comes to interactions with law enforcement, like everything else in preparedness, know your environment and have a plan.

How you would deal with a deputy who you know on a first name since grade school would be completely different than a police officer while visiting a major East coast city.   Regardless of your environment,

-Be courteous.  Presume that the officer is doing his job in a manner that deserves our respect. 

-Know your rights.  Don't think you know them, find out exactly what you can, cannot and must do in your jurisdiction.

-Do not lie.   You may have the right to stay silent, you don't have the right to say something is untrue.

-Keep your paperwork straight and vehicle in good working order.  Avoid interactions in the first place by ensuring your tags, insurance, etc. are up to date, and your vehicle is in good shape.  This is particularly important if you preparations include a bug-out plan using your vehicle.

-If you determine that an officer is acting in an inappropriate manner and you must invoke your Constitution rights to refuse to make a statement or consent to a search, continue to be courteous and even tempered.  If your rights are violated you can tell the judge, citizens review board, or other authority when the time is appropriate.

After reading both articles, I believe that both G.S. and R.B. are correct as concerns their locale.  Preppers should examine their own locale, and consider their own legal environment and what that environment might become in the event of a local or widespread disaster. - R.L.W.

James,
In my opinion 99.9% of preppers are law-abiding citizens who fear God and want nothing more than to be left alone to live their lives in peace and prosperity. Having said that I take extreme exception to the recent article entitled, “Things to Understand When Interacting With Police”, by G.S. from Florida. G.S. is a defense attorney who used to be a prosecuting attorney. Let me introduce myself as much as I can. I am a prepper and a police detective in a Western state and have arrested many criminals over the years. I have been in many jury and bench trials and have had many dealings with defense attorneys. There is a common joke in the world of law that it is very difficult to be an honest person and be a defense attorney. It is my belief and opinion that 1 in 20 defense attorneys are honest people. That is a mere 5% that are honest and I will explain why that is.

It is a defense attorney’s job to represent people accused of committing crimes and they are an important and necessary part of the judicial system. But often times the defense attorney knows full well that his client is guilty of the crime he is accused of. Unfortunately for the defense attorney, this knowledge usually comes directly from the defendant. So there lies the dilemma. How do you represent a person you know is guilty, when your client has told you himself he committed the crime and especially when the crime is heinous? Well an honest person would say “I can’t.” But a defense attorney will say, “What can I do to get my client off these charges,” and will use various dishonest practices that I have seen defense attorneys employ. Defense attorneys attempt to get their clients off on technicalities (such as on DUI charges) and practice character assassinations of witnesses, police officers and most horrifically on victims. I saw a defense attorney make a rape victim break down and cry on the stand during a jury trial as he attempted to paint the victim as a culprit during his character assassination of her. A defense attorney outright called me a liar on the stand during a jury trial because the trial was not going well for his client who had admitted to me, post Miranda and on recording, that he had committed the aggravated robbery he was accused of. I could go on but my point is that be weary of defense attorneys. There are some good ones who have a conscience and don’t lie. But many believe that the ends truly justify the means.
Let me be clear. Police officers must never violate a person’s Constitutional rights and must always arrest on probable cause with clear evidence. If in doubt I don’t arrest and I let the district attorney’s office decide if there is enough evidence to prosecute. G.S. is correct about the level 1, 2 and 3 stops and I beg each citizen to be familiar with each of these.

Next G.S. recommended not speaking with police. I think this is false and let me give you a great example as to why. One night, while on patrol, I responded to a call where a man was waiving a gun around in a parking lot and other people were running away. A description of the man and his vehicle were given by dispatch. I was first on scene and located the “suspect” vehicle leaving the parking lot. Myself and other officers conducted a “high hazard” stop of the vehicle. The driver was removed from his vehicle and his handgun was located. Also in the vehicle were his wife and several children. The witness said that she saw this man pointing his handgun at several people who then fled the scene prior to our arrival. Next I wanted to speak with the accused suspect who happened to have a carry permit. I read him Miranda and he was anxious to speak with me. He said that a group of four males approached him and were asking him about where he was from and what his religion was. When he told them that information two of them produced knives and were going to attack him. A fact the witness did not know and did not see. Fearing for his life and for the life of his children and wife, he produced his handgun, which he pointed at the suspects. In this situation he could have shot them and would have been justified in doing so. We all complimented the man for doing what he needed to do protect himself and his family, returned his handgun and sent him on his way. If he had chosen not to speak with us that night (which is his right), as G.S. recommended, he would have been taken to jail at least for reckless endangerment and his handgun would have been seized. I understand a person’s apprehension to speak with police but it is my experience that it is only beneficial to you to do so.

In the next section G.S. writes about the force matrix. This is where his experience as a defense attorney shines brightly for all to see as he twists facts and information into what he wants them to be. He said, “Note that under the matrix, active physical resistance by a person can be met by police with deadly force.” This is not true and the chart that he linked says it is not true. I implore each of you to look at the chart he provided and recognize his false statement. The chart listed “Aggravated Physical Resistance” as being met with deadly force. There is a huge difference between “Active Physical Resistance” and “Aggravated Physical Resistance” and G.S. knows it. Let me give you some examples of “Aggravated Physical Resistance” against police: pulling a gun, pulling a knife, attempting to disarm, strangling (like a rear strangle hold), attempting to cause death or serious bodily injury, etc. G.S. would have you believe that police can kill you just because you are actively resisting, i.e. running away, taking a fighting position, not putting your hands behind your back, etc. What he would have you believe is true and what is actually true are two different things.

I will not delve too deeply into police corruption other than to say it does exist and in my department it is dealt with swiftly and severely. Any officer who is corrupt is a disgrace to the office and has not upheld their oath to protect and preserve the Constitution of the United States. Many may not know this but as executive officers of a state we, as law enforcement, are bound by oath and affirmation to support the Constitution (last paragraph of Article VI).
I understand that G.S. was just attempting to write an article to help the prepper community. His world is tough because he is always dealing with the criminal element and criminals are often times disheartening. But I found several of his points to be false.

Over the years I have read several articles on this blog that seem anti and pro police. I want the prepper community to know that most police officers I work with don’t want to bother you and only want to protect the communities in which they serve. Look for truth in all things and be a watchman of the night.  - R.B. 

Hi Folks,
I’m a transplant to my now-home state of Colorado.  When I came here where I’m living now was about the edge of suburban development.  Denver has a law that restricted it from growing called the Poundstone Amendment (wherein cities couldn’t annex without a vote of approval of land owners.)   My wife is a fifth generation native, her ancestors settled and farmed northeast of Denver for a few decades.  Winter wheat was a big crop, Rocky Ford produced perhaps the best melons I’ve eaten and in the summer it was nearly impossible to drive around without tripping over a small farmer’s market (even in the city).
 
Fast forward...  Farmers in Rocky Ford sold their water to a Aurora.  Farmers in the Northeast corridor (east side of the divide) sold their water to Denver.   Urban planning boomed (again) and even during official drought years it was not uncommon for 30,000 new building permits a month to be issued in the metro area.   With their new-found water wealth, the urban planners created sprawl, they loved the income and were addicted to it.  While we were told to conserve, they’d build a few thousand more homes with the water we didn’t use.  Their formulas used a usage ratio of existing users, so the more we conserved – the more building permits they could justify. 
 
Remember the Listeria deaths attributed to melons from Southeastern Colorado?  Do you know how the Listeria got a hold?  The farmers had “upgraded” their facilities, and were assured that city provided water was sufficiently chlorinated that they could just use city water, and not recycle and treat their own – all those nasty chemicals they added to the wash water were ruining the environment!  Well, as any dummy can figure out – chlorination varies day to day in any municipal water supply – and there was insufficient chlorine to cleanse the melons for market – so whereas the old environmentally-unfriendly method kept us alive, the new-improved city mandated solution killed several people – killing, essentially, the melon growing industry in that part of the state.
 
Many people don’t realizes that Water has it’s own court system, at least in Colorado it does.  Water is politics and big money urban developers have managed to buy nearly all the surface water and aquifer accessed rights in the state.
 
Our agriculture isn’t producing the same amounts of food as it was ten years ago not because we have a drought problem, it’s because the farmers don’t have the rights to the water anymore – they were “squandering” it and environmental lawsuit after lawsuit put most of them out of business – forcing them to sell their water rights to a city.  When you look at the agricultural production numbers plummeting in Colorado, don’t attribute it to the “drought” attribute it exactly where the blame belongs – urban sprawl.  What else did we get with urban sprawl?  Hundreds of thousands of city-dwellers dependent on the state for their every need.   With government employment and service industry growth the majority of people were liberals who moved here for the “rocky mountain high” – bringing their needs for cheap housing and water with them. 
 
We are a liberal majority-controlled state only in the cities. Everywhere else in the state, reason reigns.  Our farmers will never produce again, because the city will never return water rights to the land.  Our drought has always been a fact of life in Colorado, according to my wife’s relatives water has never been abundant for farmers.   Our farmers weren’t victims of G-d’s will and poor rainfall, they were victims of political realities and urban sprawl.  So, yes, we are part of the seven states with water problems, but it’s a redistribution problem not one of agriculture. - Jim H.

James,
I hope your readers don’t lump all police officers into the ignorant category. I’m retired now, but I clearly remember an instance about 15 years ago…
I was on grave shift and received a call of a man with a gun in a Shari’s restaurant at about 2 a.m.. When I asked the dispatcher what the man was doing, she told me he was eating.
 
I walked in and spotted him fairly quickly. He had a Ruger Blackhawk in a leather western style holster. I sat down in the booth with him and asked him why he was wearing the gun.
He explained that he and some friends had been out 4-wheeling and target practicing. Since his truck didn’t have doors, (it was summer), he didn’t want to leave it in the truck and since he didn’t have a CCW permit, he decided to wear it open carry.
 
I congratulated him for exercising his Second Amendment rights.
 
I then informed him of a little known fact in Oregon law: One may carry concealed if one is going to or from hunting or fishing or to or from target practicing. I then told him that he should alway carry a cardboard-backed target, earmuffs, live ammo and fireed brass in his car as “proof” that he has just been target practicing. And that he could carry concealed to not alarm the sheeple. I showed him the law in writing with my pocket guide I always carried.
 
The restaurant manager seemed rather displeased that a patron had a gun. I then pointed to mine and asked her if it bothered her. She said no, because I was the police. I told her that her restaurant was a safer place with an armed customer and left.
 
My sergeant was rather displeased that I didn’t have the “suspect's” name. And that is another story. - Tom in Oregon

As a former prosecutor and now criminal defense attorney practicing in Florida, I offer some insights gained by experience for the patriotic reader.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2,266,800 adults were incarcerated in U.S. federal and state prisons, and county jails at year-end 2010 – about 0.7% of adults in the U.S. resident population. Additionally, 4,933,667 adults at year-end 2009 were on probation or on parole. In total, 7,225,800 adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail or prison) in 2009 – about 3.1% of adults in the U.S. resident population. With the statist establishment criminalizing everything, and the prosecution machine grinding out prison inmates every day, a dedicated “prepper,” gun-owner or survivalist has much to be wary of when dealing with of law enforcement officers.

Obviously, the first bit of advice is to not violate the law. Unfortunately, there are so many laws on the books that almost everyone is a criminal. For more on this point, see Go Directly to Jail: The Criminalization of Almost Everything by Gene Healy and Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent by Harvey Silverglate. With the new proposals to ban certain capacity magazines and firearms and to seek a universal gun registration system, many people have become concerned that the law abiding citizen will be labeled a criminal by the state.

We must also recognize that when lawful gun owners discuss the use of force (including lethal force) in defense of self and others, we are not talking about a hypothetical construct. In the event of TEOTWAWKI, this may be an everyday reality. How functional the police and law enforcement agencies are in such an event is unknowable, but planning for such an eventuality can only be smart. It is not hard to imagine a scenario where you defend your home against a home invader using your legally carried firearm, but are faced with the ugly possibility of life in prison. The taking of a human life is no small thing. In Florida, the illegal use of a firearm that results in death carries a minimum mandatory life in prison sentence. Would you plea to a reduced charge for less prison time or take your chances with a jury? Are you sure? The best thing to do is to give your defense attorney the best case you can by planning ahead and understanding how to react to police.

One is reminded of the dilemma faced by the survivors in JWR’s novel Patriots where the protagonists must decide what to do with the bodies and belongings of the armed marauders who have attacked their camp. I would suggest that having a flexible plan to deal with the aftermath of armed citizen conflict should be part of your considerations. Obviously, TEOTWAWKI can come in many varieties with varying levels of societal dysfunction and different responses to such a situation may be called for. This essay presupposes that the police are still actively functioning and that the current U.S. Constitution is still in force.

You must understand that police are state agents. While most of us perceive the police are our friends, neighbors and protectors, it is very easy for this relationship to flip wherein we are the targets of tyrannical state power. Note, for example, the demonization of certain “right wing fringe groups” that believe in such crazy ideas at the founding documents and the right to gun ownership! I am of the belief that the likelihood of Blackhawk helicopters, drones or military strikes against civilians is remote. On the other hand, when TSHTF, the behavior of the local police forces will be one of the critical components as to how things will unfold. All the preps in the world will be of no use if you are sitting in a jail or prison cell. Knowing how to stay out of jail and prison is a critical bit of knowledge for everyone to have. Because the local police forces are the entry point for our prison and jail populations, you should know how the police deal with you.

It is important to understand that there are three levels of police citizen encounters: 1) consensual encounter, 2) investigatory stop and 3) detainer and arrest. See Popple v. State, 626 So. 2d 185, 186 (Fla. 1993).

The first level, “consensual encounter,” involves only minimal police contact, during which a citizen may either voluntarily comply with a police officer's requests or choose to ignore them. A consensual encounter is not a seizure, so it may occur without repercussion, even when a police officer has no reason to suspect that criminal activity is afoot. Because the citizen is free to leave during a consensual encounter, constitutional safeguards are not invoked. Therefore, anything you say in a consensual encounter will be admissible against you. Often, consensual encounters are the basis for many a search. The police officer will ask, “Do you mind if I search your car?” Because it is a question, you have a right to refuse the offer – and you should. An officer may ask you at a highway check point, “would you mind pulling over to the side of the road for a moment?” The response to this is a polite, “I would respectfully decline. I would like to be on my way. Are you ordering me to the side of the road?” If the answer is yes, then understand that you are now adversarial to the police, and are being targeted for arrest. If you are free to leave, then by all means leave. 

The second level of police-citizen encounter is an investigatory stop. At this level, a police officer may reasonably detain a citizen temporarily if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that a person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime. In order not to violate a citizen's Fourth Amendment rights, an investigatory stop requires a well-founded, articulable suspicion of criminal activity. An investigatory stop requires a factual basis to support it. Unfortunately, this test is subjective and can be falsely created after the fact by an officer. In an investigatory stop police have a right to search for weapons in what is called a Terry search (after Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) if they suspect a person has a weapon. Thus, if you are detained and a police officer asks you if you have “anything on you that he should know about” the correct response is “I have a permit to carry a concealed weapon which is located in my right front pocket.” Note how you say you have a permit first, which reduced the alarm for you being armed. Do not grab for the weapon. Let the officer retrieve the weapon, if he chooses.

The third level of police-citizen encounter is an arrest supported by probable cause that a crime has been or is being committed. A person is arrested or detained. It is only at this point that your ‘right to remain silent’ and ‘right to an attorney’ protections apply. Invoke them immediately. Further, always be polite. There is no reason to get indignant, angry or out of control – those things can only make your life worse when dealing with a police officer.
Back to our earlier example wherein an intruder is justifiably shot, what is it you should say to police? The answer is quite simple: Do not talk to the police. Instead, immediately invoke your right to remain silent and ask for an attorney. There is nothing you can say that will dissuade them from arresting you if that is their intent. There is nothing you can say that cannot also be told to them through your attorney. Having your attorney speak for you allows you to tell your side without the problem of implicating yourself in a crime. Exercise your right and then keep quiet. In many jurisdictions, police are given a 48 hour cooling off period before they are questioned about any police involved shootings. If the police have a waiting period to talk about justifiable shootings, then why not you? Help those who want to help you – and we are not talking about the police! The police are there to put you in jail. Otherwise, why do they want to talk to you? There is no information that you can give them that will persuade them to let you go that cannot also be provided through your defense attorney. If you are under arrest, you are not their “friend.”

I have seen people hang themselves with a statement to police on life felonies for the price of a cop-bought basket of chicken. Thus, do not talk with the police. Sadly, I have also seen many cases where an accused citizen’s comments were misunderstood by the police (either intentionally or accidentally) and used against them. If you find yourself being questioned by the police, politely decline to answer, and tell them you would be happy to answer any questions directed to your attorney. If you are read your Miranda rights, immediately and unequivocally invoke your right to remain silent and ask for an attorney. Then, do not talk about your case! That means, do not talk about it with the friend they bring into the room with you (your conversations are being recorded). Don’t talk about it on the jail phone (also recorded). Don’t talk about it in code (doesn’t work.) Don’t talk about it with fellow inmates (they will turn snitch.) Police love to place you in situations with other people (other than your attorney) that tempt you to talk about your case. The only person you talk to about the case is your attorney.

Another point: don’t be discouraged that an attorney does not magically appear in front of you when you request one. Your attorney only has to be provided to you at arraignment, which can be many days off. Often the police will use this delay to wear out the person being held. People become impatient with the system when after they invoke their right to an attorney they are abandoned in the questioning room for several hours as the police prepare the paperwork to transport them to jail. Time after time, citizens give up their rights and talk to the police to their detriment because the arrestee thinks they can talk their way out of jail. All they end up doing is talking their way into prison!

It is also vital to understand the police use of force continuum. Many police agencies rely on a use of force continuum (also called the use of force matrix) when dealing with citizens. Generally, law enforcement can utilize an amount of force one level above what is presently being exerted against them. Here is an example of the matrix.  As you can see from the matrix, if you are only verbally opposing arrest, the police officer may use physical force against you. It is vitally important for the responsible gun owner to know about this matrix. Many people get into big, big trouble when they think they are being wrongfully arrested and argue with the police. The police then respond with an allowable use of physical force, which is then physically resisted by the suspect. In Florida, while it is true that one can resist an illegal arrest without violence, a person cannot in any circumstance resist arrest (even an illegal arrest) with violence. A citizen’s righteous indignation may have been originally justified. But by trying to resolve the dispute with the police on the side of the road, they turn an encounter with the police into a felony charge that lands them in prison. If you are being detained and “think” you know the law and decide to oppose your arrest understand this: whether an arrest is illegal or not will not be determined on the side of the road. Instead, it will be in a courtroom by a judge and prosecutor who are agents of the state. When the police are writing up their report, guess whose side it will take. The worst mistake you can make is to become indignant and physically oppose an arrest. Note that under the matrix, active physical resistance by a person can be met by police with deadly force.

Finally and sadly, you must be aware of the reality and existence of police corruption. While it is true that defense attorneys perceive higher rates of wrongful conviction in the jurisdictions than do judges, prosecutors, and police, the differing opinion of the defense attorneys could be explained by their closer relationship to the defendants. See Ramsey and Frank “Wrongful Conviction” 2007. Judges, prosecutors, and police rarely have contact with a defendant at his most candid, whereas the defense attorney often gains substantial insight into a case through the defendant’s perspective. Often, there are factual disagreements between a defendant’s version of events versus that of a police officer. While it is a defense attorney’s obligation to advocate for their client, defense attorneys also recognize that the other groups almost always side with law enforcement when matters of credibility are at issue. Most defense attorneys understand that the current legal regime provides no protection against unreasonable illegal searches by corrupt police officers and law enforcement officials. This is rarely accounted for by the other three groups, who often work closely together as part of a law enforcement regime.
While actual framing and planting of evidence by law enforcement is possible, most of the corruption does not involve such blatant frame ups. Rather, it takes the form of self-justification, i.e. since we know the defendant is guilty, lying about the circumstances of an arrest is justified since “they are guilty anyway.” Such lying, when accepted and institutionalized as a regular part of the process, effectively eviscerates the individual protections of the Constitution. The individual Rights enshrined in the Constitution only exist if the procedures afforded individual defendants are respected.

Police procedure is where the rubber meets the road in Constitutional law. Fabricated justifications by police destroy Constitutional protections. For example, “Stop and search” has become an increasingly common tactic for normal law enforcement. “NYPD "Stop and Frisks" Hit All-Time High - City police officers stopped and questioned 684,330 people on the street last year.” Feb. 14, 2012 Can it be said that all of these stops were supported by probable cause? What exactly is going on here?

Many laymen would be surprised to learn that since 1996, there is no longer any such thing as a pre-textual stop. The Supreme Court case Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806 (1996) effectively removed any defense attorney check on corrupt police officers. The Court ruled, “As a general matter, the decision to stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred.” “Subjective intentions play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis.” Whren; See also United States v. Holloman, 113 F.3d 192, 194 (11th Cir.1997) (stating that Whren “squarely rejected the pre-textual stop analysis” and that an officer's “ulterior motives” for a stop are not relevant so long as it is justified by probable cause). This ruling effectively disarmed the defense check on police corruption, thus placing the entire burden for rooting out impermissible behavior on law enforcement themselves and the prosecutors who often serve as a rubberstamping branch of their local law enforcement agencies.

Two common scenarios are commonly subject to this type of corruption: 1) justifying probable cause to stop a vehicle and 2) justifying probable cause to search a vehicle or person. When justifying probable cause to stop a vehicle, there are many un-falsifiable strategies an officer can use to justify a stop, placing his word against that of the defendant.  This places the prosecutor and the court in a position of having to doubt the word of a law enforcement agent over that of an accused defendant. Most courts, almost as a rule, side with law enforcement in this circumstance. It is not my intent to argue that anything like a majority of cases are in fact falsified. Rather, it is to explain that there is no external check on police falsifications available to defense attorneys. Therefore, it is currently incumbent on prosecutors, judges and other law enforcement officials to self enforce. Understanding some all too common techniques of petty police corruption (in the Appendix below) should shed some insight into the indices of falsification.

As someone who could be on the receiving end of this, you, the reader, should know that the best way to deal with police officer (whether or not they are operating in a legal manner) is not to argue with them, but to remain silent and ask for an attorney.
 
Appendix
How petty police corruption often undermines the current constitutional search and seizure framework.

The following are ways a corrupt officer can justify stopping a vehicle based on probable cause. Because the current state of the law does not have a defense check on police power, a police officer who is willing to lie can stop any vehicle based on an after the fact, made up, unverifiable reason. Some examples of the many excuses that can be used to justify stopping a vehicle in Florida are outlined below:
I.                    “You rolled a stop sign.”
A.      (The officer testified unequivocally that defendant failed to stop at the stop sign, while defendant testified unequivocally that he made a full and complete stop. The officer's testimony was more credible in those areas where it conflicted with defendant's testimony. As a matter of fact, defendant committed a traffic infraction in violation of Florida law by failing to come to a complete stop at the stop sign. Therefore, the officer's stop of the vehicle did not violate the Fourth Amendment). United States v. Maddox, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34838 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 6, 2005)
B.      (Officer stopped a truck for running a stop sign when exiting the complex and received permission to search the truck from the male driver.) Holland v. State, 696 So. 2d 757, 758 (Fla. 1997)
C.      (Defendant committed various moving violations-rolling through several stop signs-which prompted the officers to lawfully stop his vehicle. Thus, the officers had probable cause to stop Defendant.) United States v. Jefferson, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143674, 6-7 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 19, 2010)
D.      (Officer alleged Defendant drove his van past an agricultural inspection station he was required to stop at, justifying stop). Grimes v State, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 19563 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. Mar. 29, 1982)
II.                  “Your tail light was out.” (Police officer had probable cause to stop the vehicle for driving after dark without its tail lights illuminated). United States v. St. Louis, 255 Fed. Appx. 432 (11th Cir. Fla. 2007) Note that this allows for the possibility that the individual simply had turned out his lights with the switch, making the fact completely dependant on the officer’s observations.
III.                “Your tag light was out.”
A.      (Officer can stop a car for an inoperable tag light) See Cole v. State, 838 So. 2d 1205, 1205 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
B.      (While maintaining that the tag light did not work, the State also argued that the validity of the stop of defendant's vehicle did not depend on whether the light worked; the State claimed the stop was valid if the deputy had a reasonable suspicion that a traffic infraction had occurred). State v. Lee, 957 So. 2d 76 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 5th Dist. 2007) Note that the language of the opinion allows for later testimony that the tag light in fact works – all that is required is that the deputy had a reasonable suspicion that it did not. This inquiry into the officer’s subjective intent is exactly the inquiry that the Supreme Court was trying to avoid in Whren.
IV.                “Your window tinting is too dark.” (Officer can stop based on a tint violation), See Lawrence v. State, 942 So. 2d 467, 468 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006); Davis v. State, 788 So. 2d 308, 309 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001).
V.                   “Your license tag is dirty and I can’t read it.”
A.      “… the word "Florida," the registration decal, and the alphanumeric designation shall be clear and distinct and free from defacement, mutilation, grease, and other obscuring matter, so that they will be plainly visible and legible at all times 100 feet from the rear or front.” Fla. Stat. § 316.605 Note that the officer’s opinion of a dirty tag cannot be falsified, since the officer can claim that the tag was subject to post-arrest cleaning.
VI.                “Your windshield is cracked.”
A.      (Stop is valid when a deputy stopped defendant's vehicle after he observed a severe crack in the vehicle's windshield). United States v. Anderson, 367 Fed. Appx. 30 (11th Cir. Fla. 2010)
B.      Any police officer may at any time, upon reasonable cause to believe that a vehicle is unsafe or not equipped as required by law, or that its equipment is not in proper adjustment or repair, require the driver of the vehicle to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection and such test with reference thereto as may be appropriate. Fla. Stat. § 316.610(1)
VII.              “You crossed the center line.” (Officer testified that he stopped the vehicle because he observed it cross over the center line twice and because the vehicle was impeding traffic by traveling far below the normal speed limit). State v. Thomas, 714 So. 2d 1176 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 1998)
The following are ways a corrupt officer can justify searching a vehicle based on probable cause.  Based on the current state of the law, after the vehicle was stopped a police officer can the search any vehicle based on a made up, unverifiable reason. The following are examples of the many excuses can be used to justify searching a stopped vehicle or person in Florida are outlined below.
I.                    “He acted nervous.” (Defendant became extremely "nervous" and "jittery" during his pre-search interaction with Officer) State v. Betz, 815 So. 2d 627, 633 (Fla. 2002)
II.                  “He made furtive movements.” What exactly is a “furtive” movement? This term, while hardly ever used in normal conversation, is commonly used by deputies when testifying to justify searches and actions, as a search of the term “furtive movement” in Westlaw easily demonstrates. [See, for example, Lightbourne v. State, 438 So. 2d 380 (Fla. 1983) (Pat down of individual justified when officer observes furtive movements combined with nervous appearance), and over 112 such references.] A Lexis.com search indicates 135 hits in Florida, and 2740 hits nationwide. The relative suspiciousness of a movement, or even its existence, is a matter of opinion of the officer who is subject to prosecutorial and judicial deference even in the face of defense disagreement.
III.                Detainee is “Unusually calm” (Defendant was unusually calm, actually lounging on the side of the interstate). State v. Petion, 992 So. 2d 889, 892-893 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2008)
IV.                “He gave consent to search.” (Consent to search after tag light stop includes tearing the vehicle apart for an hour with tools). State v. Petion, 992 So. 2d 889, 893 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2008) (Consent can be a mere shrug). State v. Jennings, 968 So. 2d 694 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 4th Dist. 2007). (The inspector asked to look in the van, and inspector alleged that appellant consented). Grimes v State, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 19563 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. Mar. 29, 1982) Consent is often a matter of opinion of the officer, who is subject to prosecutorial and judicial deference even in the face of defense disagreement.
V.                  “I smelled what appeared to be marijuana.” (The odor of burnt cannabis emanating from a vehicle constitutes probable cause to search all occupants of that vehicle) State v. Williams, 967 So. 2d 941 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. 2007); Wynn v. State, 14 So. 3d 1094, 1096 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2009); Nazien v. State, 36 So. 3d 184, 185 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 3d Dist. 2010); State v. T.P., 835 So. 2d 1277, 1278 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003); State v. Williams, 739 So. 2d 717 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 5th Dist. 1999); State v. Betz, 815 So. 2d 627, 633 (Fla. 2002); (Odor of burnt or burning cannabis detected as the deputy approached defendant provided him with probable cause to search the vehicle). State v. Lee, 957 So. 2d 76 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 5th Dist. 2007); (The odor of marijuana gave probable cause to search the bales), Grimes v State, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 19563 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. Mar. 29, 1982) While the smell of marijuana alone gives an officer a basis to search, it does not appear dependant on actually finding marijuana. Therefore, invisible and transitory smells can be not be independently verified outside of the officer’s word.

On March 20th, Colorado's Democrat Governor John Hickenlooper did a very foolish thing. He signed into law a ban on any magazine over 15 round capacity with a ban on shotguns with tubular magazines that can hold more than 28 lineal inches of shotshells, and another law that will ban private party sales of guns. (All transfers except a few within families will have to be handled through Federally licensed dealers. )

Because the magazine ban won't take effect until July 1, 2013, I can predict an unintended consequence: Close to one million magazines of 16+ round capacity will be purchased by Coloradans in the next three months. It is in their own best interest to immediately stock up their lifetime supply. So, instead of reducing the number of full capacity magazines in private hands, Colorado's legislature has triggered a spending spree that will likely double or triple the number of 16+ round magazines in the state. Perhaps one million more magazines will be marched (well, mailed, actually) into Colorado.

The next few big gun shows in Colorado will surely be memorable events. Something tells me that the dealers will be headed home in substantially lighter vehicles. (Any readers who are gun show vendors, take note. Reserve your tables, soon, and bring a large inventory of magazines.)

As I've mentioned before, the new law's grandfather clause is not multigenerational. It will be limited to only then-current owners on June 30th. Therefore I have urged Coloradans to be sure to properly document the gift of your magazines to your children and grandchildren, and have those records notarized.

If you have friends who live in Colorado, help them out, before the end of June. Many magazines are scarce, at present. Even Glock magazines are hard to find. Do you bit to support the Boulder Airlift. And if any Coloradans wisely vote with your feet and move to a Free State before July, then I recommend that you sell most of your 16+ round rifle magazines and 9+ round shotguns magazines to local friends before you depart, and then immediately buy replacements once you've moved.

Another unintended consequence of the new laws will be be political. The democrats have enraged Colorado's gun owners. In the 2014 election we will probably see a huge backlash. As recently as December, Governor John Hickenlooper was deemed "safe for re-election" in 2014. I have news for him: Gun owners have a long memory.

The national political landscape may change in 2014, as well. Let's not forget that 20 Democratic US senators face re-election in 2014. If they push civilian disarmament too far, many of those senators may get the boot. - J.W.R.

Mr. Rawles,
I read your essay "The Right to Open Carry Guns: Use It or Lose It," with interest.  I watched the videos you linked to with horror.  I was awestruck.

It is a shock to my system to see law enforcement officers so poorly trained and so willing to violate rights of citizens.  Perhaps I should know better by now.  To think that just one telephone call from a "concerned citizen" is enough to cause the police to violate a law abiding persons civil rights is terrifying.

I live in an extremely 2nd amendment friendly state, Arizona.  It is very common to see open carry just about everywhere, with the only real exceptions being schools, court houses and bars.  If you venture out, even in the large cities, you will see a variety of people from all walks of life going about their daily business with an openly carried handgun.  No one freaks out and no one calls the cops. It's been this way as far back as I can remember.

But, one of the freedoms that makes Arizona special may actually cause a hindrance to liberty if we are not careful.  Constitutional concealed carry passed a couple of years ago here in Arizona.  And while it is still extremely common to see open carry, many people have moved to concealed carry since the law passed.  I am a little afraid that this trend could cause the local population to become less familiar and comfortable with open carry. Plus, we have many people that move to Arizona from less gun free states.  I hate to think that in the near future, our law enforcement may be pressured to react because someone saw a "person with a gun" in public.  What a sad day that will be.

In an effort to stop the trend, I would like to encourage my fellow Arizonans to not take our exceptional freedom for granted.  Even if you regularly carry concealed, as so may of us do, set aside one or two days a week to open carry.  If we can keep it commonplace, we may save everyone problems down the line.  

Thank you for the work you do. - Ralph in Arizona

The American concealed carry movement can now be chalked up as a bona fide victory. CCW permits are now available in 48+ states. (To be safe I'd say around 46 or 47 states, depending on several factors. For example, permit issuance policies are not always uniformly non-discretionary in every county within a state.)

The logical successors to the concealed carry movement are the Constitutional Carry Movement (aka permitless concealed carry) and the Open Carry Movement. In my opinion, both of these are worthy endeavors.

I've said the following before, but it bears repeating:

Whenever someone must buy a license or pay a fee to exercise a right, then it is something less than a right. It is in fact a mere privilege, subject to the whim of petty bureaucrats. Fundamental rights are not abstract tokens that are given or sold by other men. They are in fact primary liberties bestowed upon us by God, our maker. Rights are not substantially secured by asking, "Mother may I?" of any government agency. Rights are more properly demanded or boldly seized and then conspicuously exercised regularly. This secures the liberties that have legitimately belonged to us since birth. If need be, lost rights can and must be restored through proscriptive use. If you live in a land where your rights have been marginalized into privileges, then it is either time to change your government, or to change your address. Much like a muscle that atrophies with disuse, any right that goes unexercised for many years devolves into a privilege, and eventually can even be redefined as a crime.

(Note: I occasionally quote myself, but at least I don't refer to myself in the Third Person.)

I applaud the folks who open carry in states where it is legal, but where it is still frowned upon. This is principled patriotism, in action. Some might consider this merely grandstanding, but it is not! Rather, it is an important educational process, both for the public at large and for our public servants. (Many police are woefully ignorant about their own state laws.) At times these open carry encounters with police involve risk. Sometimes they take persistence. And they generally require standing firm when the police apply a double standard. (Repeatedly, courts have found that open carry, in an open carry state, does not give police a reasonable articulable suspicion that any crime is occurring--hence an open carrying pedestrian or motorist should be treated no differently that someone who is unarmed.) At times, proving such points requires litigation. (Thankfully, most of those court cases--like a 1920s case in North Carolina or a 2009 case in Wisconsin--rule in favor of the plaintiffs.)

Just rarely, negative encounters with police even take place inside The American Redoubt.

Overall, the effect of open carry demonstrations have been positive and restorative. But in some statist bastions, they have resulted in the state enacting even worse laws.

I'm confident that eventually our public servants will learn.

Before exercising your right to open carry be sure to research your State's open carry, concealed carry, and Stop and Identify ("Terry Stop") laws, in detail.

In closing: To America's open carriers: You are to be commended, as Watchmen on the Wall! - J.W.R.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns political pressure group is hard at work. Working with several paid lobbyist, advertising, and public relations firmss, they are about to launch a $12 million television ad campaign, pressing for "comprehensive background checks". Banning private party sales of used guns (forcing all gun sales to go through licensed dealers) will lay the groundwork for a nationwide system of gun registration. But Bloomberg's Buddies have some public relations problems...

The latest news is that another member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns has been arrested. This time it was Mayor Craig Lowe of Gainesville, Florida, arrested for drunk driving. The arresting officer found the mayor sleeping it off, in his wrecked car. Lowe was one of 30 mayors recently featured in a Bloomberg-funded anti-gun commercial.

And the same week Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Mayor James Schiliro, got himself in very deep trouble, by falsely imprisoning and providing alcohol to an underage man, and drunkenly firing a gun inside his home, reportedly to intimidate the young man into having oral homosexual relations. (In this incident, it was also reported the Mayor had first ordered a borough police officer to pick up the 20-year-old and bring him to his home.) As with many other criminal mayors, Bloomberg's anti-gun organization quickly dropped Schiliro from their roster, to distance themselves. (Coincidentally, it was a desire for boys and young men that also landed Coaldale Pennsylvania Mayor Richard P. Corkery in jail on 28 charges of possession of child pornography. He too was a Mayors Against Illegal Guns member. )

Meanwhile, sentencing is expected this week for John Bencivengo, the former mayor of Hamilton Township--a suburb of Trenton, New Jersey. He was convicted last November on extortion, money laundering and bribery-related counts. He too was a Mayors Against Illegal Guns member.

These events were heralded just a few weeks after former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted, and just days after former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of 24 additional corruption charges. They too were Mayors Against Illegal Guns members.

Illegal guns aren't a problem, but illegal mayors in Bloomberg's "crime fighting" group certainly are! (There were at least 20 of them (if you include Felix Roque), at last count.) Mikey Bloomberg seems to attract these low-lifes. Contact your legislators to insist that they Close the Mayor's Office Loophole! Tell them that you support comprehensive background checks on Mayoral candidates. That's just a commonsense step. And something needs to be done about High Capacity Mayors--you know, the mayors with a high capacity for corruption and influence peddling, a high capacity for campaign contribution fraud, a high capacity for pedophilia, a high capacity for alcohol abuse, a high capacity for assault, a high capacity for theft, a high capacity for money laundering, a high capacity for conspiracy, a high capacity for extortion, and a high capacity for racketeering.

These criminals have gained access to mayor's chairs one too many times. It is far too easy for criminals to become mayors. Demand a Plan and Demand Action, America! - J.W.R.

Jim,
Unfortunately, it has become common for preppers to express outrage at the exorbitant post-Newtown pricing of ammo and certain magazines and firearms. Frequently, the complaints are accompanied by vows and pleas for others not to patronize certain offending retailers after things return to "normal." Apart from the implicit assumption that things will return to "normal," I think that this sentiment is way off base. Although I like paying "reasonable" prices as much (and probably more) than the next guy, I find the notion that retailers should not raise prices to meet increased demand both fundamentally flawed, and ultimately dangerous for preppers. 
 
First, we have to be true to our principles. Either we believe in free markets where supply and demand sets prices, or we do not.  And if we do not, Heaven help us. If we admit that free market principles really are not truly important, we open the door to all kinds of unsavory alternatives, including both "voluntary" and mandatory government-sanctioned price and wage controls. (I, and perhaps you, are old enough to remember our country's last attempt at wage and price controls, to "Whip Inflation Now (WIN)." Younger readers can either take my word for it or do the research: the government's efforts to control the markets did not work.) 
 
Second, why do consumers think high prices are unfair, but have no compunction about buying at "below market" prices? No one who snags a good deal at a gun show thinks that it is unfair to the seller. Rather, we all instinctively understand that the seller wouldn't sell at that price if he did not want to. If he wants to sell "below market," we assume that he has a reason (maybe he doesn't want to carry it home, he needs the money right away, his wife is impatient and wants to leave, or his feet are tired). But it is his decision. So why should our attitude change when the seller is demanding a price that we think is too high?  I think that most of the reason is bias in favor of self interest; most preppers currently see themselves as primarily buyers, not sellers. That motivates a lot of complaining about "price gouging." But those that are preparing for TEOTWAWKI presumably will be net sellers when the big day comes. In other words, it will likely be those who have prepared (and set aside items for barter) who will be trading a couple jugs of clean water for a box of ammo, a box of ammo for a FN-FAL, or a FN-FAL for a cabin, a cow and ten acres.  We should be very reluctant to stake out the idea that the fair value of an item is what it sold at for years, months or even days earlier. The fair value of an item is the price that a willing buyer agrees to pay now and a willing seller agrees to accept now--not a penny more or a penny less.  
 
Third, although the retailers that raised their prices post-Newtown are motivated by self-interest, they are performing a critically important public service, by keeping scarce items available. For example, although I thought that I was pretty prepared pre-Newtown, I took to heart your admonition to make sure that my family's future generational needs were satisfied, especially with respect to certain magazines. So within days of Newtown, I purchased some used, high quality steel AK-47 mags, at the still pre-Newtown price of $15. I was equally successful in buying some other mags at pre-Newtown prices. But I dallied, and did not fare nearly as well with respect to Glock mags. So I hedged my bets. I placed one order with an authorized distributor at "reasonable" prices. (That retailer recently informed me that I am still at least four months away from receiving my mags.) And I simultaneously went on Gunbroker and bought some others at the then-market price (which was about three times their MSRP). The mags arrived the next week. Did I make a good decision? It is too soon to tell. If transfers of the backordered mags are outlawed before I receive them from the authorized distributor, then I was a genius to buy on Gunbroker.com. On the other hand, if I receive the mags from the distributor before I actually want to use them, then I wasted my money on the Gunbroker.com mags. But the important thing is that I had a choice. Because sellers in the marketplace were willing to "gouge" people like me, I had the freedom to get my mags when I wanted them.  
 
Similarly, within days of your recommending the Mako Group E-Lander AR-15 magazines in early January, I placed an order at "reasonable" prices. I am still waiting for mine (and have heard nothing from the supplier, despite my e-mails). Nevertheless, based on your experience and others', I expect to receive them any day now, in which case I will be happy with my decision. But irrespective of whether it was a good or bad decision, the important thing is that it was my choice. I could have bought similar magazines from another vendor at maybe double the price (or more), and received them months ago. Although I chose to wait, the freedom to do what I think is best is of great value to me. In the future, I want to continue to have options.
 
I came across a recent example of what can happen when consumers intimidate vendors into not raising prices during a shortage. I sometimes patronize an Internet retailer, Classic Firearms.com, which is physically located in Monroe, North Carolina. I do not know anyone there, but have been very satisfied with their merchandise quality and customer service, and especially their candor. (And, as their web site makes clear, they are owned by Believers.) I also think that they tried hard to keep prices down the last couple months. (For example, shortly after Newtown, I bought 40 round Bulgarian AK mags at $19.99 each. When I decided to buy more the next day, the price had gone up to a still "reasonable" $22.99. Subsequently, they went to $24.99 and then were quickly out-of-stock, which is their current status.)  In any event, Classic Firearms recently advertised on their web site that they would soon have corrosive milsurp 7.62x25 ammo available after a period of unavailability, at a price of $499.99 per case of 1260. Although this price is less than many other calibers, it is about three times the price that this stuff was selling for a few months ago, when supplies were plentiful. (Although I did not spend a lot of time looking, I cannot find anyone that has milsurp 7.62x25 ammo available now.) But according to the Classic Firearms  web site, their announcement generated a lot of negative feedback from their customers about the new price, though they were merely planning to pass along their own high wholesale cost with a "very small profit margin." So they decided not to offer the ammo at all, out of concern that it "would reflect badly on us as the seller."  Although I am not in the market for 7.62x25 ammo (and certainly not at $499.99 per case), this is a crazy result. Having the option of buying 7.62x25 ammo at $499.99 a case is infinitely preferable to not being able to buy it at all. 
 
In fact, history teaches that attempts to persuade/coerce sellers into keeping prices below that which they can sell to others never works. That is why black markets exist. As anyone who has ever been a visitor in a country with currency controls knows, you can always find a burly guy on a street corner who is willing to give you more of the local currency in exchange for your dollars than will the government-owned bank. And here is an example closer to home: in December, the operator of a classified ad web site specializing in certain firearms was dismayed that sellers had jacked up prices. He therefore decreed that ads for exorbitantly-priced firearms would no longer be accepted. Presumably, he thought that the sellers would lower their prices for the privilege of listing on his web site. Guess what--they didn't. As could have been predicted, they simply stop listing on his web site. The sellers didn't care that the bump in prices might be temporary, or that market prices were higher than what the operator deemed reasonable; they weren't going to voluntarily sell below the market that then existed. And anyone who has read through this lengthy posting can probably guess how this story ends: the operator's policy lasted only a few days. Rather than become irrelevant, he relented and let sellers post their ads at the prices that they thought appropriate.  
 
In short, the law of supply and demand is as immutable as the laws of physics. Attempts to ignore either one do not end prettily.
 
Keep up the good work. - A Consumer Who Likes Choices

JWR Replies: I concur. As a believer in free markets I am of the opinion that "price gouging" is a myth. This is a fiction perpetuated by Keynesians, societal malcontents, and people who don't take the time to fully observe free market forces. The fact is that there are buyers and sellers in every market, and that supply and demand do indeed drive pricing. The few price disappointments that we encounter in our daily lives are more than offset by the successful gains made when we are simply observant. In a free and fair market, intelligent people who are forward thinking generally win. But, in contrast, those who are unobservant and stupid generally lose.

I liken all this to the inherent difference between those who are math and market astute and those who are math and market illiterate. The former do things like:

• Clip coupons
• Studiously comparison price
• Pay cash
• Buy tangibles
• Buy into long term up-trends
• Take advantage of seasonal sales
• Buy in bulk
• Fill their underground storage tanks with fuel during price dips
• Buy quality-made products that hold timeless value
• Make ratio trades
• Invest using dollar cost averaging
• Closely watch market trends
• Cash out during market spikes.

But he latter (the market illiterate) do things like:

• Pay on credit
• Buy shabby products
  
• Buy products that decline in value. ("Contrapreneurs.")
• Make impulse buys
• Buy consumer products that are popular and faddish
• "Invest" in timeshare condominiums
• Major in the Social Sciences
• Buy conceptuals
• Buy lottery tickets

Since 2005, I have consistently urged SurvivalBlog readers to invest in tangibles like common caliber ammunition, full capacity magazines and guns. Those who took that advice up to December 13, 2012 (the day before the Newtown Massacre) are presently sitting very pretty. Many of these tangibles have doubled or tripled in price. Not wishing to gloat or to sound trite, but I told you so. Oh, and FWIW, I still stand by my often-maligned advice on stockpiling nickels. (In a couple of years, I can foresee again being able to say "I told you so.")

Jim,
How many times has the President said that we need to raise taxes on those making more than $1 million per annum?
Some believe that the government will also confiscate gold and silver.
As many know, our government already confiscated gold in America, circa 1933.
Even so, collectable coins were exempt, which is reason enough to own gold/silver coins that have value beyond the base metal – a discussion topic for another day.
 
Many of us at retirement age receive some form of retirement income from the federal government.
Some receive disability pay as well, but the feds would take a massive hit for even thinking about taxing or reducing disability pay.
But in that same vein, our government has NEVER met a tax they dislike.
If any of the foregoing is true, or even close, congratulate yourself – you just might be a millionaire!  
 
If you can work backwards for a moment (something left handed people have always done) consider this:
 
     A federal retirement paying you $33,000/year would require a private sector principle of $1,100,000, and paying 3% annually to maintain the principle.
     Finding a safe 3% annual yield in this economy is just about impossible, excluding 30 year bonds and junk paper.
     If my left handed calculator is correct, that is more than a million dollars – congrats, you are a millionaire.
     Even though you may not feel like a millionaire, but you sure look like one on paper.
     Remember – this is the same government that tells you that social security is sound.
     Bernie Madoff would be pleased.
 
For those of us that are or will be “quintuple dippers” (military, civilian retirement, disability, TSP/401 K plans, and Social Security) we look like fat on paper.  
Nationalizing not just federal retirements, but all retirements would be far easier than confiscating gold or silver.
Of course, the program would be couched as a measure to ensure that everyone receives a fair share – But you’re a millionaire, quit complaining.
Food for thought.
 
- Dan X. (A retired U.S. Navy Commander.)

Hi,
I saw that the Colorado law banning magazines of greater than 15 round capacity passed – outrageous but not unbelievable for this state. Colorado  used to be a great and conservative one, but no longer.

[Regarding the law's limited grandfather clause,] I have written out documents for all of my magazines, which I have had notarized, transferring ownership of the magazines I own to my children. This way, when I die, it can easily be ascertained that the magazines were actually their property before the law went into effect. I am not a lawyer, but this sort of thing is done with many other objects so it should be acceptable with these as well. Only time will tell, but this was the best I could do or come up with on short notice.
 
All the Best, - Tim P.

JWR Replies: I urge Colorado SurvivalBlog readers to relocate to one of the American Redoubt States, if possible. The laws in Colorado will likely get a lot worse. Vote with you feet!

SurvivalBlog reader Diana V. wrote to mention some good news: Colorado ban on campus concealed weapons defeated.

But the same day, reader Bill C. sent some bad news: The Colorado legislature passed H.B. 1224--a ban on any magazine over 15 round capacity. It is now headed to the Governor's desk. It appears that he will sign it. The only glimmer of hope is that the law has a grandfather clause.

Updates: Reader K.A.W. wrote to mention: "The grandfather clause in HB13-1224 only applies to current owners.  There are NO transfers to anyone else, including descendants, upon death.  The only way to make sure magazines get passed down is with a trust or corporation owning the magazines, and the descendants being part of the trust or officers in the corporation".

To take advantage of a brief window of opportunity before the law goes into effect, I made an offer to Colorado Citizens who are SurvivalBlog readers, to sell about 200 assorted full capacity magazines at my cost. Those magazines all sold out in less than three hours. Thanks folks. I'll be praying that you are soon able to vote with your feet - J.W.R.

I've observed that we are now living in The Age of Sequestration, in many senses of the word.

First, and most noticeably, is all mass media talk about the Federal Budget Sequestration. Despite all of the hoopla and handwringing, it is actually just a token decrease to an already enormously bloated budget.

Second, is the forced sequestration of some Bad People. You've probably heard the latest news: following a lengthy jury sequestration former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilppatrick was found guilty. But his upcoming sequestration is hardly a news flash. Everyone knew he was a crook and this is of course his second conviction.

OBTW, does Mayors Against Illegal Guns have a special Life Sentence Membership option? And coincidentally it looks like former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (another one in Mikey Bloomberg's Elite "Crime-Fighting" anti-gun club) may also be sequestered. If convicted, Nagin would join a long list of very ex-Mayors. One thing more gratifying than seing a bit of the Federal budget sequestered is seeing more of Bloomberg's Band of Fools sequestered for long stretches in Club Fed, where they can't do the public any more harm.

Third, Germany is sequestering its gold reserves. Once thought safe under the streets of New York City, the German government has announced that it is repatriating its gold. Since there are probably more banker IOUs than there is physical gold in the depository, this will surely be seen as a wise move, in retrospect. (Nobody wants to be the proverbial Third Guy In Line.)

Fourth, in reaction to economic turmoil and Quantitative easing (monetization) the citizens of many countries are wisely sequestering part of their life savings by buying more silver and gold.

Fifth, a bunch of collectivists are trying to sequester your gun collection. They tell us that melting our guns down to make manhole covers is for our protection. Yeah, right.

Sixth, American gun owners, in reaction to the gun grabbers, are sequestering part of their life savings by buying more guns, more ammunition and more full capacity magazines. That is a wise move.

Seventh, and most important to SurvivalBlog readers is the quiet exodus of American gun owners and other freedom lovers. They are moving from Blue States to Red States. Many people are fed up and have wisely chosen to vote with their feet. They are moving to places like The American Redoubt. May God bless them, provide for them, and protect them. We have our own ideas about where we want to sequester our gun collections, and sequester our kids, too. - J.W.R.

Back on January 13, 2013 I mentioned the availability of steel AR-15/M16-compatible Tavor magazines, made in Israel, being sold by a company in the U.S. called The Mako Group. These were priced at $18.70 each. I personally ordered more than 100 of them on January 11th. My order just arrived on March 7th.

I was very pleased with the fit and finish of the magazines. Mine came with white followers. Their finish was glossy black and quite slick feeling. They have gave reinforced magazine retainer tabs. The E-Lander company maintains stringent military specifications and they have ISO certified and NQA certified (TS16949) processes.

I test fit several 30 round E-Lander magazines (both loaded and unloaded) in the magazine wells of six ARs here at the Rawles Ranch. I should mention that their lower receivers on these ARs came from four different makers. The magazines went into all six lowers with no difficulty whatsoever, and they dropped free with a touch of the magazine release. I also test fired one full magazine, and it fed wonderfully. Since they are steel, these magazines should give a lifetime of reliable service.

So the good news is that they ARE shipping, but they are obviously deluged with orders and that is causing long delays. Be patient, folks! We can safely assume that Mako Group is shipping orders sequentially from the date that orders are placed. So anyone who ordered their magazines from Mako during the week of January 13th should be seeing the Big Brown Truck of Joy fairly soon. And for anyone who orders any henceforth, you can expect at least a two month delay.

One odd thing that I noticed was that the magazines that I received were all marked "M.D. 02.13" So with a February manufacture date, these would have had to have been shipped to New York via air freight. This leaves me convinced that The Mako Group is doing their best to fill orders in a timely manner. But they obviously have a LOT of orders, and have developed a two month+ backlog.

Delayed orders are just part of life in the era of BHO, Dianne Feinstein, and Piers Morgan. Get used it. There will be continuing shortages, delays, and deep back-orders. I expect this situation to continue for at least a year. It will take that long for the manufacturers and importers to catch up. BTW, America's gun hating television talking heads all deserve awards for boosting gun, ammunition, and magazine sales to all-time highs. Because of those oh-so-vocal gun grabbers there will be an extra two million AR-15s produced in the U.S. this year, and untold millions of full capacity magazines made or imported. That just warms my heart.

To their credit, The Mako Group did not raise their prices after the Sandy Hook massacre. They could have easily cashed in on the crisis and doubled their prices, but they left them right at $18.70 each. That tells me a lot of about the company's management. Bottom line: The E-Lander magazines are worth the long wait. - J.W.R.

I recently heard from one of my readers who holds a Top Secret clearance and who has SCI access. His clearance was up for a Single-Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) periodic reinvestigation (PR). These SSBI-PRs are standard practice for anyone who holds a Top Secret clearance with access to Special Access Programs (SAPs), Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), or nuclear ("Q Access") programs. He told me that he was the subject of an "Expanded Reinvestigation" and in the course of that investigation he was challenged by investigators about his loyalty. The challenges, he discovered,were based upon his e-mail history and the assortment of books that he had purchased for his Kindle reader. Among other prepper-oriented books, he had Kindle copies of all three of my novels, and the investigator's report specifically mentioned them as suspect.

I find it almost comically absurd that for someone to possess copies of novels that have been on the New York Times bestseller list is somehow "Un-American" or "disloyal." But there you have it. We have now reached the era of ultimate inversion. The kissing cousins of the Stasi have been put in charge of guarding the hen house. They have unilaterally declared that family preparedness is now be disloyal and unpatriotic. So being prepared like a Boy Scout and stocking up on canned goods like your grandmother is something suspect, or somehow sinister. Lord help us.

At the risk of having my blog's web statistics take a hit, I feel obliged to warn my readers: If you are in a "position of special trust and confidence" (you know who you are: You hold a TS clearance with a bunch of funny little letters following the "TS") then I recommend that you take the following precautions:

• Completely avoid using any government-owned computer or network for web surfing. Use only privately owned computers and non-DOD/non-government networks.
• Use The Onion Router (Tor) for all of your web browsing. If you are not familiar with Tor, then get up to speed quickly.
• Use anonymous re-mailers for any e-mails that say anything more than: "I miss you and I can't wait to get home from this deployment."
• Use an inexpensive VPN service.
• Be very careful about how you phrase your e-mails, even if they go through a re-mailer and use strong encryption. Warn all of your friends and relatives to do likewise in their e-mails to you. (Since the contents of incoming e-mails can be nearly as damning as outgoing e-mails, in the eyes of investigators.)
• Rather than copying and pasting the text of anything controversial from any web site, instead send just Permalink URLs, couched with statements like: "I haven't had the chance to read this yet, but Bob said it was worth reading" (or some such.) This will provide plausible deniability.
• If you buy any books that might be deemed controversial then buy only hard copies, pay cash, and don't leave a paper trail. I would suggest gun shows, preparedness expos, and "brick and mortar" bookstores are the best places to buy such books. If you are deployed overseas, then have your relatives buy books for you and ask them to send them to you in Flat Rate boxes.
• Don't consider ANYTHING you do over the Internet to be "secure", even if you use strong encryption.
• Get in the habit of sending traditional typed or hand-written letters. If you are worried about the receiver of the letter being under surveillance (a warrantless Postal Mail Cover), then put their address in both the TO and FROM blocks on the envelope.
  

The foregoing precautions are now only recommended only for folks with a Top Secret clearance that requires a SSBI. But everyone else reading this should pay attention. Who knows? You may need to take similar steps, if the statists tighten their grasp on our collective throats. - J.W.R.

Taking note of the recent passage of The Firearms Safety Act in the Maryland Senate, New York's SAFE Act, and other legislation that appears very likely to be enacted, Todd Savage of SurvivalRetreatConsulting.com has announced a 20% discount for "gun law refugee" clients. He is now extending the 20% discount to residents of California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York who identify themselves as gun law refugees.

I predict that the American Redoubt will soon have a large influx of residents hailing from states with draconian new gun laws. I was glad to hear that Todd Savage is helping freedom-loving people find a better place to live. - J.W.R.

Mr. Rawles,
I have, most of the time been proud to be a Canadian. We have our problems, much like other countries, but I'd always believed that our country was one of the best, most free in the world. It both infuriates me and causes me great sadness to write the latter in the past tense. Today I read an article from a news source I have followed for many years and trust implicitly, Lifesitenews.

Essentially, the Supreme Court of Canada has killed freedom of speech and freedom of religion in one fell blow. If we can no longer as Christians be permitted to have beliefs with regards to what actions are right and wrong, and to communicate those beliefs, I have little hope for our society. If calling certain actions sinful is 'hate speech', I fear it won't be long before we see priests, pastors, teachers and parents arrested for speaking their beliefs, even to their own children. And what will happen to these children? I feel betrayed by my country, and furious that almost no one else realizes that we are being betrayed.

My parents home schooled me and my siblings for most of our school years. My brother and his wife home schooled their 9, my wife and I home school our 4, my sister and her husband plan to do likewise. There are other homeschooling families and members of our church who are beginning to wake up, but we are among the few who have not been inculcated. We are a very small minority. I wish I could say otherwise, I wish I could be more hopeful, but there will be no 'Canadian Redoubt', nor any reason for one. Even among the few who can see what is happening, there are fewer yet who are of the belief that anything can be done by citizens. And with that belief, they may be right. We would be as lambs to the proverbial slaughter, being the nail that sticks up, only to be hammered down.

I live in rural Alberta. I love it here. Today I started looking at Montana's home schooling laws and gun laws. I like them, so I started looking at property. I'm a rig welder in the oilfield, and I hear North Dakota is pretty busy now.

Your prayer will be appreciated. I will pray for you and yours. God bless you and keep you - G.L.

The mass media is still all atwitter with talk of "closing the gun show loophole" and "universal background checks." These phrases are tossed about without concern to their true intent: a de facto system of gun registration in these United States. I am dead set against any form of registration, since the history of the 20th Century showed countless times that registration leads to eventual confiscation.

There is one other inherent problem with gun registration schemes that is often ignored: that is that it only applies to law-abiding citizens. By virtue of established case law and cemented with an 8-1 Supreme Court decision, criminals are exempt from gun registration because it would violate their Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination. Second Amendment expert Clayton Cramer explains it all in a fine essay titled: The Fifth Amendment, Self-Incrimination, and Gun Registration. Here is an excerpt:

In Haynes v. U.S. (1968), a Miles Edward Haynes appealed his conviction for unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. His argument was ingenious: since he was a convicted felon at the time he was arrested on the shotgun charge, he could not legally possess a firearm. Haynes further argued that for a convicted felon to register a gun, especially a short-barreled shotgun, was effectively an announcement to the government that he was breaking the law. If he did register it, as 26 U.S.C. sec.5841 required, he was incriminating himself; but if he did not register it, the government would punish him for possessing an unregistered firearm -- a violation of 26 U.S.C. sec.5851. Consequently, his Fifth Amendment protection against self- incrimination ("No person... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself") was being violated -- he would be punished if he registered it, and punished if he did not register it. While the Court acknowledged that there were circumstances where a person might register such a weapon without having violated the prohibition on illegal possession or transfer, both the prosecution and the Court acknowledged such circumstances were "uncommon." The Court concluded:

"We hold that a proper claim of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination provides a full defense to prosecutions either for failure to register a firearm under sec.5841 or for possession of an unregistered firearm under sec.5851."

Captain Rawles,
The inflation calculator that you linked to is way off. If you punch in five cents it returns $1.16. [JWR Adds: This is because their calculator uses "official" CPI data, which is badly skewed.]
 
In 1913 it cost five cents for a loaf of bread. I would love to find a store that sells a loaf of bread for $1.16 today.
 
Being a master of Excel, I played around with this a few months ago. It turns out that a loaf of bread costs about $4.00. An increase from five cents to four dollars is an increase of 7,900%. The 2,226.1% increase claimed on the inflation calculator is too low by nearly a factor of 4.
 
An ounce of gold in 1913 cost $20.68. When I did these calculations gold cost $1677 per ounce. That is an increase of 8,009%. So I think it much more accurate to say that inflation since 1913 is roughly 8,000%.
 
Another point that might be interesting to those who are not aware: the value of gold does not change. The number of fake reserve notes it takes to buy gold keeps going up but the value doesn’t change. The evidence: Take the cost of a loaf of bread in 1913, five cents, and divide it by the cost of one ounce of gold in 1913, $20.68, and you get 0.24%. Then take the cost of a loaf of bread today, $4.00 and divide it buy the cost of one ounce of gold today, $1677 and you get 0.24%. It costs exactly the same amount of gold today to buy a loaf of bread as it did in 1913!
 
So if you leave the fake money out of the equation and only calculate with bread and gold, you find that there has been no inflation at all. I think this proves that inflation is a construct of the criminals in the Federal Reserve along with their fake money. - Maddog

I am blessed. It was very apparent during the trip that I had many people, and people fervently praying for me and that they were praying to a holy and sovereign God who answered. So thank you. And my wife thanks you too!  To elaborate, it was frankly terrifying leaving my family in Idaho and going to a country half way round the world that had so many unknowns and is reported to be overly violent… not knowing if I would come back or not. But we serve an awesome God. In Him I put my trust and got on the plane.

The trip was about three weeks long. I left Boise, Idaho, on January 29th and arrived safely home on February 19th. I went from 20 degree days to 100 degree days in a matter of hours. But I must back up and tell you that the South Sudanese Embassy in D.C. was going to deny my visa application after I bought my plane ticket. It was nearly a miracle that brought me my visa just two days before I got on the plane! This was due to God bringing a wonderful lady from South Sudan (who was in a South Sudanese state government level position – we will call her my “host” in this letter) to assist me in getting my visa and later to introduce me to key figures in South Sudan and help me learn about the country, people, and religious and political situation. Praise God for bringing her to help C.R.O.S.S.!

The trip was a mixture of crazy-busy and almost boring depending on the day. I spent a couple days in Juba, the capitol of South Sudan, walking for hours on end, exploring and experiencing the capitol, registering with the U.S. embassy, and reading. I did a lot of reading. I was blessed to meet a pilot with the Red Cross and a local businessman (from America) who helped take me around town, explain much about Juba and help pass the time.

Upon the arrival of my host in Juba, we then flew north to the town of Aweil in Northern Bahr el Gazahl State (NBG) that is relatively close to the border with Sudan. There I was whisked away by AK-47 toting bodyguards in Land Cruisers to my hotel. Well, that’s what they call it in South Sudan at least. They did have power!… but only at night, the shower was little more than a trickle when it worked (half the days I recall), and I did have a fine luxury, a flush toilet which needed the reservoir to be filled by hand. All this for a low cost of just about $100 USD per night. Of course breakfast was thrown in for free even at that “low” rate… the menu was the same meal for two weeks. LOL!

During my two weeks in Aweil I walked. A lot. That was on the days my host was too busy to introduce me around or take me with her. It was actually for the best. I met shopkeepers and visited the crowded and busy market, took many pictures (did I tell you that a National Security Agent almost confiscated my camera?) of everyday life and was even randomly accosted by a military officer with the UN. Okay, not really accosted but while I was walking through the market a UN vehicle stopped next to me and the driver in military fatigues told me to get in. Ha! Get in a UN vehicle. Right. He told me it was not safe for me in the market. Nice ruse I think, but I get in for some reason. I can only say I felt God wanted me to get in. Here is why: Three times during the trip during one of those “boring” days, I said a simple prayer to God. I asked Him to bring someone or something to me so that the time would be used to the fullest for His glory. Each time I got an answer quickly. So I took a walk in this case and God brought me “O.” He was from El Salvador and a MLO (military liaison officer) with the UN. This led to many introductions, several nights at the UN compound for dinner and good favor with all I met. I learned a tremendous deal about South Sudan and NBG state in particular. God is sovereign.

During many of the other days it was non-stop meeting political figures, “touring” the bush (always a purpose to accomplish though) in a Land Cruiser driving on footpaths and driving on a nearly empty gas tank hours from home. Handing out vitamins to children living in the bush, fixing the Land Cruiser with a Leatherman and 550 parachute cord, and getting lost (I wasn’t driving!) in the dark driving through the bush hours from Aweil seemed to be a normal day. We visited several villages and once saw a 8-10’ long Cobra snake (the driver wouldn’t run it over for some reason) in the road. Aaah, the roads. They are glorious. Not even gravel. Take an American backcountry gravel road with washboards and major potholes and quadruple it… I think we made great time when we traveled 50 miles north in about 2.5 hours.

Near the end of the trip we traveled to a small village for a funeral of a woman who’s daughter had died of cancer. This woman had no hope in Christ and had stopped eating and drinking the day before so that she could join her daughter in death. She had no hope, no reason to live, and no faith in God.  The day before I was to leave Aweil, I met with the representatives from the state’s cripple population. Many had polio (no use of their legs), were blind or had other similarly disabling challenges to face with no hope of a cure or medical help and virtually no job/income prospects. There are thousands in the community. My last day up north before returning to Juba, I was able to do a video interview of Carbino, a man who was kidnapped by the Muslim Janjaweed horsemen that Sudan sponsors (unofficially of course) to rape, burn, pillage and kill. He was kidnapped as a child and escaped three days later, only to return to his village to find it burned, his father murdered, and most of his family, friends and people from his village kidnapped or dead.

The needs in South Sudan are tremendous: physically, spiritually and socially.

Physically
The single biggest need is access to safe drinking and cooking water. The norm is to walk miles one way to get 3-5 gallons of relatively safe drinking water from one of the few “bore holes” (hand pumped wells) and walk miles back to repeat the journey the next day. Others walk miles to get firewood to cook with. Wildfires are a constant threat as the local villagers frequently burn the undergrowth away to spur new vegetation growth for the cattle and goats to eat… but leave the fires unattended!

Spiritually
They need teaching. They need pastors. They need materials and discipleship. While NBG is estimated to be 90% Roman Catholic most don’t know the difference between Roman Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, or otherwise. They have so little teaching of any kind, but are eager to hear. The few services are often packed with people outside the huts or buildings for a hundred yards or more! However, there are few services. I met some who have a beautiful and simple faith due to a lack of teaching, but it was still a faith in Christ crucified and resurrected!

Socially
Women are eligible to be married once they start their cycle, and men often marry around age 30+ and multiple wives are the norm if you can afford them. Bride prices are high and often the motive behind violent cattle raids on other villages due to bride prices being paid in cattle. Police are often abusive, often beating people and sometimes shooting people, almost always without consequence.

Okay, so you say what is the good news? The good news is that first, God is sovereign, loving, holy, righteous, gracious and able to accomplish His will on this earth! To my great encouragement, the people of NBG in South Sudan know that they do not know! They want help, teaching and mentoring! Sure, some want handouts but most I spoke with want the initial shot in the arm (financially or materially)… but so that they could be self-sufficient. They want education. They want vocational training and are in turn willing to train others. They do not want to be dependent on the outside world for long. The people are almost universally grateful to the U.S.’s role in their independence and respect and love America(ns).

The local government figure I met with who is responsible for the military and police in the region and safety of the border villagers was very favorable to our offer to help in that regard. He is a high ranking General with the SPLA and very much understands the value of training for soldiers and villagers alike. He had previously pushed to get the soldiers’ salaries cut to use it on a training budget but to no avail. Furthermore, he watches internet videos of Americans’ training and wants that training for his soldiers and to help defend the villages and his country. While nothing was made official, I am confident that by the time the Wood family moves to South Sudan, that this will be a significant part of our ministry.

So you say, this trip went far too smoothly and I was blessed with great success in making connections, learning and preparing for a move to the Aweil area. Ah, but there was one bit of “fun.” The day I was to leave Aweil, I was dropped off at the airport (two huts and a World Food Program tent), checked in my baggage (to the back of a Toyota Hilux pickup), and was told to wait three hours under the tree. So I waited. When my plane arrived they loaded my luggage and I proceeded to give my boarding pass to the airline person. But apparently it was not a boarding pass, it was “just” the ticket and I “did not check in,” despite checking in my baggage and being told to wait (I did triple check with others that was all I had to do, BTW). I tried to explain, but to no avail. So my plane left with my baggage (they wouldn’t give it back!) and I was alone at the airport. This led to a bit of frustration at the ridiculousness of the technicality of not getting a boarding pass, but quickly turned to me laughing, thinking, “If this is the worst I’ve had to face, God has indeed blessed this trip!” However, despite my good mood, this inconvenience was not without a ripple-effect. I had to call my new UN contacts to get access to Internet and a good phone (for international calls) so that I could change my flight home that was leaving Juba that I would now not make. Then I had to spend another night in Aweil at the hotel and the next morning ended up being driven a bone-jarring 2.5 hours north to a village where a small Cessna 208B was landing anyway that day, which later in the day flew me back to Juba, where I spent two nights waiting for the next flight out of the country… and from there of course I was able to return to the U.S. (about an additional $800 later.)

My Closing Thoughts
God is indeed great. Simple you say, but this trip went almost too well. However, possibly for the first time in my life, I knew that many people were praying for me. I also had the chance, or more correctly, the motivation and time, to read a huge portion of Scripture. I read 110 chapters of Psalms, all of Romans and all of Acts and selected Proverbs and other New Testament passages. That definitely influenced how I acted and spoke. I prayed like I’ve never prayed before and had a humble boldness that I’ve never had before. I was granted favor before men in a way I could not have pulled off on my own.

A quick lesson learned here: About a week into being in the town of Aweil it finally hit me… I am the only white guy in this whole town. Literally. Now before you say “it took you that long?,” I took that as a good sign, that race wasn’t registered on my radar due to being raised right. We are all made in the image of God regardless of how we look. People are people. That simple. But it did later make me think of something significant. It occurred to me: I am on a different continent, don’t speak the language, can’t run and hide if needed (due to my face), don’t understand much about the culture, don’t have my gun (which I’ve almost never been without for the last 15 years), can’t even tell north without a compass, don’t know where the water holes are, had my phone die on me and even my knife and tomahawk taken from me when the plane left with my luggage and not me. The point is simple. I was stripped to nothing. No familiarities. No comforts. Nothing to trust in or run to… nothing but God and His Word. Let me repeat that. Nothing but God and His Word. Praise God!

While there are many “I” statements in the above, they are all meant to demonstrate how God worked in/through me, not how I did anything of my own nature. Essentially while I’ve had some reservations or doubts along the way, I am now fully confident that God indeed does want us to go to South Sudan for His glory! God is paving the way. God is leading and we will follow.
God made it clear through this trip that C.R.O.S.S.’s plan to help with “water, fire, and security,” will be very well received by the people of South Sudan, and that additionally and more importantly they are spiritually receptive as well. It is encouraging to know that God prepared my background to be able to help with each of the three humanitarian needs C.R.O.S.S. plans on helping with and that they “happen” to be in the top few that South Sudan needs most desperately.

Now I am not ashamed to say we are starting to raise money for the move to, and establishment in, South Sudan. We need a lot of material and financial support to make this move and solidly establish C.R.O.S.S. Ministries with a firm foundation to be effective in our ministry and Lord willing, growing the ministry to other regions of South Sudan! To that end we ask for your material and financial support as God moves you to support us. You can find more info/updates (and lots of pictures, thoughts, and news added often) on our web site: www.CROSouthSudan.org or on our new Facebook page. (Please share these URLs with everyone you know!)

Again, a humble thank-you to those of you who helped make this financially possible and a sincere thank you to those of you who prayed for the outcome of this trip to the end of glorifying God!

The year 2013 marks one significant anniversary that will probably be soft-pedaled by the mass media: December 23, 2013 will be the 100th anniversary of the exclusive private banking cartel known as The Federal Reserve--America's central bank. I detest this organization. It isn't Federal (not any more "Federal" than Federal Express), and it has no real Reserves.

Lex Mala, Lex Nulla
The Federal Reserve Act was improperly implemented as an act of congress. Properly, it should have been promulgated as a Constitutional amendment. Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution dictates: "No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payments of debts." And Article 1, Section 8 dictates: "Congress shall have power to coin money." Neither of those clauses can be nullified without a Constitutional amendment. Rather than fitting in with the letter or intent of our Constitution, the Federal Reserve better matches the fifth plank (or "demand") of the Communist Manifesto: "Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly." (Das Kommunistische Manifest, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published in 1848.)

Dollar Destruction
Per Title 12 U.S.C. § 225, the Federal Reserve had three chartered objectives: creating maximum employment, assuring stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. But the Fed has pursued policies that are diametrically opposed to those chartered objectives. Rather than assuring stable prices they have consistently engaged in monetary policies that have gradually destroyed the purchasing power of the dollar, though currency inflation. The U.S. Inflation Calculator illustrates this gradual, insidious process.

Here is the long term effect of inflationist policies, in a nutshell: $1 worth of goods in 1913 terms now costs us $23.26 (based on official CPI data, rather than real world inflation.) Or, better put: A Dollar in silver coinage (four well-worn silver quarters with no collector's value) now costs around $34 at your local coin shop. The Federal Reserve Note is funny money, plain and simple. Don't expect stable prices. rather, expect the continuing destruction of the Dollar.

I've said it before: The Federal Reserve should be re-named the Feral Reserve. Their unconstitutional cartel is a wild beast that should be put down.

For further reading, I recommend the book The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. - J.W.R.

Jim,
I'm sure many will point out that a list of educational sources should include those who thought the proposed US system would turn into a tyranny:

The Anti-Federalist Papers

More about the Anti-Federalist Papers, at Constitition.org.

It may be seen as a different issue, but the debate between Hamiltonians and the anti-Hamiltonians is also most worthy of study. This leads into the whole question of what was called the American (or National) System of Political Economy, which has been used at times for great development in the US, Germany, and now China. On the other hand, the way it was used in the US probably contributed to creating an environment for the Civil War.

Regards, - Paul L.

James,
I wanted to thank you for the great article by Steven G. on important foundational documents of our country. I wanted to bring to your attention that there is a great app available for Android smartphones called "United States Constitution" written by Ken Hunt (I know that similar apps exist in the Apple App Store but I can't speak for their content or usability). In addition to the Constitution it contains the Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address, the Virginia Plan, The Great Compromise and many others. It is very well organized and written, is searchable and best of all is free. I have referenced it many times and often just sit down to read it and remind myself how grateful we should be to the individuals who created these marvelous documents and to renew my energy to keep myself focused on the important issues facing our country. It's very eerie how The Declaration of Independence currently reads like it could have been written just yesterday if you only change a few words.
 
Regards, - L.D.

Often, when two modern patriots are having a discussion, they agree with the failure of the public education system to teach basic American history, or to expose students to the foundations of our modern Republican form of government. The speakers quickly move on since they are often unable to specifically identify that which has been lost. Similarly, you often hear talk radio or television personalities spend an enormous amount of time suggesting courses of study or books, only concluding that the answer to the conundrum is the latest product that they happen to have for sale on their web site or by calling an eight hundred number. What is missing is an actual guide to understanding American Constitutional history.

As I raise my son, I am often having to explain the context of various readings he is assigned in class. How can a student understand Martin Luther King during Black History Month without understanding the United States Declaration of Independence or the Holy Bible? This remedial instruction began my thinking on what primary materials do we, as American patriots, expect every well informed citizen to know. Since the “prepper” or “survivalist” is known for keeping checklists and additionally for home schooling their children, what better way to outline a course of study for every patriot to learn and share with their student.

In that vein, I am submitting for your approval the following checklist of source documents of the American Republic. I am not selling any of the recommended books, and most of the material presented here can be readily accessed online and are therefore free. I have included linkages to the original source documents when possible. I have tried to choose the most readable copies I could find, however there are usually multiple sources for the texts available online. For example, some of the best sources for historical documents are Yale University’s web site. and the National Archives. English translations of Ancient Greek works can be found for free at a Tufts University web site.  Many books can be downloaded for free or a minimal .99 at Amazon.com for the Kindle. Note that you do not need a Kindle to read these books, as you can use the Amazon “cloud reader” to read the texts on your computer. Wikipedia.org also has tremendous linking resources, usually at the bottom of the page, that should not be overlooked.

Since the framework of America is founded in the English tradition, I have attempted to identify the foundational documents for America going back to those sources. These reading suggestions follow three distinct categories: first the patriotic student should begin by gaining a broad overview of the period of study. Traditional history classes use the term “survey class.” The survey is important to provide meaning and context to the other materials presented. The recommended survey materials can be supplemented by multiple secondary sources such as encyclopedias and web research. I have also recommended certain books as survey sources. I have tried to recommend readable books, and avoid overly political books (especially seeking to avoid the left wing bias that dominates the school curriculum today).

What do we stand for and what do we believe in? If this question cannot be answered, then we are disarmed in our resistance to harmful ideas. Unfortunately, the left has accomplished its agenda driven politicization of our school system, with propaganda crowding out the great ideas of America’s foundation. This outline can also be used as a guide for a concerned parent to confront intrusions and deletions in their schools’ curriculum. A parent can experience the richness of our history with their student by simply spending time together moving methodically through these guidelines.

Note that this outline is part of a larger outline I have been working on covering essential highlights of American history and the Western tradition. While my area of study is modern American Military history as well as law, I have attempted to fill in gaps in my own knowledge by targeting books that have had an impact on Western Civilization. The parts of the larger outline are: I. Foundations of Western Civilization; II. Understanding the Foundations of the American Republic; III. Early Federal Period; IV. The American Civil War; V. The Modern Era. The larger list is derived from a “Great Books” type curriculum, with much of the fiction downplayed. Only those fictional works that have impact on the course of history are included. My recommendations also steer away from thoughts and ideas that are antithetical to the American tradition. The recommendations are divided into several parts, using survey and biographical books combined with essential source materials of American and Western Civilization. When foreign sources are recommended, they are for the purpose of understanding the competing systems that have confronted the United States. For example, “Mein Kampf” (Nazi fascism) and the “Communist Manifesto” (communism) have had a disproportionate impact on the history of the United States.

II.             Understanding the Foundations of the American Republic
A.            The Holy Bible. Most readers should be familiar with the Bible, as were the Founding Fathers.
B.            Magna Carta 1297. Though short, the original text is dense and difficult reading. However, it is an interesting exercise to read through this early document that was in fact a contract between the sovereign and the free people. Sir Edward Coke argued logically for limitations on absolute monarchical power based on the Magna Carta.
C.            Survey readings about the English Civil War. This is a very dense period of English history, but it is critical to understand this part of history since it is the well spring of experience which the Founding Fathers shared. Especially recommended:
                        1.             Catherine Drinker Bowen “The Lion and the Throne” 1958. A complex but very well written account of the life of Sir Edward Coke. Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Available used at abebooks.com for a reasonable price.
                        2.             Michael Barone “Our First Revolution” 2007. The story of the Glorious Revolution (the term often applied to the ending of the English Civil War) and its relevance to the founding of the United States. Often available used at abebooks.com for a reasonable price.
D.            Sir Edward Coke “The Petition of Right” 1628.
E.            Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan” 1651. Available on Kindle for .99. Also available for free at an OSU web site. Written during the English Civil War, Hobbes considers the nature of government, developing what is known as social contract theory.
F.            John Locke “Two Treatises of Government” 1689. John Locke’s writings were probably the most influential source in the thinking of the Founding Fathers. Thus, a deep understanding of his work is essential to understanding the philosophical underpinnings of the American Republic. Available for free here.
G.            John Locke “An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding” 1690. Available for free here.
H.            The English Bill of Rights 1689. Strongly influenced the United States Bill of Rights. Available for free at a Yale web site.
I.            Survey materials on the American Revolutionary War. There are lots of resources available for the student of the American revolutionary period, but here are some references of note.
                        1.            John Fiske “The War of Independence, a book for young people” 1889 and “The American Revolution” 1891 both are available for free as a Kindle download.
                        2.            Gordon S. Wood “The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787,” “The Radicalism of the American Revolution,” and “The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)” More modern writings on the revolutionary period.
                        2.            The PBS video set “Liberty! The American Revolution” is very good, but retails for about $28. The set is worth owning.
                        3.            Stuart Murray “DK Eyewitness Books: American Revolution” For kids, the Eyewitness books are very good, with lots of “meat” and illustrations. Available used for a reasonable price.
J.            Biographical materials on George Washington. Washington turned down the chance to be king and steered the country into the great experiment in Republican government. He is the essential man in American history. Again, there are innumerable biographies of the George Washington, but the following are available for free online.
                        1.            William Roscoe Thayer, “George Washington” 1922. This book is available for free on the Kindle.
                        2.            John Marshall “The Life of George Washington” in five volumes. This set is written by Washington’s contemporary and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Marshall. A very readable copy is available for .99 on Kindle and free here.
K.            The Continental Association, 1774. The earliest American foundational document, wherein the American colonies bind together to form a cohesive response to increased English malfeasance.
L.            Thomas Paine “Common Sense” 1776. Available for free here. This supremely influential political pamphlet was widely read by the founding generation.
M.            Adam Smith “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” 1776. Available for free here. The Scottish economist’s penultimate work describing free markets and capitalism.
N.            George Mason “The Virginia Declaration of Rights” 1776. This document influenced the later Declaration of Independence and United States Bill of Rights. Available for free here.
O.            Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of Independence 1776.
P.            The Articles of Confederation. 1777. The organizing document for the original American colonies that established the framework for the colonies to fight the American Revolutionary War. The weaknesses apparent in the Articles were later addressed in the United States Constitution.
Q.            The Federalist Papers 1787-1788. A series of letters written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay advocating the adoption of the United States Constitution and elaborating on the ideas enshrined therein.
R.            The United States Constitution 1789. Primarily the work of James Madison, this document sets out the framework of the United States government.  Also see this searchable view with commentary by the Heritage Foundation.
S.            The United States Bill of Rights 1789. George Mason demanded the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, and refused to support the Constitution without it. The compromise was a quick adoption of the first ten amendments to the United State Constitution, in what is known as the Bill of Rights.    Also see this searchable view with commentary by the Heritage Foundation.

Apparently, this server is straining as news of the DHS targets is spreading virally.

A friend wrote to ask: "Don't these people have any devil's advocate types on staff who might say, "Gee Bob, I'm not sure this is the best idea..."

Description: [Note: cut and pasted, all typos and bad grammar original to these Protectors and Servers of Freedom]

Non-traditional threat dipicting [sic] a hostile young mother surrounded by childred [sic] on a playground. Background is faded further highligting [sic] and highlighting the threat.
Full Color realistic target.
Size: 23" x 35"

Site is overloaded.  Target shows an armed "hostile" mother with child.

Other targets include young boys.

So cops can practice shooting at them...

- Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog's Editor at Large)

JWR Adds: The server seems to have crashed. But InfoWars has now posted an article with target images.

Statists use cleverly constructed language for obfuscation and to further their unconstitutional Big Government agenda. Statists rarely say what they mean or mean what they say.

Ray X., a SurvivalBlog reader in Wyoming provides us the following dictionary that describes what the statists really mean:

Access: Our people put on TV or put in positions of authority, via our access to your wallet.

Activists: Rabble without jobs but with access to TV cameras.

Affirmative Action: Giving hiring preference to those with lower test scores, for countless generations.

Advocacy/Advocate: Advocating our agenda. All others are not Advocates. They are, Radicals, Haters and Tea Baggers.

Agenda, The. The word that shall never be spoken, unless in the context of The Right Wing Agenda. Instead use: Fairness, Change, Hope, New Direction, Social Progress, et cetera.

Agreement (Reaching): Forcing an agenda on unwilling Citizens, via the courts, regulation, legislation, bureaucratic decree, or character assassination through the mass media.

Allocate/Allocation: To extort by coercion, force, or threat of force, under color of law.

Alternative Lifestyle: Guys who do perverse things with other guys, little boys, or goats.

Alternative Media: Leftist guys who couldn't get a job as a newspaper reporter.

Alternative Sentencing: Forcing felons to stay at home under house arrest or give lectures or teach classes about the dangers of criminal behavior instead doing hard time.

Amnesty: Giving citizenship to someone who stole their way into the country and promises to vote Democrat.

Assault Weapon: Any firearm that Dianne Feinstein thinks looks scary, regardless of how it operates.

Assistance: See: Redistribution of Wealth.

Balance/Balanced Media: The scales tipped solidly in the direction of our agenda.

Bias: Any view held by a conservative. (A label we never apply to ourselves or to our Fellow Travelers.)

Big Oil/Big Pharma/Big Tobacco: Any company, regardless of size, with a politically conservative board of directors.

Bipartisan: Making conservatives cave in, repeatedly.

Birther: Epithet hurled at anyone who dares to challenge the place of birth of Barack Obama.

Bitter Clingers: Civilians who refuse to be disarmed.

Budget Cut: Any reduction in the rate of increase of a budget. See Also: Deep Cut.

Budget Imbalance: Spending far too much money of Free Stuff to maintain our large voting bloc.

Cap and Trade: Obsolete term. Use "clean energy" or "market-based", instead.

Carbon Credit: Paying people overseas to not produce things, so that our companies can, with permission, under close supervision, and with fines for any company that produces too much.

Censorship: Refusing to allow taxpayer funds to be used to push our agenda.

Change: Fabian Socialism or Marxism, depending on the speed of the change.

Child Development: Molding young people into compliant sheeple. Requires lots of Programs.

Choice: Choosing to murder a baby, at taxpayer expense.

Civil Union: Two sodomites who want to pretend they are normal, and want to be given health benefits to cover the cost of their expensive HIV medications.

Clean Energy: Energy created by Programs and the lavish infusion of taxpayer dollars, regardless of the cost per kilowatt hour.

Coalition: A group of groups that excludes the participation and opinions of conservative or libertarian groups.

Codeword: The term we use to demonize anyone who stands for less government, individual responsibility, and

Common Sense: Our agenda, on our terms, and on our timetable.

Common Sense Gun Laws: Civilian disarmament.

Community Leader: A leftist who has learned how to work the system.

Compassion: Wealth redistribution.

Compound: Any house outside of city limits that is owned by either a Kennedy or a Survivalist.

Concerned Citizens: People who agree with our agenda. All others are Radical Right Wingers.

Contributions: Coerced payments. See: Revenue, Taxes

Compromise: Forcing you to agree with the statist agenda.

Consensus: Using Focus Groups and other tools to drag everyone into agreement with our agenda.

Conservative: Anyone who drags their feet or who speaks out against the statist agenda. See also: Ultraconservative.

Constituency: The deluded fools that keep voting us into office, again and again.

Contribution: A tax or fee.

Create jobs: Create new agencies and programs. If any actual jobs are thence created then they must only be government jobs or union jobs.

Crisis: Any event, however small, that is an excuse for more government.

Cultural Literacy: New curriculum designed to encourage Alternative Lifestyles, Diversity, Sensitivity, Fairness, et cetera Never include any mention of the Bible or The Constitution of the United States, which were creations of Dead White Males.

Deadlock (Legislative): Failure to move quickly enough in advancing our Agenda.

Dead White Male: The originators of all human suffering who we must denigrate at every opportunity

Debt (public): Money that we spent that we didn't have, but which doesn't matter, because we can always print more.

Debt Ceiling: The convenient fiction that there is a limit to what we can spend on Programs. Revised annual or semiannually, as needed, following false protestations and then Compromise.

Deep Cut: A decrease in the rate of increase of a budget by more than 10%.

Deeply concerned: I have no intention of changing anything.

Deep Pockets: The ultimate source of Revenue.

Deficit: Money that we overspent and haven't yet taxed or created out of thin air.

Democracy: Socialist tyranny, via incrementalism.

Democrat: The political party that is pushing statism, in a hurry. (See also: Republican.)

Deserving: Daytime TV-watching and EBT card-using.

Dialog: A mono-directional lecture from the Ivory Tower to the plebeian masses. They are then told that they "have a voice."

Dictator: Any national leader who doesn't agree with our agenda. Anyone who does is a Leader.

Disadvantaged: Multigenerationally accustomed to sucking from the welfare teat.

Disparity: Some who makes less money than you, but who wants Free Stuff.

Diversity: Let's force people to stop saying "no" to sodomy, bestiality, and pedophilia.

Divisive/Divisiveness: Anyone who disagrees with our agenda.

Eco-Friendly Lighting: Chinese-made Mercury-Laden Light Bulbs

Economic Justice: Marxism.

Enhancement: Getting things to go more our way.

Election: An advance sale on stolen goods.

Empowered/Empowerment: Getting more Free Stuff at taxpayer expense, and face time on TV.

Elite: Anyone with a Wikipedia biography page but who does not agree with us.

Enable: Handing out taxpayer money.

Entitled: See: Deserving.

Equal Access to Opportunity: Jobs based on quotas rather than merit.

Equality: Inequality enforced regardless of facts or logic. Also: Paying everyone the same regardless of whether or not they choose to work. Bonus definition: Fining anyone for being above average.

Estimated Tax: Self-employed people writing huge quarterly checks for their own enslavement.

Excess Profits: The profits of any company that doesn't buy in to the statist agenda.

Extremist: Anyone who dares to speak up for their God-given rights.

Fairness: Giving Free Stuff to people who did not work for it, at the expense of people who did.

Fairness Doctrine: Always giving the statist agenda prominence, and making conservatives pay for the air time to do so.

Fair Share/Fair Shot: Taxing some people at a higher rate than others.

Fee/Fine/Assessment/Levy/License: A tax by any other name.

First Amendment: Freedom from any mention of Christianity in schools. (But not Wicca or Islam, which should be part of the new school curriculum.)

Fiscal Conservative: A socially liberal politician, regardless of their voting record. (All Democrats are automatically "Fiscal Conservatives.")

Flash Mob: "Youths" who have learned how to use their Obama Phones to get Free Stuff without even signing up for a Program.

Focus Group: Putting people in a room, reaching the lowest common denominator, and then labeling it Consensus.

Freedom: The freedom to do only what we tell you what you can do.

Free Thinker: People in our constituency who have a hostility to faith in God.

Free Stuff: Stuff we don't have to pay for. You pay for all of it, but just don't realize it.

Freedom Fighter: Anyone in a conflict overseas who agrees with our agenda. In contrast anyone who does not agree is a Colonialist, Imperialist, a Terrorist or an Evil Oppressor.

Free Press: Our lackeys who are fully or partially complicit with our agenda.

Fully-Funded: A Program that has reached multiple teats.

Funding: See: Taxes.

Global: A policy that matches the Agenda of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

Global Warming: : Obsolete term. Use "climate change" instead. (You know, just incase of a Little Ice Age.)

Good Government: More government, with incremental degradation of liberty. In the long term, total government.

Gun Buy-Back: Paying 10 cents on the dollar for something that we never owned, and then destroying it at taxpayer expense.

Gun Control: People control, dissent control, and civilian disarmament.

The Gun Lobby: Gun owning Citizens.

Gun Show Loophole: Two guys in the same state, privately transacting the sale of a used gun, like they've always done.

Harmony: The lack of resistance to our Agenda

Hater: Anyone who loves individual freedom and who stands up for God's Moral Law

Hate Speech: Saying something critical of our agenda. standing up for morality, or otherwise speaking the truth.

Helping Hand: The hand that helps dollars out of your wallet and into government coffers, and then helps a portion of those dollars into the wallets of layabouts.

High Capacity Magazine: Standard capacity magazine. (We deceptively called any magazine over 10 rounds "high capacity" when in fact the standard military issue has been 30 rounds or even 40 rounds since the early 1970s. Thus, we want to force the plebes to own only reduced capacity magazines.)

Homeless: Bums.

Homophobia: Term of derision for failure to enthusiastically subscribe to the homosexual agenda.

Human Rights: The Right to free health care, the right to a Living Wage, et cetera. To pay for providing all of these "rights" necessitates a large and intrusive government, and taxing your income, to operate it. (Note that "Human Rights" do not include the right to keep and near arms, the right to home school your children, the right to work without joking a union, the right to travel without being searched, et cetera. Those are rather privileges, which must be closely regulated. )

Inclusion/Inclusive/Inclusiveness: Including people with every wacky idea imaginable into our power base, to form a larger voting bloc

Inflation: Obsolete term. Instead use: Monetary Policy.

Injustice: Anyone who has not yet benefited from Wealth Redistribution.

Inflation: Stealing your money incrementally, so that you don't notice it.

Integrity: Willingness to buy in to our Agenda.

Invest in: Fund with tax dollars, lavishly and interminably.

Investment/Invest in the Future: A new tax.

It takes a village: Obsolete term. Use "Governance" instead.

Judgmental: Anyone with moral values and discernment.

Justice: Just Us.

Labor Organizer: A leftist who quit his job to push The Agenda, and now lives off the "dues" or other forced contributions of guys who still work for a living.

Labor Union: An organization that two or three generations ago fought for fair working conditions but now exists only to perpetuate itself and to push The Agenda.

Less fortunate: Layabouts and moochers.

LGBT: An initialism that secretly stands for Liberal Goat-Loving Blasphemous Terrorists.

Liberal: An obsolete and soiled term. Do Not Use. Instead substitute "Progressive" in all cases.

License: Permission to do what would otherwise be illegal under our make-believe laws, granted only after coerced payment of a fee.

Living Wage: Enough money, whether it is earned or not, to have air conditioning and a big screen TV.

Long Term Obligation: Money that is mathematically impossible to repay unless we inflate away the value of the currency by more than 90%.

Lower Income Workers: People who don't work but who are given a middle class income, at taxpayer expense.

Marginalized: Someone who has not yet (in their opinion) received enough Free Stuff.

Marxist: A statist who has foolishly tipped his hand.

Mean-Spirited: People who want to keep what they earn.

Mechanism: Our latest scheme. See also: Program.

Metrosexual: An ostensibly straight guy who thinks his neighbor's perversion is okay.

Militia Movement: Two or more Citizens who have similar gripes and who each own a gun.

Minority-owned business: A business that is foolishly started in an economically depressed ghetto. This term does not apply to Asians or to any successful businesses owned by minorities if they are in wealthy suburbs. Hence, Famous Amos Cookies is not a "Minority-owned business." See also: Uncle Tom.

Misunderstood: Insane, Idiotic, or Perverted.

Moderate: Left wing.

Money: The stuff that was once minted with silver and gold, but is now created out of thin air.

Move forward: Move to the left, create a Program, and subsidize with tax dollars.

Monopoly: Any company with market capitalization greater than $200 million USD, regardless of their market share.

Multicultural: High crime.

Narrative: What we call the history that we don't like and would prefer didn't really exist.

Nation Building: Sending American taxpayer dollars to prop up Third World dictatorships.

Nazi: A derisive term formerly reserved for members of the National Socialist Party in Germany, but now used as smear for anyone who opposes Socialism.

Neocon: A derisive term that we apply to anyone not in the Hard Left Camp, regardless of where they are on political spectrum, or when they got there. No longer has anything to do with George McGovern and the politics of 1972.

Nonviable Tissue Mass: An unborn baby.

Obamacare: Socialist imposition of medicine paid by a few taxpayers but provided to all, and brought to the lowest common denominator. Wait in line over there.

Obama Phone: More Free Stuff, for loafers. This device has the side benefit of alerting other loafers about where to line up or sign up for more free stuff.

Obstacles: Anything that stands between our constituents and the Free Stuff.

Occupy ___________(Location). Organize smelly layabouts to camp out, beat on drums, and demand The Agenda and more Free Stuff.

Offshoring: Sending factory jobs overseas, so that the then-unemployed will vote Democrat--because their party claims to stands for unions, job protection, and long term unemployment benefits.

Open-Minded: Those who embrace sin without any reservations.

Oppressor(s): Taxpayers who speak out against the statist agenda.

Opportunity: See Revenue and Wealth Redistribution.

Our: Your. (e.g.: Our Resources, Our Taxes, Our Cities, Our Nation, etc.)

Our Troops (Supporting): Formerly our sons, now Their Troops, used to collect revenue and assure a steady flow of overseas oil.

Outcome: Getting things our way.

Palestinian: Mostly Arab Muslims who got kicked out of North Africa or Saudi Arabia and then settled in Israel to get ahead economically when they saw Jews were prospering there. We pretend that they've lived there since Biblical Times. Does not apply to Jews with multigenerational roots in Palestine.

Patriot Movement: Anyone who dares to speak out against statism.

Patriarchy: A label used by those who make believe that it wasn't only men who founded and led Western Society and who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Payroll deduction: Stealing your money incrementally, so that you don't notice it.

People of Color: People of a dark skin tone who promise to vote Democrat. (Does not apply to any gainfully employed Asians or to anyone with dark skin who is a registered Republican. See: Uncle Tom.)

Privileged, The: Anyone who make more than $100,000 per year unless he a is liberal.

Poor, The: Anyone who doesn't want to work, but promises to vote Democrat.

Privileged: Anyone who works for a living. (See also: Oppressor and The Rich.)

Pro-Choice: Insisting on taxpayer-funded abortion.

Program: Waste of money, our latest scheme.

Progressive: Marxist, collectivist, or otherwise regressive to personal freedom.

Property tax: Paying rent to someone who doesn't own your land.

Provide: To take from one (by coercion) and to provide as "Free Stuff" to another.

Public Education: Systematic indoctrination into the statist mindset.

Public Housing: Taxpayer-paid housing for layabouts.The buildings are destroyed through neglect and abuse and then torn down and replaced at great expense roughly every 30 years.

Public-Private Partnership: Fascism.

Quantitative Easing: Creating Dollars out of thin air to prop up the Bond market and to dilute the value of all other Dollars already in circulation.

Racist: Anyone who opposes the statist agenda, regardless of their thoughts on race or ethnicity.

Radical Right/Radical Right Wingers: Anyone who dares to speak out against statism or refuses to be disarmed.

Reasonable Restriction: Degradation of a pre-existing right.

Redistribution of Wealth: Theft for the purpose of implementing Marxist Leninism. This is an obsolete and maligned term. Instead use: Empower, Give Respect, or Allocate.

Religious Freedom: The freedom to tout any religion and inject it into public school curriculum, except Christianity.

Representative: The elected officials who formerly represented the people, but who now represent an agenda.

Reproductive Health: Murdering unborn babies.

Reparations: Payment for a crime committed seven generations ago, even if your family never owned slaves and opposed slavery, or if your kin has only been in America for three generations.

Republican: The political party that is pushing statism, but in less of a hurry. (See also: Democrat.)

Respect: Paying Tribute.

Revenue: Theft, by any means possible.

The Rich: Anyone who works hard and saves part of what they earn. (See also: Hater, Privileged and Oppressor.)

Rights: Our constituents' rights to Free Stuff.

Right Wing/Right Winger: Anyone more conservative than Chairman Mao.

Safety: More government. (Such as: Airline Safety, Gun Safety, Highway Safety, etc.)

Say No To Drugs: Say Yes To Some Legalized Drugs.

Sell Out: See Uncle Tom.

Second Amendment: An obsolete part of the Constitution that protects the National Guard's right to keep weapons.

Senate: The elected body that once represented the states, but who now represent an agenda.

Separation of church and state: Exclusion of Christianity from schools. (But not Islam, because it is trendy.)

Share The Wealth: See: Redistribution of Wealth

Situational Ethics: Abandoning ethical and moral values.

Sliding Scale: Charging higher fees to the people who work hard, and less for people who don't work at all.

Sniper Rifle: Scoped deer rifle.

Social Contract: Big government, more government, higher taxes.

Socialism: Obsolete, soiled term. Do not use. Use "Fairness:, "Empowerment", ,or "Investment" instead.

Social Justice: Wealth redistribution.

Social Responsibility: Abandoning personal responsibility and signing up for the Free Stuff.

Social Security: The promise to pay people money that doesn't exist, in perpetuity.

Social Security Trust Fund: A nonexistent pool of money that has been promised in perpetuity.

Sovereign Citizens: Those whackos who dare to believe that they have rights that cannot be violated.

Special Interest Groups: Conservative companies that dare speak up, or contribute to political campaigns. (Does not apply to liberals who do the same thing.)

Special Needs: Kids that we want to give special or individualized instruction that we aren't willing to pay for.

Sporting Firearms: The humble-looking guns that we haven't tried to ban yet.

Stakeholder: Anyone who wants More Free Stuff.

Statistical Anomaly: How we dismiss any statistics that are embarrassing.

Stimulus: Handing out money that was either taxed or created out of thin air.

Streets, The: More accurately: Your house or Your bedroom closet. (As in: "Get guns off the streets.")

Survivalist: Anyone we dislike who lives outside of city limits, or who had "survival" training (such as that given to all Boy Scouts.)

Sustainable: A Government Program or industry propped up by the Government that can be sustained, ad infinitum, only with taxpayer funds.

Talking Point(s): Our agenda, cozily wrapped up in soothing terms, delivered to our friends in the media, for delivery to the sheeple.

Taxes: Money, coerced under threat of force and under color of law, that we we take from The Privileged to implement our agenda.

Tax Loophole: Any legal way to avoid being robbed too badly, as used by literate people (i.e. those who can read Tax Code.)

Tax Refund: Giving you back part of what we incrementally stole from you, and making you feel joyful for getting it.

Tea Bagger: Anyone who dares to speak out against the agenda. See also: Hater, Oppressor, The Rich.

Tenth Amendment:An obsolete part of the Constitution that was never intended to prevent the preeminence of the Federal Government and its Programs.

Tolerance: Toleration of our agenda. (Tolerating anything else is intolerable Hate Speech.) A key goal of Tolerance is silencing anyone who disagrees with out Agenda. That is not tolerated.

Too Big To Fail: Too Cozy to Prosecute.

Treasury Department Officials: Former stock brokers, who now "regulate" other stock brokers.

Ultraconservative: Any conservative who finds a media platform.

Unfair: People who work harder earning more than those who don't.

Urban: High crime area.

Uncle Tom: People of a darker skin tone who don't unquestioningly adhere to the statist agenda.

Underprivileged: Anyone who votes for a living rather than works for a living.

Undocumented Immigrant: Illegal Alien, future registered Democrat.

Union Shop: An employer that in the name "freedom of association" refuses to hire anyone who doesn't want to associate with their union.

Universal Background Checks: Universal Gun Registration. (And leading to Universal Gun Confiscation.)

Victim(s): Poor, inner-city People of Color who are seen as suffering any offense, either real or imagined. This term does not apply to rich White or Asian people, even when they are killed or when their livelihoods are wiped out.

War on Terror/Drugs/Poverty/Ex Cetera. Excuse for bigger government.

Weapons Cache: A gun collection consisting of more than three guns.

Welfare: Robbing Peter to Pay Paul a Living Wage, whether he wants to work, or not.

We Owe it to Ourselves: You owe it to us, or we'll throw you in prison for tax evasion.

White Guilt: A time travel metaphor for people in the present somehow causing the wrongs of their Great-great-great-grandfathers, or for people of the same era who were no kin to them whatsoever.

White Hispanics: People with Spanish surnames, regardless of skin tone, who make more than $100,000 per year. (See also: Oppressor.)

White Male. The Devil. Unless he is a registered Democrat, but even then, he still must have White Guilt and support Affirmative Action and Reparations, as penance.

White Male Value System: Antiquated adherence to hard work, property rights, morality, etc. See also Bitter Clingers.

Windfall profits: Any profits, if earned by the wrong company.

Win the future: Create more Programs

Workers: The children or grandchildren of people who once worked, but who now watch TV and collect Free Stuff.

Working Poor: People who haven't yet received enough Free Stuff or reached the status of Community Leader.

Voluntary: Mandatory, under threat of force and under color of law.

You didn't build that: You DID build that, but we'd like to tax most of it away from you, and give it to someone who lives in Public Housing and uses his EBT card to party at strip clubs.

Youths: Gang members.

Zero Tolerance: Not allowing anything we don't like (e.g.: Smoking, 32-ounce sodas, Hate Speech, etc.)

In my recent (and now notorious) Burn Barrel essay on civil disobedience, I made reference to a legal summary in the 2d edition of American Jurisprudence. But at the time I didn't have access to the important case citation footnotes. SurvivalBlog reader and legal scholar S.G. very kindly sent me an extract with full case cite footnotes, from American Jurisprudence 2d. This was from Volume 16 (Conflict of Laws to Constitutional Law 1-359). This came from the latest edition, so it cites cases as recent at 2009. Here it is:

§ 195 Generally

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, whether federal or state, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law(1) but is wholly void(2) and ineffective for any purpose.(3) Since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it,(4) an unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed(5) and never existed;(6) that is, it is void ab initio.(7) Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.(8)
 
Since an unconstitutional law is void, it follows that generally the statute imposes no duties,(9) confers no rights,(10) creates no office(11) or liabilities,(12) bestows no power or authority on anyone,(13) affords no protection,(14) is incapable of creating any rights or obligations,(15) does not allow for the granting of any relief,(16) and justifies no acts performed under it.(17)
 
Once a statute is determined to be unconstitutional, no private citizen or division of the state may take any further action pursuant to its provisions.(18) A contract that rests on an unconstitutional statute creates no obligation to be impaired by subsequent legislation.(19) No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law,(20) and no courts are bound to enforce it.(21) A law contrary to the United States Constitution may not be enforced.(22) Once a statute has been declared unconstitutional, courts thereafter have no jurisdiction over alleged violations.(23) Persons convicted and fined under a statute subsequently held unconstitutional may recover the fines paid.(24)

FOOTNOTES:

1 Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County v. Davis, 213 Ga. 792, 102 S.E.2d 180 (1958); State v. Village of Garden City, 74 Idaho 513, 265 P.2d 328 (1953); McGuire v. C & L Restaurant Inc., 346 N.W.2d 605 (Minn. 1984); People v. Corley, 91 Misc. 2d 255, 397 N.Y.S.2d 875 (City Crim. Ct. 1977).

2 Lewis v. Uselton, 224 Ga. App. 428, 480 S.E.2d 856 (1997); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); State v. Clark, 367 N.W.2d 168 (N.D. 1985); St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Getty Oil Co., 1989 OK 139, 782 P.2d 915 (Okla. 1989); Weegar v. Bakeberg, 527 N.W.2d 676 (S.D. 1995); Almond v. Day, 197 Va. 419, 89 S.E.2d 851 (1955).

3State v. One Oldsmobile Two-Door Sedan, Model 1946, 227 Minn. 280, 35 N.W.2d 525 (1948); Grieb v. Department of Liquor Control of State, 153 Ohio St. 77, 41 Ohio Op. 148, 90 N.E.2d 691 (1950); Hunter v. School Dist. of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, 97 Wis. 2d 435, 293 N.W.2d 515 (1980).

4 Shirley v. Getty Oil Co., 367 So. 2d 1388 (Ala. 1979); Oliver v. State, 619 So. 2d 384 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. 1993); Lewis v. Uselton, 224 Ga. App. 428, 480 S.E.2d 856 (1997); Trout v. State, 231 S.W.3d 140 (Mo. 2007); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); Texas Dept. of Family and Protective Services v. Dickensheets, 274 S.W.3d 150 (Tex. App. Houston 1st Dist. 2008).

5 Huffman v. Dawkins, 273 Ark. 520, 622 S.W.2d 159 (1981); Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County v. Davis, 213 Ga. 792, 102 S.E.2d 180 (1958); Briggs v. Campbell, Wyant & Cannon Foundry Co., Division Textron Am. Inc., 2 Mich. App. 204, 139 N.W.2d 336 (1966), judgment aff'd, 379 Mich. 160, 150 N.W.2d 752 (1967); McGuire v. C & L Restaurant Inc., 346 N.W.2d 605 (Minn. 1984); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); State v. Clark, 367 N.W.2d 168 (N.D. 1985); St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Getty Oil Co., 1989 OK 139, 782 P.2d 915 (Okla. 1989); Glen-Gery Corp. v. Zoning Hearing Bd. of Dover Tp., 589 Pa. 135, 907 A.2d 1033 (2006); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989); School Districts' Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Educ. v. State, 149 Wash. App. 241, 202 P.3d 990, 242 Ed. Law Rep. 383 (Div. 2 2009); City of Fairmont v. Pitrolo Pontiac-Cadillac Co., 172 W. Va. 505, 308 S.E.2d 527 (1983).

6 Thomas v. North Carolina Dept. of Human Resources, 124 N.C. App. 698, 478 S.E.2d 816 (1996), aff'd, 346 N.C. 268, 485 S.E.2d 295 (1997); Weegar v. Bakeberg, 527 N.W.2d 676 (S.D. 1995).

7 People v. Manuel, 94 Ill. 2d 242, 68 Ill. Dec. 506, 446 N.E.2d 240 (1983); Lovgren v. Peoples Elec. Co., Inc., 380 N.W.2d 791 (Minn. 1986); Nevada Power Co. v. Metropolitan Development Co., 104 Nev. 684, 765 P.2d 1162 (1988); Town of Islip v. Paliotti, 196 A.D.2d 648, 601 N.Y.S.2d 926 (2d Dep't 1993); American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ingram, 301 N.C. 138, 271 S.E.2d 46 (1980).

8 Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County v. Davis, 213 Ga. 792, 102 S.E.2d 180 (1958).

9 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989).

10 People v. Harvey, 379 Ill. App. 3d 518, 318 Ill. Dec. 756, 884 N.E.2d 724 (1st Dist. 2008); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); Nevada Power Co. v. Metropolitan Development Co., 104 Nev. 684, 765 P.2d 1162 (1988); Ethics Com'n of State of Okl. v. Cullison, 1993 OK 37, 850 P.2d 1069 (Okla. 1993); General Motors Corp. v. Oklahoma County Bd. of Equalization, 1983 OK 59, 678 P.2d 233 (Okla. 1983); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989); Geeslin v. State Farm Lloyds, 255 S.W.3d 786 (Tex. App. Austin 2008).
 
As to the effect of and rights under a judgment based upon an unconstitutional law, see Am. Jur. 2d, Judgments § 17.
 
As to the res judicata effect of a judgment based upon an unconstitutional law, see Am. Jur. 2d, Judgments § 752.

11 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989).

12 Liddell v. Heavner, 2008 OK 6, 180 P.3d 1191 (Okla. 2008).

13 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941).

14 Nevada Power Co. v. Metropolitan Development Co., 104 Nev. 684, 765 P.2d 1162 (1988); Ethics Com'n of State of Okl. v. Cullison, 1993 OK 37, 850 P.2d 1069 (Okla. 1993); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989).
 
As to the limitations to which this rule is subject, see § 196.

15 State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995).

16 Helvey v. Dawson County Bd. of Equalization, 242 Neb. 379, 495 N.W.2d 261 (1993) (a court may not grant any relief based upon a statute which is nonexistent or a statute which has become nonexistent by reason of a judicial declaration of unconstitutionality).

17 Millet v. Rizzo, 2 So. 2d 244 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1941); Board of Managers of James Walker Memorial Hospital of Wilmington v. City of Wilmington, 237 N.C. 179, 74 S.E.2d 749 (1953); State ex rel. Tharel v. Board of Com'rs of Creek County, 1940 OK 468, 188 Okla. 184, 107 P.2d 542 (1940).
 
As to the effect of a declaration of unconstitutionality on acts performed under it, generally, see § 196.

18 Thomas v. North Carolina Dept. of Human Resources, 124 N.C. App. 698, 478 S.E.2d 816 (1996), aff'd, 346 N.C. 268, 485 S.E.2d 295 (1997).

19 Jones v. Columbian Carbon Co., 132 W. Va. 219, 51 S.E.2d 790 (1948).

20 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941); Amyot v. Caron, 88 N.H. 394, 190 A. 134 (1937).

21 Chicago, I. & L.R. Co. v. Hackett, 228 U.S. 559, 33 S. Ct. 581, 57 L. Ed. 966 (1913); Payne v. Griffin, 51 F. Supp. 588 (M.D. Ga. 1943); Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941).

22 Painter v. Shalala, 97 F.3d 1351 (10th Cir. 1996); Bartlett v. Bowen, 816 F.2d 695 (D.C. Cir. 1987), opinion reinstated on reconsideration, 824 F.2d 1240 (D.C. Cir. 1987).

23 U.S. v. Baucum, 80 F.3d 539 (D.C. Cir. 1996).

24 Neely v. U.S., 546 F.2d 1059, 41 A.L.R. Fed. 331 (3d Cir. 1976).

In Closing: For readers with an interest in legal research, I must mention this proviso: Summary references such as American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) are secondary sources that are overviews of the body of law and as such are merely jumping off places for further research. From these, you have to then dig into the citations to truly find authority. This takes either access to a law library (yes, there are law libraries that are open to the public), or a LEXIS/NEXIS account, which is expensive.

Read the book Legal Research (by Elias) first, or you will be just flailing around, wasting valuable time.

Good luck with your research, and I pray that all your visits to court be with you in control of the situation, sitting before a fully informed jury, and with all the requisite authoritative facts at your fingertips.

Special thanks once again to SurvivalBlog reader S.G. for sending me those cites, pro bono publico.

JWR,
I am a 14-year veteran of one of the "top 10 by size" police departments in the US. My whole career has been within this department so my perception of this issue is only that of a large urban city department.

I want to comment on your article "Plan B: Key Phrases to Memorize for Citizens' Reservation of Rights." In my earlier days I can unfortunately admit I probably may have been one of these officers that would try to find something to turn a civil violation traffic stop into a felony arrest. I will add though that I have never violated anyone's civil rights during my career. But I can see myself trying to find my way into someone's car that I believed was in violation of a greater crime than just the petty violation I stopped them for.

I have never attempted or detained any motorists for the length of time described in this article. I have seen officers do it and usually found ways to help the motorist out by redirecting my fellow officer, or some similar tactic.

I would like to add though that officers who conduct themselves in this manner are outside the norm. I will also add they almost  cannot be stopped once they get it set in their minds they are going to "find something".

Your comments on how to act around officers will work well with the majority of officers. But there will be a few who I can see that will not be deterred. I would say to those using this defense to also be prepared to have the officer become upset. Why some of them do I have no idea but they will.

If at all possible try to video or audio record the stop. Most smart phones have video recorders now. Using this might keep the officer on the right side of things if he sees you are recording him. This is more overt though and may be tough to do in all occasions. It is pretty easy to turn on an audio recording app though and stick your phone on the dashboard during the whole stop. Just make sure that such recording is not a crime in your state.

Another thing to think about in these situations is the officer may ask you to step out of the car. This will change the scenario up a bit. Not that I agree with it but per case law officers can order drivers and occupants out of the vehicle with nothing more than reasonable suspicion or "officer safety".

Don't feel afraid to file a complaint against them. We serve you! Many of us peace officers have forgotten this. I no longer write traffic citations to generate income. Dangerous driving and similar are the exceptions. 

I get a lot of strange looks from people when I thank them for carrying their CCW and open carried weapons and supporting the Constitution. But it is necessary!

I hope many more of my fellow peace officers will change and realize how badly they treat Citizens. I am glad I woke up and changed. - Jeff J.

 
Dear James:
Regarding what to do in response to being pulled over by the state or local Gestapo, err, I mean the police who then attempt a fishing expedition may I suggest a dash cam like the police have.  After watching Breakfast in Collinsville and Lodging in Collinsville in which the officer claimed the motorist violated the law by drifting over the white lane markers while the motorist stated it was the officer who had drifted over the lane markers while following the motorist I decided to take a page from Chairman Mao and get a personal dash camera.

My quest brought me to DHGate.com which is a clearinghouse of sorts for Chinese retailer/wholesalers to sell their products to the world market.  They withhold payment from the vendor until they receive the return post card showing the merchandise has been received.  I received my dash cam two weeks ago but the purchase still has not been posted to my credit card account. (Ebay is another option.)
 
After a little searching (use the phrase “Car DVR” in the search box) I jumped and purchased this dash cam that records not only the front view but with the remote camera records the rear view as well.  (I did jump too fast and overspent as I’ll explain.) 

After waiting two weeks the package arrived on a Saturday afternoon.  After a quick trip to the big box electronic store for a micro SD memory card I had a fully functional personal dash camera.  Now I feel the tables will be turned if I happen to be unfortunate enough to be seen as a possible milk cow by a law enforcement agency.
 
Consider the following exchange, after pulling over for the police:

Officer:  “The reason I pulled you over is because you crossed over the lane dividers several times while I happened to be behind you.”
Me:  “I crossed over the lane dividers???  Can I see your dash cam video officer so I can see for myself?
Officer:  “No, the dash cam only turns on when I activate my police lights.”
Me:  “Well officer, today’s your lucky day.  See that (pointing to my dash camera).  That is my dash cam.  It automatically starts recording three seconds after I start my car and has been recording since I left home this morning.  And see that wire, it leads to the rear camera that records motorists behind me.  Now if you give me a moment I’ll be happy to pull up the files and play them for you.  You will see that while I maintained my lane as you followed me it was you who crossed over the lane lines multiple times.  May I ask, are you under the influence of alcohol or some other drug, legal or illegal, that would cause you to drive so careless and reckless manner?”

That should end the conservation. 
 
Some notes on personal dash cams:
 
1.)  All units plug into you vehicle’s power outlet, powering up and down with the vehicle.  Some like mine comes with an extra power cord that can be wired directly into the vehicle's fuse box. 

2.)  Most need the user to buy a micro SD card (TF card).  The bigger the memory the more of your driving is recorded.  Be sure to buy the proper “class” of card.  Most require at least a “class 6” card or better.  If the wrong class of memory card is used expect skips and jumps on the recorded video files as the result.  I have a 16 GB class 10 card.  I figure it will record 4 plus hours of continuous driving.

3.)  With mine files are saved in either 1, 2, or 5 minutes blocks of time.  The user can select the file size.  When the memory card is full the oldest files are overwritten first.  Other units record can record up to 15 minute files. 

4.)  Depending on the unit video quality can be set by the user (1080, 720, 640 x 480, etc.).  I suggest using the lowest video quality setting since it allows for more recording time.

5.)  The video files can be replayed on the camera’s video screen or transferred to a computer and played through the computer’s video player.  

6.)  There are units that have 3-axis G-force sensors that will automatically save crash event files and protect the files from being overwritten (usually 10 seconds before and 20 seconds after the crash). And there are units that allow the user to hit a button to do the same thing (Such as when you are not involved in a crash but would like to save and protect an incident.)

7.)  There are units that have GPS receivers recording the GPS location as well as the video file (example).  These units come with their own computer program that merges all the data into one viewing program using internet available maps (Google Maps).

8.)  Most units record the vehicle’s interior sound.  So no more talking to yourself as you drive! 

9.)  Most units have an internal battery and can be powered up independent of the vehicle’s power.  I would suggest if possible after being pulled over and giving the officer your driver’s license, etc. unplug the unit and power up the dash cam using the internal battery so if the officer tells you to shut off the car the camera will continue to record. 

10.)  Units can be purchased for under twenty-five dollars to hundreds of dollars (example). But for under $60 dash cams can be purchased with front and rear view cameras and a GPS receiver.  (This will be my next purchase.)

11.)  My dash cam came with instructions written in Chinese-English and the printing was so small that I had to photo-copy the instructions several times enlarging the print-out each time so I could read it - and I have 20/20 vision.  But because of the language barriers I just tinkered with my dash cam figuring it out on my own. 

Finally, poke around first before diving into the dash cam pool as there are units that have a single camera, dual cameras, dual cameras with one being a remote camera, single units with GPS, dual cameras with GPS that are either internal or external (GPS can be unplugged but the cameras still operate), etc., all for under $100.

Thanks for the Blog, - Johnny Dash Cam

I've posted numerous articles and links in SurvivalBlog that emphasize the importance of remaining silent whenever you are contacted by law enforcement officers. I strongly recommend that before reading the rest of this post, you take the time watch this lecture: Don't Talk To The Police, and take it to heart.

I've heard from several readers who say that that they've been pulled over by police officers on "fishing expeditions". The officers refused to let the motorists go, even though it was obvious that no crime had been committed. These readers did everything right. They presented their identification and proof of insurance, and repeated: "On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my right to remain silent and I do not consent to any search." This has to be repeated over and over.

The officers pressed on, with all their usual tricks, to try to get the motorists to agree to an unconstitutional search. Repeated queries were made, with the words: "Officer, am I free to go?" Finally, after more than an hour, a supervising officer would arrive on the scene, and the entire litany would then be repeated, for the umpteenth time. Then they were finally allowed to continue their travel. This is real fun in southern states when the outside temperature is 100 degrees F and the temperature inside your car is even higher.

So what if an officer persists? What if it goes on for more than an hour? At that point, depending on your patience or the volume of your bladder, it might be time for Plan B. Here is what I recommend:

1.) Keep your hands in view, preferably resting at the classic "10 and 2 o'clock" position on your steering wheel. To make the officer feel more at ease, leave your hands there throughout the encounter unless specifically ordered by the officer to move them for some specific reason.

2.) When the officer approaches your window--or the passenger's side window, depending on the situation--roll the window down a crack and slowly and without and sudden movements hand him your driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance. If you are a CCW permit holder, then also hand him your CCW permit at the same time as the other paperwork, and tell the officer: "I am obliged to tell you that I am a concealed carry permit holder and that in accordance with the concealed carry law of ______ (state) I am carrying a ________ pistol/revolver/whatever, located ___________."

3.) If a traffic citation is issued, read it and then ask: "Am I free to go?" If you are told "Yes" then go. Don't stick around for any debates, lectures, or pleasantries.

4.) If the officer asks you any questions, say: "On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my right to remain silent and I do not consent to any search. Am I free to go?"

5.) If the officer start playing fishing expedition games to try to trick you into consenting to a search, simply repeat: "On the advice of my attorney, I am exercising my right to remain silent and I do not consent to any search. Am I free to go?"

6.) Repeat this as many times as necessary.

7.) If this goes on for more than 20 minutes, then add the phrase: "You seem to be unreasonably delaying my freedom to travel. Please contact your supervising officer. Will you please do so?"

8.) If, after an hour you still cannot get permission to proceed, I recommend that you ask: "Officer, may I contact my attorney?" If permission is refused, of if you do not have a cell phone with you or you are not in a cell phone coverage area, then you will be in a bit of jam. Then, and only then, I recommend that you politely elevate the encounter with another series of questions:

A.) Ask: "Officer, please explain why you are arresting or detaining me?" He will probably answer: "You are not under arrest."

B.) Then ask: "So, am I free to go?"

C.) If the answer is still no, then ask: "Officer, I need to ask you: Are you familiar with the legal standards of Probable Cause, Reasonable Suspicion, and Plain View?" He will probably answer: "Yes I am" or perhaps: "What, are you some kind of an attorney?"

D.) Then ask: "Do you have Probable Cause to believe that I have committed or am about to commit a criminal offense?"

E.) If the answer is no, then ask: "Am I free to go?" If the answer is no, then ask: Then ask: "Do you have Reasonable Suspicion to believe that I have committed or am about to commit a criminal offense?"

F.) If the answer is no, then ask: "Am I free to go?"If the answer is no, then ask: "Is there anything that you see on my vehicle in your Plain View that would lead you to believe that I have committed or am about to commit a criminal offense?"

G.) If the answer is no, then ask: "Am I free to go?" If the answer is no, then ask: "Is there some new legal doctrine or standard that I am not aware of that would give you cause to detain me? Please explain."

H.) If the officer gets obstinate and orders you out of your car, and declares that he (or they) are going to conduct a search or you witness them initiating a search, or they tell you to wait while a K-9 unit is being be summoned, you should ask: "Officer: Are you familiar with the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree legal precept? I must warn you that this is an nonconsensual and unconstitutional search and that anything that you might find will not be admissible as evidence. I must insist that you cease this search. By continuing, you are opening yourself up to litigation and I will not hesitate to sue both you personally, and your Department. Because you are proceeding with a clearly unconstitutional search you will not benefit from any immunity. "

Memorize these phrases, and their sequence. Beyond them, I don't know what else I can recommend.

Note that almost everything that I have recommended that you say should be IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION. This keeps the officer on the defensive at all times.

May God Bless you, in your travels. Be safe out there! - JWR

Hello James,
 
Over the last number of months I have really enjoyed reading articles on your survivalblog.  I like to thank you for all the good and commonsense information.
 
What are your thoughts on joining the army?  I have a 16 year old son who has his mind set on joining the Canadian armed forces.

I like the fact that he is willing to serve his country, but as a Christian is it wise to expose yourself willingly to crude and foul language and other foul behavior. I spoke to a Canadian veteran and told me that you are as a Christian on an ''island'' on your own with few exceptions. (Those who claim to be Christian but their daily living shows otherwise).
 
With all the developments in your country (police state? financial collapse?) Canada is surely not far behind. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Regards., K.

JWR Replies: That is a tough question.  But I do have some recommendations.

First, he should be at least 19 and well-grounded as a mature Christian before he enlists.  Younger and less discerning recruits are more likely to succumb to peer pressure and fall into sinful, self-destructive patterns.

Canada announced the end of combat operations in Afghanistan in 2011, but there are still about 1,000 Canadian troops there--mainly trainers for the Afghan army.  Deployments to Afghanistan are still a possibility if you son goes active duty.

I'd recommend that your son join the Army Reserve, directly.  This way he will get the same valuable training that he would receive as an active duty soldier, but he'll be safer and probably happier. The Reserve units probably won't get called up in the event of a major economic collapse. And even if they do, they will probably stay close to home.

Do some checking and find out the branch specialty of your local Reserve unit.  If it is not Infantry or Transportation, then he'll probably be quite safe, even if his unit unexpectedly mobilizes and deploys to Afghanistan (or elsewhere.)

If he finds that he really enjoys it, then your son can always transition of active duty, later.

This afternoon I went to the 3 day gun show (Friday 3-8 and all day Sat, Sun) which began on Friday at 3PM.  Being retired it was easy for me to go but clearly a very large number of people left work early to get ahead of the Saturday morning crowds.

So we all got the Friday afternoon crowd instead!

Parking in a disabled slot, a gentleman in security noted that I was a 100 percent disabled Veteran and allowed me to walk straight in rather than wait in either of the two lines which went at least 500 meters in either direction.  The line was far bigger than I've ever seen.  It was astonishing!

Once in the door the line went straight to the back where the ammo dealers were.  The dealers were advising people to not even shop for themselves but to simply line up for the cash register and tell their staff what ammo they wanted and it would be handed to them as they waited for their turn to pay.  No mention of brands, just calibers and quantities.  

It reminded e of the old Soviet Union and people lining up to buy shoes.  "I'll take a case of .223, five boxes of .45 ACP and three boxes of 9mm and a box of .38 Special if you have it.  They would move along the line and await their ration and turn to pay.

Everyone bitched about the prices and the profiteering but few left the line.  They just adjusted what they were willing to buy or what they were willing to spend to match the new reality.  

Shooter grade ammo in .223 and.308 was a buck a round!  AK ammo was only slightly less.  And that was the price by the case!  A 1,000 round case was $1,000.  No negotiation.  No discount.

I bought two ammo cans of Lake City GI issue M2 ball .30-06 in en bloc clips to feed my M1 Garand rifles for a comparative bargain price as most people were in a feeding frenzy for the modern stuff.  Luckily I had stocked up before the election so I just shook my head and figured I'd wait for the furor to die down in a year or so.

Magpul PMAGs were averaging $50 to $60 each. As low as $45 if you bought in quantity or were a regular customer of the dealer.  [JWR Adds: These magazines were selling for as little as $11 wholesale and $16 retail, just before the frenzy.]

Genuine AK mags were $60 bucks each.  Perhaps somebody had them at a better price but I never saw them except for the cheap plastic junk.  

Cruddy old metric FN FAL mags that had sold for $4 each were $20 each.

I brought along a marginal quality Vulcan flat top AR and it was quickly snatched up for $1,600 within minutes of my walking in the door.  Most people were asking $2,000 for ARs but mine was an off-brand and a plain Jane version which I didn't really like.  Besides, I have a half dozen better ones at home so I was happy to unload it for a hefty profit.

Oh, just so you understand, people were BUYING.   Why?  

Because they knew that on Saturday most dealers would be sold out and there would be nothing at any price.  It reminded me of the panic before a blizzard hits when people strip the stores.

Most buyers said they believed there would be a ban and or confiscation.  Some said they were expecting an economic and society collapse.  A few said they believed we were about to have all of the above and it would cause a civil war between the Constitutionalists and the Federalists.

Best Regards, - Gunwriter

JWR Replies: Reader K.A.F. recently sent me the link to article that dovetails with comments, nicely: SITREP.

Dear JWR:
I currently live in the People's Republic of Illinois and have seen the mad dash for ammo and firearms make it very difficult to acquire even the standard .22 Long Rifle rimfire ammo that until a few months ago could be purchased by the case at nearly any Wal-Mart, gun shop, or sporting goods store. Recently when browsing the aisles of both Bass Pro Shop and Wal-Mart I noticed something rather peculiar: that .22 Magnum ammunition was aplenty. This struck me as really odd that .22 Magnum was even being sold in bulk packs (CCI brand) at Bass Pro with no purchase limits. It appeared as though one could easily (even now) buy 5,000 rounds of .22 Magnum without so much as a single person to compete with for it. My thoughts are now leaning towards acquiring a Kel-Tec PMR-30 [30-round .22 Magnum pistol] as well as a decent bolt-action (also in .22 Magnum) so as to provide myself the flexibility to buy this ammo even in times when other calibers may be hard to come by.

Your thoughts and opinion would be appreciated. Thanks, - K.

JWR Replies: That might be a good mitigation plan for our current circumstances. But keep in mind that even after the current shortages end that the cost per round for .22 Magnum will always be substantially higher--which makes target shooting more expensive. Hearing protection is also crucial with this cartridge. Our friends at Chuckhawks provide some background info and here are some ballistics comparisons. Yes, the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire (WMR) has substantially more energy than .22 LR, but it is quite expensive.

You should also consider that WTSHTF, the current supply situation may be reversed to the longer term norm, for barter. (Since .22 LR is ubiquitous, while .22 Magnum will always be the much more expensive oddball.) So stock up heavily if you opt for .22 Magnum rimfires.

James,
I read a post from one of the administrative members of the Citadel the other day.  He posted a request for "ways ahead" from group members (individuals who have paid the $208 application).  Specifically, he asked for suggestions on how to proceed given that they told the world they were looking for 3,000 acres on which to build their community.  Now, they are leaning towards a scaled down version to start; 200 acres.  While I don't find that too cosmic a question to ask, I do think incompetence is showing.  On top of that, the forum they've created for paid applicants seems to push people in the direction only they want to go.  Example, they have a subforum named "Name Our City".  In this, the administrator asks the masses what they'd like the area the Citadel lies on to be called if it is ever incorporated.  Members throw out their suggestions.  Then the administrator posts that they're pretty much focused on calling it "the Citadel" (so why even have the subforum in the first place?).  This is just one example (and a trivial one) on how uncoordinated this project is.  They should've had all the details laid out prior to recruiting.  Right now, I get the heavy impression this is being run be a handful of dreamers that are stumbling through the process.  I don't have high hopes that this is going to work
 
I gave them my $208 with serious reservations.  Why?  On the off chance that this is exactly what they say it is and everything works out.  Not really a hit on my finances, I had a slush fund and I'm way ahead of schedule with my preps.  I looked at it as a low risk, high pay off investment.  I didn't have to give them any info, just the money (right now).  In the future, they will be conducting interviews--so they say.  I can back out at any time. (We'll see if I get my money back). 
 
So, I wrote this to you because I trust you and you have the ear of many.  Please advise the masses as you see fit.  I'd request that if you post anything that I've wrote, you keep it anonymous please!  Keep your powder dry. - Mr. E.

JWR Replies: As I've mentioned before, I share some strong reservations about the Citadel community plan and the group's leadership. (Namely, Mr. Kerodin.) Our friend Patrice Lewis, who lives in the same county, recently wrote a cogent summary, in her excellent Rural Revolution blog. Some of the comments that follow are thought provoking.

A fundamental flaw is that they plan to lease shares in a walled community, rather than sell clear title to individual lots. Without private land holdings by the individual members, this wouldn't be much more than a hippie commune--albeit a heavily-armed hippie commune.

I know the region quite well. In fact, it is not far from where my first novel (Patriots) was set. The subdivision, zoning and permit requirements in Benewah County are favorable to development. (Much better than in adjoining Latah County, where there is a 40 acre minimum parcel size, for subdivision.) There are now permits required and a building code is enforced, but agricultural buildings are exempt.

Outside of the sprawling National Forest, the only large tracts of land around there (usually no more than 640 acre sections--see the checkerboard pattern of sections in the Forest Service maps) are mostly held by the big timber companies such as Potlatch.  The largest tracts and the most affordable (per acre) are mostly in high elevation country which have serious access problems in the winter and are pitiful, agriculturally.  (Again, because of the elevation, which means a short growing season.)

Generally, the big tracts of land don't go on the market until after they've been logged.  Bit I must mention that these days, the loggers no longer do many clear cuts, and they have special cutting plans required near streams.

While I do recommend the lower-elevation portions of the region, I don't think that the current Citadel plan has much chance of success. And as long as ex-felon Mr. Kerodin is in the leadership, I cannot endorse it.

JWR;
First, I must mention that the Feinstein bill is remarkably similar to what we live with already in California, other than some additional models being added and some language changes. With all of Feinstein and colleague's rhetoric about the California bullet button loophole, I notice that in her Federally proposed bill, if you have a fixed magazine (al la the California bullet button feature, which makes the magazine fixed) your (military) features are not limited. You are, however, limited to a 10 round fixed magazine capacity. Once you have a removable magazine, the "Military" (scary looking) features come into play. I would have thought the great Feinstein would have modified her legislation to include the removal of the bullet button exemption as she is threatening to do in California. It kinda makes the case that her goal is total disarmament through incremental legislation.

Second, regarding the article about the Iowa cops purchasing their own AR to protect the public, we have been doing this in California for some time now. Officers are permitted to purchase a AR type firearm with the authorization of their department head (Sheriff or Chief) and for law enforcement purposes. These firearms are required to be registered with the California DOJ. Initially officers were told that since the firearms were lawfully obtained and registered, they would be treated like pre ban firearms and individual officers would be allowed to keep upon their honorable retirement. California Governor Moonbeam (Brown) was the California Attorney General when a San Diego Sheriff asked for an opinion as to whether officers were allowed to keep their personally purchased firearms upon their retirement. It was the then Attorney General Moonbeam's opinion that officers may not keep their personally owned "assault weapons' since they no longer served a law enforcement purpose. Attorney General Moonbeam cited several examples of case law in support of his opinion; Silveira v. Lockyer2002, The District of Columbia v. Heller 2008 and McDonald v. Chicago 2010, all of which, as I understand it, have been overturned.
 
Third, it was not long ago that law enforcement officials were clamoring (and rightly so) for weaponry at least equal to that of many criminals. Their cry was for semi automatic pistols with "normal capacity" magazines and semiautomatic rifles with "normal capacity" magazines. The public overwhelmingly supported this upgrade. It is no surprise that law enforcement settled on some of the most reliable, proven and popular firearms in the industry and whose magazine capacities ranged from 12 to 30 rounds. These firearms consisted of SIGs, Glocks and S&Ws to name a few as well as the most popular rifle in the United States, the venerable AR-15 style rifle, the civilian version of the military "Assault Rifle." My question is; has the criminal element become any less armed or dangerous to the highly trained and coordinated law enforcement response? Criminals, particularly organized street and outlaw gangs are often better armed and more coordinated than ever. Since a highly trained and coordinated police response requires these tools to effectively protect themselves and their communities, would it not stand to reason that a lesser trained (but safe and responsible) civilian who is likely on his own (remember, when seconds count , the police are but minutes away, not a slam, just a fact) would not require the option of similar tools when confronting the violent actions of others? During my tenure as a metropolitan LEO (30+ years, most of it on the street) I have learned that when committing serious crimes, criminals often, even typically, operate in teams. I have also seen subjects sustain multiple gunshot wounds and walk, on their own power, to an ambulance. The idea that one is able to consistently and effectively protect himself or herself with 5, 7 or even 10 rounds is simply not supportable by facts. If a victim has a 30 round capability, their obligation is to engage a suspect(S) until the suspects stop their assault. Having that 30 round capacity gives the victim "Options" in dealing with the threat. A victim is not required to use the entire magazine capacity, just that portion that proves to be effective. In my experience, lawful owners of firearms who have accepted the responsibility and obligations of firearm ownership are an asset and are typically reserved in the responsible deployment of their firearms as circumstances dictate.
 
Fourth, keeping firearms out of the hands of those who are irresponsible or incapable of good judgment should be our common goal. So how might this be accomplished? I see no reason why a national database of those who are not qualified to own or possess any firearm and should include relevant information from the mental health field, could not be effectively established and available to Law Enforcement and for background checks. The FFL dealer calls in the background check to the National Registry and receives a YES/NO response. The registry does not need to know or retain specific firearm information (with the exception of various restricted items), simply that an individual qualifies or not for the purchase. Of course there would be the ability to challenge the database information if one was disqualified unjustly. This system would generally accomplish the goals of keeping firearms from those who should not have them while safeguarding the legal and privacy rights of the millions of lawful firearms owners.
 
So where am I going with this? In California the controversy of honorably retired LEOs keeping their AR-15s has raised its head. Many firearms owners feel it unfair that LEOs are able to retain their "Assault Weapon" when they cannot. As I understand it, this is based on a right of equal protection. I get that and can support the concept. As lawful firearms owners generally and Californian firearms owners specifically, we should learn about incrementalism from those who would strip us of our rights. We should steadfastly support the second amendment rights of our responsible fellow citizens in all states. We should then support the idea that an honorable retired California LEO is "entitled" to keep his or her personal property. Once established we should use that same argument of a right of equal protection to increment California back to a free state where the second amendment is not infringed for any law abiding citizen. This is an inclusive strategy not an exclusive strategy. Many of you would be surprised that, once out of the major metro areas of California, the majority of the remainder of the state is very conservative. In the last election the liberal vote trumped the conservative vote by just a few percentage points. Yes, there is hope, even in California.
 
Last, as a thought, when we see police officials standing in the midst of those who would infringe our second amendment rights, you will rarely see a member of the rank and file. Under the auspices of community policing, crime is a community problem. The police are a tool of the community in addressing those problems. By the same token, the common tools and options available to community members who are in good standing should be at least as broad as those available to the trained and coordinated police response. - Scott M.

This is a standing invitation to my fellow Americans: If congress ever enacts a law mandating the registration and/or a production ban of detachable magazine semiautomatic rifles then you are hereby invited to the town square of your local community. There, burn barrels will be set up and we will publicly burn Form 4473s, FFL Bound Books, state and local registration records, and the sales receipts for every firearm in the United States. On that same day, FFL holders and public officials holding electronic firearms records will simultaneously erase those records, permanently and irretrievably. (Using special file erasure software such as Blancco, X-Ways, and Stellar Wipe, or though the physical destruction of disk drives.)

Spontaneous Gatherings, Spontaneous Combustion

This burn barrel day--likely to be held the day after the President signs any new draconian legislation--will include speeches, public prayers, and the blessing of those who have gathered by ministers, rabbis, and priests.

The core of the activities on that day will be stalwart public defiance of any new unconstitutional law(s), the open and notorious destruction of records that might be used to enslave us, and vocal public affirmations of solidarity of free men and women, in the face of tyranny. This will be a defining moment for America--a line drawn in the sand. We will forthrightly declare that we will not obey any unconstitutional law and that we will treat it dismissively, as if it had never been enacted -- nunc pro tunc. We will pledge ourselves to the defense of liberty, both individually and collectively. We will vow that if ever called to jury duty, we will nullify any unconstitutional laws, vacating the charges against the accused, in accordance with our long-standing right as jurors. (See: www.FIJA.org.)

The Law is On Our Side

We will publicly re-affirm some long standing precepts of American jurisprudence, to wit:

§ 195 Generally

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, whether federal or state, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law(1) but is wholly void(2) and ineffective for any purpose.(3) Since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it,(4) an unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed(5) and never existed;(6) that is, it is void ab initio.(7) Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.(8)
 
Since an unconstitutional law is void, it follows that generally the statute imposes no duties,(9) confers no rights,(10) creates no office(11) or liabilities,(12) bestows no power or authority on anyone,(13) affords no protection,(14) is incapable of creating any rights or obligations,(15) does not allow for the granting of any relief,(16) and justifies no acts performed under it.(17)
 
Once a statute is determined to be unconstitutional, no private citizen or division of the state may take any further action pursuant to its provisions.(18) A contract that rests on an unconstitutional statute creates no obligation to be impaired by subsequent legislation.(19) No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law,(20) and no courts are bound to enforce it.(21) A law contrary to the United States Constitution may not be enforced.(22) Once a statute has been declared unconstitutional, courts thereafter have no jurisdiction over alleged violations.(23) Persons convicted and fined under a statute subsequently held unconstitutional may recover the fines paid.(24)

FOOTNOTES:

1 Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County v. Davis, 213 Ga. 792, 102 S.E.2d 180 (1958); State v. Village of Garden City, 74 Idaho 513, 265 P.2d 328 (1953); McGuire v. C & L Restaurant Inc., 346 N.W.2d 605 (Minn. 1984); People v. Corley, 91 Misc. 2d 255, 397 N.Y.S.2d 875 (City Crim. Ct. 1977).

2 Lewis v. Uselton, 224 Ga. App. 428, 480 S.E.2d 856 (1997); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); State v. Clark, 367 N.W.2d 168 (N.D. 1985); St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Getty Oil Co., 1989 OK 139, 782 P.2d 915 (Okla. 1989); Weegar v. Bakeberg, 527 N.W.2d 676 (S.D. 1995); Almond v. Day, 197 Va. 419, 89 S.E.2d 851 (1955).

3State v. One Oldsmobile Two-Door Sedan, Model 1946, 227 Minn. 280, 35 N.W.2d 525 (1948); Grieb v. Department of Liquor Control of State, 153 Ohio St. 77, 41 Ohio Op. 148, 90 N.E.2d 691 (1950); Hunter v. School Dist. of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, 97 Wis. 2d 435, 293 N.W.2d 515 (1980).

4 Shirley v. Getty Oil Co., 367 So. 2d 1388 (Ala. 1979); Oliver v. State, 619 So. 2d 384 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. 1993); Lewis v. Uselton, 224 Ga. App. 428, 480 S.E.2d 856 (1997); Trout v. State, 231 S.W.3d 140 (Mo. 2007); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); Texas Dept. of Family and Protective Services v. Dickensheets, 274 S.W.3d 150 (Tex. App. Houston 1st Dist. 2008).

5 Huffman v. Dawkins, 273 Ark. 520, 622 S.W.2d 159 (1981); Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County v. Davis, 213 Ga. 792, 102 S.E.2d 180 (1958); Briggs v. Campbell, Wyant & Cannon Foundry Co., Division Textron Am. Inc., 2 Mich. App. 204, 139 N.W.2d 336 (1966), judgment aff'd, 379 Mich. 160, 150 N.W.2d 752 (1967); McGuire v. C & L Restaurant Inc., 346 N.W.2d 605 (Minn. 1984); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); State v. Clark, 367 N.W.2d 168 (N.D. 1985); St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Getty Oil Co., 1989 OK 139, 782 P.2d 915 (Okla. 1989); Glen-Gery Corp. v. Zoning Hearing Bd. of Dover Tp., 589 Pa. 135, 907 A.2d 1033 (2006); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989); School Districts' Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Educ. v. State, 149 Wash. App. 241, 202 P.3d 990, 242 Ed. Law Rep. 383 (Div. 2 2009); City of Fairmont v. Pitrolo Pontiac-Cadillac Co., 172 W. Va. 505, 308 S.E.2d 527 (1983).

6 Thomas v. North Carolina Dept. of Human Resources, 124 N.C. App. 698, 478 S.E.2d 816 (1996), aff'd, 346 N.C. 268, 485 S.E.2d 295 (1997); Weegar v. Bakeberg, 527 N.W.2d 676 (S.D. 1995).

7 People v. Manuel, 94 Ill. 2d 242, 68 Ill. Dec. 506, 446 N.E.2d 240 (1983); Lovgren v. Peoples Elec. Co., Inc., 380 N.W.2d 791 (Minn. 1986); Nevada Power Co. v. Metropolitan Development Co., 104 Nev. 684, 765 P.2d 1162 (1988); Town of Islip v. Paliotti, 196 A.D.2d 648, 601 N.Y.S.2d 926 (2d Dep't 1993); American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ingram, 301 N.C. 138, 271 S.E.2d 46 (1980).

8 Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fulton County v. Davis, 213 Ga. 792, 102 S.E.2d 180 (1958).

9 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989).

10 People v. Harvey, 379 Ill. App. 3d 518, 318 Ill. Dec. 756, 884 N.E.2d 724 (1st Dist. 2008); State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995); Nevada Power Co. v. Metropolitan Development Co., 104 Nev. 684, 765 P.2d 1162 (1988); Ethics Com'n of State of Okl. v. Cullison, 1993 OK 37, 850 P.2d 1069 (Okla. 1993); General Motors Corp. v. Oklahoma County Bd. of Equalization, 1983 OK 59, 678 P.2d 233 (Okla. 1983); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989); Geeslin v. State Farm Lloyds, 255 S.W.3d 786 (Tex. App. Austin 2008).
 
As to the effect of and rights under a judgment based upon an unconstitutional law, see Am. Jur. 2d, Judgments § 17.
 
As to the res judicata effect of a judgment based upon an unconstitutional law, see Am. Jur. 2d, Judgments § 752.

11 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989).

12 Liddell v. Heavner, 2008 OK 6, 180 P.3d 1191 (Okla. 2008).

13 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941).

14 Nevada Power Co. v. Metropolitan Development Co., 104 Nev. 684, 765 P.2d 1162 (1988); Ethics Com'n of State of Okl. v. Cullison, 1993 OK 37, 850 P.2d 1069 (Okla. 1993); Franks v. State, 772 S.W.2d 428 (Tenn. 1989).
 
As to the limitations to which this rule is subject, see § 196.

15 State ex rel. Stenberg v. Murphy, 247 Neb. 358, 527 N.W.2d 185 (1995).

16 Helvey v. Dawson County Bd. of Equalization, 242 Neb. 379, 495 N.W.2d 261 (1993) (a court may not grant any relief based upon a statute which is nonexistent or a statute which has become nonexistent by reason of a judicial declaration of unconstitutionality).

17 Millet v. Rizzo, 2 So. 2d 244 (La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1941); Board of Managers of James Walker Memorial Hospital of Wilmington v. City of Wilmington, 237 N.C. 179, 74 S.E.2d 749 (1953); State ex rel. Tharel v. Board of Com'rs of Creek County, 1940 OK 468, 188 Okla. 184, 107 P.2d 542 (1940).
 
As to the effect of a declaration of unconstitutionality on acts performed under it, generally, see § 196.

18 Thomas v. North Carolina Dept. of Human Resources, 124 N.C. App. 698, 478 S.E.2d 816 (1996), aff'd, 346 N.C. 268, 485 S.E.2d 295 (1997).

19 Jones v. Columbian Carbon Co., 132 W. Va. 219, 51 S.E.2d 790 (1948).

20 Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941); Amyot v. Caron, 88 N.H. 394, 190 A. 134 (1937).

21 Chicago, I. & L.R. Co. v. Hackett, 228 U.S. 559, 33 S. Ct. 581, 57 L. Ed. 966 (1913); Payne v. Griffin, 51 F. Supp. 588 (M.D. Ga. 1943); Flournoy v. First Nat. Bank of Shreveport, 197 La. 1067, 3 So. 2d 244 (1941).

22 Painter v. Shalala, 97 F.3d 1351 (10th Cir. 1996); Bartlett v. Bowen, 816 F.2d 695 (D.C. Cir. 1987), opinion reinstated on reconsideration, 824 F.2d 1240 (D.C. Cir. 1987).

23 U.S. v. Baucum, 80 F.3d 539 (D.C. Cir. 1996).

24 Neely v. U.S., 546 F.2d 1059, 41 A.L.R. Fed. 331 (3d Cir. 1976).

From: § 195, American Jurisprudence 2d, Volume 16 (Conflict of Laws to Constitutional Law 1-359).

Never Again!

Recognizing the many sad lessons of civilian disarmament and subsequent genocides in the 20th Century, we will make bold and forthright statement: Never Again! We will not submit to the unlawful decrees of tyrants. We will not meekly go their jails and internment camps. We will fight for our liberty, to our dying breath.

Come Armed, Come Masked

I recommend that all adults who publicly assemble at these burn barrel events do so armed, as is our right. And those who come armed should also wear masks, to protect themselves from malicious prosecution. I plan to wear a Guy Fawkes mask, but you can wear a bandana, face muffler, or the face mask of your choice. Joining you, also wearing masks, will be many mayors, sheriffs and their deputies, chiefs of police and their officers, town council members, clergy, and people of all walks of life. We vastly outnumber the tyrants. The tyrants deserve nothing but our scorn and derision. Their fate is already sealed.

Plausible Denial

After this fateful day has come and gone, FFL holders and public officials will be able to recount: "I had no choice. My records were taken by men with guns who were wearing masks!" (So they'll have no excuse if they don't cooperate with this nationwide display of civil disobedience.)

God Bless The Republic. Down with Tyrants. We Will Prevail!

- James Wesley, Rawles - January 28, 2013

Note: Permission to reprint or re-post this piece in full by any method (printed or electronically) is granted by the author (James Wesley, Rawles), as a long as it is not altered in any way and it is reproduced in full.

Senator-For-Life Dianne Feinstein's recently-introduced firearms and magazine ban bill is not only unconstitutional but also incredibly poorly written. It is riddled with typographical errors, inconsistencies, illogical construction, lapses, and some redundancies to existing laws. For example, the bill calls out the "Streetsweeper' and "Striker 12" even though several years ago both of those those shotguns reclassified as "Destructive Devices, making them subject to a $200 Federal transfer tax!

FWIW, I am not going to spell out the typos and the nonexistent models, simply because I don't want provide Comrade Feinstein with potential corrections to her horrible legislation. Suffice to say, there are lots of errors.

The ban bill works two different ways "by description" and also "by name." (The latter, by the way, makes this an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder.) There are 157 specifically-named firearms.

The "by description" portion of the bill would ban the sale, transfer, manufacturing and importation of:

All semiautomatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: pistol grip; forward grip; folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; barrel shroud; or threaded barrel.

All semiautomatic pistols that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: threaded barrel; second pistol grip; barrel shroud; capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip; or semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm.

All semiautomatic rifles and handguns that have a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.

All semiautomatic shotguns that have a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; pistol grip; fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 5 rounds; ability to accept a detachable magazine; forward grip; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; or shotgun with a revolving cylinder.

All ammunition feeding devices (magazines, strips, and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.

List of Firearms Prohibited by Name:

Rifles
All AK types, including the following: AK, AK47,AK47S, AK-74, AKM, AKS, ARM, MAK90, MISR, MHM90, MHM91, Rock River Arms LAR-47, SA85, SA93, Vector Arms AK-47, VEPR, WASR-10 and WUM, IZHMASH Saiga AK, MAADI AK47 and ARM, Norinco 56S, 56S2, 84S and 86S, Poly Technologies AK47 and AKS;
All AR types, including the following: AR-10, AR-15, Armalite M15 22LR Carbine, Armalite M15-T, Barrett REC7, Beretta AR-70, Bushmaster ACR, Bushmaster Carbon 15, Bushmaster MOE series, Bushmaster XM15, Colt Match Target Rifles, DoubleStar AR rifles, DPMS Tactical Rifles, Heckler & Koch MR556, Olympic Arms, Remington R-15 rifles, Rock River Arms LAR-15, Sig Sauer SIG516 rifles, Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifles, Stag Arms AR rifles, Sturm, Ruger & Co. SR556 rifles;

Barrett M107A1; Barrett M82A1, Beretta CX4 Storm; Calico Liberty Series; CETME Sporter; Daewoo K-1, K-2 Max 1, Max 2, AR 100 and AR 100C;
Fabrique Nationale/FN Herstral FAL, LAR 22 FNC, 308 Match, L1A1 Sporter, PS90, SCAR and FS2000
Feather Industries AT-9
Galil Model AR and Model ARM
Hi-Point Carbine; HK-91, HK-93, HK-94, HK-PSG-1 and HK USC
Kel-Tec Sub-2000, SU-16 and RFB, SIG AMT, SIG PE-57, Sig Sauer SG 500 and Sig Sauer SG 551
Springfield Armory SAR-48
Steyr AUG
Sturm, Ruger Mini-14 Tactical Rifle M-14/20CF
All Thompson rifles, including the following: Thompson M1SB, ThompsonT1100D, Thompson T150D, Thompson T1B, Thompson T1B100D, Thompson T1B50D, Thompson T1BSB, Thompson T1-C, Thompson T1D, Thompson T1SB, Thompson T5, Thompson T5100D, Thompson TM1, Thompson TM1C
UMAREX UZI rifle, UZI mini carbine and UZI Model B Carbine
Valmet M62S, M71S and M78
Vector Arms USI Type
Weaver Arms Nighthawk
Wilkinson Arms Linda Carbine

Pistols
All AK-47 types, including the following: Centurion 39 AK pistol, Draco AK-47 pistol, HCR AK-47 pistol, IO Inc. Hellpup AK-47 pistol, Krinkov Pistol, Mini Draco AK-47 pistol, Yugo Krebs Krink pistol
All AR-15 types, including the following: American Spirit Ar-15 pistol, Bushmaster Carbon 15 pistol, DoubleStar Corporation AR pistol, DPMS AR-15 pistol, Olympic Arms AR-15 pistol
Encom MP-9 and MP-45
Heckler & Koch model SP-89 pistol
Intratec AB-10, TEC-22 Scorpion, TEC-9 and TEC-DC9
Kel-Tex PLR 16 pistol
The following MAC types: MAC-10, MAC-11 Masterpiece Arms MPA A930 Mini Pistol, MPA460 Pistol, MPA Tactical Pistol and MPA Mini Tactical Pistol
Military Armament Corp. INgram M-11, Velocity Arms VMAC
Sig Saur P556 pistol
Sites Spectre
All Thompson, types including the following: Thompson TA510D, Thompson TA5
All UZI types, including: Micro-UZI

Shotguns
Franchi LAW-12 and SPAS 12
All IZHMASH Saiga 12 types, including the following: IZHMASH Saiga 12, IZHMASH Saiga 12S, IZHMASH Saiga 12S EXP-01, IZHMASH Saiga 12K, IZHMASH Saiga 12K-030, IZHMASH Saiga 12K-040 Taktika; Streetsweeper, Striker 12.

Belt-fed semiautomatic firearms
All belt-fed semiautomatic firearms, including: TNW M2HB

Additional details can be found here.

Please contact you congress members and insist that they oppose this horribly flawed and unconstitutional legislation. The congressional contact links at the Ruger web site are quick and easy to use.

Closing Note from JWR: In the unlikely event that this bill passes it will be ESSENTIAL to immediately set up a family firearms trust. That way, transfers within your trust (among the trust beneficiaries) can still be made at will, multi-generationally.

Sir;
The end of the world as we knew it is upon us in New York State. 
 
New York’s recent SAFE Act legislation (see the full text) immediately prohibited the sale of what misguided politicians call “assault weapons” and any magazine that holds more than seven cartridges effective January 14, 2013.  Sales within New York were immediately halted and are now forever forbidden unless there is an unlikely repeal or successful legal challenge.  This means that if you live in New York state and wanted to get a PTR91, AR15, WASR, Saiga, or a standard capacity magazine for any of the same – it is too late.  You can not EVER legally buy one in New York – EVER - even from a private citizen within state lines. If you already have one you must dispose of or register it within one year.  The same is true of magazines with the capacity to hold 10 or more cartridges.  If you do not already have them, you can not legally obtain them in New York.  And if you do have them, you will be required to dispose of them unless they belong to a C&R eligible weapon that your register as an assault weapon.
 
Through SurvivalBlog you have warned your readers for years that when the SHTF, we will have to make due with those supplies that we have prepared ahead of time.  That now is the case in New York.  If you have not armed yourself, you can not now legally do so with the most effective tools for defense.  To merely posses what has been legal will become a crime unless you are willing to give up your standard capacity magazines and give these same ignorant and arrogant politicians a list of what you have then rely on their good will to allow you to continue to possess it.
 
It gets worse.  Effective March 15th 2013 private sales of any firearm (“assault weapon” or otherwise) will be forbidden in New York without a NICS check; and effective January 2014 sales of ammunition will require a background check and be logged so that the state will know how many of what type of cartridge are purchase and how often we do so.  Ammunition sellers will be required to record our name and address along with the quantity, brand, and caliber of ammunition purchased. As you can imagine under these circumstances, ammunition prices have skyrocketed in the rush for people to accumulate a lifetime supply of it before January 13, 2014.
 
For those of us who value privacy the S has already hit the fan. If we ever need to defend ourselves from anything from criminals, corrupt governments, or post apocalyptic dangers, we will need to defend ourselves with whatever tools are already on hand and the ammunition we can accumulate in the next year. 
 
For those of you outside of New York I can only say heed the warnings.  Learn by our failures, and fight against any similar tyranny on a Federal level or in your home states.  I am relying on you since I am actively looking for real estate in a place where there is still a measure of freedom.
 
Mike (aka Mr. Yankee)

Brother Rawles,
Thank you to you and Ulysses in Montana for the detailed article on .308 battle rifles.  The current political environment kicked me into high gear, buying one.  Ulysses information helped me out tremendously.  It will help me save time and money on getting familiar with a new caliber and rifle.  In the beginning hours of the Gun Grab I picked up an Armalite AR-10 lower receiver and mags. I've got a number of 5.56 AR's but have been putting off getting my "dream" rifle for a couple of years.  Depending on what happens in Washington DC, I might trade it toward a FAL or build the .308 Armalite. 
 
There's a lot of people who argue with their spouse's upset over their firearm purchases.  I've had to explain to my wife that I'm expending a large part of my lifetime's firearm budget in a short period of time...and not by choice.  It's either now or never.  We had a heart to heart discussion about it and have had to make some sacrifice's in some other area's for a short period of time.  She's been supportive but I regret not explaining things to her better at the beginning.  One silver lining of this situation is learning to be a better husband and mate. 
 
Thank you for years of telling us to stock up on magazines and all the information you share. God bless you and yours, - K. in Richland, Washington 

JWR Replies: I've mentioned this before, but given the exigencies of the politics of the day, it bears repetition: Stock up on magazines before a ban. Magazines should be your highest purchasing priority.

In the worst case there will be a Federal production ban on battle rifles and magazines with no grandfather clause. But failing that, I expect to read of a "bi-partisan compromise" for "...only a magazine ban." And this compromise will be labeled by the mass media as a huge disappointment for the Democrat party. (Isn't incrementalism devious?)

But even if a magazine ban fails in Congress, then we can expect an import ban via Executive Order! I've been warning you since 2007. It is time to get serious about buying full capacity magazines, even if it means running up a balance on your credit card for a couple of months. (And this is coming from someone who is adverse to consumer credit!) In three or four year, when a 19-round Glock magazine is selling for $200, you'll be glad that you did!

Dear Jim,
Over the last 4 years, I have read your blog almost every day! As a committed “prepper”, most of the advice found herein is good to excellent. Likewise the recent comment by a public safety officer regarding his concern that he not be lumped into a category of untrustworthy “guvmint” agents. My professional work as a physician and my recreational pursuit of shooting activities put me into contact with many, many local policemen, sheriff’s deputies and even Federal agents, e.g., FBI and ATF. In my opinion, based on conversations with these folks, most are good guys who are true patriots and on our side, at least here in south Georgia. This is especially true of local law enforcement officials. As part of my plan to espouse disaster preparedness as an important mainstream function of a mature adult, I try to associate with LE folks, including the Feds, as often as possible. Do I feel that they are taking notes and planning to hunt me down in the event of an overarching socioeconomic meltdown and the ensuing chaos? Absolutely not! When things go south, it would be most beneficial to have these folks on my side. And by presenting them with sane, sober and intelligent strategies for disaster preparation, I believe that they perceive our efforts as both socially wholesome and vital to public safety. - RangerDoc

James,
I wanted to write concerning the letter: "Many Police and Firefighters are the Good Guys."

First I want to agree with the premise of the title of the letter. However, that is about where it ends. I am ex-military and ex-law enforcement myself. I have friends and family that are, or were, police, fire, EMS, and military. I have not yet been able to find a truly honest LEO who proclaims that they would not "confiscate" firearms, or refuse to enforce some draconian legislative measure when it comes to guns (similar to what this letter is presenting), who I did not ultimately prove were hypocritical in their claims.

We must first examine these new proclamations and "oaths" LEOs are making (publicly and privately), indicating that they will not personally abide by, nor enforce, any new anti-gun legislation, nor will they confiscate guns from citizens. Personally, if they hold true to this claim, they are to be commended, because they will be upholding Constitutional law. It is likely that any new anti-gun laws not adhered to by citizens will be considered felonies. Therefore, any law enforcement officer who knowingly allows a person to keep their "restricted" guns, is allowing a felon (possibly uncharged, yet to be convicted) to posses a firearm.

Now ask that same officer if they have ever taken a gun away from a convicted felon. If they answer is yes, then how are we to believe that this same officer will suddenly not seize weapons from new felons? Am I making a big leap here? Maybe. What if a less than honorable LEO does enforce new anti-gun laws, seizes weapons, makes arrests which result in convictions, and now those new felons (only felons because they refused to give up their "assault" weapons) are stopped by the self-proclaimed honorable LEO in possession of guns, what is he to do now?

I ask every active law enforcement official to answer these few simple questions before you start making such bold proclamations:

Why are you suddenly so willing to not enforce any new anti-gun legislation, but more than willing to enforce the previous draconian anti-gun legislation? Why are they not one in the same?
If you are willing to admit one anti-gun law to be unconstitutional (draconian, anti-American, or whatever you want to call it), then you must be willing to admit that all existing anti-gun laws are unconstitutional, right? If not, you are a hypocrite.

If any new anti-gun law requires that the public registers their "assault" weapons under NFA or GCA rules (old or revised), and you are unwilling to enforce these new measures, then are you also willing to not enforce any NFA or GCA gun laws? If not, you are a hypocrite.

Until the Gun Control Act (1968), convicted felons retained their God Given Natural Born Right to keep and bear arms. How exactly did felons change from October 21, 1968 to October 22, 1968 to somehow deserve to have their inalienable Rights stripped from them? Remember, it is this exact legislative removal of an inalienable Right that you have been willing enforce without question. Are you a hypocrite?

You have been hearing "anti law enforcement sentiment" because of the dichotomy of these new statements of intent versus LEOs verifiable past actions opposing these new claims of intent. If LEOs cannot reconcile these differences, how are they ever going to reconcile who's guns to take, and who's they do not? On the day that any new anti-gun legislation is signed by any president, there will be millions of instant (yet to be convicted) felons, and if you are prone to taking weapons from felons, you are going to hear far more than just some simple "anti law enforcement sentiment[s]," you are likely going to hear inbound gunfire. - S.M.

Dear Mr. Rawles,

First, I want to take a moment to tell you how much we love your blog site.  The amount of well thought out information that you have available is a great resource for all of us. 

I would however like to discuss a disturbing trend I am seeing on your blog.  While your distrust of the policies and actions of the government may be well founded I am worried about the anti law enforcement sentiment that is popping up is troubling.  I would never tell anybody to blindly trust or follow any one person or group of people but to distrust any entire group based on their vocation is extremely biased.  I had a sergeant who was found of asking people why they judged us on our color.  He would always get a response of “no I’m not” or “that’s crazy we’re the same color!”  My sergeant would reply “blue, you’re judging us on the color of our uniform, blue.”  I say we are being judged on our uniform now. 

I have been attending The Catholic Church for most of my life.  Many of you may remember the despicable actions of several members of the clergy from the news.  While their actions were appalling and in my eyes deserved a much more severe punishment, it did not warrant a mistrust of all clergy of all faiths.  Have there been police officers who treated people unfairly or even broken the laws they were sworn to uphold?  Of course!  There have also been teachers who preyed on the very children they were there to help.  Soldiers who attacked and abused their own female counterparts.  The list is unfoundedly endless.  I far from condone these actions, in fact I think harsher penalties are due to those who abuse their power.  You simply cannot judge an entire group by the actions of a few of its members. 

I have been a medic, firefighter and most recently a police officer.  I am proud of my chosen vocation and will lay down my life if called upon to do so.  I have attended the funerals of more of my brothers and sisters then I care to discuss.  The number of officers that have been killed in the line of duty is rising at an alarming rate.  These are men and women who laid down their lives for the same good people who read this blog.  I tell the people that I come in contact with to get their concealed weapons permit and carry regularly!  I have sworn to uphold the laws of this state and the constitution of our great country so I tell people to get the permit.  I have even gone so far as to put citizens in contact with instructors.  If it were up to me they would need no permit but it’s not so I direct them to the legal path of self protection.  Saying that LEOs are all out to get you is, in my eyes, the same as a LEO saying that all preppers are domestic terrorists.  I’m not saying to trust every cop you see. Rather, I’m just asking that you give them the same opportunity to earn your trust as anybody else.  Remember that at the end of the day most of us are just trying to make a difference in our communities.  I don’t want to take away the rights of any citizens.  I think the attacks on the 2nd amendment are a threat to the life and liberty of every American.  I can tell you that if, and when in my opinion, guns are outlawed and officers are called upon to collect them it will be a slow day at the office.  I can’t speak for every officer everywhere but I can tell you I have yet to meet one who would even try to take guns out of the hands of honest hard working Americans. 

I learned about this blog from other officers at my department who share the worries of many of the readers here.  It is my wish that more good Christians were able and willing to take care of themselves.  I wish that every decent person was armed and when some crazy person attacks a school or movie theater they were able to stop him or her before anybody lost their lives.  A lot, maybe most, of people today are unwilling to protect themselves.  I believe there are many reasons why this is so and could no doubt fill an entire article with them but the fact remains, it falls on a few to protect the many.  I will continue to be an avid follower and supporter of SurvivalBlog but it is my hope that my fellow readers will see the men and women who protect and serve for what they are: people.  - A Prepared Sheepdog

Picture this: On some not-so-remote night, you are awakened by an insistent thumping on your door, or perhaps by the sound of breaking glass. You stagger up and groggily go toward the noise, maybe muttering or worse. Perhaps you have the time and presence of mind to grab your home defense tool of whatever description, and maybe you awaken your spouse and get him or her (and any children) to a more secure part of the house. Now what? What are you prepared to do?

Like many of you, I have been self-sufficient and responsible for more decades than I care to remember, starting with my days in the Scouts and continuing through my backpacker period in the 1970s. As a downy-faced youth barely out of my teens, I raised my right hand and solemnly swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, an oath I have reaffirmed five times since and take very seriously. In the intervening thirty-five or more years, I have served as a member of state, local, and federal law enforcement organizations. I was a prosecutor for about twenty years and have practiced law in and out of government. I competed in intercollegiate shooting sports back in the day, and have maintained safety and proficiency ever since. I have food, water, medical supplies, radios, batteries, ammunition and other prudential stores securely on hand, just as I am sure many of you do. I do not scare easily.

But I am concerned today more than I have ever been. Why?
Go back to the opening paragraph of this post. In the time I used to introduce myself, you have stumbled to a window and looked out over the street. Oddly, you note, the police already seem to be there to deal with this apparent home invasion. Good, it saves you the 9-1-1 call and allows you to relax some. The cavalry is already here! That reflex, borne out of a century of trusting relationships with law enforcement officials, just might get you killed tonight.You see, the police are not here to help you – to either serve or protect you – tonight. They are here to search your home, detain your family members, and perhaps to arrest you or them. No, this is not some bad dream from 1930’s Nazi Germany, or Stalinist Russia. .. but it might as well be. Your crime? Rumored possession of a twelve-round magazine.

Impossible? I hope so with all my heart, but the trend lines are leading in that direction with a velocity I have never seen before. The current occupant of the White House is no friend of freedom and is famously dismissive of the opinions of people who disagree with him. He has nothing to fear and nothing to lose. Congress has proven itself incapable of principled action, other than self-serving posturing and dithering. The barely-suppressed glee with which the opponents of an armed law-abiding citizenry sought to capitalize upon the tragic loss of life in Connecticut should be a wake-up call to all of us. Consider Senator Feinstein: her gun registration/confiscation/licensing/permitting bill was drafted and ready before the shooting started, so it could be pulled off the shelf and presented as if it were prompted by the tragedy. This crisis, from their perspective, is just too good to waste. The Judiciary, then, certainly? Hang on for a minute.

Those are the politics of the day and are beyond my expertise. My purpose in authoring this post is to encourage you to pause and reflect on the legal and Constitutional framework in which your life-and-death decisions will be made this awful night, and every night hereafter, together with some suggestions I hope you will consider. First the disclaimer: this is general Constitutional and occasional Virginia state law information, and should not be considered legal advice, either in Virginia or elsewhere. If these musings prompt you to specific legal questions, you should consult an attorney licensed in your state and experienced in the subject matter of your concern.

So, let us begin at the beginning – why shouldn’t you surrender your firearms to Senator Feinstein’s minions, or at least let her and her Congressional buddies decide how many of what type of what caliber and what action you should be “permitted” to possess, and when, and where? The simple answer to that question is the best one: it is simply none of her business.
I admit that I do not know how things are in the People’s Democratic Republic of California, but here in the United States we have a foundational principle, enshrined and encapsulated in a document called the Constitution. The Constitution, ratified in 1789 and amended twenty-seven times since, is a living and breathing expression of the minimal conditions deemed necessary, in 1789 and every day since, for liberty to blossom. Think of it as the DNA of freedom – the simple, brief, and basic blueprint that underlies and enables everything that makes the United States the United States. Just as with DNA, if you tweak or delete or add to the basic components, the creature that emerges is not merely a weakened version of the original, but (if it lives at all) is a completely different creature.

Our Constitution is a model of clarity and brevity. There is nothing in there that is complicated or obscure. You could read it (and I hope you will) in a few minutes, including the Amendments. It sets out some basic principles, establishes a structure for the federal government, specifies a few duties for the federal government to address, and then sweeps up everything else back into the bin from which the material to form a government came in the first place – from the people. Drawing on another pillar of liberty, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution is an expression of the consent of the governed to a specific and very limited role for the central government. That consent, like any consent, may be revoked or modified but should not be taken for granted.

One stark difference between our Constitution and others attempted in other places and times is that the Constitution is all about limiting, not expanding, the powers of the central government. Fresh from the experience of the War of Independence, fighting against monarchial tyranny, the drafters of the Declaration of Independence (before the war) and the Constitution (after) were mindful of the human reflex to aggregate power and were determined to institute safeguards against that aggregation. That is one reason why there are three independent and theoretically equal branches of the government, one of which is composed of two bodies chosen in vastly different manners for significantly different time periods. That is why the states were originally active participants, controlling the selection of senators. That is why the resultant entity was called “The United States of America”, as opposed to the “Homogenized Formerly Independent States of America”.

Look again at the first Ten Amendments. You or I, in our individual capacities, could not possibly violate the Bill of Rights because every provision is a restriction upon the conduct of the central government, made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Also please notice that the Amendments do not undertake to create rights for us, but rather that they guarantee preexisting God-given rights, or rights free men had earned and received in centuries of struggle with the English Crown, like trial by jury. You may recall that these first ten were part of a package of twelve proposed amendments passed by the first Congress in response to concerns in some states, that the original draft was not sufficiently specific and clear that the central government was, in all Constitutional matters, a limited carve-out from pre-existing states rights or citizen’s rights. Two of the twelve, the first two, were not ratified by a sufficient number of states, so the ten which were ratified were renumbered and became the Bill of Rights. Finally, please notice that there are no “senior” rights or “junior” rights – no super-amendments or semi-amendments – and that every right is of equal significance and is entitled to the same deference.

Unpack the Amendments and you will immediately see that they support and reinforce one another for the purpose of restraining the central government from tyrannical impulses. They do not represent an ala carte menu, from which the government may pick and choose, but rather constitute a recipe in which all the ingredients are necessarily included. This reality has real consequences; no one would look at a brownie and insist that the baker “back out” the eggs for use elsewhere, and neither could one reach into the Constitution and void one provision without crashing the whole thing. Freedom of speech and of religious expression, of peaceful assembly, to petition the government, from unreasonable searches and seizures, from excessive bail, from compelled self-incrimination, from cruel and unusual punishment. . . these are all cut from the same cloth as one another, and all cut from the same cloth as the right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment is no more an anachronism than is the First, or the Fourth, or the Fifth, and that is why, Senator, I do not need or seek your permission to keep and bear arms.

Either from intellectual dishonesty or lack of capacity, this point is seldom made in the discussion of gun rights, but it should be, and I encourage you to ponder it. Given the interdependence of the rights expressed (but not “granted”, remember) in the Bill of Rights, the arguments advanced by Senator Feinstein, Governor Cuomo, and others are plainly flawed. Take any one of them, pop out the references to firearms, and replace it with another right reiterated in the Constitution. “Why would anybody need more than ten cartridges to hunt deer?” then becomes “Why would anyone own more than ten books?”, or “Why would anybody need to post more than ten blog posts?”. “Why would any city need more than one newspaper, or more than one house of worship?”

Indeed, twisting a Second Amendment discussion to a discussion about hunting (or target shooting or collecting or home defense) cedes the main point – the Amendment prohibits infringement of the right for any reason, or for no reason. It is not a hunting amendment, although it reinforces a hunting tradition. It is an anti-tyranny measure – nothing more, and nothing less. Want more proof? Review the rest of the Constitution . . . no other tangible object is expressly named and expressly protected from government infringement. You have no specific Constitutional right to possess anything else; that speaks volumes about the strength and purpose of the amendment. Nothing else is specifically protected because nothing else can compare with the effect firearms have on tyrants.

Another fallacy commonly running through the arguments of those seeking to infringe gun rights is that those proponents are making use of some of the same rights in their efforts to invalidate another. They are freely speaking, assembling, petitioning, as they are welcome to do, for the purpose of undermining their freedom to speak, assemble, and petition. Considering the interdependent nature of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, it is fallacious to claim to support some while decrying others. If your spouse or significant other were to cheat on you every Friday night, for example, would you consider that he or she is 86% faithful? No, you would rightly conclude that he or she is ”unfaithful”, and the same is true of those who claim to ardently support “some” of the Bill of Rights. They survive or fail as a group.

How do you know that the anti-gun forces know that their argument is flawed? Because they have consistently approached their aims by nibbling away at gun rights, by stealth and guile and a state at a time, especially when they can find cover in some tragedy. If they really believed that the Second Amendment is not a basic right, or that the vast majority of people in the United States do not value it as a basic right, they have had over two hundred years to propose an amendment repealing the second amendment. Nothing is stopping them, except the illogic of their own position.

Back at your door, you warily peek out and are stunned to see the pale face of your neighbor, or member of your church, or the parent of another child on your child’s sports team, except tonight he is wearing a helmet, and body armor, and talking into a radio to others you cannot see. Do you invite him in? You may or may not have known that he was a police officer or federal agent, and until tonight it has not mattered to you. Tonight, however, it matters. What will you do?

What you will do is a very personal and difficult decision. What you may do, depending on the circumstances, is easier to describe. With few exceptions, you are under no obligation to open your door to the police. You may, if you choose, remain silent. You may order them off your porch and away from your property. If they escalate and try to force an entry, there are cases which endorse the principle that you may use a reasonable amount of force to resist an unlawful entry or assault, including lethal force if necessary. (See, John Bad Elk v United States, 177 U.S. 529). The facts of these cases are always horrific for everyone concerned, however, and in some of the state cases the result was that the homeowner was convicted of manslaughter instead of murder, which is some solace but definitely not a desirable outcome.

Another approach is to communicate with them. If they are on any lawful mission (as opposed to some cops-gone-wild frolic of their own) they likely have obtained a warrant, either a search warrant to look for something specified in the warrant or an arrest warrant for someone they have reason to believe is located in the house, or perhaps both. The homeowner or person in charge of the location is entitled to see the warrant and know what it authorizes. If a federal warrant, daytime execution is generally required unless the officers have pleaded facts which convinced the issuing judge to authorize a night search. State laws differ on this point. If they have a warrant, resistance is not only futile but is unlawful. You must consent to the execution of a warrant; live to litigate another day. How will you know? They are supposed to announce that they have a warrant, if they do, but you can almost always get in contact with the police commander on scene through the 9-1-1 system. Tell the dispatcher (who is recording the call, so be prudent) that unknown persons are on your porch, ask for assistance, and then ask to speak with the commander if dispatch claims the officers. The fact that the one you saw is all tactical is a plus, in an odd way, because it shows that the officers are concerned for their safety and may be willing to discuss a peaceful resolution.

In this conversation, if you choose it, be judicious in your speech. Do not say anything that might be interpreted as a threat against them or anyone else – that might just give them the excuse they are looking for to escalate. This will be very hard, since your adrenalin will be on overdrive, but it is necessary. Ask whomever you can reach to read the warrant to you. If they have no warrant, tell them goodbye and goodnight. Make no admissions about anything, and do not consent to anything. Remember, they are the professionals at this (“May we just come inside and sit on the couch and work our way through this misunderstanding. . .?”). If they have a warrant, they do not need consent. If they do not have a warrant, they cannot get consent. Right? If at all possible, an audio and video recording of the contact will pay dividends far beyond its expense. If interviewed, I recommend the old Irish Republic Army saying: “Whatever you say, say nothing at all.”

If you elect to litigate another day, you should know what you are up against. I promised, above, to write more about the judicial branch, and here is where I deliver on that promise. Look at Article III of your Constitution . . . absolutely everything the Constitution says about the judicial branch is contained in those ten sentences. Everything else ever done by a federal judge, since 1789, is judicially or statutorily created and extra-constitutional. The Constitution establishes one judgeship, the Chief Justice, and authorizes Congress to create more, if necessary. They have done so, with a will. There are presently 874 federal judgeships, representing a three-fold increase just since 1950. One hundred seventy three of those, or about 20%, are judges nominated by this president in the past four years. Unique in the United States political experience, but common among tin-pot dictators in banana republics, federal judges are appointed for life. They are theoretically subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal by the Senate, but this sanction has been tried only eleven times since 1789 and has resulted in removal only seven times, representing about 0.1% of persons who have served as federal judges. One of the most recent, District Judge Alcee Hastings of Florida, was impeached and removed in 1989 for perjury and bribery, after which he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he remains today. Impeachment is not a serious concern of jurists.

Notable among these extraconstitutional excursions is the claimed authority to invalidate legislative enactments or executive decisions by the simple expedient of declaring those decisions “unconstitutional”. The irony in this is too rich to pass without comment – unaccountable judges making up a rule not found in the constitution to create a veto over the actions of the elected, accountable branches of government, while justifying the grab by constitutional arguments. The case that first articulated this judicial power grab was Marbury v. Madison, a 1802 Supreme Court decision related to the authority of the Court to compel the newly-inaugurated President Jefferson to recognize the last-minute appointments of John Adams’ supporters to federal judgeships. Although not found in or added to the Constitution, this judicial power is not seriously questioned today. Because of this, and because the Supreme Court is the highest federal court, their pronouncements acquire the character of transcendent wisdom, even when demonstrably false or inconsistent. This is the court that found that racial segregation is constitutional (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) and also that is not (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954). To paraphrase the words of Justice Robert Jackson, the Supreme Court is not final because it is infallible, but is infallible because it is final.

Federal judges are overwhelmingly older white males (about 70%) who are wealthy by any measure. They are all lawyers, and most are graduates of the same few Ivy League schools. They receive a salary, which may not be diminished, on a par with the starting salary of a first-year associate from a prominent law school working in a big-name big-city law firm, so it would be overly polite to suggest that the best legal minds are concentrated on the bench. Indeed, the Chief Justice has campaigned for higher salaries for judges on this exact basis. (Law school snarky riddle: What do you call an "A" student ten years after law school? “Professor”. What do you call an "C" student ten years after law school? “Your Honor”).

Stark choices, indeed; the young trooper on the porch, in paramilitary garb, or the old judge on the bench, dressed (for some obscure reason) in a medieval cleric’s robe. If he or she is a federal judge, the probability today is one out of five that this president appointed him or her, which could be problematic for you if the issue is some Executive Order issued by the man to whom the judge owes his or her lifetime appointment. That likelihood only grows during the second term.
How about a third option? Apply the principles of cover, concealment, and camouflage to your daily actions with a goal of avoiding the dilemma presented above, and create a “door number three” through which you might escape undetected and unharmed. How?
Consider how people get caught and convicted for present day offenses, and then apply that to the as-yet hypothetical situation in which some firearm or accessory you lawfully posses may become prohibited. Defendants get to be defendants for a very few reasons:
• They are careless in their actions
• They are careless in their words
• They are careless in their selection of “friends”

Those three errors account for the vast majority of charges and convictions, and any future government action against you is likely to follow this pattern. What preparations can you make today that will lessen the probability of this occurring to you, or mitigate the harm if the situation cannot be avoided?

Suggestion One: Make it unnecessary. The scenario outlined above is hypothetical, for now, because no one has seriously proposed additional restrictions (as of the writing of this in mid-January, 2013). That means that the political system, flawed though it is, may provide the safest and surest means to immediately resist any further infringement. Communicate with your legislators, both local and federal, and make your calm and reasonable voice heard. Ranting, while satisfying on some level, is counterproductive. Consider joining and supporting pro-constitutional organizations. Network. Vote. Contribute financially to candidates who support the Constitution and oppose those who do not. Don’t get mad, get busy!

Suggestion Two: Make it hard on them. The simple math of the situation dictates that, should the political process fail the Constitution, enforcement will necessarily be selective and spotty. This argument presupposes that the rest of the society has not crumbled, in which case all bets are off, but rather that respect for only this part of the Constitution has faltered. There are a limited number of police, agents, marshals, judges and jails; they will have to choose targets of opportunity or those prosecutions which make a statement to intimidate others. Your suggested strategy is to be neither of those. Reconsider that “cold dead hands” bumper sticker with a view to how that sentiment might be used against you in a search warrant affidavit to justify a night search. Reevaluate whether it is prudent to advertise your favorite gun manufacturers with stickers on the windows of your vehicles, or with custom license plates. Yes, I know that this represents a self-infringement of both your first and second amendment rights, but I note that this option is only selected after the government jumps the rails and disregards both. If you choose martyrdom, do it thoughtfully.

Similarly, anticipate that everything you write and have ever written on the Internet is still around and might be used against you. Police just need a search warrant, based on an affidavit, to get all of your emails and tweets ever sent, all social media posts and photos, and all data from your computer(s), depending on the retention policies of your service providers. They need less than that, under some circumstances, to get phone records, credit card statements, and other data in the hands of third parties. This might be a great time to look into encryption technologies and IP masking services (like Tor, The Onion Router), but at least be mindful that anything you say or do online or on your smartphone can come back to bite.

Suggestion Three: Make it unproductive. Since scarce enforcement resources will be chasing big headlines and big successes for their political masters, deprive them of this prize. You are not likely to use all of your firearms and all of your ammunition in one night, right, so why risk storing it all in one place where it all may be found? Be creative – and learn from ordinary criminals. Don’t hide your stash where other people can stumble across it, and do not tell anyone what you have and where it is. Do not being twenty guns to the range and let others see them. Trust no one, and particularly not people you do not know extremely well. Let them take all night getting a safe open only to find a broken .22 revolver. If you choose to carry, with or without whatever permit your state requires, do so discretely. In short, be safe by being invisible.
We can all hope that it never comes to this, but prudence dictates preparation. Unless you are willing to consent to the systematic destruction of your basic rights, give it some thought.

Captain Rawles,
In response to your mention of people voting with their feet - I believe this is much more prevalent today than people realize.  According to the best data I can find, there are currently more than a million Americans leaving the United States each year.  And while the vast majority will choose to retain their US citizenship, and their reasons for leaving are varied, the net effect on the American economy will be great.  Here's why:  The people who are leaving are, almost to a family, high income earners.  Many of those replacing them in the US are coming to take advantage of our generous "entitlement" system, and this phenomenon will result in a net drain on the system that will only accelerate the demise of our current economy.

The light went on for me on election night.  I realized, with perfect clarity, that this administration had spent the previous four years using MY tax dollars to aggressively create as many economic parasites as possible, and then promise them even more of my money in return for their votes.  As a fiercely patriotic American who has fought and bled for this country, this brought me to a painful decision:  I must take drastic measures to stop supporting such a corrupt system.

One of the reasons we've had such a hard time winning the war in Afghanistan is that our aid to that country has been used to support both sides of the war.  For example, when we paid to build a new highway or school, for example, the Taliban would show up and extort about 15% of the total project cost as "protection" against the contractor's equipment being destroyed.  In this way, our money has been supporting both sides of the conflict, which is a recipe for perpetual war (until the money runs out).

This is what I believe has happened in America.  Hard working taxpayers have been milked nearly to the breaking point, and our money used to solidify the voting base of the current administration.  This will only continue until we find a way to stop sending them our money.

For me, that prompted the decision to leave.  I sold my businesses in the United States before the end of the year and moved my family to a safe, stable Central American country where I will seek residency and be able to live on much less in order to give away much more.

Essentially, I've gone into tax exile.  I am choosing to keep less of what I make this year, but rather than be a slave to the US government, I will voluntarily give away much more to worthy causes that support the Kingdom of God.  In this way (and with the help of the still-legal "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion") I will minimize my support to the US kleptocracy for as long as possible.

Here's the interesting part:  The real estate agent I dealt with here in Central America told me he's been absolutely swamped by calls from wealthy U.S. citizens who cannot get out fast enough.  He has fielded literally dozens of calls and visits in the final few weeks of the year.  

The IRS stopped reporting the number of US citizens living overseas, but the number is exploding.  I believe as many as 3 million Americans will leave this year alone.  And the way I see it, this is the most patriotic thing I can do.

One last thing:  the country where I am now living has some common-sense rules on getting a gun permit - one must get an eye exam, take a drug test and get a mental health exam.  After that, a permit is issued and I can then own any kind of weapon I like - from sawed-off shotguns to standard-capacity handguns or carbines.  And I can carry them anywhere.

May God Save Our Republic. - A Patriot in Central America

It should come as no surprise that at the same time that Statists agitators are vociferously calling for more People Control that freedom lovers are heading for the exit doors in greater numbers, to wit: The American Redoubt movement, Glenn Beck's announced Independence Park community (in Texas), calls for state secession (which has been going on longer than most people realize), the ongoing but sadly polarized Free State Movement (in which Free State Wyoming has the best chance of success, demographically), the quiet expatriation of thousands, primarily to various Central and South American countries, and the more splashy celebrity exits. There are also lots of other "out there" projects that may have difficulty getting past the concept phase, like Paulville, Texas, and Seasteading. But regardless, these are all indicative that people are willing to vote with their feet.

I predict that these trends will continue and that the polarization of world views will become more pronounced and sharply delineated in coming years. You can look for many other exit strategies being publicize. There will also be a lot more "Nien Danke!" legislation like the bill recently introduced in the Wyoming legislature (and about to be introduced in Texas) announced and inevitably enacted. The harder that the Statists push, the harder libertarians will push back. Some say this will lead to Civil War II. I dread that. God willing, we'll see our Constitutional Republic restored peacefully. - J.W.R.

The name "III Citadel" came into the limelight last weekend, when The Drudge Report posted a prominent link to a CNS article by Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr.. In a nutshell, a man identifying himself as "Sam III" who is somehow loosely associated with III Arms (a legitimate company, in West Virginia) started a patriot community building project, somewhere east of St. Maries, Idaho. When I first heard about it in November, I made just one short and noncommittal "this sounds interesting" mention in my blog. (A post which I just removed.)

Two days ago I was quite troubled to learn that the main promoter of Citadel III is a convicted felon. (That, according to the SipseyStreetIrregulars blog.)

In the III Citadel web page and blog, Mr. Hyman /Sam Kerodin / Christian Kerodin / Sam Kerillion / Sam Hellesponte / Sam III / Nom Du Jour seems to imply that I've somehow endorsed his venture or that what they are doing fits in with my American Redoubt concept.  I haven't endorsed it, and he is not my buddy.  To the best of my knowledge I've never met, spoken or corresponded with the man. 

For some background, see:

"Citadel." Convicted extortionist's latest con gets huge play on Drudge.

and,

Three-letter frog in Kerodin's pocket? Anecdotes of the Kerodin career. A convicted extortionist. Turns out his real name is Christian Hyman.

Again, I have nothing to do with Mr. Hyman.  My only nexus to him is that he chose a piece of land that is in one of the states that I recommend for relocation. He has apparently tried to capitalize on my name. According to the SipseyStreetIrregulars blog, Mr. Hyman "persuades folks to invest" in the project. My advice: Beware of III Citadel!

In closing, I should point out that III Arms is a separate entity and to the best of my knowledge they are a legitimate and reputable company. - J.W.R.

Sir:
I noticed yesterday that one of your readers (and I'm assuming many others) are looking for AR-15 magazines.

While I haven't yet tested the Israeli E-Lander magazines personally (I have six of them on order), the reviews seemed positive albeit the magazines are slightly heavy compared to a PMAG. Beggars can't be choosers in this [current political and market] environment. A few people noted they were not fitting in MEGA lower receiver magazine wells, and were very tight in some other receivers, however the majority of users had no issues. I believe the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) use these magazine. I wanted to let your readers know of their availability, as they claim they are 'In Stock' and receiving shipments weekly, however they are estimated to ship within 21 days. I placed my order today (1/10/2013) and it went through just fine.

With the potential forthcoming ban on normal-capacity magazines this may be the most expedient way to stock up on some, at a reasonable price.

As an added tip, the coupon code "ARFCOM" will get a small discount and the code "FREE-GRND" will get you free shipping if the order is more than $100. Both codes can be used at the same time.

Regards, - Nick in Ohio

JWR Replies: At around $18 each, those are a relative bargain, it today's frantic market. Watching some recent Gunbroker.com auctions and the ongoing sales at Buddy's Board, I've logged a few data points: Glock pistol magazines have gone up in price 3X or even 4X (jumping from around $19 each to $60 to $80 each), PMAGs are up 4X, USGI alloy M16 magazines are up 3X, steel FN-SCAR (M16/AR-15 compatible) magazines are up 4X or even 5X, FN-FAL magazines are up 2X, and Beta Company 100 round CMAGs are also up 2X. The real bargains are HK alloy G3 (HK91 compatible) magazines and Steyr AUG magazines. Those are both up only 10% to 20%. My advice: Stock up before an import ban is declared via Executive Order, folks! I've been warning you since 2007: Almost as important as food storage, magazines are critical items for every well-prepared family's program of Hamsterungen.

Mr. Rawles, 
I love the SurvivalBlog site and what you do. Many thanks to you and all contributors! I have some remarks on the letter: A Call to Action: The Impending Weapons Ban, by James M.
I agree on the fundamental points made regarding firearms, but it does sound like a re-hash of the red-herring debate from '91 with the only "Call to Action" being that Congress should ban something else.  Maybe they should ban Murder. Oh, wait that's been done…
 
I personally don't think our Congressional leaders should really be banning anything at all, and when the subject of mental capacity & banning comes up together (within the context of forced medication or incarceration), my main question/concern becomes,….  who gets to determine which of us is mentally ill or unstable?   I already know that everyone is somebody else's weirdo, and apparently we preppers are all completely nuts.  But, on the serious side I have a problem with limiting anyone's rights based on thought crime or any interpretive means where there is no victim (especially where the result would be forced medication or detainment for "potential" criminal activity).

So, an interesting scenario to consider based on my perspective described above.    Let's say some Psychologist/government agent convinces city council or some judge that Christianity is a mental illness.  You are now required by law to take powerful medication that most likely would ruin your quality of life.  That kind of control over anyone's life is a terribly bad idea, because we all know that  it is unethical and wouldn't stop there.
 
I also am getting frustrated with people saying our rights are granted by the Constitution.  That is completely wrong.  Our rights are God given and don't change regardless of what the Constitution says (The document may still fail to list them all in some cases).  It was simply written to generally explain and provide a reminder to elected officials of what the people already have and what cannot be infringed upon.  In the case of slavery and women's rights, I believe it was errant of the original crafters of the Constitution to have not recognized these as inherent rights for all people at that time.  So again, the "document" is just an imperfect representation of what God has already provisioned.
 
"There are certain principles that are inherent in man, that belong to man, and that were enunciated in an early day, before the United States government was formed, and they are principles that rightfully belong to all men everywhere. They are described in the Declaration of Independence as inalienable rights, one of which is that men have a right to live; another is that they have a right to pursue happiness; and another is that they have a right to be free and no man has authority to deprive them of those God-given rights, and none but tyrants would do it. These principles, I say, are inalienable in man; they belong to him; they existed before any constitutions were framed or any laws made. Men have in various ages striven to strip their fellow-men of these rights, and dispossess them of them. And hence the wars, the bloodshed and carnage that have spread over the earth. We, therefore, are not indebted to the United States for these rights; we were free as men born into the world, having the right to do as we please, to act as we please, as long as we do not transgress constitutional law nor violate the rights of others... Another thing God expects us to do, and that is to maintain the principle of human rights... We owe it to all liberty-loving men, to stand up for human rights and to protect human freedom, and in the name of God we will do it, and let the congregation say Amen." - John Taylor, 1882,
 
The best thing for Congress to do in this case is nothing at all.  The only change needed is to allow the free responsible peoples of the USA to provide for their own defense - as was intended by God.  (Current rules apply with regard to all levels of assault, making threats with a firearm, etc.),  which would simply serve to reinforce responsible fire arms use by those who choose to carry.
 
IF, our leaders are serious about the value of a Gun ban, then I suggest they set the example and demand that their personal security force switch to Mace as their primary means of defense.  Lead by example or shut your mouth!
 
IF, a ban is passed we still have options:  Our judicial system was meant to provide protections from such unjust law, so we would still have the Sheriff (elected), Judges (also elected) and the jury (free peoples), who can respectively;  1) refuse to enforce, 2) refuse to try, 3) refuse to convict.  If that message is made clear in local government no State prosecutor would dare bring a case in the first place. [JWR Adds: All Americans should familiarize themselves with the details of jury nullification. This may prove crucial, in the near future.[

“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” –  Henry David Thoreau
 
You can only voluntarily give up/refuse to partake of your God given right (or blessing, but you can never ethically take away someone else's (that is infringement/tyranny).
 
Thank you, - D.P. in Pittsburgh

Mr. Rawles,
The Letter Re: Why Civilian Disarmament in the U.S. is Just a Statist Fantasy written by Michael W. is a perfect example of the insidious nature of government over-reach.  They will take our guns the same inexorable way they stole the purchasing power of the dollar. And they will continue to press the gun issue until they succeed - even if it takes a hundred years.  Our inability to recognize and stop the fed over the last century, portends a similar outcome for weapons. - BigTexMarine

Jim:
To make sense of this issue, consider the following in support of the percentage of compliance that can be expected if the Feinstein ban bill is enacted:

This is not The Truth. This is not even 'back of the envelope'.

The following contains a bunch of assumptions, whose justification is feeble at best. Since almost all 'assault weapons' are rifles, I will ignore shotguns and handguns that bother CA.

Suppose, for discussion, that Californians bought rifles (that the state erroneously defines as 'assault weapons') in a number proportional to the share of the US population. Since this is just a guess, might as well use the current value: 37 million of 310 million, 12%. There's no reason to believe this is true - California gun owners may actually buy more or fewer, and the distribution of the kinds they buy may be different from other states or the national average. And the year-to-year proportions may be very different. (I can easily get the CA/US proportion for all the years, but with such poor guesses, there's no value to being more precise.)

And suppose the bulk of those were purchased between 1970 and 2000, when SB 23 did the 'ban by feature'. I picked 1970 because the M16 went into service in 1963, so maybe 1970, just post-Vietnam for a lot of servicemen, would be a good place to start. Years that end in '0' attract the eye.

I cannot easily find import numbers just now, so I'll ignore them; they're no doubt significant with AKs and FALs and HKs and such.
ETA perhaps Bloomberg is not entirely useless. There is a document giving some info on imported rifles here: www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/.../Commerce_in_Firearms_2000.pdf, "Commerce in Firearms in the United States". Imported rifles total a bit under 10 million 1970 - 1999. I suspect I could eventually get the export data by country, but I won't bother.

ATF has the US manufacturing reports on line at the AFMER page. For each of 1998, 1999, and 2000 the manufactured number of rifles was about 1.5 million. Total long guns includes shotguns, and that adds about a million a year, so about 60% of long guns are rifles in those 3 years.

Kleck has numbers from the same source; the 'net addition to stock' for long guns is about 2.5 million per year, 1980-1994, so again, it is not entirely unreasonable to guess that about 40% of those were shotguns. 1970-1979, the numbers were over 3 million per year

So, for 31 years 1970-2000, something like 77 million rifles were manufactured in the US. (Some were exported - let's ignore that detail, too.)

Using that 12% proportion, around 9 million of those might have gone to California [to match their proportion of the national population].

But, what proportion of those rifles were not lever actions and bolt actions and semi-autos that did not meet "Assault Weapon" (AW) standards?

I'm going to make a further guess by using the 1998 AFMER data. Toss out Winchester and Remington and Marlin and Weatherby and Ruger - but not Colt, oh, no! - and guess that most of the rest could have been AW types, and take that proportion. Very shaky, but anyway...

Throwing out those big non-AR-type manufacturers covers about 900,000 - about 60% of the 1.4 million in 1998. Let's use the remaining 40% as the maximum possible proportion of the US production of rifles that might be AW types. That's surely too high a proportion, but for a guess it's a nice even number. (Again, numbers that end in '0'.) (I could look at more AFMER reports, but the recent proportion of AW types seems to me to be increasing, so the more recent data would seem to skew the results even more than I am certain they are already.)

Now, guess how many were 'assault weapons' if California definitions might be applied -- 40% of 9 million rifles in California is 3.6 million. Only 166,000 are known to be registered.

Around 4.5% actually registered might be a supportable number.

With an estimated 10 million total imports, 12% for California is 1.2 million. 40% of those as 'assault weapons' (Too high? Too low? No information!) is 480,000. 166/4,180 is still only about 4% registered.

The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary was as profound a tragedy as one can imagine; period. In light of this and similar events we need to have a national discussion about the real causes of mass murder. Contrary to what we will hear in the coming days and weeks, guns were not the cause of the Sandy Hook murders. Nevertheless, local, state, and national leaders, lead by California’s Senator Dianne Feinstein, will use this awful event as a rallying call to push for the most serious infringement of our Second Amendment rights ever proposed in this country’s history. They will ignore the familial and societal factors that actually compel these mass murderers to carry out their awful missions. They will ignore the connection between these horrible acts and the increase in the use of prescription psychiatric drugs on our children and youth, reductions in mental health services and incarcerations, increased exposure to violent images in mass media and games, and mandated removal of faith and morality from many aspects of our daily lives. Some of these representatives will be motivated to act out of a legitimate desire to preclude a recurrence of this type of event. Others, like Senator Feinstein, will seek to use this awful event to push long held personal agendas; an incremental step towards completely banning private ownership of the types of firearms which can best effectuate the intent of the framers of our Constitution.

We need to demand that our representatives do something that might have a real effect on reducing the occurrences of mass murder in American society. We must demand that they undertake action to understand the real factors that cause people to do these terrible things and then demand that they have the courage to actually address the root causes of the problem rather than its tragic manifestation. And we must do this without allowing the decimation of our Second Amendment protections.

The primary focus of this editorial is to briefly restate the intent of the founding fathers when they drafted the Second Amendment and then illustrate, with facts, the futility of passing laws regulating firearms and magazines in the hope that doing so will prevent criminal behavior.

Those who will argue for a new “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazine” ban will claim that there is no legitimate “sporting purpose” or self defense need for these types of weapons and accessories; as if sporting or self defense use were the intent of the Constitutional guarantee of our right to keep and bear arms. In its entirety the Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” There is no mention of this being a protection of the right to have guns for sporting purposes, or as some will claim, solely for self defense purposes. The intent of the language could not be clearer, the right to bear arms was much more militaristic in nature and was to ensure that the recently acquired free status of the several newly united states, individually and collectively, could be defended against, and not subjugated to, a new tyrannical rule imposed by the creation of a federal government. Thomas Jefferson confirmed this understanding saying, “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government”.  More recently the late Hubert Humphrey, not known as a bastion of conservative or right wing political thought, said, “Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.  This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced.  But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.”

That protection against tyranny was the intent of the Second Amendment was acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. Writing for majority Justice Scalia recited that the history of "[T]he debate with respect to the right to keep and bear arms, as with other guarantees in the Bill of Rights, was not over whether it was desirable (all agreed that it was) but over whether it needed to be codified in the Constitution. Justice Scalia indicated that the founding fathers knew "[T]hat history showed that the way tyrants had eliminated a militia consisting of all the able-bodied men was not by banning the militia but simply by taking away the people's arms, enabling a select militia or standing army to suppress political opponents." The conclusion of the Court was that the Second Amendment's guarantee of the right to keep and bears arms was a personal, not corporate, right; that it guaranteed the right to keep and bear those types of firearms typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes for use in personal defense as well as a deterrent against tyranny.
Those that support a proposed assault weapon/high capacity magazine ban would deny the populace the very civilian arms best suited to fulfill the constitutional intent of the Second Amendment. The AR-15 rifle, which fires a .223 caliber cartridge and is capable of being used with 30 round magazines, is one of the primary targets of any proposed assault weapons ban and is the best selling type of rifle in America today. These and other, similar rifles are owned and used by millions of Americans for clearly lawful purposes. The internationally known firearms and self defense expert, Massad Ayoob, recently wrote in Backwoods Home magazine,  "The cops are the experts on the current criminal trends. If they have determined that a “high capacity” semiautomatic pistol and a .223 semiautomatic rifle with 30-round magazines are the best firearms for them to use to protect people like me and my family, they are obviously the best things for us to use to protect ourselves and our families."

The ban supporters will, no doubt, argue that the loss of this fundamental right is worth the benefit that will accrue as a result of its implementation. They will claim that their restrictions will result in a reduction in violent crime. Evidence worldwide and here at home refutes those claims.

There are two truths that are obvious to me. The first is that laws only proscribe the behavior of law abiding citizens. By definition, criminals ignore the law. Every mass murderer violates numerous laws in the commission of their heinous act and none of those laws stop the horror. Secondly, if banning anything worked, America would be a teatotaling, drug free society and Chicago and Washington D.C. would have the lowest murder rates in the country. We aren’t and they don’t.

I have heard it said that the definition of being crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. There is plenty of evidence that stricter gun laws do not reduce violent crime. Yet more gun control is always the answer when a tragedy like Sandy Hook occurs. 

Each year the Brady Campaign for the Prevention of Gun Violence, an organization " . . . devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities . . .", ranks states based upon the strength or weakness of their gun laws. The following is a comparison of FBI statistics for the ten states which the Brady Campaign says have the strongest gun laws (the top ten) and those of the ten states with the weakest gun laws (the bottom ten) according to the Brady Campaign. Connecticut, scene of the Sandy Hook shootings, is in the Brady Campaign top ten; ranked fifth in 2011 for having strong gun control laws. The cited standings and statistics are for 2010 or 2011, the most recent information available. The FBI has reported that, in 2011, the violent crime rate in the top ten states was 376 violent crimes per one hundred thousand residents versus 350 per one hundred thousand in the bottom ten. The reported rates for murder and non-negligent homicide, unrelated to the instrumentality causing death, in the top ten states was 4.31 per one hundred thousand population versus 4.15 in the bottom ten states. Focusing just on murder rates for firearm related murders, FBI statistics show that the murder rate for all murders committed with any type of firearm was approximately 2.5 per one hundred thousand residents in the top ten states and 2.4 in the bottom ten. California, which tops the Brady top ten list, has 3.2 firearms murder per hundred thousand. The murder by handgun rate was 2.0 in the top ten states and 1.8 in the bottom ten. Again, the stricter gun control states fare marginally worse than those with weaker gun laws. The only anomaly is found in the murder by firearms other than handguns rate which was 5.1 deaths per thousand in the top ten states and 5.9 in the bottom ten. The obvious conclusion from all of these statistics is that stricter gun control laws do not reduce the rates of violent crimes, homicides, or gun related murders. Equally obvious is that there are other factors which actually cause violent crimes and murders other than the relative ease with which one can or cannot obtain a firearm or the type of firearm that is available. Nonetheless, stricter gun control will be touted as the solution to preventing school shootings. It won't be a solution, simply because gun control doesn't work.

I suspect that ban supporters will also claim that the state statistics are flawed because we don’t have a nationwide firearms ban. But nationwide bans, even in modern western democracies, don’t reduce violent crime. Both Britain and Australia banned most gun ownership, nationwide, in 1997 and implemented buy-up programs. In both societies, violent crime rates rose.
We'll also be told that gun control will work this time because we'll control "assault weapons" and "high capacity" magazines. Again, the historical evidence doesn't support the proposition. This country had an assault weapons ban from 1994 until 2004. While we will hear Senator Feinstein claim that the ban resulted in a 6.7% reduction in murder rates, the study she cites acknowledges that the data is for one year of the ten year period and that the data set was too small to conclude that the apparent reduction was connected to the assault weapon ban. The Brady Campaign says, "Connecticut has strong gun laws that help combat the illegal gun market, prevent the sale of most guns without background checks and reduce risks to children". Despite having strong gun control laws and an assault weapon ban, Connecticut was still the scene of the Sandy Hook murders. Proponents of a new ban will assert that both the Connecticut and 1994 assault weapon and magazine bans were not comprehensive enough; that we need a bigger, broader, more restrictive ban. And besides, we have to do something to protect the children.

Make no mistake about it, Senator Feinstein’s new assault weapon and magazine ban is not about protecting the children. If she was truly concerned about child safety she'd address the real threats to children.  Depending on the information one looks at, during the last thirty years on average, ten to twenty children are killed each year in school related shootings. Yes, each child's death is itself a tragedy. But statistics show that many more children die annually as the result of other causes. Eighty to one hundred children die each year by drowning in swimming pools and spas, one hundred to hundred and fifty in bicycle accidents, and more than two hundred are killed annually at the hands of drunk drivers. Where are Senator Feinstein’s cries to ban pools, spas, and bicycles? Where is the demand that cars be made that preclude their operation by intoxicated drivers? Those cries are inaudible. That is because Senator Feinstein wants to ban guns; end of story. In 1995, in a CBS interview, Feinstein said, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here."

We have a fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Once that right is lost we will never ever regain it. And without that right, every other one of our constitutionally guaranteed rights is in jeopardy. Do not allow our politicians to trade that sacred right for the hollow, ineffective promise of reduced crime through a restriction of that right. We must heed the admonition of Benjamin Franklin who said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

James,

The Internet is replete with potential gun confiscation scenarios. Many people voice the opinion that this confiscation will take the form of armed troops going house to house searching for guns. This would be a potential source of revolution, would demonstrate the true nature of government and would result in the deaths of many of the regimes ostensible supporters.
I'll make the assumption that The Powers That Be are not stupid (evil, probably, but stupid, no). Since they are not stupid, and can foresee the difficulties with house-to-house searches, they will use other methods. Let's explore some of these methods.

Before we start that, we should be aware of the massive data gathering efforts that many government agencies have undertaken, and the abilities they have gained, in recent years. I don't think it is unlikely that the government knows, or can know quickly, with varying degrees of reliability, who a majority of gun owners in this country are. It is true that most of
the actual records of who own what are in the form of 4473s in individual gun shops. It is possible for the BATFE and related agencies to swoop down on gun stores and confiscate these records and, while it would take significant effort, convert them to electronic records. These records, when combined with all of the other data and methods that the Business Intelligence community has developed over the years, would create a database of gun owners with a pretty high reliability in my estimation. Even without the 4473s, combining credit card information (remember when you bought those M1 Garand bandoleers with your MasterCard a couple of years ago?), the intact database of background checks, explicit firearm owner databases (as in Illinois), State Police concealed carry information and the plethora of other data stores that exist, a comprehensive set of firearm owners could be put together. It does not have to be perfect! It doesn't even have to be that close. It will be your responsibility to prove that you don't have any firearms, not the other way around.

Now that the government has this information, what should they do? Ship in troops from West Africa and start invading peoples' homes? No way. Firstly, the demonization of gun owners will continue. Unabated. It will intensify and become part of our daily lives. Guns are bad. Gun owners are sick. Mentally ill. Crime is their fault. They endanger all of us. Continuous,
methodical, overwhelming messaging from all corners of the media.

The actual 'confiscations' will begin pleasantly enough. Guns (or some overwhelming subset of guns) will be made illegal (whether by actual congressional bill or executive order, it doesn't matter). 'Take you guns to the local police station and have them checked off the list'. No questions asked. Easy. Many people will simply comply. A letter in the mail asks nicely for you turn in the Ruger SP101 you bought on X date at Y gun store in Z city. Ruger sent it back after a repair to this address in 2008...yada yada yada. More compliance.

When the initial turn in period ends, penalties will begin. More friendly letters in the mail. Fines assessed. Jail time threatened. More compliance. Then, an amnesty. Turn them in, no questions asked. More compliance. Then maybe a so-called 'buy back'. Free gas cards, gift cards, cash. Who knows?

In parallel to all this, of course, are the exhortations to the public to turn in non-compliant gun owners. Turn them in for rewards. Turn them in for reduced prison sentences. Turn them in for a pat on the head. Your civic duty and all that.

See, now that you are demonized in the eyes of the public, and an actual criminal in the eyes of the government, then all of governments resources can be applied to you with impunity. No one except other criminals will stand up for you. And no singular event will affect many people at once, never enough to cause more than a few to take an actual stand. Anyway, who
would you stand up to? Who would you shoot? When a law is passed making it illegal for banks to engage in any transaction with suspected gun owners, what will you do? Shoot a teller when your account is closed and your funds confiscated? Your mortgage called? How about when they assess a fine of, say, $250,000 and require employers to garnish all wages until the fine is paid. You going to shoot someone in HR for complying with the law? What about when Child Protective Services abducts your kids right out of their public school? Your kids go to school one day, then, poof, they're gone. You want them back - no problem - turn in your guns. Electricity turned off at your house? Yup, new law enacted. How long can any of us operate with no income, no bank accounts, while attending to an eviction and attempting to get your kids back? What will you do to get your kids back? Remember, it will be your job to prove that you don't have any guns or ammo. "C'mon, prove it, let us search your house, tell us who your buddies are"....you get the idea.

You see, there are countless ways that the government can make us 'voluntarily' give them up. The pressure will be overwhelming and, given how long they have been considering this, probably much more expeditious than I am making it sound.

In any case, the VERY LAST THING they will try will be the midnight raids. Everyone and anyone will be your enemy before that occurs. There will be no one individual to strike out against. The giant, gray miasma of society will be your enemy. Ignorance, lethargy, apathy. How do you fight that?

And government has all manner of resources, time, people, money, to address this problem.

My two main points are these: First, if the government has people who are even reasonably smart (they do) and they are earnest about solving the problem of identifying gun owners (they are) then the technology to do this should not elude them. Second, busting down doors is expensive, risky and provocative, and they will use all of the tricks at their disposal to avoid it. - Michael W.

Dear Mr. Rawles
I am quite sad to say that you warned me about stocking up on [full capacity] magazines, but I ignored you. I stupidly concentrated on building a couple of .22 target rifles. Now I'm hurting. Here's my situation: I have a Bravo Company (BCM) M4 with only three magazines (30 round), and a Mini-14, also with three mags. (One is a factory 5 rounder, and the 2 others are junky "PMI" [aftermarket] 30 rounders that I don't trust [to feed reliably].) I also have a Beretta Model 92 [9mm pistol], but for that I'm in pretty good shape with 6 original (factory and Army M9) 15 rounders.

I have the chance to buy a PTR-91-"GI" [HK91 clone] from a friend for $1,200, but [it] comes with just four magazines. He is willing to take my Mini-14 as a partial trade. What do you think I should do? Thanking You in Advance, - G.T.CF

JWR Replies: You aren't the only one to be caught flat-footed. As is explained in article back in 2007, (How Federal "Bans", "Freezes", and "Price Controls" Spread Economic Chaos), and in a letter from 2008, full capacity magazines can very quickly transition from mass-produced "commodity" status to almost precious metal status overnight, at the whim of a bureaucrat.

The gun shops are all sold out of 11+ round magazines and the gun shows are jam-packed with eager buyers. Original Ruger Mini-14 20 round and 30 round magazines are now fetching $90 each, and AR-15 magazines range from $30 each (for used 30 round alloy magazines) to $75 each (for 30 round windowed PMAGs). That is IF you can find them. The most sought-after AR magazines seem to be PMAGs, HK "Maritime" steel magazines, and the FN-made steel AR/FNC/SCAR steel magazines. The latter are selling for $100+ each!

One bit of good news is that at gun shows you can still find a decent supply of German surplus G3 alloy magazines that will work in a HK91 (or clone) for less than $10 each, even in the current shortage-driven market. (These came into the States in large quantity a few years ago, at nearly scrap metal prices.) KeepShooting.com and CheaperThanDirst.com both had thousands of these magazines, but they recently sold out. (Check with them once a week, as they will probably get more.) HKParts.net still has some steel German surplus G3 magazines, but they are priced at $29 each. And Robert at RTG still has some alloy G3 magazines for $5.95 each, but he is swamped with orders and is now taking a waiting list. (He says "I don't have the time to sort them.")

Given the current scarcity of magazines and the likelihood of an import ban or even a production ban, I'd recommend that you jump on what you can, as soon as possible. You might even consider buying some magazines for rifles that you don't yet own (such as AK-47, AK-74, M14, FAL, and AR-10), just to use as barter material. There may come a time when people aren't willing to sell 11+ round magazines for any price, but they might still be willing to trade. Just be sure to only buy factory original or military contract magazines. Do not buy aftermarket garbage!

I'd recommend that you go ahead and trade your Mini-14, unless you can immediately find some ORIGINAL factory magazines. Not only is the PTR-91-GI a better rifle, but the wide availability of magazines makes it the clear choice.

I often have SurvivalBlog readers forward me alarmist e-mails, warning of "total disarmament" of the civilian populace. While there indeed may be plans or schemes to disarm Americans, I don't consider these threats credible. Let me explain why: I would conservatively estimate that there are about 316 million firearms in private hands in the United States. Of these, less than 10% are logged in any formal registry. Perhaps another 30% have Form 4473s filed with the FFL dealers where they were first purchased, but that is a fractured mishmash of records with a quite perishable life span. It is notable that we live in a very mobile society, where most families move every three or four years. And in most states, there are no record keeping requirements for secondary sales of firearms. So to call the accumulation of 4473 forms a de facto registration system is laughable.

A Congressional Research Service report provides these details:

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) reported in a national survey that in 1994, 44 million people, approximately 35% of households, owned 192 million firearms, 65 million of which were handguns. Seventy-four percent of those individuals were reported to own more than one firearm. According to the ATF, by the end of 1996 approximately 242 million firearms were available for sale to or were possessed by civilians in the United States. That total includes roughly 72 million handguns (mostly pistols, revolvers, and derringers), 76 million rifles, and 64 million shotguns. By 2000, the number of firearms had increased to approximately 259 million: 92 million handguns, 92 million rifles, and 75 million shotguns. By 2007, the number of firearms had increased to approximately 294 million: 106 million handguns, 105 million rifles, and 83 million shotguns.

In the past, most guns available for sale were produced domestically. In recent years, 1 million to 2 million handguns were manufactured each year, along with 1 million to 1.5 million rifles and fewer than 1 million shotguns. From 2001 through 2007, however, handgun imports nearly doubled, from 711,000 to nearly 1.4 million. By 2009, nearly 2.2 million handguns were imported into the United States. From 2001 through 2007, rifle imports increased from 228,000 to 632,000, and shotgun imports increased from 428,000 to 726,000. By 2009, rifle imports had increased to 864,000, but shotguns had decreased 559,000. By the same year, 2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns.

The sheer number of guns that have little or no paper trail would make it virtually impossible to for any Papa Fidel or Chairman Mao Wannabes to implement a national registration scheme. Americans are quite independent by nature and are unlikely to comply with any universal registration edict. Consider the recent experience in Germany, where a new national registry logged in only 5.5 million guns, while 17 million guns remain un-papered in the hands of refuseniks. Now, if this happened in Germany--where the populace is famous for being sticklers to most laws (except on the autobahnen)--can you imagine the result if this were attempted in the United States? To call it massive noncompliance would be putting it mildly.

The bottom line: Be vigilant and vocal with our elected officials about any proposed legislation, but don't worry too much about the police ever going door to door, looking for unregistered guns. If this were attempted, they wouldn't get very far. I can predict that if Eric Holder ever wants to turn his fantasies of disarming the American people into reality, then he'll have to enlist the aid of every sworn law enforcement officer, every soldier, every prison guard, every park ranger, every dog catcher and every meter maid in the country. But I doubt many of those folks will be enthusiastic, in carrying out unconstitutional orders. So then he'd undoubtedly also need the help of a hundred divisions of foreign troops. My advice to Mr. Holder: Order up plenty of body bags. You'll need them.

Veteran blogger and Appleseed program shooting instructor Bob Owens recently summarized the mathematics of rebellion, quite succinctly: "A nation with just 800,000 law enforcement officers and 3 million active and reserve military personal cannot easily defeat and enslave a free people armed with 300 million firearms, even if large numbers of the police and military didn’t walk away or switch sides to follow their oath to the Constitution instead of any given leader, as many assuredly will."

©2012 Senator Tom Coburn with John Hart
Published by Thomas Nelson, Nashville Tennessee
349 pages with numerous charts, graphs, index, and list of official reports available to the public.
ISBN: 978-1-59555-467-3

I recently read The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America. The title tells us exactly what this well-written book is about. Our national debt is a bomb more dangerous than any nuke or chemical weapon known to man. While we spend billions chasing a few terrorists around the world, our politicians are killing our economy, and our freedoms, with rampant, unfunded spending.

Senator Coburn lays out the facts and history of our debt problem in thirteen chapters and three appendixes with a summary of his thoughts in the final seventeen pages. A Republican from Oklahoma, the author castigates members of both major political parties for what they have done to help bring our economy to the edge of chaos. The book is full of stories of politician’s gone loony with our money, and ways to prevent their excesses in the future.

As I prepare this review, the news media is full of ‘fiscal cliff’ reports, name-calling, the sky is falling, and assigning of blame for our economic woes. The US Senate is debating legislation to send financial aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy with numerous unrelated earmarks attached to increase our deficit. Obviously, it is still business as usual. At a time of what I consider a national emergency, our elected officials should be lined up with ideas and proposals to get us out of debt, not pile on more.

We have just that in this book full of specific proposals to solve a specific problem. There are also reports on the author’s web site addressing the problem of our debt. Some folks believe the debt bomb will cause the collapse of our economy and our nation. As individuals, we can address our concerns to our elected officials. If they are unresponsive, we can fire them.

On a personal level for preppers, this book is a good case for eliminating our household debt. A lack of debt makes your home, vehicles, and possessions yours, not the bank. You have no worry of foreclosure or repossession. The money you save in interest payments can be used for supplies.           

During the Great Depression, farmers in the Dust Bowl lost their family farms over small mortgages they could not pay because of one failed crop. Because of the recent housing bubble collapse, tens of thousands of families have been evicted for failure to pay their mortgages. Thousands of properties are mortgaged for more than they are worth and the owners are stuck in a financial nightmare. Some people believe it is un-American to not have a mortgage and car payments. Wrong. Do everything you can to eliminate your family debt and you increase the security of your entire family more than a full pantry or a well stocked gun locker.

I recommend this book for preppers because it is so readable and full of common sense.

Regarding Doug Casey’s linked article on Argentina: The Freest Place in the World.  Seriously?  That country does all the things we fear the US might do.  Rampant inflation?  Check.  Confiscate retirement accounts?  Check.  Currency controls & dollar-sniffing dogs?  Check.  Crony socialism and capricious Diktat replacing rule of law?  Check.  Punitive taxes on the productive, such as farmer-exporters?  Check.  Hitler-style appeals to nationalism to justify seizure of assets (such as NPF, the largest oil company in the country) or to provoke rows with foreigners (Falklands).  Check.  Profound corruption?  Check.  Argentina is cheap for a reason.  Refer to FerFAL (An Argentine who publishes information on prepping from first hand experience in Argentina) for more reasons as to why that is so.  It’s a banana republic populated by physically attractive residents.  And with Cretina (Oops, I mean Christina) Kirschner as an Evita Peron wannabe.

My spouse is from Chile.  I grew up bilingual and fit in there quite well.  Our kids will be dual citizens.  Yeah, it costs more than Argentina.  There is a price for the rule of law and stability.  Chile offers more of that than any other Latin country.  Good grief, the left-wing former finance minister (Andres Velasco) was so fiscally conservative that he squirreled away windfall money from the copper boom for a rainy day….which came with the earthquake in 2009.  To the extent Chile had a “stimulus”, they paid cash.  To repeat:  That was from a left-winger.  And when push came to shove, Pinochet forced freedom (yes, I see the irony).  Notably, even the Left left-most of Pinochet’s free-market reforms unchanged.  Were I to bug out overseas (a debate for another day, I tend to view a bad US as better than most alternatives), it would be to Chile.  It is the most stable of the Latin countries.  If I wanted a worst case glimpse of what the US could be, and perhaps shall be, I’d visit Argentina.  Argentina is a mistress (popular concept in Latin America, my wife is violently closed minded about it), Chile is a wife. - J.H. in Ohio

Reader Jim W. just sent word of horrendous new gun ban legislation in Illinois that is on the fast track to floor votes in the Illinois legislature. These laws would ban most semi-autos and even pump-actions! Magazines that can hold 11+ rounds of magazines would also be banned. I recommend that Illinois residents read the text of the bills, regularly monitor their status, and of course contact their legislators.

For the sake of expediency, I'm quoting from the NRA-ILA web site, verbatim:

It is imperative that you contact your state Senator IMMEDIATELY to express your opposition to House Bills 815 and 1263 and any additional anti-gun amendments.

Among other things, House Bill 815 would:

- Prohibit anyone without a FOID card from using a commercial shooting range, which in many cases would make it impossible to introduce new shooters to the safe and responsible use of firearms.

- Grant the State Police broad discretion to impose design, construction and operation standards that could shut down most commercial shooting ranges.

- Ban possession of magazines and other feeding devices that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.  A "grandfather clause" would require registration by owners of such devices and give the State Police discretion to impose and charge fees.  Registration would require "proof of ownership" that could be impossible for most people to provide, and even registered owners could not transfer magazines within Illinois, except to an heir or a licensed dealer.  Transfers of "grandfathered magazines" would have to be reported to the ISP.

- Violations of this magazine ban would be a felony.  Failure to report theft or loss of a magazine would be a misdemeanor until the third violation, which would be a felony.

House Bill 1263 would:

- Ban, at a minimum, all detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifles and pistols. Remington 7400 deer rifles, Ruger 10/22 squirrel guns, Glocks, 1911s, etc. This ban would include about 80% of handguns now sold in the U.S.

- Possibly ban all semi-automatic rifles and even revolvers or single-shot pistols with the capacity to accept muzzle brakes or compensators.

- Ban "assault weapon attachments," so possession of a thumbhole stock, a pistol grip, or a fore-end (a "shroud" that "partially or completely encircles the barrel") would be a crime even if you didn't possess a firearm.

- Ban all .50 BMG rifles.

- Contains "grandfather" provisions that would require registration by owners of devices and give the State Police discretion to impose and charge fees. Registration would require "proof of ownership."

-  Create felony penalties for violation of this ban on guns or attachments.

- Create lost and Stolen penalties that would criminalize victims of gun theft.

JWR's Comment: Several gun Illinois manufacturers (such as Les Baer Custom and Springfield Armory) have already threatened to leave the state if gun bans are enacted. They'd of course be welcome here in the American Redoubt.

Dater JWR:
I am a retired police officer, SWAT team member, firearms instructor, armorer, First Aid CPR/AED instructor, and consider myself and my wife into prepping at a moderate level. While we do not have everything that I would like to have in my arms and accessories I know I am so far ahead of many of my friends that my confidence is high on that point.

I must tell you I was shocked when we visited a Southwestern Ohio gun store  about a week ago. My friend, an employee and also retired law enforcement officer, looked at us like a rookie department store clerk and said "I do not have words to describe this!"  "The last AR went out the door an hour before you got here, and we have no magazines left". They were limiting 5.56 ammo sales to half cases so naturally we bought half a case each as well as another of .45ACP.

The gist of my observation was while looking at a familiar gun store, and having a visceral reaction to shelves that looked like a grocery store pre blizzard or hurricane. I have been to homicides, fatal car crashes, and any number of scenes that would shock many of your readers who are not military or law enforcement. Nothing prepared me for this sight!

I told my wife: "All it will take is some small financial crisis and we could see a run on the banks." My story is not unique, I am sure you are hearing this again and again. Are we approaching a Rubicon?

Respectfully, - Brian T.

Hello, James.
I was wondering about something. If it is possible to build an entire lower assembly for an AR-15 (though a bit more fragile than what most people are aware of) using a 3D printer, wouldn't it also be possible to program that same printer to make composite construction 30 magazines (or larger) for AR series rifles. All that you would need to do then is buy the springs. Everything else can be produced using the printer. Sincerely, - Gerald H.
 
JWR Replies: Unfortunately, with current technology I don't think that the plastics used have the requisite tensile strength, especially in the feed lips.  A  fully-loaded magazine exerts a lot of force on both the feed lips and the floorplate retainer. But in a few years, I expect 3D printing technology to mature substantially. So it could then become a viable option for fabricating magazines.

James,
Please let your readers know this is dangerous ground, as ATF considers converting from rifle to pistol to be a felony.

If you buy a stripped lower receiver to build into a gun, you have to decide whether to buy it as a rifle or handgun when you fill out the 4473. If you buy it as a rifle, you cannot change it later, as it violates the NFA.

If you buy it as a pistol and decide to build it as a rifle, you cannot go back, as this also violates the NFA.

Building it as a pistol, switching it to a rifle, then switching it back also violates the NFA.

Also, if you decide to buy a short-barreled receiver, make sure you have a completed pistol lower to go with it. If ATF were to ever do a compliance check and you don't have a working pistol lower to go with your short-barreled upper, they will assume you're violating the NFA by possessing a short-barreled rifle without having paid the [$200 SBR transfer] tax.

Sincerely, - Kent C.

JWR Replies: This has been re-hashed many time in the gun forums. To the best of my knowledge, with an AR-15 platform, the legality of switching back and forth from pistol to rifle and back again only exists if you buy all of the parts required from the same dealer, in a single purchase, and you can document that. Save that receipt, make a copy, and have both copies notarized! Also note that the restriction on handgun ownership for someone who is over 18 but not yet over 21 also applies.

Here at the Rawles Ranch, we've resolved to get back into doing our daily stretching/calisthenics and thrice-weekly tactical hikes on the National Forest land that compasses our property. (We had let this practice slip away last Fall, as the cold weather set in.) Hence forth, no more lame excuses.

We've also begun supporting C.R.O.S.S. Ministries with weekly support. With automatic PayPal payments, this won't be overlooked. They deserve your support, too. Note that these are Christian missionaries who will train South Sudanese villagers with small arms, so that they can defend themselves. This is a Biblical concept! (Luke 22:36)

We've resolved to be vigilant for any encroachments on our God-given rights. Any proposed legislation that would diminish our rights will be met with a deluge of e-mails, FAXes, letters, and phone calls.

Ditto for institutional moral decline by our government. (Yes, it is OUR government, and we need to remind our public servants that they work for "We, The People.")

We resolved to more diligently memorize scripture.

Lastly, we've resolved to top off our supply of full capacity magazines, including some extras, for barter and charity. (We still need just a few. And even if Madame Feinstein's gun and magazine ban bill is DOA, we can still expect an import ban on magazines, via Executive Order.) I've been mentioning the importance of magazines in the blog since our early days, and have recommended them as an investment since 2007. Our little stack of silver didn't triple in value last year, but our PMAGs did!

Here are some details on the proposed gun and magazine ban, directly Madame Feinstein's web site. Also see this PDF.

In summary, the law includes some handguns, it requires nationwide registration, background checks and fingerprinting, even for current owners, just one evil feature-such as a pistol grip--can get a semi-auto banned, and it mentions: "Grandfathering weapons legally possessed on the date of enactment." Does this mean that your heirs must turn in your guns for destruction? Let's wait to see the wording of the bill that is introduced. But regardless, this is definitely bad legislation, so start contacting your legislators! (Thanks to Jim W. for the links.) The following in from Senator Feinstein's web site:

Bans the sale, transfer, importation, or manufacturing of:
120 specifically-named firearms
Certain other semiautomatic rifles, handguns, shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have one military characteristic
Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds
Strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and various state bans by:
Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test
Eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test
Banning firearms with “thumbhole stocks” and “bullet buttons” to address attempts to “work around” prior bans
Bans large-capacity ammunition feeding devices capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.

Feinstein tosses these measly bones perhaps in the hope of assuaging some boot-lickers:

Grandfathering weapons legally possessed on the date of enactment
Exempting over 900 specifically-named weapons used for hunting or sporting purposes and
Exempting antique, manually-operated, and permanently disabled weapons
Requires that grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms Act, to include:
o Background check of owner and any transferee;
o Type and serial number of the firearm;
o Positive identification, including photograph and fingerprint;
o Certification from local law enforcement of identity and that possession would not violate State or local law; and
o Dedicated funding for ATF to implement registration

Mr. Rawles,
I wanted to write to you about my recent experience with the US shortage of semi-automatic rifles, full-capacity magazines, and .223 ammo.
 
I am relatively new prepper.  So far, we've got the bug-out bags, the bug-out bins, the emergency plans, the food and water, some other stuff, and a start on guns and ammo.  As of last week, I had my 9mm Glock, a 12 gauge Remington 870 shotgun, various pellet guns (and ~2500 rounds of various ammo).  I had been thinking of my next gun purchase, and leaning toward the Ruger 10/22 takedown model.  That would have gotten me up to minimal firearm preparedness: a rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun.
 
Then came the Sandy Hook tragedy.  And a renewed discussion on gun control (pushed relentlessly by the media).  And the possibility of a ban on so-called assault rifles (we know that term is much-debated elsewhere, so I will not discuss its meanings/implications here).  And I began to worry about the availability of semi-automatic rifles. 
 
A good semi-auto defensive rifle has always been on my list of intended firearm purchases.  However, it was way down on my list.  But my worry about availability just got it promoted to the top.
 
A week ago last Sunday, I was checking the news, and seeing more and more articles about congressmen (and women) planning to re-introduce the ban on assault rifles and so-called full-capacity magazines (more than 10 rounds!).  Then the president announced that he would speak to the country later that night.  I began to worry that he was going to alarm the purchasing public, and there would be a run on guns, mags, and ammo. 
 
Fortunately, I had been researching different ARs, and had my eye on the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 Sport, as a good quality, relatively inexpensive, entry-level semi-auto rifle.  So, around 5 pm that Sunday afternoon, I called the large sporting goods store (about 10 miles away) and asked if they had any in-stock.  They had two; I asked them to put one on hold for me, and they agreed to hold it until closing time (7 pm).  My wife had been out that afternoon - when she walked in the door at 5:30, I informed her that I was going out for an emergency shopping run, and off I went.
 
The store was busy (probably due to Christmas shopping), but the gun counter was very busy.  There were about 5 employees manning the counter, and about 30 people waiting to look at guns.  Lots of people were getting background checked, standing in line at the register, and walking away with those long, flat cardboard boxes.  And the long-gun displays were starting to show bare spots.  
 
Finally, my turn came, and the clerk fetched my box from the back.  The rifle looked gun, felt good, and seemed as advertised.  Sticker price was $1,050, and by God's providence, I could afford it.  I told him I would take it.  It came with one magazine.  I asked about extra magazines: they were all out.  I asked about .223 ammo: they were all out.  Okay.  On the way out, I grabbed some full-capacity magazines for my 9 mm.  Then, I exercised my credit card and I was out the door, with a piece of fancy metal and some empty plastic magazines.  Back at home, they went into the gun safe, and I felt pretty good about front-running the surging demand for these guns.   
 
The week kept me busy, and I didn't have a chance to look for magazines and ammo until Thursday.  I called several large sporting goods stores in the area.  No one had any AR-15 magazines or .223 ammo, and none had any estimate on when they would get restocked.  It was time to expand my shopping horizon.  A Google search informed me that there were three local gun shops in our area. 
 
By now, I was somewhat panicky.  Would I be able to find anything?  Would there be a continuous shortage on mags and ammo until a gun control bill is passed?  Would I be stuck with my fancy rifle, and nothing to shoot?  Back on the phone, I talked with the owner of gun shop number one: he was out of AR mags and .223 ammo: no estimate for restocking. 
 
Over the phone, a clerk at gun shop number two claimed to have .223 ammo, so I was out the door again, and in 20 minutes, I was visiting a tiny little cinder block gun shop with huge bars over all the windows, and more guns per square foot than I had ever seen.  The very surly owner had 11 boxes of Federal .223 for $20 each - I told him that I would take them all.  I asked about AR mags, and he just laughed and told that he was "not selling them."  Okay.  With another plastic swipe and signature, I was off to gun shop number three.
 
Gun shop number three was in a tiny strip mall, and at 6 pm, it was the only store still open in the plaza.  What was amazing was the number of cars in the parking lot and the number of people in the store.  The store was about 20 feet wide and 50 feet deep, and had about 20 customers either at the gun counter or scouring the remains on the racks and the shelves.  About a dozen other customers were outside the store, talking on the sidewalk.  All around the store, were printouts telling customers about purchase limits on magazines and ammunition.  No AR magazines were left.  But, there was a small stock of .223 'varmint' ammo at $13 each.  So I took ten (the maximum allowed number) of the boxes, up to the counter. 
 
The shop owner and his three clerks, were doing their best to serve the high demand, but the stress and strain were evident in their manner.  At the counter, several customers were looking at guns, and the owner was very blunt with them, saying: "If you think you want this gun, then you should buy it now, because if you wait and come back later, it's going to be gone."  The owner was also talking about the price increases from his suppliers.  Talking about buying an AR, the owner said that, over the course of the week, his price had gone up "$100, then $300, then $500."  At first, I thought that he was talking about a cumulative price increase, then he clarified: "now I'm paying $900 more for this gun, than I was paying last week."  The owner also said that people were buying guns, just to get the magazine(s) that come with the guns.  Wow.  I made my ammo purchase and I was out the door.
 
So far, no luck in finding extra magazines.  From what I hear, all stores in my area are out of ARs, AR magazines, and AR ammo. 
 
So, maybe this letter gives an example of one story in this situation.  But, I think that it also gives some lessons for preppers, in their purchase of firearms.
 
First, consider availability issues, when determining priorities about the purchase of firearms.  Second, don't expect to count on the ability to purchase full-capacity magazines at a gun-show or from a private seller.  As I understand it, the proposed ban on full-capacity magazines (more than 10 rounds!) will make it illegal to transfer (i.e. purchase) such magazines.  Third, even if you're still working up to a firearms purchase, it pays to do your research, so that you know what you want when an opportunity (or necessity) presents itself.  Fourth, learn about gun shops other than your local big-box stores.  The big-box stores seem to run out of stock first, and (at least some of them) seem to be vulnerable to pressure to limit sales of certain firearm items.  Fifth, where possible, try to build relationships with gun shop owners (and other firearm suppliers).  The owners I recently met were reasonably courteous to me (as a new customer) but they certainly didn't go out of their way to help me.  Sixth, in your preparedness efforts, think about how to stay in front of the herd, when it comes to purchases.  In your hour of need, you don't want to be at the store with a hundred other people, competing to pay huge upcharges on scraps - you want to be at home or at your retreat, planning your next step in preparedness. 
 
Let's hope that supply and demand get back to normal in the near future, so we have a chance to make those purchases that we've been putting off. 
  Best Regards, - Chuck W.

James,
After the Sandy Hook tragedy I got thinking of my own personal security . From limited information in the press the perpetrator came though the window because the doors were locked . After  sending a few rounds through the tempered glass , the glass pulverized and he simply stepped though and started his killing spree . Question , where was the window located ? If it was a side-light to the door then it would be a double paned tempered glass window . Question, if it was a side-light window why no laminated wire mesh? That would have slowed him down trying to bust out the mesh . Was it a standard school window with all it's double paned shards of glass. As you can see so many questions and no answers yet. 

We are a nation of glass . We use glass in our homes ,schools, hospital, offices, but just how secure is glass? Safety glass is not security glass , the very nature of tempered glass makes it poor for security . I just installed two security doors but right next to the doors is floor to ceiling glass, now what do I do. Below is a link to a video of a fellow walking through 15 panes of tempered glass in little over one second each.  As a nation we need a low cost solution to this glass problem.  - Matt in the Evergreen State

The Nanny Statists are on the war path, here in the United States. While their incessant calls for a ban on semi-auto firearms will probably fail, I predict that a bipartisan compromise in Congress will result in a new ban on full capacity magazines. This renewal of the 1994 to 2004 ban will likely have a grandfather clause, but no sunset clause. So TODAY is the day to do your best to round out your family's multi-generational supply of magazines. Even if you' don't already own an AR-15 or and AK-47, buy a dozen magazines for each. And for all of the guns in your battery that can accept 11+ round magazines, consider six magazines per gun to be a bare minimum, and 20 per gun to be a comfort level. Do not hesitate on this, folks. Prices are likely to gallop, once the details of Senator Feinstein's ban bill are announced! And even if common sense prevails in congress, at a minimum we can still expect an executive order that will ban the importation of 11+ round magazines. So this makes buying magazines for your foreign-made rifles (AK, FN PS-90, FN-FAL, FNAR, Galil, HK, etc.) or handguns (Beretta, FN, Glock, HK, SIG, etc.) your highest priority.

I've come to the conclusion that our worst imaginings of Canadian timber wolves (purposefully introduced to the Lower 48 by do-gooder bureaucrats in 1995) might have been insufficient. To those of us who live in the rural west, these land sharks are well known for their fanged depredations on sheep, cattle, deer, elk, and moose. But their greater menace--at least to humans--might actually be in the form of a tiny tapeworm that they carry: Echinococcus granulosus. This tapeworm was endemic with these wolves, long before they were introduced. Tapeworm cysts have been identified in both Idaho and Montana in recent years, and wolves have been confirmed as definitive hosts and the primary vectors.

Take a few minutes to read this: Two-Thirds of Idaho Wolf Carcasses Examined Have Thousands of Hydatid Disease Tapeworms. Also read this summary and a few of its many linked references.

It bears particular mention that this variety of tapeworm is incurable, except by invasive surgery. (Antiparasitical drugs are ineffective.) And even worse, there is no simple test for infection. Only chest-abdomen scans or whole body scans show "hot spots" where the worms have triggered the formation of cysts. Echinococcosis is not pretty. The Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm cysts are mainly found in the lungs and liver. The tapeworms themselves are just a half inch long, but their cysts are large, ugly, and eventually life threatening, especially in mammals with the longest life spans. (Read: humans.) In some cases they can grow in the heart, the thyroid gland, and although rare, even inside bones and in the brain. I would not like them to start breeding inside my skull. Not good.

The life-cycle Echinococcus eggs and worms is insidious and incremental. The eggs can be viably dormant in the soil for up to 41 months. They can potentially become endemic in a wide variety of mammal populations. Here is just one example: In areas where wolf packs travel, the scat they leave in random locations can be handled by mice and rats that are attracted to the hair that makes up as much as 40% of the scat pellets, by volume. (Rodents actively gather hair, for nesting material.) So they bring the tapeworm eggs home, and are infected. Then the infected rodents get eaten by the local foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, lynx, and mountain lions. And, oh yes, your house cat. Then your sweet little kitty leaves moist deposits in your garden raised beds, or in your child's play sand box. Charming. This is sort of like watching the movie Prometheus, albeit with the critter life cycles in extreme slow motion, and on smaller scale.

I am particularly troubled by the fact that wildlife biologists knew that Canadian timber wolves carried the hydatid tapeworms. (It has been well documented since the 1930s, and was studied in detail in the 1950s.) But because of their enthusiasm, the biologist-activists were silent about it and went ahead and supported the wolf introduction plan. There are some sick puppies out there, and not all of them are canids.

The bottom line: Encourage your state legislators to allow wolf hunting and trapping, to reduce the number of wolf packs. And if you live in wolf country, then DO NOT handle the scat of any predators without wearing gloves and a good quality dust respirator. That includes handling feces from your house cat.

One final parenthetical note: Be on guard for anyone who uses the term "reintroduction" for the introduction Canadian timber wolves in the Lower 48. These wolves were not reintroduced. They are in fact an invasive subspecies. The Canadian timber wolf is a larger subspecies of wolf: Canis lupus occidentalis. The Canadian Timber Wolf (aka Mackenzie River Wolf) can weigh up to 170 pounds and travel up to 70 miles per day. Most of the wolves that originally inhabited the Lower 48 that were extirpated a century ago were the 80 to 110-pound Great Plains Wolf subspecies. (Canis lupus nubilus.) This disparity in part explains the rapid decline of the deer, elk, and moose herds in Idaho and Montana since 2000.

I've been warning SurvivalBlog readers about the debasement of the nickel for several years. It now costs the U.S. Mint 11.2 cents to produce each nickel, so debasement seems inevitable.

After a two-year study, testing 80 different alloys, the United States Mint's findings on alternative metals were announced on December 14, 2012. In essence they've said: "We need more time." Here is the key line from the report summary: "The Mint has made significant progress and, at this time, has concluded that additional R&D is necessary before it can recommend any changes to the current coin composition." Here is a link to the full report.

Based on the biennial R&D report, the U.S. Congress will probably either delay making changes to the penny and nickel, or they may just suspend further production. (Following Canada's lead, with pennies.)

Hopefully the Mint's dawdling will give us another year or two to stack up our boxes of nickels. (Once a composition change takes place, we will have to laboriously sort nickels.) If you read the contractor's report, you'll see that one of the goals of the planned debasement is that is be "seamless", meaning: "Differences and abilities to recognize or process incumbent coins and coins produced from alternative material candidates cannot be distinguished through normal coin processing." That is bureaucratic doublespeak for "Let's make our new worthless tokens look like real coins, even to vending machines."

I found the following buried in the contractor's report:

"Stainless steels, despite the having an electrical conductivity that is about half that of cupronickel, were recommended for testing for the 5-cent coin. The ideal stainless steel for coinage would be non-ferromagnetic (so it would not be mistaken for a steel slug), have low flow stress (i.e., result in low striking loads), have excellent corrosion resistance and be comprised to the greatest extent practical of elements that are not as expensive as nickel. Nickel and molybdenum contents should be low to reduce costs. Austenitic stainless steels (3xx series) are preferred because they are non-ferromagnetic and thereby are more likely to be accepted by a majority of fielded coin-processing equipment."

So I stand by my assertion that unless this denomination is dropped altogether, the cupronickel five cent piece will be replaced by a stainless steel token. It now appears that the 301, 302, 302HQ, or 304 stainless steel alloys are the most likely choices. Perhaps they'll lean toward choosing 302HQ or 304, since they both include some nickel for Austenitizing. Hence, the bureaucrats could save face (partially) by being able to claim that the new stainless steel slugs are still "nickels." But they'll still be just about worthless, compared to a real cupronickel nickel which contains more than five cents of base metal value. (See the details at the Coinflation web site.) The report cited a fully burden production cost (including base metal, tooling, labor and transportation) of 6.77 cents to produce each nickel out of stainless steel, but that is certainly an improvement over the current cost of 11.2 cents. To the citizenry at large, the real consequence of the debasement is this: The melt value of a stainless steel nickel will be less than half a cent. We will be robbed again folks, just like our parents were, in 1964. Let's not lose sight of the real underlying crime: general currency inflation. There would be no need to debase coins except for continuing, insidious inflation.

The goal of all government mints is to maintain seigniorage --which is making a profit on the coins that they produce. (Where their cost to produce each coin is less than its face value.) The U.S. Mint's current champion of positive seigniorage is the much-maligned Sacagawea/Presidential "golden" dollar coin, which is a Manganese-Brass token with a base metal value of just 6.22 cents--just one cent more then the base metal value of a nickel. No wonder people instinctively hate them. (By the way, I consider putting a "gold" finish on those coins the most heinous bit of legerdemain in the history of the U.S. Mint.)

Governments don't put up with negative seigniorage for very long. Debasement of nickels and pennies is coming, but thankfully the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly. Let's just be thankful that we'll have a some more time to keep stacking up our nickels.

Captain Rawles,
Regarding the multiple letters you are receiving on the Nigerian scams, you may want to warn your readers that participation can lead to incarceration. The reader who told his story of USAA bank taking the amount of the fake checks from his account was lucky. Frequently, these scams prey on people who get greedy and suffer the consequences. In many cases, people receive a check (sometimes out of the blue, with no prior email contact) in the mail with a request to deposit it and send back 10% or 25%, etc to an international address (often in Canada). Since the check is normally for a substantial amount ($15,000 to $30,000 is common) greed overcomes common sense and the recipient deposits the check in his account. Sometimes these scams involve overpayment for a purchase or a sad story about trying to circumvent foreign banking laws. In any case, the recipient deposits the check, and maybe sends some money back, or just starts to spend the money himself.

When the check comes back as counterfeit, the bank deducts the amounts from his account and reports the incident to the police. In most states, this qualifies as Forgery, a felony. In my city, most banks spot the counterfeit check during the deposit attempt and calls law enforcement at that point. Although you may be saved from losing money you at least end up with a contact with local police that you wish you had avoided. If you have a criminal history and try to bluff your way through by justifying the check, you might get charged. Even if you end up with a not guilty judgment in the end, you have spent a lot of money, and had your freedom (not to mention your ability to possess firearms) endangered for no return.

In the end, it comes down to this: “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!” Common Sense and Self Responsibility rule! Please keep up the good work with the blog. I read it every morning. - S.T. in Arkansas

It appears as if there are some new developments going in on the Continent, that unfortunately appear to be old memes being resurrected for the 21st Century.
Let's take a look at the highlights of recent events:

1. Greece continues to have widespread protests and riots as unemployment remains above 25% (25.4%, when measured in August, 2012) and austerity measures continue to be implemented.
2. Spain is in a deep recession, and has been since 2008.  The banking industry in Spain alone could require 60 Billion Euros to remain solvent.
3. Portugal and Italy are in similar straits to Spain and all three are close to emulating the protests, strikes, and general unrest taking place Greece.
4. Germany has provided a foundation for the EU economically but has taken major spending cuts in order to support that activity.
5. Britain, and France have scrapped or idled their capital ships.  In other words Britain and France no longer are operating carriers and have limited power projection capabilities as we saw from the Libyan events.
6. On Tuesday minority members of the Hungarian parliament "urged the government" to draw up a list of Jewish members of the government that might be security risks.

We know that the ethnic melting pot that Europe has never blended well and remains stratified.  There has never been a bending of cultural characteristics and acceptance of differing religious beliefs. Over the centuries the conflicts that have been fought in Europe have at their lowest levels either been about resources, or cultural clashes.  The Balkans have devolved into a set of small "city-states" for lack of a better description, that are essentially cultural enclaves.  Areas in this part of Europe remain a hotbed of ethnic conflict, and have been the scene of genocidal conflict since the end of the Cold War.
In 1984 Sarajevo was the host to the Winter Olympic games.  The city was a shining jewel of modern architecture blended with the "old world".  Nestled in the mountains the area was one that had been unseen by most Westerners until the Iron Curtain had begun to tear and dissolve.  Four years later, civil war in Yugoslavia resulted in massive damage to the city.  The source of this conflict remains today, the ethnic division within this region.

This is not a new conflict as it has its roots far back in history with genocidal atrocities taking place every half century or so. The great experiment that was Soviet Communism and Central planning failed.  In Western Europe over the past 60 years we have seen a trend toward big government, and broad social entitlement programs with the offset being less individual freedom.  This too appears to be a form of government that is producing less than optimal results, as we see Greece, Spain, Portugal, and to some degree Italy on the verge of failure.  We see Germany  trying to support these states to prevent total economic collapse that will result in a flood of refugees to the more prosperous nations, and in turn pull the entire Euro zone into the quagmire.  Governments have made major reductions in their ability to project power.  Whether this is through elimination of capital ships, reduction of air, naval, and ground forces is immaterial.  The bottom line here is that training, maintenance, and knowledge has been lost such that rebuilding these forces in an emergency will be close to impossible.
If the Eurozone were to collapse into distinct nation-states, with varying degrees of domestic strife I think we would see:

1. A rise in the implementation of extreme policies in their governments.
2. A broad rearming / rebuilding of forces. Which in turn will decrease unemployment by providing direct and indirect jobs, as well as shift government spending to the defense sector.
3. An increase in genocidal actions, that is the result of the expulsion of large ethnic enclaves to...someplace.  Where is that place?  Unknown, it could be concentration camps, or it could just be the "anywhere but here approach".
4. As we see point 3 accelerate, we will see the need for stronger border protection to prevent immigration, which may lead to the concentration camp approach.
5. Eventually the nation states of Europe will remember that they really need the other nations for trade because they cannot produce food or goods to support their population.  At this point the situation on the ground has already devolved, and food is scarce, power is scarce, neighborhood level law enforcement will result in some areas being able to maintain some sense of the rule of law.  Many areas will be in anarchy.  I think at this point, if the sense of despair is widespread across the continent we would see historians refer to this as The Second Dark Age.
6. In some regions we will see "strong men" and "warlords" take control and work to exercise age old hatreds.
7. In some regions we might see a charismatic individual strike a chord with the populous that leads to a rapid change in government.  In many respects, the situation in Europe is beginning to resemble that period from 1920 where the National Socialist German Workers' Party was born and began it's rise to power.
8. Stabilization will only occur when population levels and concentrations are reduced to a level that can be supported by the local region.  Then we will begin to see smaller regional governmental units form to support open markets, and defend their resources.  It will be a long way out of that dark time.

Could this tale of gloom and doom spread globally   Absolutely.  Would other factors weigh in to prevent the deepness that my crystal ball foretells   Most likely.  Would we like those other factors?  Probably not.  

What could happen?  Let's see, Turkey could move to unify Muslims in Eastern Europe pushing the western boundaries of the old Ottoman empire into the Mediterranean and Balkan states.  The Vatican would likely have a resurgence in the Catholic Church and push the boundaries of their influence back to the levels held in the 13th and 14th centuries.  The Russian Federation would exploit their large resource holdings to gain political influence in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, eventually taking some level of control of these areas.  Africa will be waiting for someone to come rescue it, as Western aid will all but dry up and there will be anarchy, chaos, and tribal conflict on an epic scale over most of the continent.  This creates opportunity for China, and other nations with global aspirations (Iran, etc.).
I could go on and on but, my crystal ball is somewhat murky and obviously pretty gloomy right now.
These are observations and potential consequences of the situation that we see in Europe.  We can learn much from the recent events in Europe, as well as history.  It is up to you to draw your own conclusions and take the appropriate actions.

For what is worth, my thoughts are:

1. The global economy is fragile.  That will never change, their are too many variables that are driven by human beings that may or may not have altruistic motives.
2. Keynesian Economic Theory is a bust.
3. On the other hand I believe that the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is valid, and so is Chaos Theory
4. Europe is going to remain unstable for the foreseeable future.  We will see cycles of civil unrest throughout the continent.  The key for governments will be to dampen the cycles over time.
5. There are consequences to actions and policies, in Britain the National Health Care program is a disaster with doctors making decisions to let patients die, from starvation and dehydration rather than care for them.
6. High Tax programs are driving the wealthy out of their native lands.
7. China, Russia, and Iran will not support any programs that the US might put forth to help Europe dampen the chaos that is brewing there.
8. The US is at an inflection point.  The make up of the Congressional and Executive Branches of government have created and adversarial situation that will cause a form of gridlock.  During that period, globally, the US will seem to be adrift.  While we can most likely survive with our foreign policy being muddled and unclear we can only recover from this situation by having a vibrant, market driven economic growth that can be leveraged to provide a foundation for the larger global economy.
9. Budgets are important, and deficit spending is bad.
10. We must pay attention to what is happening to Europe at both the societal level, and the economic level.  The high tax, high entitlement approach to government has had limited success in Europe.  Around the Mediterranean we see the results of what happens when governments are on the verge of failure.  Couple that with the ethnic conflicts that are historical, and endemic in Europe and there is the potential for a serious meltdown of society and civilization.

I will offer you this advice: As you are living through an event it may not seem significant or a turning point in history.  When we look back though, we can see just how pivotal it was.  Trust the "coalmine canary" inside your head, if it starts to tell you something dramatic may be underway, then pay attention.  Keep your eyes on the events in Europe, we may see the same thing happening here in time.

Jim,
You recently linked to NightlightMap.com. What is that big huge area of brightness in [ostensibly lightly-populated] Northwest North Dakota? That makes me question the usefulness of that map at all. - Sam D.

JWR Replies: Those lights are the main concentration of activity in the Bakken oil fields--see this map.  (See also, these photos.) Reader Rob H. tells me that the dots of light shown are mostly the light of burning off excess wellhead gas. (Plus, presumably: floodlights around drilling rigs, and floodlights around equipment yards, and the light of burning off excess wellhead gas, and floodlights, and the flames of burning un-needed fractions at refineries, and the temporary housing for the oilfield workers.) It is quite a booming area! Similarly, the bright lights seen in the heretofore "wilderness" NNE of Edmonton, Alberta are the extensive new Athabasca-Wabiskaw tar/oil sands fields.

James, 
Another variation to watch out for is when the scammer asks you to pay using an escrow account supposedly managed by Amazon or eBay.
 
A too good to be true add is found, you respond, the scammer/seller tells you he sells using an eBay escrow account. The merchandise will ship to you after you send a check to Escrow. The scammer directs you to a link sent in the scammers/sellers email that appears to be an eBay site.
 
The scammer creates the illusion of security using a brand like eBay with some official looking legal contract showing how you are in control of the escrow and the funds will only be released once you get the merchandise and are happy with the transaction.

 
The reality is once the money is in the escrow account, everything disappears and you never see your merchandise. eBay will tell you they don’t operate an escrow service and your options to recover your money are slim to none. 

 
Your basic rules of thumb, poor sentence structure, punctuation, spelling and vaporware merchandise are all tell-tale signs.  When in doubt, push to see the merchandise live somehow. The scammer will redirect you back to the scam or ignore you since you are not taking the bait. Keep up the good work!
 
Regards, - Mark in Michigan

James,
I wanted to write and give your readers another word of caution regarding Nigerian scammers; my experience involves a much more sophisticated expression of the scam than is normal.

I had placed an ad in Craigslist to sell some Morgan silver dollars; I was emailed by an out of state party who inquired as to whether I would be willing to ship them. Normally this would be odd for a Craigslist ad, but I'd dealt with this several times legitimately with regards to metals trades so it didn't strike me as that out of the ordinary. He offered to send a check, which at the time I didn't mind (now I always require the money to be wired). When the check arrived it was for an amount less than we had agreed on; he told me to go ahead and deposit it and he would send me another check. I deposited the check and waited.

Suspicious about a few things (the email misspellings, the erroneous check amount) I emailed him again and insisted that we speak on the phone. After a little bit of back and forth (he claimed he was deaf) he agreed to let me speak with his lawyer. Soon after an American called from a California area code and assured me everything was ok. This certainly helped set my mind at ease.

During this time my bank (USAA) had confirmed deposit of the check and credited my checking account with the funds. I looked up the depository agreement and found that USAA promised that once funds were in the account for two business days it was a confirmed transfer and the check was good. I'm a bit more cautious, so I waited four business days and then called and spoke with a representative; he looked into the account and confirmed that the funds had transferred from the other bank and that the check had proven legitimate. Now having waited double the amount required by the depository agreement and confirmed from a bank representative that the first check was good and the second check (which had arrived and now been in the account for two business days) was showing good as well; having spoken with an American on the phone who confirmed it was good; I sent the coins.

The next business day USAA notified me that the checks had bounced and withdrew all of the deposited funds from my account; adding insult to injury they tacked on on a small penalty for having deposited fake checks (as if I did it on purpose). Outraged, I spent every business day for the next two weeks on the phone with USAA, demanding that they return the money they had confirmed was in my account; bounced checks were one thing, but once I'd been informed both in writing and in conversation that the money was in my account I expected my bank to stand behind what they had told me. After speaking with two separate resolution managers who robotically repeated: "we don't cover bounced checks" I finally quit calling.

In the meantime I was contacted by the scammer who offered my coins back if I joined him in his scheme. In an attempt to discover any information that might lead me (and thereby the police) to him, I played along as if I were interested. He outlined his nefarious plan: he scammed people in the United States and then recruited them to actually mail the checks (so they came from the US) and do much of the emailing (making the English more believable) and occasionally make phone calls for him (e.g., the fellow who called me); in exchange for their participation he offered them a scam commission and they slowly "earned" back the money that had been stolen from them as they stole from others. All of this information was obtained via internet chat; I took screen shots of all of it as it commenced. I was also able to obtain a list of the next 25 people he planned to scam, along with their email and mailing addresses.

As I played dumb and required more information I was able to glean the contact information for two of his minions and the name and ID information of another. I put together all of the information I had gathered and made an appointment at the nearest FBI station (the police report I had filed with the local police department had been ignored). When I met with the agent I explained the situation and handed over all of the information, highlighting the contact information for the Americans who had actively participated in scamming me. After thumbing through the information, he looked me in the eye and said: "Since you're in uniform, I'll shoot straight with you" (I'm an Air Force officer). "You've given us everything we need to catch at least a couple of these fellows. However, it's your choice," he continued, "I can tell you I'm going to look into it, walk in the back, file it, and never think about it again, or I can hand it back to you and you can walk out the door with it." Flabbergasted, I asked for an explanation. He replied: "Our fraud department is so busy that we don't even look at fraud cases that involve less than $10 million at stake. Your case, as much work as you've done on it, will never be examined." I attempted to explain that with as many folks as this one fellow had scammed it probably totaled $10 million, but he just shook his head and explained it had to happen in a single instance or it wasn't worth their time. Disgusted, I walked out. My tax dollars pay for the FBI but they'll never protect me unless I'm worth more than $10 million? In the end, the only effectual change I could make was contacting the 25 people whose information I'd been given and warn them that they were about to be scammed.

Was I foolish? In hindsight, yes. I now take extra precautions whenever I'm not dealing face to face. However, I think it comes down to the old saying: "Fool me once, shame on me..." I trusted my bank to interact on my behalf in the banking system and was only told after the fact (by one of the resolution managers I was eventually elevated to) that banks reserve the right to withdraw funds from their depositors account for the life of the account; it doesn't matter how much time has passed. I don't know if this is true or not, but two months after all of this went down I received an email from USAA notifying me that the depository agreement for all checking accounts had changed; when I looked at the list of changes, every single paragraph I had cited for how USAA had failed to hold up their end of the agreement had been adjusted. As far as banks go, USAA is among the best I've dealt with, but never doubt that they'll act in their best interest and leave the customer out to dry if that needs to happen.

As far as Nigerian scams go, they can get pretty sophisticated. Once I start dealing with Americans who know how to exploit at least some of the ins and outs of our banking system and will do the calling and emailing themselves, then most of the common rules of thumb for avoiding these types of scams go out the window.

Lessons learned:
- Deal face to face whenever possible. Accept only cash in small, worn bills. Few of us are intimately familiar with what crisp, brand new bills feel like and could be easily fooled by counterfeits. As the dollar inflates and bills began to get newer and less valuable, this is an added incentive to trade using "junk" silver - this is easily verifiable with a value that's easily discernible. Avoid larger denominations of metal; even silver rounds can be faked relatively easily.
- If buying long-distance, ask for proof of life like JWR suggested. However, this still doesn't guarantee they'll send the item once they receive your cash; try to deal only with businesses or dealers that have a legitimate storefront presence and a vested interest in not cheating you. If you know someone in the local area ask them to pick up and ship the item for you; that's putting a face-to-face presence in the mix.
- If selling long-distance, only accept cash via wire (think Western Union). Only ship items once you have literal cash in hand.

Consider this a plug for a libertarian mindset: banks may treat you great until they have to put their own money on the line to back up their word. Police may seem great until they're too busy to help you out. The FBI is great in theory, but don't trust your welfare to a federal agency. Be careful out there. - J.B.

SurvivalBlog readers often buy gear for their retreats using Craigslist and Internet message boards such as Buddy's Board and eHam to buy equipment. There are some genuine bargains out there, but be advised that these web sites have become the favorite hunting grounds of Nigerian Scammers. They prey upon people who are looking for bargains. Typically, the scammers place fraudulent ads offering items for sale in the Want To Sell (WTS) category , or they respond to Want To Buy (WTB) ads.

Some Red Flags that may indicate that you've been contacted by a Nigerian merchandise scammer:

1.) The seller offers new or like new merchandise for around 1/2 of the regular retail price.

2.) The seller writes in broken English, and with strange punctuation.

3.) The seller seems ignorant about the technical details of what he is selling--never going past "copy and paste" from other ads or a manufacturer's marketing descriptions..

4.) If you are the seller, then the buyer offers to send you a check for more than your asking price with a request to wire back the difference.

5.) Their e-mails are sent at odd hours . (At 3 a.m., Pacific Time, it is 12 noon in Nigeria-- a nine hour difference.)

6.) The seller claims that he is deaf, so that he cannot converse with you by phone.

7.) The seller asks for any unusual form of payment.

8.) If it is an ad at a forum that lists member numbers, the seller has a high member number, indicating that he just recently joined the forum.

I was recently looking for an expensive and scarce Trijicon ACOG scope for one of my guns. So I placed a WTB (Want To Buy) ad on Buddy's Board. I got this offer via e-mail, originating from a Gmail address:

Good day,

Have you got any leads/order on your WTB ads listed on my subject
Email?? Let me know as i have one up for sale.

Respectfully,

Ben

I wrote back:

Ben:

What is the condition of the ACOG and your asking price?

He replied at 2:57 AM:

It,s in LNIB conditions with an asking price of $640 Shipped. Ben

It is notable that this is a scope normally retails for around $1,500. Note his poor punctuation of "It,s " and the misspelling: "conditions."

Smelling a rat, I wrote him in reply:

Ben:
Yes, I'll take it.  But because Nigerian sales scams have become so commonplace, I need you to provide me "proof of life".  Before I send you payment, I need you to do the following:  Take a magic marker and write your e-mail address and today's date on a strip of paper and DRAPE IT in a curve over the scope and take a crisp digital photo of the scope, showing that paper strip draped in place. This photo will prove to me that you actually have the scope in your possession.

Without this photo, we have NO DEAL.  But with it, I will send you immediate payment via US Postal Service Money Order.

Pardon me for being so cautious, but we are living in the age of deception and betrayal. - ~Jim Rawles

Not surprisingly, the scammer made no reply. Beware folks, and take precautions when dealing with potential scammers. Making a "proof of life" photo demand will almost always send a scammer scurrying back under his rock. If there is ever any doubt, one final test that works well in ferreting out scammers is to pose a fake technical question. For example, if the item in question is a gun, ask the seller to "provide its PCGS grade." If it is a scope, ask the seller to "describe it's bore condition." Or if it is a ham radio, ask him "how much squelch are you including?" Such questions will almost always trip them up.

The bottom line: If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

Addendum: I have heard that one of the latest schemes used by Nigerian scammers is to buy merchandise from American vendors, making payments via wire transfers. Then, after he goods have shipped, they use a loophole in the wire transfer rules to withdraw the transfer, snatching the funds back overseas. Beware! - J.W.R.

James,
Your reference to SASOL's gas-to-liquid synfuel project in Louisiana reminded me of a recent news story about Sinopec's joint venture in Medicine Bow, Wyoming to produce liquid fuel from coal.

They claim to be able to convert 1 ton of coal (Powder River Basin mine-mouth value: $10) into two barrels of petroleum product (value: $200+).

A great idea, if it works, but I can't say I'm excited about inviting the Chinese into our backyard to do this.

Best Regards, - Don in Oregon

This article bears special mention: Into the vault: the operation to rescue Manhattan's drowned internet Hurricane.

Steve [an acquaintance who is a telephone lineman] wrote to note:

"Having a cable vault under a central office flood is a major disaster in the telecom industry. One splice getting wet is a big job. Losing the entire office brings up comments like I didn’t want any days off this year. Having fixed splices like this that have gotten wet I have a good idea what is involved to fix this. It’s a lot of slow meticulous work. If the damage is only in the splice case and the copper is plastic insulated and not paper then drying and replacing the connectors may be all that’s needed (Two guys around the clock 2 or 3 days). If it’s paper insulated then it’s fish out each pair and replace it across the splice repeat 3,000 times (Two guys around the clock for 5 or 6 days per splice).

Most of these cables will have water under the sheath several feet from the opening which can’t be removed or blown out completely. Eventually this water will rot the plastic insulation on the copper and cause various problems, mostly static that will be intermittent. The only way to fix this is to open up the splices and dry those out. You then cut back on the sheath until you find dry cable or you hit the wall, that’s when you start replacing cable.

They describe replacing the copper lines with fibre optic cables in some of the pictures. The future of the telecom industry is fibre but this will require installing switches at all the customer addresses, no small job in itself. First you have to get a new cable into the building (anybody want to dig up the street in front of every customer because that is where the cable duct lines are). Then you have to find space in the building to place the switch. Building owners are being bombarded with requests for space from all the various telecom competitors for space under normal circumstances and they just don’t have space to spare which they aren’t being paid for. After that it’s time to provide power for these switches. Most of the time you need multiple dedicated circuits and UPS’s for these switches. By the way you think maybe all the electricians might be busy?

Bottom line they have a lot of work to do before they are back to normal. The cost for just this one office could easily reach millions of dollars and if somebody said $50 million I wouldn’t be surprised."

James:
You linked to an article on Thursday about Bloomberg's gun grabbing mayors: the Mayors Against Illegal Guns. I noticed on their list of member mayors that a few states were without any mayoral representation (A badge of honor!)

Missing from the list are:
• Alaska
• Idaho
• Montana
• Oklahoma
• Wyoming

Three of these are American Redoubt states. This is yet another reason to move to the Redoubt. Regards, - Adam G.

JWR Replies: It is also noteworthy that many of the "former" members on the roster (shown in bold in this 2008 list) are now serving felony prison sentences. Kwame Kilpatrick, for example, already a convicted felon, is presently standing trial under a new 38-charge felony indictment for additional corruption charges. The testimony thusfar does not bode well for him.

Jim::
I think some writer on this topic miss an extremely important point about secession.  That point is immigration and emigration.
 
Taking your original argument that the Federals would not allow Redoubters to go in peace – then most likely the Feds would immediately cut off all “benefits” paid to those who reside within the American Redoubt.
 
It is unlikely Social Security would be cut off because there is no problem presently paying SS to ex-pats who have chosen to retire in foreign countries, Honduras, The Bahamas, Spain, etc etc.  By what logic would it be different here?
 
As for others who are dependent on “transfer payments” without doubt there would be an immediate rush for the exits.  Hundreds of thousands of “disabled”, “professional minorities”, college-professors, bureaucrats, IRS agents, EPA officers and other marginal and non-producers would hit the exit ramps.
 
Overnight our welfare, Medicaid, and 80% of our crime problem would be solved.
 
On the other side of the ledger, thousands upon thousands of entrepreneurs who have been “regulated” out of business will stream INTO the Redoubt, yearning for the breath of freedom.  They will be joined by thousands of individuals who have been subject to “reverse discrimination” because they happen to be a Christian or other non-minority.
 
The “homeless” problem evaporates overnight because the support structure that allows them to exist in the North Country would disappear.  California here we come.
 
Many fine military officers would find their way to our side.  Officers who have been forced to swallow politically correct “rules of engagement”, the politically correct theory that “a girl make just as good an infantryman as a guy”   the politically correct theory that gay-friendly fully integrated homosexual army is the same fighting machine that landed on the shores of Iwo Jima in 1945. These officers would soon find employment in our ranks.
 
The legal structure will quickly be revised as well.  We simply cannot afford to let crooks appeal their sentences for 20 or 30 years.  Justice will once again become swift and sure.  You think this is going to be lost on the crooks?  California here they come.
 
With the criminal and parasite classes gone from our borders, the cost of government will plummet.
 
Further, just as thousands upon thousands of healthy young men and women headed for the oil fields of North & South Dakota – their brothers and sisters will come here.
 
Just as thousands upon thousands of healthy young men and women headed for Alaska to build the pipeline – their sons and daughters will come here.
 
Just as thousands upon thousands of healthy young men and women headed the gold fields of California – their grandsons and granddaughters will come here.
 
There will be a new burst of free-enterprise, and the young, the vigorous, the adventuresome and the unafraid will come here.
 
All we need do is offer them the opportunity to try their luck, offer them the chance to win or lose based on their own enterprise, ingenuity and intelligence.
 
What we cannot do is the same old same old.  The alphabet agencies, BATF, EPA, FEMA, BATF, FBI, CIA, and on and on and on, all this garbage has to go.
 
The idea that you can get a job, or into a college, or into some “program” based on the color of your skin.  That garbage has to go.
 
The idea that your criminal behavior is somehow excused because your dad was a drunk or your mom didn’t feed you, or your school was overcrowded.  That garbage has to go.
 
If we secede and keep things just as they are, we will fail and we will dissever to fail.
 
If we secede and cut out the crap, not just a bit here and there, but all of it – we will succeed beyond our wildest imagination. 
 
60 years ago heroes of our grandparent’s generation walked on the moon.  60 years from now, heroes of our grandchildren’s generation will walk among the stars.
 
The time is now, the place is here.  All we need do is heed the demand of Moses to the Pharaoh: “LET MY PEOPLE GO”.

Regards, - W.L.L.

James,
Growing up in the south, secession was and is still on the lips of many southerners.  The first secession I was taught about occurred some 3,000 years ago in the nation of Israel.  Solomon created the wealthiest and most powerful government the Israelites would ever see.  it was also one of the most corrupt.  Jewish history teaches that Solomon sent his own people into forced labor (slavery) in Tyre.  For those who don't know Tyre is an ancient Phoenician city in modern day Lebanon.  Solomon also gave away large sections of land to pay for his extravagances.  He gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram the king of Tyre because Hiram supplied Solomon with cedar, pine, and gold.  Solomon had no legal right to do this even as king of Israel.

In 1 Samuel chapter 8 we find the Israelites coming to Samuel asking for a king.  Samuel was displeased with this, but inquired of the Lord about it anyway.  God told Samuel not be to distressed over it because the people were not rejecting him they were rejecting God.  Once again we find the children of Israel in rebellion against God.

But God did what God always does when men cry out for bad government, He gives them just what they asked for no holds barred.  God tells Samuel to tell the people exactly what a king would do to them, Samuel did, and the people insisted on inviting tyranny upon themselves.  I encourage everyone to read 1 Samuel 8:10-18 and see if God's warning doesn't ring true, truer words were never spoken.

What the Israelites did not understand was they had the best form of government possible on this earth.  From the day Israel left Egypt's land they were divided into tribes.  Jethro, Moses father-in-law, showed Moses how to divided them into self ruling tribes.  Each tribe had clans, and the clans had sub clans.  This is known as the Patriarchal system, now you should understand why liberals hate it so much.  These tribes formed a confederacy with each other.  A confederacy was preferable because any infraction of any rule instantly dissolved the confederacy and both parties reserved the right to dissolve the confederacy at will.

By the time of Solomon's death the 10 tribes of the north had had enough and decided they would secede from Judah and form their own country.  However they stepped right back into the same disastrous trap that their fathers had several decades before.

Fast forward to the 1770s, obviously our founders believed in the right of secession, just read the Declaration of Independence.  Even after the New England Federalist made an attempt at secession, Jefferson believed they had a right to do so, that occurred in 1814-1815.  It is known as the Hartford Convention.  The people of New England gathered for a redress of grievances concerning the War of 1812 and the problems arising from the federal governments increasing power.

There is more than enough evidence to prove that our founders and framers believed the states had a right to secede and dissolve all bonds with the union.  Secession is a right of the PEOPLE.  I believe our founders would have gotten a good laugh out of their progeny asking a government for permission to secede.  

While I appreciate Attorney Terry E. Hogwood's dissertation on the subject, I believe he over looked one major point, the courts are a tool of government.  Historically they always rule in favor of government, and almost always in favor of increasing the power of government.  The courts seldom acknowledge the power of the people over government, yet the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution and Bill of Rights emphatically state that the power belongs to the people.  

Secession must be taken.  The secessionist recognizes his right to liberty and freedom then takes what is rightfully his, in essence he grants himself the right to secede.  No government will ever grant him the right to be free.

And yes, I believe in the right to secession and believe that secession maybe the last hope for freemen to continue to be free.  At the same time I also fear it.  The 10 tribes of Israel did secede from Judah, however in just a few decades they would be conquered by the Assyrians.  The 10 tribes of Israel were not a virtuous and moral people.  Our founders were virtuous and moral and even declared that our system of government could only succeed as long as we remained a virtuous and moral people.  Secession's only work over the long term when the people are morally grounded.  Secession's by immoral men only advance and increase the speed of corruption.  In fact most attempts of secession have failed because they are lead by the morally corrupt.

I hear many calling for secession because their rights are being trampled upon, but I don't hear many calling for the people to return to a moral and virtuous lifestyle.  Without a moral and virtuous people, chances of a successful secession are slimmer than slim and, I believe, may well lead to something far worse than what we face now. - C.D.P.

Sure, I signed my state's petition to secede.  (Coincidentally but not at all comparable, an ancestor signed the Ordnance of Secession of Georgia.)  Most people correctly realize that these petitions are symbolic of our frustration with and desire to reject federal statist policies affecting all 50 states.  Still, there are those who act as if these petitions are the spark that will somehow ignite nationwide revolt.  In and of themselves, these petitions are a circus detached from reality and they're a distraction from a real solution.

I believe that secession can be a real solution but, as you'll see, it carries an enormous cost and doesn't necessarily make life any easier.  The quality of life under the secession solution is questionable but I'll state the case for the American Redoubt.

For those unfamiliar with the American Redoubt, it's a region including Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, eastern Washington and eastern Oregon first theorized by James Rawles of SurvivalBlog.  The majority of citizens vote Republican, are fiercely independent, are more self-sufficient than the average American, and I think are more politically hostile toward the .gov behemoth.  This doesn't describe all citizens of the American Redoubt but it's a start for a good many of them.  Theoretically, if we arrived at a conclusion that secession was a realistic option, that it was adequate at solving the issue of federal dominance, and that the quality of life in the Redoubt would greatly improve; we would still require both a bombproof legal basis for secession and the ability to enforce the decision and protect our sovereignty.

For the sake of academic exercise, here are two issues that the American Redoubt, among other regions, would need to address should we ever secede.

Balancing Governance and Defense.
There's seemingly no end to the list of maladies that plagued the Confederate States of America (CSA) after secession (chief among them was the "peculiar institution" of slavery).  Had they not held the infinitely heavy burden of fighting a war, the Confederate government may have been able to fix these problems.  Had the CSA successfully defended the South, the Confederate government would still have faced the critical task of ensuring good governance, along with the insurmountable odds of ending hyperinflation that plagued its citizens and economy.

I would not expect the federal government to allow a region to withdraw peacefully from the Union.  Likely targets for arrest would be elected government officials and military leaders.  Under a highly structured and centralized organization, if leaders critical to mission success were removed, then the entire movement would fail.  How many times and how often can you replace a governor?  How many times and how often can you replace a president?  But under an organization that favors decentralization with a ceiling at the state level (insofar as wartime is concerned), there is no one head of the snake.  (There's no need here to get into a strategic level debate of defending the Redoubt.)  Even then, a state alone could still function without a governor so long as county and local government continued.  In that case, the American Redoubt states must ensure that essential services will continue to function; and one of the best ways to do that is to simply limit the quantity and scope of essential services offered by the state.  County and local government must ensure that the rule of law is respected and they would do this through local law enforcement and, ideally, the utilization of small, localized militias where law enforcement is scarce or ineffective.  This works best when the populace is or is nearly self-sufficient - this includes the ability to defend themselves from enemies, foreign and domestic.

The association between the military and its civilian leadership is a critical link under a centralized structure.  If critical military leaders are removed through death or arrest, then the organization suffers.  If military and civilian leaders' ability to command and control is degraded, then the organization suffers.  Ideally, there is no upper echelon leadership in a Redoubt resistance.  That's not to say there's no communication or coordination; but the Redoubt would have to effectively remove its own high value targets (HVTs) from the battlefield.  A colonel leading a Redoubt brigade or battalion is a HVT in the eyes of the adversary.  The equivalent of a sergeant leading a small squad is not because his removal from the battlespace would have a negligible effect in terms of the duration and scope of disruption.  One sergeant's removal would not affect the other squads around him and across the region like the removal of a colonel would.  Liberty-committed Patriots must wrestle their minds away from the conventional, force-on-force paradigm and into the history books of guerrilla and partisan resistance warfare.  In effect, the resistance says, Come and enforce your laws on us.  When confronted with mass resistance of a civilian populace - if nearly the entire region would go along (a big if) - imposing the federal will is a thoroughly costly and immensely difficult practice, if not an altogether impossible feat for the occupier.  For evidence, look no further than Vietnam (still communist) and Afghanistan (still tribal).

Economy and Exports.

The American Redoubt, of all regions, has the most robust natural resource base in all of America: oil, lumber, minerals, and metals.  Each of these are required to fuel an economy; and silver and gold are real money.  In addition, each of these natural resources has upward price potential while the cost to acquire them (except for the cost of fuel) stays relatively the same.  As a region, the GDP of the American Redoubt is around $130 billion, which puts us near the total GDP of Kansas. Federal royalty revenue from natural resource extraction in Wyoming is around $1.7 billion; and only $1.8 billion if you include the entire Redoubt region.  Theoretically, if current EPA regulations were eased under the state or regional government, that revenue would increase.  The American Redoubt region's tourism industry is valued around $8 billion dollars, which employs thousands and brings in hundreds of millions in state revenue.  In addition, the federal government spends approximately $2.1 billion on social security retirement and disability, low income housing assistance, supplemental nutrition programs, medicare, medicaid, and education in Wyoming alone.  That number is $4.5 billion in Montana and $6.2 billion in Idaho: that's nearly $13 billion for the region.

It doesn't take long to see that secession, even if the Redoubt region could fight its way out of the Union, [the subsequent economic isolation] would inflict heavy economic casualties on the region.  In short, it's an economic issue and it's not happening.  (This isn't to say that a large movement of employers to the region couldn't bolster the economy and ease the economic burden of secession.) While we can't put a price on our freedom, our quality of life is still multitudes higher now than as its own region.

Editor's Note: This article is re-posted with the permission of the editor of the GuerillAmerica blog, where it first appeared.

James,
In response to the article involving the constitutionality of secession, a few other points to consider to perhaps gain a clearer view of the secession situation.  Understanding the individual states sovereignty in relation to the United states government is crucial.
 
1.  Abraham Lincoln claimed that the Union preceded the states which gave the Federal government authority over the states.  This view is incorrect as the original 13 colonies adopted the Articles of Confederation in which each state retained its freedom, independence, and sovereignty.  Each state delegated a portion of its sovereignty to the Union, thereby making the Union a creature of the state, not the other way around.  Further each state was by name acknowledged as free, independent, and sovereign in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
 
2.  Sovereignty is indivisible.  A portion of a states authority, or power may be delegated as is seen in the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution.  But the sovereign state retains the right to recall its authority otherwise it is no longer sovereign.  "The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."- 10th amendment. In Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) the court found "To the Constitution of the United States the term sovereign, is totally unknown.  There is but one place where it could have been used with propriety.  But, even in that place it would not, perhaps, have comported with the delicacy of those, who ordained and established that Constitution.  They might have announced themselves "sovereign" people of the United States:  But serenely conscious of the fact, they avoided the ostentatious declaration....Let a State be considered as subordinate to the People:  But let every thing else be subordinate to the State".- Chisolm v. Georgia, 2 US 419
 
3.  Shortly after the ratification of the Constitution, the federal government began its encroachment upon the states.  With the passage of the Sedition Act in 1798,  Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, (creator of the Virginia plan which evolved into the Constitution), were asked by the state of Kentucky and Virginia to  author the "Kentucky and Virginia Resolves of 1798" which nullified the enforcement of the Sedition Act within their states.  All three branches of the Federal government had conspired against the people of the states in violating their right to freedom of speech and press.  The sovereign authority of the states of Kentucky and Virginia interposed between the citizens of these states and the Federal government.
 
4.  For those states which were admitted into the Union who were not participants in the ratification, the equal footing doctrine would apply basically stating that all states shared the same powers and sovereignty as the original thirteen.  See: Pollard v. Hagan, and Permoli v. First Municipality of New Orleans.
 
5.  This now brings us to Texas v. White.  This case was decided on a 5-3 vote.  The 5 who voted as a majority were Lincoln appointees.  One of the three dissenters Justice Robert Cooper Grier, an appointee to the court by President Polk in 1846, called Chief Justice Chases opinion a "legal fiction" as he considered Texas to not be a state in the union at the time this case was being decided.  Further  Chief Justice Chase should have recused himself from this case do to himself being involved in the case in 1862 as secretary of the treasury.  There are many more details involved in this case in which one who is interested in further details should consult John Avery Emison, Ph.D. book called Lincoln Über Alles: Dictatorship Comes to America.
 
In conclusion,  as one searches out the true history of the formation of our Federal government through the eyes of the anti-federalists who foretold with incredible accuracy the results of adopting this contract known as the Constitution with its inherent flaws, one of which would be a supreme court which could interpret its own actions and laws within itself.  A court which eventually saw its actions as sovereign having no higher authority to hold them in check.  Is it any wonder that we should have such absurd decisions as that found in Texas v. White, which become the foundation for the premise of secession as being unconstitutional or at the very least, the supreme court being accepted as having jurisdiction in this area which has not been delegated to them by the states?  I would think that we have been swindled into the notion of thinking of secession as a "rebellion" and  should rather view it as a God given right which is protected under the 9th and 10th amendment to our Constitution.  In contrast the terms and phraseology used to characterize the actions of the Federal government over the past 150 years I'll leave for the reader to decide. - C.L. from Montana 

Introduction

The Civil War [aka War Between The States] (or The War of Northern Aggression, depending on your personal view) ended in 1865. However, the legality of secession by the Southern States simply will not die 150 years after Texas formally seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. As late as May, 2011, secession by part of the State of Arizona from the rest of the State is being proposed. Secession is often bandied about by politicians on both sides of the spectrum but do any of its proponents really understand what secession, from a legal standpoint, is and isn’t?

This article will explore the illegality of secession through the style United States Supreme Court cases dealing directly with the issue. As much as possible, the article will let the Court, through its own words, explain what secession is and its legal effect on the seceding states. All emphasis within the following quotes, unless otherwise noted, are those of the author.
           
                        Texas - 1861

            The Texas Ordinance of Secession, at least in the opinion of its drafters and the people of Texas, officially separated Texas from the United States in 1861. It was adopted by the Secession Convention on February 1 of that year by a vote of 166 to 8.

            The Texas Ordinance of Secession - (February 2, 1861)

“The ordinance of secession submitted to the people was adopted by a vote of 34,794 against 11,235. The convention, which had adjourned immediately on passing the ordinance, reassembled.  On the 4th of March, 1861, it declared that the ordinance of secession had been ratified by the people, and that Texas had withdrawn from the union of the States under the Federal Constitution.”1

                        Alaska - 2003

“Scott Kohlhaas drafted an initiative calling for Alaska's secession from the United States or, in the alternative, directing the state to work to make secession legal, and submitted the initiative, along with one hundred signatures, to the lieutenant governor.”2                                                  

            The Background

Texas seceded from the United States on March 4, 1861.

The Confederate States of America declared War on the United States.- "An Act recognizing the existence of war between the United States and the Confederate States” - May 6, 1861.

The US never declared war on the Confederate States. Abraham Lincoln (and not Congress, since war was not and would not be declared) did issue a Proclamation that an insurrection existed in the states of SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, and TX on April 15, 1861 (Messages & Papers of the Presidents, vol. V, p 3214). The Congress of the United States retroactively approved these initial actions of the President. 12 Stat. 326 (1861).

The Confederate States surrendered April 9, 1865 (Lee surrenders to Grant)

“Order” is restored in the Southern States via the Reconstruction Laws.3.

Jurisprudence Language By the Winners

A very strong clue previewing the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States on the issue of the illegality of the secession of the Southern States can be found in the preparatory language of the Court leading up to its decision in the seminal case of Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869). The following is a selection of the Court’s classification of the Confederate States’ attempted secession.

Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869)

“...At the time of that outbreak, Texas was confessedly one of the United States of America, having a State constitution in accordance with that of the United States, and represented by senators and representatives in the Congress at Washington.  In January, 1861, a call for a convention of the people of the State was issued, signed by sixty-one individuals.  The call was without authority and revolutionary...” 

“...Thus was established the rebel government of Texas.”

“...War having become necessary to complete the purposed destruction by the South of the Federal government, Texas joined the other Southern States, and made war upon the United States, whose authority was now recognized in no manner within her borders.

Significant Case Holdings in Date Order

The Amy Warwick, 67 U.S. 635 (1863)

Context

This case involved vessels (and their cargoes) which were seized during the Civil War. One of the significant issues in the case was whether the President of the United States had the right to institute a blockade of ports in possession of persons in armed rebellion against it.

The Supreme Court entered into a detailed, logical analysis of the effect of secession by the Southern States and the right of the United States to react to their secession. The first inquiry was whether a state of war existed when the vessels were seized, remembering that the Congress never formally declared war on the Confederate States. In fact, Congress passed an act “approving, legalizing, and making valid all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President, &c., as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States.”4  On the issue of the declaration of war, the Court held:

“        Insurrection against a government may or may not culminate in an organized rebellion, but a civil war always begins by insurrection against the lawful authority of the Government.  A civil war is never solemnly declared; it becomes such by its accidents--the number, power, and organization of the persons who originate and carry it on.  When the party in rebellion occupy and hold in a hostile manner a certain portion of territory; have declared their independence; have cast off their allegiance; have organized armies; have commenced hostilities against their former sovereign, the world acknowledges them as belligerents, and they contest a war.  They claim to be in arms to establish their liberty and independence, in order to become a sovereign State, while the sovereign party treats them as insurgents and rebels who owe allegiance, and who should be punished with death for their treason.”5

The Court acknowledged that only Congress could declare war. However, Congress could not declare war against a state(s). According to the Court, only the president had the authority to use the military force of the United States to combat an armed insurrection as was encountered during the Civil War.

             “       By the Constitution, Congress alone has the power to declare a national or foreign war.  It cannot declare war against a State, or any number of States, by virtue of any clause in the Constitution.  The Constitution confers on the President the whole Executive power.  He is bound to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.  He is Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States when called into the actual service of the United States.  He has no power to initiate or declare a war either against a foreign nation or a domestic State.  But by the Acts of Congress of February 28th, 1795, and 3d of March, 1807, he is authorized to called out the militia and use the military and naval forces of the United States in case of invasion by foreign nations, and to suppress insurrection against the government of a State or of the United States.”6

The Court concluded that, in light of the “insurrection” of the Southern States, the President of the United States had the right to institute a blockade of the ports in the possession of the rebelling states and that all neutral countries/citizens were bound to recognize same.

Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869)

Context

             This case involved the bringing of an original action in the United States Supreme Court by the State of Texas for the recovery of payment from certain bonds of the Federal Government. The issue before the Court was whether Texas, after the end of the Civil War (1867), was entitled to bring an original action in the United States Supreme Court as one of the states of the United States even though it was still attempting to comply with the Reconstruction Acts.

To answer the very significant question of jurisdiction of the Court, an analysis of the actions of Texas prior to its succession, during its succession and after the end of the Civil War was performed by the Court. Its findings were as follows:

Statehood Prior to the Civil War

The Republic of Texas was admitted as a state into the Union on December 27, 1845. By its admission into the Union, Texas and all of its residents were immediately vested with all the rights, and became subject to all the responsibilities and duties, of the original States under the United States Constitution.

“        From the date of admission, until 1861, the State was represented in the Congress of the United States by her senators and representatives, and her relations as a member of the Union remained unimpaired.  In that year, acting upon the theory that the rights of a State under the Constitution might be renounced, and her obligations thrown off at pleasure, Texas undertook to sever the bond thus formed, and to break up her constitutional relations with the United States.

Secession

On February 1, 1861, a convention of secession was called (and subsequently sanctioned by the legislature) where an ordinance to dissolve the union between Texas and the United States was adopted and Texas declared to be a separate and sovereign state. The relationship to the United States (and its government) was disclaimed - Texas seceded from the Union. Texas thereafter joined with the other Confederate States and declared war on the United States.

“.......The position thus assumed could only be maintained by arms, and Texas accordingly took part, with the other Confederate States, in the war of the rebellion, which these events made inevitable.  During the whole of that war there was no governor, or judge, or any other State officer in Texas, who recognized the National authority.  Nor was any officer of the United States permitted to exercise any authority whatever under the National government within the limits of the State, except under the immediate protection of the National military forces.”8

.            Status of Texas After the Civil War

And so, the Court came to the filing of the original action by the State of Texas in 1867. The issue clearly before the Supreme Court was whether it had jurisdiction to hear the case. That is, was Texas one of the United States entitled, under the Constitution, to bring its original action before the Court? The issue was raised in light of Texas’ secession, formation and joinder with the Confederate States of America’s declaration of war against the United States, the defeat of the Confederate States and the imposition of the Reconstruction Acts upon Texas and the other seceding states. Stated another way, was Texas a State within the meaning of the Constitution immediately after the Civil War and prior to compliance with all of the requirements of the Reconstruction Acts?

The Court held the following:

1.            “  The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States...”9

2.            “.....When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation.”10

3.            “.....And it was final.  The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States.  There was no place for reconsideration, or revocation, except through revolution, or through consent of the States.”11

No citation to the Constitution nor to any prior writings were alluded to by the Court. According to the Court, Texas never left the Union, despite its secession, reformulation into the Confederate States of America and declaration of war on the United States. Texas was before, during and after the Civil War a part of the United States of America (unless it had won the war).

             “Considered therefore as transactions under the Constitution, the ordinance of secession, adopted by the convention and ratified by a majority of the citizens of Texas, and all the acts of her legislature intended to give effect to that ordinance, were absolutely null.  They were utterly without operation in law.  The obligations of the State, as a member of the Union, and of every citizen of the State, as a citizen of the United States, remained perfect and unimpaired.  It certainly follows that the State did not cease to be a State, nor her citizens to be citizens of the Union.  If this were otherwise, the State must have become foreign, and her citizens foreigners.  The war must have ceased to be a war for the suppression of rebellion, and must have become a war for conquest and subjugation.”12

“        Our conclusion therefore is, that Texas continued to be a State, and a State of the Union, notwithstanding the transactions to which we have referred....”13

Based on the foregoing analysis and legal conclusions, the Court held that Texas was and had remained a State of the United States and was thus entitled to bring its original action before the Court.

White v. Hart, 80 U.S. 646 (1872)

Context

A suit was instituted in the Georgia Superior Court AFTER Reconstruction, as it applied to Georgia, was deemed terminated and Georgia had accrued to all of its former rights of representation in the Congress of the United States. Georgia had also amended its Constitution. The suit involved recovery on a promissory note which was secured by a slave. The reconstituted Georgia Constitution, as approved by the Congress of the United States (as required under the Reconstruction Acts) contained a provision that prohibited the enforcement of such a contract. The issue before the Court was whether Georgia/Congress could pass legislation which invalidated a contract that, when made, was legally enforceable. The following is an analysis of the effect of the Reconstruction Acts visited on the southern states. The legal requirement under the Reconstruction Acts that State Constitutions be amended and approved by the Congress will become significant in the Florida case determining the three league limit of Florida’s offshore jurisdiction.

All of the Confederate States, after their surrender, were governed by the Reconstruction Acts. These acts applied until each Confederate State complied with the terms and provisions of the Acts, including the amendment of their respective state constitutions to recognize the rights of freed slaves. This amended constitution had to be approved by Congress before each state could regain its representation rights in the United States Congress.

The court defined the acts of the individual states in seceding and prosecuting the Civil War:

“......  The doctrine of secession is a doctrine of treason, and practical secession is practical treason, seeking to give itself triumph by revolutionary violence.  The late rebellion was without any element of right or sanction of law....The power exercised in putting down the late rebellion is given expressly by the Constitution to Congress.  That body made the laws and the President executed them.  The granted power carried with it not only the right to use the requisite means, but it reached further and carried with it also authority to guard against the renewal of the conflict, and to remedy the evils arising from it in so far as that could be effected by appropriate legislation. At no time were the rebellious States out of the pale of the Union.  Their rights under the Constitution were suspended, but not destroyed. 14

Again, the Court is of the opinion that the Confederate States had never left the Union. They, and their citizens had, however, lost the right to be represented in the Congress. The Reconstruction Acts provided certain requirements that each state needed to satisfy (in the opinion of the Congress) before their rights of representation in the Congress would be restored.

The Civil War Continues

United States v. Florida, 363 U.S. 121 (1960)

Context

When Florida was admitted into the Union it got to keep, as a condition for statehood, its claim to submerged lands adjacent to its state shoreline boundaries. Then came succession and the Civil War followed by Reconstruction. As part of its congressionally mandated duty under the Reconstruction Acts, Florida was required to amend its constitution in certain particulars.

“Florida claims that Congress approved its three-league boundary in 1868, by approving[3] a constitution submitted to Congress as required by a Reconstruction Act passed March 2, 1867. 14 Stat. 428. That constitution carefully described Florida's boundary on the Gulf of Mexico side as running from a point in the Gulf "three leagues from the mainland" and "thence north westwardly three leagues from the land" to the next point. The United States concedes that, from 1868 to the present day, Florida has claimed by its constitutions a three-league boundary into the Gulf.[5] The United States also admits that Florida submitted this constitution to Congress in 1868, but denies that the Gulf boundary it defined was "approved" by Congress within the meaning of the Submerged Lands Act.[6] This is the decisive question as between Florida and the United States.”15

The Court held that the Florida constitution, as rewritten and approved by Congress under the Reconstruction Acts, did indeed contain a three marine league boundary. It further held:

“...Thus, by its own description, Congress not only approved Florida's Constitution, which included three-league boundaries, but Congress, in 1868, approved it within the meaning of the 1867 Acts. In turn, the approval the 1867 Acts required appears to be precisely the approval the 1953 Act contemplates.”16

Due to its careful consideration and attention to its offshore boundaries, Florida had affirmed by the Court its constitutionally mandated three league boundary as the same appeared in its constitution which, in accordance with the dictates of the Reconstruction Acts, was approved by the Congress prior to the restoration of Florida’s right to representation.

Kohlhaas v. State, Office of Lieutenant Governor, 147 P.3d 714 (Alaska - 2006)

Context

Secession, long thought to be relegated as a historical aberration, once again raised its head in this new century. This time, it was an individual in Alaska seeking to force the state to place the issue of secession on the Alaska initiative ballot. A modern state court was thus faced with the question of whether the issue of secession was one which Alaska residents could vote on and thus was a proper subject for placement on the initiative ballot. Prior to court review, the lieutenant governor declined to certify the issue for ballot placement since, in his opinion, the initiative sought an unconstitutional end - SECESSION.

The Alaska Supreme Court agreed with the lieutenant governor. That is, it found that it was unconstitutional for Alaska to even consider seceding from the United States. It further found that neither Alaska, nor any other of the states of the Union, possessed the right to secede before admission to the United States and thus, no state would retain such a right under the Tenth Amendment after admission.

“  When the forty-nine-star flag was first raised at Juneau, we Alaskans committed ourselves to that indestructible Union, for good or ill, in perpetuity.”17

Since the act of secession was found to be unconstitutional, the Alaska Supreme Court found that the citizens could not vote on the issue as a referendum item. Alaska would not be seceding from the Union. 

NOTE: Second case on same issues reached same conclusion Kohlhaas v. State, Cause No. S-13024 (Alaska 2010)

Conclusions

Under present federal Supreme Court jurisprudence:

• The union which is the United States can never be dissolved by an independent action of one state (unless approved by Congress and/or the other states?)
•  An individual state may never secede. Apparently, only people rebel - the states remain a part of the Union.
•  Secession can be successful only if accomplished by force of arms (or agreement of the other states/Congress).

Postscript

Arizona

The right to secede simply will not die. In 2011, it is not conservative activists seeking secession but rather liberal activists. According to Reuters, a group of liberals want to split Arizona into two states and want voters to decide the issue in the next Presidential election (see Alaska). 

According to Reuters (May 10, 2011): “A group of lawyers from the Democratic stronghold of Tucson and surrounding Pima County have launched a petition drive seeking support for a November 2012 ballot question on whether the 48th state should be divided in two.”

“The ultimate goal of the newly formed political action committee Start our State is to split Pima County off into what would become the nation's 51st state, tentatively dubbed Baja Arizona.”

“The ballot measure sought by Arizona secession backers is a nonbinding measure asking Pima County voters if they support petitioning state lawmakers for permission to break away.”

“Before secession could occur, it would have to be approved separately by the Legislature, and by a second, binding referendum by residents of the proposed state.”

Endnotes

1.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 704 (1869)

2.            Kohlhaas v. State, Office of Lieutenant Governor, 147 P.3d 714 at Page 715 (Alaska - 2006)

3.            Acts of March 2d and March 23d, 1867

4.            The Amy Warwick, 67 U.S. 635 at page 670 (1863)

5.            The Amy Warwick, 67 U.S. 635 at page 666 (1863)

6.            The Amy Warwick, 67 U.S. 635 at page 688 (1863)

7.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 722 (1869)

8.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 724 (1869)

9.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 725 at Page 725 (1869)

10.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 725 (1869)

11.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 725 (1869)

12.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 725 (1869)

13.            Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 at Page 725 (1869)

14.            White v. Hart, 80 U.S. 646 at Page 650 (1872)

15.            United States v. Florida, 363 U.S. 121 at Page 123 (1960)

16.            United States v. Florida, 363 U.S. 121 at Page 124 (1960)

17.            Kohlhaas v. State, Office of Lieutenant Governor, 147 P.3d 714 at Page 720 (Alaska - 2006)

JWR Adds: As the preceding article illustrates, it is the victors who write the history books and write the post facto legal opinions. They determine what is "legal" and "justified." But if successful, it is those who were branded "rebels", "traitors", or "seccesh" who get their portraits stamped on the new coins. Modern day secession can work. Just ask the people of world's newest country, South Sudan. The secession of predominantly Christian South Sudan was not just magnanimously handed to them by predominantly Muslim Sudan. The South Sudanese had to fight for their independence, in a costly and protracted civil war.

The White House opened up a data mining public petition web site that quickly resulted in more than 675,000 people in 50 states politely pleading for secession. Unfortunately, this is a futile effort. The Federal government presently does not recognize any right to secede. In essence, secession is not accomplished by asking permission. Rather, it is accomplished by a state (or subdivision thereof) simply declaring their secession, with the full knowledge of the consequences. Audentes fortuna iuvat. This very nearly happened in 1941, with the State of Jefferson, but our nation's entry into World War II completely overshadowed and quashed that movement.

I now have high hopes for the American Redoubt movement, and the spin-off Redoubts in other regions. As conservative demographics and constituencies solidify in the Redoubt regions, the prospect of meaningful change becomes more likely. Vote with your feet!

Just writing in for the first time to bring an interesting incident to the forefront of the readers minds. It's been lost in the national news since it happened .

Saturday night, November 10, 2012 at just past 11 p.m. an explosion rocked a south Indianapolis neighborhood. Officials immediately cordoned off the neighborhood and started doing sweeps of the debris looking for survivors. In all four houses were totally destroyed, two were wiped to the foundations. Several surrounding homes were damaged beyond repair and 80 homes were damaged. The scene looked like a war zone with the look of a 500 pound bomb explosion (minus the crater). Luckily for the couple who lived in the house where the blast originated, they had gone gambling at the casino. They won this bet for sure. The couple in the house next door weren't so lucky. They both perished in the explosion and accompanying fire. The wife was a teacher in the school system that my children attend.

Moments after the initial blast that was heard and felt up to 20 miles away, sirens wailed on  for hours. Emergency crews flooded the neighborhood causing gridlock in the surrounding area. There was no way for survivors in the vicinity of the blast to drive away due to water hoses and emergency vehicles. Many survivors were moved to a school located across a field from the subdivision with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Gas and electricity was cut off to keep the emergency workers safe. The division of code compliance was soon on the scene in the early morning hours to check the area for structures that were deemed unsafe and they were tagged such so no entry was permitted. Some homes will need to be bulldozed, many of which were knocked off their foundations.

The Subdivision is a standard quarter to third acre lot brick faced vinyl village that has sprouted all over in suburbia. These homes are built to meet and never exceed code requirements. They build them as cheaply as possible! The rafters and deck bracing is all 1.5" x 3.5" (modern 2x4) construction with 1/2" decking and wallboard everywhere. The electrical systems and plumbing are as bare bones as you can get and still pass muster. The houses have little insulation unless you pay for extra and you can gain entry through a wall with a pocketknife. These houses are total junk and sold at the same price as a custom home. I'm not surprised at all that the damage was so severe. The fire department in a town near Indy tried to find out why so many of these type tract homes burned when struck by lightening by hiring experts to come in and inspect the structures for a cause. They found that any time a house of this construction was built, they flexible metal gas lines would take the energy from the lightening strike and make the tubing fail, causing the super heated line to catch the escaping gasses on fire.

Saturday it was near 70 degrees F so many people took advantage of the weather and got some exercise. Luckily my Cub Scout troop had planned a service project at the local church. The boys and I along with many other volunteers were fighting the weeds in a hedgerow wearing short sleeves. Many people opened their windows during the day and enjoyed the warmth. The occupants of the house that exploded had left it closed up and the house was warm enough that the furnace didn't need to operate all day, until about 11:09? The home owner got a text from the occupant (Daughter) a few days before that the furnace wasn't working properly.

At this time the cause of the fire hasn't officially been determined, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that it was the furnace. (Many Internet speculators have called it a Predator UAV strike or a plane crash. One even cited Russian intelligence sources as noting a launch profile from their satellites. The American CIA had supposedly lost control of a Raptor and it fired or something along those lines. I have a hard time believing that and the evidence doesn't support it, but hey, it's a nearly free country.)

The response from the alphabet soup government was huge. ATF, NTSB, FBI, State police, County police, City Police and fire services were all on scene to evaluate. All residents were removed for their own safety and the houses were inspected again Sunday. The devastation was immense. People weren't allowed back to their homes until Monday afternoon, were they had an hour to collect belongings from their homes and leave. The residents of homes that were made habitable were allowed to stay as long as no evidence was found in the immediate vicinity of their home. Many residents had no way to get around due to the damage to their cars, or the fact that the cars were trapped under collapsed garage doors. Most were unprepared and caught naked in the night. They scrambled out of their houses with little more than the clothes on their backs.

My house is almost exactly a mile from the explosion, but after a hard days work I was dead asleep when the explosion occurred. I slept right through it. This emergency was too close to ignore, too different form the one's I have prepared for to keep me content with my level of preparedness. Things I've come to realize over the last few days have really shaken me up and have made me consider caches more acceptable than guarded preps at the house.

The idea that a government agency can forcefully remove me from my property for my own safety really bothered me. Not only that, they made the survivors rally at a school that is a "Gun free zone" with regard to the Indiana Code. No firearms, no time to gather preps, no vehicles due to the streets being cordoned off. Had I lived in the vicinity, I'd be homeless, hungry and unarmed in an instant with no recourse to make the situation better. There were relief agencies mobilized by Sunday but no long term accommodations had been made for those without insurance to cover it. It's now Tuesday and there are still people relying on handouts for the basics. This would be totally unacceptable for myself and my family. I need a better plan.

I needed somewhere local I can stash a few buckets of food and provisions to keep the family happy long enough to arrange long term housing in case ours is uninhabitable. At least a couple weeks food, some cash and barter as well as copies of documents we might need. Maybe even an extra credit card and book of checks for keeping a lid on the finances during the event. Toiletries for the whole family. Cash phone with minutes in case there's something else going on to necessitate a bailout. Insurance contact information. Personally, I have 2 locations that come to mind but only one is secure. I'll have to enact my plan in the next few weeks to make sure it's handled.

My biggest failure was with regard to my bailout bags. Mine is still torn apart from the last scout camping trip late last month. I was intending to replace the sleeping bag with a better rated bag for the cooler weather. My eldest son had claimed my old one so I was without until a new one showed up on my doorstep tonight. Had I needed it, I would have been unprepared and so would my eldest son. Neither had the BOB ready to go. Unacceptable behavior on my part.

Interior security on my home is pathetic. Should the inspectors stroll through my house, they would see way too much for me. OPSEC would be totally blown and I'd be on the list for having guns and reloading components stocked up. I've got ammo, powder and bullets strewn all over my garage and the fuel cans are easily visible. All my web gear is hanging where it can be seen without much digging. A looter with someone on the inside would clean me out in a matter of minutes. Our local code enforcement officers are paid at the poverty level so they would be my biggest concern. None of my steel storage cabinets were locked up securely. Anyone could have rifled through my weapons list and exchange books. My financials were laying on my desk for the most recent moves out of the market. Several of my guns were laying on top of the safe because I hadn't cleaned them from a range trip the weekend before the explosion. All my Dillon equipment was out and charged up ready for use. My alarm covers the garage so I just don't consider it a threat.

I don't have Window and door sized plywood cut and ready to go in case I have an emergency. I have several sheets of 1/4" sheet, but none cut for easy install. In the event of a tornado or blast, I would be unable to cover my windows and doors in a timely manner. My house would be a sitting duck without me here to protect it.

Another prime fail point would be transportation. If we were in the same position, we wouldn't have wheels except for my bikes that I keep off site during the winter. Sounds like I need to stash an el cheapo wagon somewhere where we can get to it locally. The bailout vehicle at my bailout location isn't moving, I need another option. I'm thinking a small minivan or station wagon that is unassuming and cheap would do the trick. Need to tint the windows and make it as soccer momesque as possible. Maybe even an Honor Roll sticker on the bumper. To add to my own ignorance, my truck (the primary BOV) is packed to the gills with work supplies that need to be brought into the garage storage system. My converted cargo trailer is also in use with a friend so I can't even use it for temporary housing. It has my backup generator on it as well.

The primary bailout location is a few hours away in a secluded area but without my preps at home, I might not make it if the emergency is serious enough to require us to bring our own fuel. It's all set up and ready to go but it couldn't help me a bit if I was homeless but needed to stay here for work. It's a unique emergency for sure.

The biggest, and most important issue we face is the proximity of our neighbors. By local code, we must not build closer than 10' from the property line. That means our houses can be a minimum of 20' apart. Way too close for my comfort. I'm still 100 feet or so from my closest neighbor, but not enough space if they have an explosion of this magnitude. It's suburbia, so I'll have to live with it. I have not been able to convince the wife to move further away yet but I'm working on it. Montana, the Dakotas, and Utah interest me, but I think she has only Montana on her mind.

In closing I'd like to point out that this tragedy was an opportunity for me to put myself into that situation and learn from it. The discipline to survive should never falter of fade. Vigilance is the key to prevailing in this climate of uncertainty. I've failed myself and my family and vow to enhance our security and ability to survive no matter what is thrown at me. - J.B. from Greenwood

JWR Replies: Our friend Tamara of the View From The Porch blog was about 15 miles away and heard the blast. This dramatic incident is a reminder that it is safer to live in a neighborhood where houses are more widely spaced. Keep your BOB handy. And, of course, the smell of odorized natural gas or propane should never be ignored, as the consequences can be devastating.

Washington D.C. is presently all abuzz with talk of the BHO Administration looking for an opportunity to enact the UN's stalled Small Arms and Light Weapons Treaty. Meanwhile, Senator-For-Life Dianne Feinstein is "consensus building" to reenact the so-called Assault Weapons and "high capacity" magazine ban. (Note that the term "high capacity" is a specious political creation, to wit: A 30 round magazine is standard capacity for an AR or an AK, and anything less than that is a reduced capacity magazine. Get your terminology straight and don't fall for semantics traps!) Rumor has it that this new incarnation of the ban would have no sunset clause and worse yet, no mechanism for transferring guns within a family. (When you die, your family would have to turn your guns in for destruction.) Please contact your senators and congressmen and urge them stop all civilian disarmament schemes in their tracks.

Here are a few of my observations about firearms, their use, and hoplophobes:

Guns rarely go down in value, so they are some of the very best investments. Consider: The used Macintosh II computer that I bought for $875 in 1990 is now worth perhaps $5 in scrap metal value, but the used stainless steel Colt Gold Cup .45 pistol that I bought for $400 in 1990 is now worth around $1,100.

Guns are often tussled over by heirs whenever an estate gets settled, for good reason: They are a compact, portable, and desirable form of wealth.

A gun is almost unique in that it is it's own insurance policy, should anyone ever attempt to deprive you of it, by force. I say almost unique, because a trained pet bear carries the same policy.

Firearms are a popular target of elected officials in part because it is plentiful privately-owned firearms that keep bush league politicians from becoming major league dictators.

If politicians used the same logic that they apply to guns in attempting ban cars (which can squash people) or laptop computers (which can be used to commit libel) then they'd all be hauled off to insane asylums.

Without ammunition and magazines, rifles are just useless ornaments or very expensive clubs. So buy plenty of ammunition and magazines.

It is difficult for miscreants to argue you with you when they are looking at the muzzle of a loaded rifle, and it is even harder for them to argue with a loaded rifle that has sprouted a bayonet. If your rifle has bayonet lug, then buy a bayonet for it. A bayonet can also be a useful knife, but a knife is not also a bayonet.

History has taught us repeatedly that firearms registration is a stepping stone to confiscation. Common sense dictates that you keep your firearms purchases as private as possible. Sign up for bridal registries, not gun registries.

Don't expect just one gun to fit all potential circumstances and every imaginable task. There is no such thing as a concealable elk rifle.

The term "Gun Buy Back" is bald-faced lie. The gun grabbers never owned them, so they certainly aren't buy them back. They merely want to buy them up, for pennies on the dollar. There are just a few pitiable dupes who fall for this ploy and agree to part with their birthright in exchange for cash, sporting event tickets, or gift cards.

I can think of no better barter items than guns, ammunition, and magazines. There may come a day when times are so truly bad that silver or gold may be refused, in a barter transaction. Not so for guns, ammunition, and magazines. They will always be desirable, and they will almost always leave you on the stronger side of negotiating a swap.

Don't be too concerned about the exterior cosmetics when shopping for a used gun. Dings and scratches just show that a gun was used and enjoyed. Spend more time examining the bore and the gun's mechanics. If looks could kill, the streets would be littered with corpses.

When I see seized guns being melted down on the orders of bureaucrats, it makes me want to weep. They are eating the seed corn of our liberty.

When I'm asked about whether I'd consider moving offshore, it always forces the obvious question: Where on Earth could I move where I would have the same level of firearms liberties that I now enjoy in these United States? There are precious few countries. So, for now, I'll make my stand here.

Guns are like parachutes: if you don't have one when you need it, then chances are that you won't ever be in need of one again.

- J.W.R.

Jim,
Thank you for your 'forward' as well as the article: Experience with a Restrictive State Pistol Permit Process. We in New Jersey experience similar issues. A regular citizen cannot even obtain a carry permit here. It is basically limited to retired police and that even has to be basically approved or recommended by their former chief. There are limited others that may obtain like private investigators. Even with the concealed carry for retired police they must pay a yearly fee plus qualify (at an additional cost) as if still a police officer two times per year. It really would be nice to be allowed to exercise our second amendment right here. Each pistol must have a permit as well. First you must apply for a Firearms ID card to even be able to purchase ammunition! The process is daunting. You must apply to your local police station. You must be fingerprinted. You must answer and sign a questionnaire about crime/mental health issues.( I don't particularly see that as so invasive.) But you must also allow them to access mental health records as well as contact your employer! The employer contact is especially intrusive. They may not like guns and what business of theirs to give opinion as to whether or no you can buy a gun! May be a reason for them to let you go but of course they would never say that! Sickening. Family members are going through this now and employer of one is questioning why they want it. None of their business! I guess this state is truly trying to dissuade anyone from even wanting to go through it. Same thing for a pistol permit! And all this takes months. Some of my family members applied two months ago and a letter just went to employer. Also, if you move to a new town, you must reapply for the ID card at that location's police department. The whole process completed all over! This also happens if you marry and change your name as well -- reapply! How is this allowing any privacy to honest crime-free citizens? Thank you and God Bless! - Diana

Mr. Rawles,
An interesting subtext in the latest elections is the that five states had amendments on the ballots, that attempt to prevent anyone from being required to purchase health care coverage such as Obamacare.
 
The measures passed in four of these states: Alabama, Missouri, Montana, and Wyoming.
 
A similar amendment failed to pass in Florida.
 
While generally a moot point as Federal law trumps (remember the Civil War, anyone)...this is an interesting perspective on the mood in some states. - R.T.

JWR Replies: It is not surprising that two of those four states are in The American Redoubt. Wyoming's Amendment A, for example, passed by a whopping 77% to 23% margin. It reads, quite succinctly:

Article 1, Section 38 – Right of Health Care Access
(a) Each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions.  The parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.
(b) Any person may pay, and a health care provider may accept, direct payment for health care without imposition of penalties or fines for doing so.

Resistance to the overbearing Federal government is clearly growing. I expect other States to follow suit in rejecting Obamacare, as well as reserving state sovereignty on issues like abortion, drug laws, control of Federal lands, control of water resources and the right to keep and bear arms.

First, I live in South Eastern Connecticut not by choice but due to my military obligations. Second, the day I get out of the military will be the last day I live here. I am heading back out West which is where I lived before I joined the military. Third, I survived Sandy just fine. I ensured I had 4G coverage before the storm: Generator, Gas, Grub and Gallons of water. I guess you could add Guns and make it 5G coverage.

On to what I am writing about, the pistol permit process in a liberal / restrictive state. Here in Connecticut you must go through several hoops and roadblocks on the way to buying / carrying any handgun. After much internet research and discussions with the owner of the lone gun store in South Eastern Connecticut, my wife and I started down the road to legal handgun ownership. Notice I said handgun. Here in Connecticut I can walk into Cabela's, pick any rifle or shotgun they are selling and walk out the same day with as much ammunition as I can buy (with a copy of my military orders stationing me here). Without those orders I would have to wait 14 days.

The first step to the process was to attend a NRA basic pistol shooting course. This despite the fact that I have had training in the military on the M1911, the Browning 9mm, 12 gauge, M16, M14 and M249. At $150 each for my wife and I (expensive but it had to be a weekend class that fit into our schedule) we were well on our way to spending big money in order to exercise our Second Amendment rights. This was on Sunday May 6th of this year. Once we had completed the course and had the certificate in hand we then had to schedule an appointment with our local Connecticut Police Department (Groton) for the interview, application paperwork and finger printing process in order to receive a temporary local permit. The city of Groton only has appointment slots twice a month (2nd and 4th Wednesdays) with limited availability (Chokepoint!). We were “lucky” enough to squeeze in an appointment on the 13th of June (someone cancelled).

On to the appointment: In order to do the appointment my wife and I both had to take half a day off. We showed up early with our filled out DPS-799-Cs and the application (or as my wife calls it, bribe) money required by the city. After a lengthy interview by a local police officer to ensure we were who we said we were and not mentally incapacitated or revolutionaries, he collected our money. That was $70 for each of us to the town of Groton as a local authority fee. Also there was the $19.25 for each of us to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for the federal fingerprint / background fee. And finally the $50 each for the state of CT fingerprint / background check fee. $278.50 in fees + $300 in classes. We are up to $578.50. This doesn’t include lost wages for my wife to take a half day off for the interview process.

Fairly straight-forward and a little expensive so far. Nothing overly difficult. Now the waiting process begins. The local Groton Police Department is required to get back to us within 60 days in accordance with Connecticut law. My wife and I settled in for what we were sure would be the full 60 days. It is the government of Connecticut after all and we counted on them using every day of the 60. We passed the time working on other preparations to include dehydrating fruit and experimenting with canning. During this waiting period we also purchased several rifles (Mosin-Nagants and others) and learned how to shoot them, break them down, clean and upgrade. Time spent wisely.

August 13th rolled around (61 day point) with no word from the Groton Police Department. Having been in the military for several years I am used to the waiting game and the gross inefficiency of government. I proceeded to wait on calling and gave them another two weeks.
August 27th and still no phone call. So now I start calling. After playing phone tag for a week and a half I finally reach a human on September 6th. She says there is a large backlog due to the large amount of applications and it may be a bit before they can get to us. A bit? To me, “a bit” means maybe the next day at the latest. To the local government a bit seems to be measured in glacial time. And how can they be backlogged? They only accept a limited number of applications twice a month. You would think this would prevent them from being backlogged.

September 10th, my supervisor and my wife’s supervisor receive phone calls from the Groton Police Department to verify information on the background check. Progress! I guess I am perturbed/happy. Happy that there is movement, perturbed that it is taking so long. Knowing the process for background checks should not take no more than two or three weeks after they start I marked down the 26th of September as the day to call and inquire if I have not received word.

September 26th. No word from the local Groton Police Department. Let the phone calls commence. Another week of phone tag ensues before I get to talk to what I am now sure is a poorly programmed robot. I receive the same spiel about “backlogged” and “working on it”. I would have had a better conversation with my neighbors Roomba robot floor cleaner.

So my wife and I patiently wait, yet continue to call on a weekly basis. We are both fairly angry at this point. What was a straightforward simple process has tuned into a denial of our rights by government inefficiency and outright incompetence. Yet we continue to call. Not so much that anyone could say we were harassing. Not angrily so we could be denied for threats or whatever. Polite calls and friendly conversations. I learned long ago that angry conversations with government drones results in paperwork mysteriously lost in a black hole somewhere.

October 10th rolls around and we call the Connecticut Department of Public Safety. After several calls and hours on the phone we receive a “we will look into the issue”. Now it has become a weekly routine. Every Wednesday morning the local Police Department receives a call. Every Wednesday afternoon the Department of Public Safety receives a call.

It is now November 6th and we are still waiting. What is most galling is I am not waiting approval to purchase a handgun. I am not waiting on approval to carry a handgun. I am waiting on the local Police Department to give my wife and I a temporary permit which gives us permission to pay $70 a piece to the State of Connecticut to apply for permanent permits (which expire after 5 years). After we receive these mythical permits we can then legally purchase/own/carry a handgun in Connecticut.

Why not just give up? After all I only have seven months left here before moving to a friendlier state. There are a few reasons for that. One, I am stubborn and will see this through to the end. Two, I want to take the Utah pistol permit class at Cabela's in East Hartford so I can be legal in more states. I cannot do that without a Connecticut pistol permit.

Maybe there are past problems they have uncovered and that is why they are taking so long. No. I have very high security clearance for my work in the Navy. I go through a complete background investigation every five years. I am about as squeaky clean as they come (and so is my wife). No tickets, no skeletons in the closet, no vices such as drugs, alcohol or gambling and an excellent military record. If anything, the only “vice” I have is preparing. Other than the occasional post on SurvivalBlog I keep OPSEC high and avoid anything that would draw undue attention to me by any of the alphabet agencies.
Even with all my ducks in a row, all the proper forms filled out, all money paid and maintenance of pleasant persona on the phone and in person my wife and I are victims of government inefficiency and stall tactics. I would hazard a guess that Connecticut doesn’t want too many upstanding solid citizens running around with hand guns.

We will keep on preparing. We will keep on planning. We will keep helping our neighbors and anyone around us who wants to prepare. We will continue to learn new skills (cheese making this weekend). We will continue to take our rifles to the gun range and hone our shooting skills.
I have the patience of Job. I can wait this state out.
Some of the lessons I have learned or have had cemented in from this whole process:

1. Ensure you have all your paperwork in order. I double checked everything. It made the application process go much smoother.
2. Don’t trust the government to expedite a process they don’t want to complete but are mandated to by law.
3. Don’t move to Connecticut. If the bureaucracy doesn’t kill you, the taxes will.
4. Ensure you understand the exact cost of the process. When all is said and done Connecticut will run my wife and I $718.50 before we make our first handgun purchase in this state.

The preparedness movement in America just got a huge boost with Hurricane Sandy. In effect, the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy vindicated America's once marginalized survivalists and preppers. It is one thing to talk about major disasters abstractly from a distance, but quite another to live through one yourself. Heretofore, mainstream media reporters have tended to ignore societal fragility and vulnerability issues. But now they've felt the impact personally. Our friend Tamara, over at the View From The Porch blog astutely observed that New York City is "the navel of the news media universe." And the greater New York City region was hit hard by Sandy. So, unlike Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast in 2005, I predict that the Hurricane Sandy experience will spur mass media reporters to cover preparedness topics with greater seriousness.

I was just interviewed by a USA Today reporter and I noticed a pleasant change. He showed no trace of the incredulity, snobbishness, and bemused detachment that I'd heard before from East Coast reporters when discussing preparedness. They have now seen the elephant.

In the coming weeks, I hope to see much more complete and earnest reporting on preparedness from news outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. (See, for example, this recent piece: Dining Through Disaster.) And if you thought that National Geographic's Doomsday Preppers was popular before... Well, in my estimation they've just been handed assurance of a multi-season renewal.

While Hurricane Sandy didn't turn everyone on the East Coast into preppers, it has most assuredly reduced the the teasing and taunting of preppers. And if nothing else, it will raise America's preparedness quotient--at least for a little while. (There will probably be some bargains on "like new" backup generators in about a year, as Mr. and Mrs. Mundane lose interest in disaster readiness.)

Addenda: Just after writing this, a reader sent me a link to an editorial piece by Mike Adams of Natural News that echoes my observations: Liberal media, White House owes preppers and survivalists a massive apology in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy

Hello,
I am a native New Yorker who has lived in the city for more than 30 years. As much as I would like to live elsewhere safer, I still very much love the city and have to remain here because of work and my mother. The recent devastation left by Sandy wreaked havoc in the city. You can read about plenty of details on the hurricane from the news and other posts so I'm just going to keep this post short based on some of the problems encountered that were unique to an urban environment. In addition to the basic necessities of being prepared, I would like to add some further precautions that can be utilized to help minimize some future problems that can occur in a highly populated city such as New York.

• Electronics/communications: Many people who were in downtown Manhattan had no power and these days, we are tied to our cell phones, laptops, etc. They had to travel uptown in desperation to charge their lifeline. Without a cell phone, there would be no way for many people to contact anyone. Having an extra external charger would've been handy along with another charger that utilizes AA batteries as part of their emergency kit will make a good last resort back up.
• Money: ATMs were down in certain places and because there was no power, restaurants and stores only accepted cash. If you had no cash and the ATM wasn't working or was empty, you weren't getting anything. Always have some cash on hand.
• Gas: This was a big problem since many people from surrounding areas had no gas due to power outages and so people from New Jersey, Long Island were driving to NYC to fill up. People waited more than 3 hours in line for gas. There was a lot of tension and anxiety caused by a gas shortage. Many gas stations were eventually closed when there was no gas left. My girlfriend had the foresight to remind me to fill up on gas before the storm hit so this should be a good lesson to fill up and stock up in advance of a possible disruption.
• Transportation: The lifeline of New York was cut off since trains were flooded along with extensive damage to the rails and tunnels. There was major traffic lasting hours since it created a bottleneck effect at the bridges that were open. There was also chaos at shuttle bus stops everywhere. Many buses were full and simply bypassed many passengers who were waiting for hours to get on and the city put restrictions by creating carpool lanes into Manhattan with a 3 passenger minimum. Any less and you would have been turned away. This turned what normally would have been a 30 minute commute into a three hour commute. Having a bike or being able to walk for long distances would eliminate the dependency on cars and public transportation.
• Of course, other typical events related to post disaster scenarios occurred (especially in poor neighborhoods like Coney Island) such as: food/water shortages and looting.

A great tragedy occurred in this great city. I hope that people here will start to wake up and become more self sufficient. Those who were spared have been given another chance to do better for themselves and their families in the future. For those who were directly affected, we all pray for your quick recovery. May peace be with you all - A.I.K.

Dear James,
Greetings from New Jersey and thank you for your fantastic blog. My power was not restored until Sunday after losing it one long week ago.

Survival preps, i.e. food, water definitely not a problem for me. Between frozen food,cans and home canned then long term food in Mylar and pails, I can go a year or more. This hurricane is a great "dry run" and those that endured devastation, my heart and prayers go out to them.

On the other hand, so many don't even have the simple things a day or too. Simple things like filling the car or truck fuel tank before the storm, or getting a few more batteries. As the storm hit, I sat back, having gotten my sick elderly mom from the New Jersey shore, made contact with friends and relatives to try and get out of harm's way. The power went out very early and within lays a comfort level knowing you can provide for you and your family.

Sitting around the table listening to the hand crank radio under the glow of the Coleman lantern. As the wind howled communications failed. Cell towers along the coast ceased. Roads closed throughout the state. Those with cell phones had no way to charge them if cell service was available.

As our procedure, the emergency two way radios were put into use. At midnight I heard the call signal and a brief verbal check in. We would monitor and contact every 8 hours. Communications are very important. Even someone's a quarter mile away might as well be in Europe during an emergency, without communication, and a source of immediate back up or help if needed.

As the storm hit us harder, we lost contact with friends and family throughout the night. Communications can not be stressed enough.

The next morning, reports of devastation along the coast, of millions of people without power, without water and food. I'm sure not everyone believes in prepping for a year or more, but please, some cannot even feed themselves for two days without demanding that Uncle Sam must help them.

Within the day, people realized that without gas, you can't drive or run generators. Without generators, no gas at the gas stations. Yes I personally saw lines at the few gas stations with gas and open over a mile long. Society was breaking down after just 24 hours.

Milk could not be delivered, no diesel for the trucks. Milk could not be picked up at the farms, again, no fuel. I ask, doesn't anyone prepare?

During the day Tuesday, I get a radio message, rumor has it there is some looting, and its time to lock and load. So be it.

During the frost two days, you would hear generators running day and night. I thought to myself they must have huge amounts of fuel. In order to conserve, I would run it for few hours, shut it off and run it again. One by one, you heard the generators go silent. By conserving, 50 gallons would last for a month or more.

As for eating, oh my, we ate terrifically. Long slow cooked meals and knowing, it would be a long time before we ran out. And yes, there would be lots of rice and beans in the future, but not yet.

As of today, sunday, there still is no fuel available. Food distribution is at a stand still.

What have I learned. Fuel s critical. If you don't have it, you won't get it.

Cell phones become useless when the power s down. Alternate communications are a must. With that a thought. If the government became abusive, how would you spread the word? How would you get pictures out so others can see? Internet was not available locally and can be shut down at will by the government.

Have backups. My transistor radio stopped working. The crank up took its place.

Be ready to move fast. New York City was locked down. Tunnels and bridges closed. Have a way to travel and avoid check points.

People have lost everything and many more are suffering. Learn what you can from these warnings.

God bless America and pray for out country on Tuesday. - Rich S.

Dear Editor:
I live in southeastern Connecticut. I am far from wealthy and I live in a section of town while certainly is not what one may consider a ghetto, neither is it in any way "nice". I would not label myself as a prepper nor a survivalist, instead I have common sense. I have a good stock of food and water, preparations and gear in case I have to leave, not for some cataclysmic disaster but because I live in a world that has hurricanes and natural disasters.

Our Governor here in Connecticut recommended that my area evacuate. I did not. Though I am on the coast, my apartment is at a higher elevation and sure enough I did not suffer any of the flooding many others are dealing with. I watched closely every weather channel report, internet weather and government report and I was fairly certain that I would be okay where I am and sure enough I was. I did lose power however, though only for a day.

The reason for writing this and passing it on is an observation of what preparing really is. I have a basement apartment. Because of it's construction I can hear most anything going on outside. The winds died down around 3 in the morning. At 4 a.m. I could hear multiple voices and footsteps in the leaves. the voices were hushed and the steps...hard to explain, gave me the impression of sneakiness. Before I continue I wish to point out I am Christian. While I believe in defending myself, my friends and family, I also believe in following Christ's footsteps in word and deed. Having said that, I went and got my shotgun and placed it out of sight but next to the door and my hand right beside it and calmly opened my door in time to see a twenty something male and four others round the corner and stop in surprise at my smiling face. We all looked at each other for a few seconds and very calmly and in a measured voice I asked them what they were up to. Their claim was that they were just checking out the damage. "While in the dark at four in the morning?" They didn't say anything. 

"Well you know, it would probably be best if you moved on, you're on private property here and I don't think it's safe for anyone." All with a tight smile and friendly voice. And my hand out of sight on my shotgun. 

"We don't want any trouble." 

I responded: "Neither do I."

At this point I let them see the shotgun. I didn't raise it, point it anyone, just swung it over to rest next to my leg. "Look, your in someone else's yard, in the dark after a major storm. Somebody might think you're looting and who wants that sort of nonsense, just go home before we are all in trouble."
"Sorry mister" and they were on their way. I watched them round the corner and as far as I could tell meandered down the road. I sat out on the porch until  sunrise with that gun across my lap.
I saw a policeman yesterday, an acquaintance. Around 6 a.m. on that same morning  of my little run in, a few streets over at the cop had a call. A man confronted a group of young men in his front yard. He came out of his house with a bat and took a swing. He got beaten pretty bad and sent to the hospital. I wonder if he just came flying out of his house set upon violence and such. 
Part of my common sense is that I go for walks in my neighborhood.  Have been since I had to move here. I make sure everyone see's my face, I often greet people with a smile and a hello. It is a rough neighborhood. A couple of streets over there are drug houses. I walk there too. I am easy to recognize. I am over a very large man both in strength and overweight (thus the walking). I figure people are less likely to mess with a friendly person they recognize. Plus I get to see who's around. 
I am pretty sure I recognized on e of those guys. the cop questioned me closely about it. I think I recognized him from walking the neighborhood. Probably said hi or waved at some point. 
"A soft answer turns away wrath" and I firmly believe that, I cant see Christ accosting someone in His yard with threat of violence. I cant see Him judging, in fact He made it clear for me that I should not judge. Yet He also gave me a brain. He gave me a temple of the Holy Spirit, my body, which I need to protect. He was once accosted by a mob, before it was his appointed time and the Bible says He walked through them and they could not touch Him. I do believe the Bible raises a clear admonition to defend oneself  So If my pretty smile and soft words did not diffuse the situation that shotgun had a buckshot in the chamber and the safety was off. I was fully prepared to pull that trigger. Yet I did not charge out on a warpath. Like I said common sense. But the soft answer did turn away wrath. Thank God.
We do in emergency what we do in practice. I have had the good fortune to have excellent teachers of self defense with my fists as well as with firearms. I also have rooted myself in His word and teachings. It pulled me through. I made sure that when the time came my skills were sufficient and I could rely on them. My faith was also strong enough that I could rely on Him. Some call that prepping, surviving. I say it's just common sense. 

I went to work the Monday of the hurricane as it wasn't going to hit us until late afternoon. My boss sent us home at noon time. Gas stations were packed, grocery stores were packed, there were even long lines at drive up fast food joints! Can you imagine? Training of our skills, and more importantly of our spirituality, can not be a last minute rush job. It needs to be done everyday day upon waking up and upon going to bed. It needs to be done with supplication and prayer. What we do in practice is what we do in danger. I've read that so many times. My teachers have drilled that into my head and now I truly know it. I wonder about the guy that got beat. Was he just scared that something bad was going to happen to him and his family? Was this just a result of fear? I do not know. I know I was not too worried about the hurricane. I had done my homework, had food, water, candles, books, ammo. I did not fear for my family or friends, I trusted that they were in Christ's loving hands. And while my adrenaline was pumping for sure during the moment I can't say I felt fear in the confrontation, though I admit afterwards my mind kept mulling over what could have happened, how badly it could have gotten. I would say I felt fear after. Okay, I admit, I had a shaky feeling all over for about an hour. But not in the moment. Was it God's strength? My preparedness? I think it was both and it makes me sad for all the people I see that get into these situations that lash out in anger brought on by fear.

I maintain I just use common sense. But common sense says to prepare, to train your body, your mind, and most importantly your spirit. So I guess I am a prepper. I prepare myself for life.
Christ be with you, - S.H.

James:
A quick note to put my 2 cents in, if I may: I was a regular guy who thought a bit about prepping for years, but didn't really do much of it. After the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue took office, I began to develop a collection of firearms and ammo, with the belief that guys like him will actively seek to make such things harder to get. Then, I happened on the show "Doomsday Preppers" on television. I know the show seems a bit "Made-for-TV", if you will, but it did spur me to some action, including reading SurvivalBlog, daily. I can't get my wife and kids to drop everything and move to Idaho (yet), but I was able to sell them a bit on the notion that we could do some preparatory things and be smart, even if they weren't ready to start canning and burying supplies in the woods. In the last couple years, I've got them all shooting a bit, and we've made sure there's some food in the house for events like this. Then along comes Sandy.....

We live in Southern Ocean County, about a mile from the water, on a pretty good hill in a residential subdivision. I work as a public utility superintendent in a town in Western Monmouth County, central New Jersey, 45 miles north of home. I hate the notion that I could be at work in this type of event for several days, that far away from them. But it is what I have to do, for now. I have a small 12-volt battery setup with a solar charging system, useful, bought it because of what I've read and learned on SurvivalBlog. Also the tricks I've read about here- buying solar landscape pathways lights, stockpile flashlights and batteries, I bought a generator and some gas and made sure I taught my 13 year old son how to do everything in my absence. Gave Momma the keys to the gun safe, discussed safety and security with everyone, and went to work Sunday evening. Did not get home until Wednesday night.

Our house was without power for only 48 hours, and flooding was not an issue for our property. But it was enough to get them all on board, moving closer to accepting what Dad's been saying. Power is still out in large areas of New Jersey, and things are getting ugly- Looting and robbery in millionaire's neighborhoods as we speak (it's now Nov. 2nd, Friday night.) No phone, no power, no way to call the police....Sorry!!

Lessons Learned/Reinforced:
   1. Have food and water for as many as live in your house, plus the in-laws, plus your kid's friend who stayed for the entire event. What is happening now is everything is clear, stores are re-opening, but have no stock, shelves are still bare. And people are nuts- Fully stocked stores are only 50 miles away, and unprepared folks are panicking as if they're going to die in line at the grocery store, pulling guns on line at gas pumps, etc. So if you want to be prepared for a week-long emergency, you need 2 weeks’ worth of food. And gasoline for the generator, firewood, etc.
   2. Have bottled water- I work in the water utility business, and I'm telling you these systems are more fragile than you think, and are susceptible to all kinds of malfunctions even in normal times. Have at least a case for each person in the house at all times, so you can survive a week, brush teeth, make a pot of coffee, etc. I’m talking about minor stuff, not even nearly for TEOTWAWKI, for $25 you can get 5 cases of [bottled] water. Everyone needs to do this. No excuses.
   3. Maintain a secondary system of power, heat, etc....Generator, fireplace, whatever, have multiple options if possible. Right now in New Jersey, there are two kinds of people: prepared people, and miserable people.
   4. Security- You cannot call the cops, and they're not getting there anyway- You'd better be able to shoo away the vultures, so to speak. As I mentioned, there are gangs going door-to-door in very affluent neighborhoods, some of the wealthiest in America, simply kicking in doors and taking stuff- if you can't stop them, they're doing it. These are neighborhoods where people like Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi live, where they never fear for anything, because “They don’t have those sorts of people there”. Roads and bridges washed out means no access to services- Hundred of homes have burned down while fire crews watched helplessly from across the washed out roads, and Coast Guard and NJ State Police are patrolling Long Beach Island as looters try to get there by boat under cover of darkness. Thieves are ingenious and crafty, and we must be as well.
   5. The big lesson of all 4 of those points is this- The government is a mess, and cannot help you. You must be prepared to sustain yourself and your loved ones. Even if, like me, all you have so far is a means of keeping everyone alive and relatively well for a week long power outage, it’s a start. We will learn and continue to build upon this small start, but my family was extremely happy that when the lights went out and Dad was gone, they had food, water, a generator, security, etc. Dad felt a lot better knowing when I could not call them, and could not get to them, they had supplies and were going to be ok.
In the big picture sense, the New Jersey and New York are NOT prepared for these events like the Carolinas and Florida. This will be a wake-up call for many, and it will ruin many others. I hope the riots aren’t too bad, but I do believe they’re coming. Thanks for SurvivalBlog, it is a tremendous help to many of us in lots of ways! - M.B.

Jim:
Good morning. Here’s Storm Update #4 from Princeton and Atlantic City, New Jersey areas.
 
Saturday Morning. No power at our home in the Princeton area. Lost another neighbor yesterday. The one with the rental genny, family of five, they left for their mother’s home in Pennsylvania. Last night was cold, and I imagine dealing with one space heater in a bedroom was not comfortable, coupled with the shower situation. We are all on well water here. So, if the genny isn’t hard-wired into the system, no power for water. If I had to figure the circuit connection on the fly, I’m guessing I could MacGyver it - though it would obviously not pass inspection and there would be a risk factor – but they had other options and this is not Mad Max world. Again, my wife and I offered our home, but they politely declined. Another neighbor to text when our utilities are restored.
 
Yesterday, we gave both of our daughters a break. My wife initially planned to drive them to a horse stable about 10 miles way – this is where my youngest helps around the barn, mucks, cleans gear, and brushes/feeds/grooms the horses. In exchange, she gets to ride – though we do contribute small payments to the owner (a middle-aged woman who has managed horses her entire life), who more often than not refuses to take our money. After the stable, there would be a play date with another family – they were on the way back to our home. I had the discussion with my wife about gasoline for the SUV. I’ll take the hits here for having a guzzler, but when it comes to driving my most precious possessions in the Universe, I got my wife the biggest four wheel drive vehicle I could with height clearance, a massive engine and room to spare for all of us and the dog. To my surprise, my wife acknowledged the gas concern (over the years, she has an amused, but accepting tolerance for my prepping), but she felt the benefits outweighed the costs. I agreed, and noted that our use had already lowered the gas level so we would have to find a refill.
 
Back to the stable, with 20+ horses needing daily care, the owner had a back-up generator for water, but this was unnecessary as power was restored two days ago. Well, upon arrival, the owner informed us that the utility company had cut the power to restore other areas of priority. Her genny at the main farm building (a good distance away) was pulling water slowly, and the she was busy ferrying water in her pick-up truck and caring for the horses. The kids helped for a while, but no riding. When they arrived at our friend’s home, they were greeted by the sight of 34 trees on the front of the property (more than 15 wooded acres) blown over by Sandy. My theory is that a mini-twister must have touched down, but perhaps it just took hours of sustained high winds. Power was out there too, but they had a great time exploring the grounds. I should mention that the mom is a scientist who regularly spends months in the Amazon jungle. I trust her with my family.
 
While my wife was out, I rigged up power to our water softener system, and ran it through a regeneration cycle. Our well water is super hard – lots of minerals, but fine for drinking. The water softener has other effects for soap, laundry, the pipes, etc.  Next, I hopped into the garden, grabbed two leeks and an onion, dinner was going to be a stir fry. The genny also needed refueling. One issue, no matter how careful I am when pouring the gas/funnels, I cannot seem to shake the odor of gasoline. Yeah it would be nice to have a pump, and perhaps I will rig one up when I have spare time. For now, the family tolerates it, and after scrubbing, the aroma eventually fades. Aslan, our pooch, also got in a great run in our backyard with a neighbor’s dog. They were visiting their home across the street to check status, and then returning to their parents in a section of Princeton that has power.
 
My wife and kids returned, and I later reviewed pictures of the fallen trees. After raising the garage door for my wife (no power and it’s heavy even with the spring tension), I noted that the SUV’s gas gauge showed just over half full. I was also thinking about the empty gas cans from the genny usage. The report was that gas lines were still absurd. Our town was e-mailing updates and our friends in the area had formed a close network that was using Twitter to communicate open gas locations. The Airport was offering [AVGAS] gasoline for genny use only with (lead and other additives in the fuel) for $6.00 a gallon! Knowing that I might have to fill the SUV, I opted to stay with regular gas stations – for now.
 
My wife and I agreed that late tonight (Friday still) might provide a decent window for short lines, so long as the stations stayed open. Short story – I left the house at 10:00 pm and found one of our local stations, waited in line for an hour and twenty minutes. It was unreal, and so was the “look” of the people filling up. As I got closer, I could see folks pulling all manner of gas containers from their trunks – from one gallon grime-encased plastic to ten gallon suitcase sized plastic that was difficult to lift. I half expected to see milk jugs. When I finally got to the pump, I was told either the car or the gas cans, but not both. They were running low. I told the attendant to fill the SUV. In the interim, I removed four five gallon safety cans and one five gallon plastic container from the trunk, and got ready to fill them. He came back and looked on dubiously. I followed my gut. I said, “I’m a local, come here all the time. You must be part of Horhay’s extended family or a friend.” He nodded affirmatively and said, “Family.”  I continued, “Here’s money for the gas, we’ll round it up, you keep the rest. These cans are powering the genny for our home.” With that, I started filling, and he left for another customer – they had six pumps going. By the way, I paid $5.00 per gallon of regular. Free market economics at work: supply and demand. I peeled off $200.00 in twenties – these are the largest denomination that I keep on hand – this was for 25 gallons in the cans and 12 gallons in the SUV.
 
On the way home, I got a text from our neighbor friend April – she was looking for gas for her car but had bypassed the crazy long line at the same station I had just left. I advised her immediately – she’s young – I told her to get back in that line ASAP and wait it out. Back home, as I skimmed online news after midnight, I saw that the Governor has enacted gas rationing, aka Jimmy Carter style. Beginning today, there is now an odd/even license plate system for filling up. The last number in the plate has to match the odd or even of that day of the month in order to be serviced. That’s going to go over well. Forget commuting to work, and traveling up and down the state for family, unless you have enough gas to get back or can wait a few days for a reliable station.
 
Turning to the Jersey Shore, mom has gone dark. She was supposed to make her way from Pennsylvania to the hotel near our home in Margate, NJ. We have called her mobile phone and the house line several times with no response. I’m not worried yet, but this morning I will track down the hotel and see if she checked in. One of our local crew who lives in Ventnor City (shut down for infrastructure, but residents allowed back), the town next to Margate, described the area in a text message this way, “It’s the Twilight Zone down here.” He sent a picture of our garage – the waves had knocked the doors out and sand/seaweed/muck was piled high. No one was at the house, and he couldn’t get in to see the first floor or basement. He is going to visit our house again today and see if mom is around. On a separate note, I saw a post on Facebook from another Shore friend, stating that she reported potential looting. There was a private truck driving around her neighborhood and loading up with appliances and similar items at the curb. One Facebook commenter told her to relax, this was acceptable. She replied, “Yeah, but not at 11:00pm, and they were driving way too slow and using a flash light to shine in peoples’ yards.” She notified the police. I have not received an update on this yet.
 
One final comment for the preppers of the world: The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant confirmed near-total cooling pump failure, and power failure. The back-up diesels saved the day on the spent fuel pool. Salem I, which had the emergency steam release, has been quiet. No further news that I can find. In a real long-term grid down scenario… there are more than a hundred nuclear power plants/reactors in the US alone. And so I ask, with all seriousness, are we doomed under such circumstances regardless of our plans?
 
I understand that other parts of NJ and NY are in far worse shape than here, and that a Nor’easter might be approaching early next week. However, I keep thinking that things will change in the Princeton area with the flip of a switch, i.e., power restored. But until then, we are in crisis mode, and there are strange concerns occupying my mind while this lasts.
 
This is neither exciting, nor fun. But I will remain upbeat for my family. - Bill H.

James,
A friend of mine who is in the know with the FCC told me that in a few years all AM/FM commercial radio stations will be changing from analog to digital broadcast. Most or all AM/FM radios will not work after this is implemented is what he said. Have you heard anything about this and he also told me even the OTA car radios would not work and have to be replaced. I asked him if someone was going to come up with a converter like they did for televisions and he said probably not.  This person is not one to tell something that is not true and he is a retired electrical engineer that used to work for one of the local television stations. Have you heard anything about this? Thanks, - Randy H.

JWR Replies: The digital transition is not mandatory and most stations are presently not planning to change. And if they do, they will likely broadcast in parallel (analog and digital) for many years. Furthermore, the FCC hasn't even set a uniform standard (since there are several competing digital systems.)

The "installed base" of analog AM and FM radios is huge. (If you count car radios, there are roughly 11 working radios for each television in America.) Thus, for at least the next couple of decades a full transition is impractical. And, unlike the converter boxes for analog televisions connected to Cable TV, a digital "converter" for a radio would be a completely new receiver. This would mean that the only functionality you would salvage from the old analog radio would be the antenna, amplifier and loudspeaker.

As a long term hedge against the digital trend, I recommend that the only analog radios that SurvivalBlog readers henceforth buy are very sensitive analog radios that are multiband--including shortwave bands--and that have a BFO. That way, even if analog AM and FM commercial broadcasts are phased out, then those radios will still have considerable usefulness for international shortwave listening. My favorite EMP-resistant multiband tube radio is the Hallicrafters S-38E or S-38EM. (The latter has identical guts, but in a faux mahogany cabinet.) They can be operated on both 120 Volt AC and DC. These can often be found on eBay for less than $80, or at garage sales for less than $40. (I bought one of mine for $10!) Either replace the electrolytic capacitors yourself, or if that is beyond your level of hobby electronics expertise, then buy one that has already been "re-capped."

Since the analog to digital transition will be protracted, I suspect that the makers of sophisticated multiband ("general coverage") receivers (such as Drake, Kenwood, and ICOM) will produce several new generations of receivers that are multi-mode. (Analog and digital.) Essentially these will be configured like the venerable Kenwood R-2000, but with capability of demodulating the latest digital modes. But you might want to wait a few years to see how the new AM and FM digital radio standards shake out, because they have yet to go through their equivalent of the Betamax Versus VHS War.

For some details on the digital transition, see the Wikipedia page on HD Radio.

Hello,
I'm a long time reader of your blog and books. I live in Philadelphia. We have a house in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

Please look at Seven Mile Island Times and Stone Harbor on Facebook for an idea of our situation there. The whole island was underwater. Our docks washed away and our boat is on the sidewalk, still chained to the trailer. 

We lucked out, the house is fine and built high. We still have electricity and water in Philly. What I took away from this experience can be seen in this HuffPo article.

We were prepared: I filled the tub with water, and topped off all our [vehicle] gas [tanks] prior. A buddy of mine lost power and has no water (pump to well died). His new generator is useless because there is no gas available anywhere. He couldn't even drive to work. Thousands are in line to buy gas all across the region, cans in hand. Stations are either empty and can't rely on distribution, or their pumps are down because of power outages. A family member left NYC this morning to drive to the house in Jersey to see the damage. Despite his full tank, he didn't have enough gas and after reaching a line of cars a mile and a half long had to turn back to NY. We have our vehicles filled up and a few cans topped off. I'm the only one that can get there to see the damage first hand, going Friday myself. Things are bad, but this gas situation shocked me and I heard about it all day from friends and co workers who were in a bad way because of it. Many here were caught with nothing. No power, no water, no gas. Thanks to our preps and luck, we're fairing well. Point being, take this type of disaster seriously and encourage people you know to prepare ahead of time. Fill those fuel tanks and stabilize them! Best, - T.H.

Good Morning,
We live just north of Philadelphia in a suburban area. Because of a house fire we are living in a recreational vehicle (RV) on our property during the [insurance] settlement and restoration of our house. Prior to the storm, the RV was parked close to our apple trees (we have several acres and are blessed with a large garden and fruit trees) and so decided that for the hurricane we should move it to the driveway where it could sit on a hard surface.  About the time that it looked like we should head west to our retreat area instead of waiting out the storm...the roads were closed for all high profile vehicles, trailers, etc. so we couldn't leave. As a side note, our retreat area was dealing with high winds and snow. So having said all that, here are some of the results and my thoughts:
 
1) Had this been a true emergency (G.O.O.D.) we would have been in real trouble as we couldn't get the RV out of the yard (she is older, 37 ft. long and 20,000 lbs. loaded). We had to call a towing service to winch her out and fortunately did so several days before the storm hit. The point? Make sure if you are using an RV as a bug out vehicle that it can actually move. Parking it off to the side somewhere might be convenient but not do so well if you need to get it out fast. The ground was solid when we originally situated her but soft when we went to move her due to recent rain and cloudy days not drying things out. Also, make sure you start all of your systems regularly as they are no different than any other piece of equipment. Heat, air, truck engine, generator, batteries, all need to be maintained and started monthly to ensure that they will work for you when you need them. Tires crack and get dry rot when not taken care of or used.
 
2) Because of the weight of the vehicle we had very little movement of the RV during the high winds. A couple of scary moments when gusts reached 70 mph but over all, pretty good. My complaint of how much gas she uses over the road because of her weight is no longer a complaint as the weight kept the RV grounded. We put the stabilizers down just enough to support and level but not enough to take the RV off of her tires. I keep the gas tank topped off and stabilized just in case, so always have 75 gal. of gas for driving and generator use but in a bug out situation she will only go about 400 miles on that tank. Our retreat area is 650 miles away...so we would have to carry extra gas. Another consideration is, what if gas is used for generator power before bugging out.
 
3) We had heat, electricity(generator), water, food and septic when everyone around us was in darkness so things stayed normal for us. We ended up putting the RV right next to the neighbors house so we could use the RV generator to keep his septic pump, sump pumps and our freezer working (he has been so kind as to allow us to put our fully loaded freezer in his garage since the fire). Although we had over 125 gal of gas, 2- 100 lb propane tanks and kerosene, had this been of long duration we would be hoofing it out on foot after a few weeks or in a real rough camping environment. Also, our food stores are in a storage unit for the time being and would have to be left behind if we had to leave. Reality is a sobering thought.
 
4) If you are bugging out, get out before the roads are closed. That one is a hard decision to make as before a storm or an emergency everything seems normal and you have no idea how bad things will get or good they will be. So when do you leave? Good question and one that we are discussing for the future. We waited too long in this case and had it been catastrophic for this area we would have been part of the catastrophe. Even though we have 2 years of food and our beans, bullets and band aids in order.
 
5) I went to our storage unit a few hours before the storm was to start to get a couple of buckets of grain and my grain grinder, along with other supplies. While there, decided to pay the unit rent early. Inside the office the young man behind the desk was fielding calls from other storage facilities as to what to do to prepare their properties for the storm. He responded that he had no clue and told me that there wasn't anything in their manual on how to handle this sort of situation. I asked him if he had any personal supplies, he responded that he some canned food. I then asked him if he had a non electric can opener to open his cans with and he didn't think so. WOW... For those who have supplies in storage units, check to see what provisions they have in place for security in grid down scenario and for goodness sake don't let anyone know that you have food stored there. Our storage unit is a mile away and I realized that in a serious situation we would have to move those supplies quickly and quietly.
 
6) We were able to stay in communications with the children who live in our retreat area through texting when the phones and cell service were spotty. I was able to use my hotspot intermittently for e-mails, news and weather. We also have a hand cranked weather radio that works very well had we needed it.
 
7) This is off topic but I have a years supply of my blood pressure medicine. I was able to get it through an online pharmacy in Canada. They require a hand written script and communication with your physician but I get six months of name brand prescriptions for what it costs for one month here in the States. I can reorder as often as I feel the need. Just thought that might help some folks out there that are having trouble getting more than a couple of months of their medicines.
 
I will close this by saying that we were very blessed! This area is pretty much back online with electricity being restored, roads open, shops opening and things getting back to normal. Yes, there were/are trees down and power outages but compared to our neighboring states we fared very well. As for as our personal conversations are concerned...we thought we were reasonably prepared but realized that in spite of our preparations we are still very vulnerable and our way of life, very fragile. I don't know what conclusions will come out of our discussions but I do know that adjustments will be made.
 
I have really appreciated this blog and the information it contains, which I check daily. It has inspired us and educated us so that we can be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
 
God's Blessings to all, - Lynda H.

Dear Sir,
 
I am an resident of New York City and a long-time reader of your web site.  I endured Hurricane Sandy without incident, but frankly, the storm poked a few holes in my urban preparedness model.  Rather than provide a play-by-play account of my experiences, I want to share some of the valuable lessons I gained from this exercise in survival.
 
*  For starters, I will acknowledge that a densely packed urban environment situated on an island (aka Manhattan) is the worst place to endure any crisis.  I am surrounded by millions, many of whom would have no issue with taking from me by force, largely because they remain entirely dependent on government handouts and have little concept of independence and self-reliance.  Political commentary aside, that is a real threat to my safety.  That threat, coupled with the uphill battle to legally possess a firearm in the city, puts me at a strategic disadvantage should the situation degrade beyond a certain point.  New York City, by its very nature, requires a vast and steady influx of resources via bridge, tunnel, and air.  Cripple this transport infrastructure and the city is left helpless without provisions.  Take home lesson:  some locations are better are inherently superior for a survival situation – this city is not one of them.
 
*  Fight or flight.  When the reality of the storm hitting New York was largely certain, I had to make my first major decision:  I either stay put and ride it out, or flee the city in advance of the storm.  After careful consideration, weighing factors such as the size of the storm, my transportation options, where I could go, family and work obligations, and others, I decided to ride it out.  Immediately, and without hesitation, once I committed to staying put, I was “all in” – there was no downtime at that point until I was satisfied with my planning and execution.  That said, one of my next projects in my preparedness practice will be to flesh out just what my options are in leaving this city in a pinch.
 
* Checklists are essential.  In the past, I have scoffed at maintaining a preparedness checklist on the basis that I could pretty much rattle off the items on such a checklist without much thought.  But in crisis mode where my stress levels were elevated, doubt crept in.  I found myself Googling various web sites for preparedness checklists since I was now second-guessing myself.  Granted, I had most of what was on these lists, but I wasted valuable time and introduced doubt into my planning.  Not a good start.  So lesson learned, have a list, periodically review it, and refine as needed.
 
*  If you use up any of your supplies or preps, replace them ASAP.  I had no water reserves going into this storm.  I had used up my water supply cache some months ago when our water filter was malfunctioning, and never replaced it.  Never again.  I took a three prong approach:  first, I filled used water bottles, canteens, sealed containers and such and put them in the fridge.  Made sense to me to use what I had first, rather than attempt to seek it out at stores.  Second, I ordered some Chinese food for lunch and had them bring me several liters of water with my meal.  I am not trying to sound flippant here; I was hungry, busy with final pre-storm prep work, and needed water – so I leveraged a delivery service to help me on all counts.  Expanding on this point, most people flock to stores to buy water, only to scavenge the shelves bare very quickly.  Restaurants, especially takeout places have generous bottled water supplies for sale, and most people wouldn’t think of is this avenue for a last ditch prepping effort, but I did.  Lastly, I did venture out to a store once done with all my at-home work to literally walk among the sheep and serve as a reminder to myself to never be in this situation again.
 
*  Beans, Band-Aids, bullets – and batteries.  I was somewhat surprised when a friend of mine told me that the stores had run out of batteries.  Who doesn’t stock up on batteries, I wondered.  I was well stocked, and furthermore have a whole kit dedicated to small-device charging.  I cannot tell you the number of people whose mobile phones were without charge and this was shortly after losing power!  There are battery packs, solar chargers, adapters for charging through a laptop or car.  Not to mention the basic premise of keeping your phone or other devices charged in the first place.  I guess this mirrors the principle of always keeping your gas tank at least half full.  Lastly, I counseled several friends of mine who were without batteries to purchase cheap consumer electronics that came with batteries – there were plenty of these sitting on shelves.
 
*  Be prepared to leave.  Everyone and their cousin has a Bug Out Bag today.  Filled with survival gear, emergency rations, weapons, and the like.  What about valuable and irreplaceable documents (passport, birth certificate, titles, deeds, business papers, etc.), irreplaceable computer files, cherished possessions (including cash, jewelry, precious metals).  All of these are resources that may not help you survive during the actual crisis, but will certainly help you thrive after the crisis has ended.  While holed up in my apartment, I went over several scenarios where I would be forced to leave.  Regardless of why I would have to leave, I posed the question:  assuming I had to flee with 5 minutes notice and the apartment was later destroyed, looted, or whatever – what items would allow me to rebuild my life?  What was essential, and what wasn’t? I find these questions to be of great value, not only in a weather emergency, but also when applied to other, greater threat scenarios.  It really forces the individual to distill their thinking to what’s vital, and what’s not.  In my case, much, but certainly not all of what I would need to rebuild my life is largely portable and small.  The deficiency in my case was computer backups – not portable by any practical measure, nor weather proof.  This is now being rectified.
 
*  Communication is crucial.  Ahead of the storm, I contacted the important people in my life, told them I was going to stay put, and that there was a real chance the grid could go down and I could lose communications.  This contact put my mind at ease, which of course makes any survival situation more endurable.  Furthermore, during the storm and its aftermath, cell phone and internet service was largely disrupted.  It’s an important question to answer:  how do you communicate with the important people in your life when the telecom networks are degraded or down?  Small things, like utilizing text messaging (or SMS) more than voice calls.  An SMS will use less bandwidth than a voice call, and will never arrive garbled.  Mind you, it may never arrive at all, but I found the use of SMS to be more useful than having to deal with spotty, hard-to-decipher voice calls.  Technical issues aside, brevity and clarity are key.  During and right after a storm are not the time to talk at length.
 
*  Emotional health is vitally important.  I had food, water, shelter, not to mention power, TV, and Internet.  I was not lacking materially in any way.  But while holed up at home during the storm, I was anxious, feeling unsettled, and had difficulty sleeping at night.  Uncertainty, doubt, fear of the unknown – these were all forces I was battling with.  Granted, this is normal as the city I live in was being battered.  In truth, I thought with all my provisions and creature comforts, I would not be upset or agitated in the slightest.  Reminding myself that I had taken good precautions and was well-supplied helped to assuage my concerns.  Prayer or meditation may have been helpful as well, but I engaged in neither.
 
*  Start small.  My preparedness model was premised on a 3-day survival situation in a grid-down situation.  It was uncomfortable mentally to fathom a prolonged disaster situation, and my role in it.   I now see that burying my head in the sand is hardly the answer, and the only way to feel safe will be to expand and refine my survival model.  I am now looking into preparing for incidents of greater severity and duration, one variable at time.
 
Sincerely, - M.D.A.

Jim:
I live in Princeton, NJ with my wife and daughters, and my mother resides in our family home on the beach block in Margate, NJ (i.e., the Shore – Atlantic City area). I put together two updates for our friends. Thought they might be of interest to your readers – though I apologize for the clipped writing style.
 
Update # 1 – Wednesday morning. I finally slept a fair bit last night (Tuesday) and as the electronics have charged from the generator, here’s the scoop. Make no mistake Mother Nature still rules. You are going to lose the head on collision, so best to lightly sidestep her dominion whenever possible.
 
I prepared my family and house in Princeton, and was still surprised. I think a lot of people were, especially at the Shore. There aren’t a lot of locals left who can remember the 1944 Hurricane, and there was a much different population for the 1962 storm. From the little I have heard from my Shore friends, those who stayed regretted the decision. The Shore got crushed, power will be out for a week or more and the drinking water is compromised – there is a boil alert as well as filtration. That’s assuming they get the news. Generators are great, but few folks had them, and those that did, well let’s just say that six feet of storm surge pretty much kills your genny… as you are unlikely to have it placed much higher on the property.
 
Let’s come back to Princeton for the moment. I had the house pretty well fixed. Outside stuff stowed and roped, and I put two little giant pumps on the floor of the basement and rigged their hoses 75 feet out one of the basement windows. If the power went early, I had the portable gasoline driven genny on the front porch… sheltered enough to run and ventilate. Many people don’t know that your typical portable genny is not designed to operate in significant rain - though many will last for a while – there is a good chance of shorting the electrical systems and in getting shocked. I also had two 100 foot extensions cords through the front window to the basement for each. Short story – we thankfully didn’t get as much rain as was forecast. No real issue in basement.
 
On Monday afternoon, before any of the heavy storm impact hit, we were surprised by a knock on the door. Our neighbor lost part of his roof and is looking for tarps, caulk, tape, rope, etc. I was able to help with these items and also the contact info for our home contractor who had put out an e-mail earlier advising they were available for emergency repairs. This neighbor has a wife and three children – good family – bad sign to lose the roof before the real storm winds arrived. Told him our house is open and to let me know if he needs anything else.
 
While we had the utilities working, my kids were fine. Though by about 6:30 pm, the winds began to escalate dramatically. Even with the games and TV, they were nervous. It was dark and loud outside – things were flying by and the power had been flickering. At 7:00 pm power failed. By 7:30 pm, we made the decision to go down to the basement. The wind was roaring at 60-70 mph plus sustained and higher gusts in the 80’s – learned this later. So we set up an area with sleeping bags, pillows, lanterns and snacks. Our basement is unfinished – cold concrete floor – but does have shelves, storage bins, etc. I was not prepared for the fear in my kids’ eyes, nor was I expecting the knot in my chest as we could hear the house shutter and pipes rattle with the faster wind bursts.
 
So with all my readiness… I was still humbled and doing my best to reassure the kids that we were fine. Best decision was to give each of them a chocolate bar and burn through the charge on my wife’s laptop watching episodes of Psych – a funny detective show on TV. We had the occasional trip upstairs to go to the bathroom – no flushing without the power. We are on well water. I had water in the bathtub ready for this, but not during the height of the winds. The flashlight showed trees down, fencing gone, stuff flying and I was worried about one of our old growth trees hitting the house. No detours – bathroom and then back to the basement.
 
After midnight, when the winds had settled at more like 30 to 40 mph, we moved to the first floor guest bedroom. The kids nodded off with my wife and I went outside to start the genny. The temperature was dropping – though we had ample blankets for that – it was more to avoid food spoilage in the refrigerator. Most refrigerators will give you 4-6 hours unopened of decent cold. You can extend it a bit by turning the temp down pre-storm (which I did on both refrigerator and freezer), but after that… food will spoil. Freezers are better – probably 2 to 3 days if not opened - possibly more, and especially if full of food or home-made ice bags to take up the empty space.
 
So, in the wind and rain, and with a hat to protect against flying branches and lantern, I repositioned the genny near our exterior hard-line hookup. This is where we plug the genny into the house systems and I use the man-high garage door as the rain shield. Exhaust vents outside. Again, never run a genny in a closed garage or home – the fumes will penetrate and kill. I had just serviced and tested our genny before the storm – you need to know how these things work. Choke on, first pull and she kicked in with a reassuring hum. By 1:00 am we had power to the systems. I had to unplug items that were power drains which I forgot, but essentially as I flipped the breakers in the basement on the genny auxiliary panel and we had heat, water and power to the refrigerators/freezers. I spent the night on the living room sofa waking up every hour to walk the house looking for leaks, broken windows, and checking the genny (overheating, gas leaks, oil, venting, etc.).
 
Yesterday (Tuesday) is a bit of a blur.  Mid-morning, I discovered that our neighbors had sheltered in their basements as well. Trees were down everywhere, roads were closed, flooding by the river, no power. Anyone without a working genny was leaving for friends and family that had one. Temps are getting colder this entire week, and then there’s food and water. I made fresh coffee for folks, offered food and then began assessing damage and clean-up. I always keep the chain saw oiled and ready from the last use, and so I put on my Kevlar chaps and began cutting trees.
 
Around mid-day I refueled the genny. This means shutting everything down, then pouring in the gasoline, then restart, then circuits. If you don’t, you can blow the systems starting the genny with a full electric load. I heard from one neighbor that there was access to Highway 206 via one road, and I thought about gasoline. Between chain saw and genny… it was a priority. The kids played games, saw another show on the laptop which was charged as were phones, and we had another knock on the door from another neighbor friend – April. After she got hot apple cider, food and good company she walked back to her home.
 
At about 3:00 pm, and before daylight sank further, I headed out for gasoline. Got about four miles, passed two police roadblocks, all traffic lights out and roads closed, and after passing my 3rd gas station that was closed with a no fuel sign, I called it a day. What was I thinking? This was a surprise to me, but should not have been. Everyone else was burning gas like crazy too. The stations were out until roads opened for refueling, and even then, the rest of NJ is in deep, so who knows how long that will take.
 
Returning home, I hit my emergency gasoline supply under the tarps outside – the five gallon steel safety cans had been there since last summer, but I had put Sta-Bil in the gas to keep it good beyond the usual 3 months. There are commercial grade versions that will give you years, but I don’t have access to that stuff… at least, not yet. Short story, the gasoline went into the genny and is just fine. This means I am good to go for several days with 24-hour genny use. I’ll venture out tomorrow to see if any of the gas stations are open with fuel.
 
Back to the Shore… I hopped onto Facebook for a few minutes. It is not easy using your mobile phone for Internet access on some web sites. On a serious note, the Shore is a mess. I was able to find out that our home still stands, but that in all likelihood has been flooded out. Our basement would be a swimming pool with all systems killed. There is 3 to 4 feet of beach sand filling the entire length of the street and from every home. High tides are still bringing in flooding, but not nearly as much as the full-moon tide on Monday. People were evacuated by chopper, the island was cut-off with all roads impassable, and clean-up will take weeks. People had live wires in their yards, short circuits in homes as water flooded, natural gas lines that need to be secured, trees down, windows broken, etc. Numerous homes, though elevated, have been hit with 2 to 4 feet of ocean water (this means mold), overnight temperatures are headed to the 30’s and 40’s this week, and they do not have any systems to boil water, etc. My mom is still evacuated, not sure when she can return. Have not heard anyone mention looting in Margate, but I did see one report in Atlantic City (though I cannot tell credibility of source). Let’s see what happens the next few days.
 
Going to start the day now… there’s work to be done, kids need breakfast, no school until maybe Friday, Halloween cancelled, and my wife (who is now standing beside me) says her throat is swollen and sore.
 
Thanks for checking in with us… I’ll send another update when I have a free moment. Internet access is spotty, but I have to say I am grateful for our Verizon portable secured 4 G Wi-fi device. It is no bigger than a cell phone and has about a six to eight hour charge capacity. But it lets us access the Net with multiple devices from anywhere. The data package is expensive for this, but in emergencies that’s not my first concern.
 
Storm Update #2:
 
Thursday morning. Yesterday, Halloween was cancelled by executive order, but I spent the day doing more clean-up anyway. Chain saw cutting, and stacking some wood for the fireplace even though green. Helped neighbors across the street who had a rental genny. Offered showers and heat as their genny is only extension cords for refrigerator and small appliances. My girls had a bit of cabin fever and it doesn’t help that my wife is not feeling good. Made tea, soup and fresh wholesome food left in the refrigerator. Also, we still have lots of kale, onions, scallions, leeks and herbs in the garden. These are my winter hardy plants that last well into the cold weather. They survived the storm winds being low to the ground and well rooted. The girls are also helping with the hand washing of the dishes… not fun.
 
Also took some time to walk the dog… Aslan needed a romp for his mental exercise. Spent an hour fixing the back fence so Aslan could be let outside without a leash and deer could be kept out. The fence will probably need total replacement, but at the moment, there are no gaping holes. The power drill and deck screws worked like a charm. Lots of periodic sirens – I’m guessing medical and fires related to generators/space heaters failures and accidents.
 
The girls don’t have school this week. We got word that power was restored late yesterday to the school, but that the roads were still impassable. There is an order from the Governor to stay off the roads unless essential travel only. It gets dark early, so by 3:30 pm things are winding down and the lanterns are on for reading and general action around the living room. I have rechargeable lanterns and battery throw away… no issue for now.
 
The temperature all day yesterday was cool and very chilly by evening. People without power were warming themselves in their cars. On Aslan’s evening walk, I could see the car headlights in various driveways. I think it also let people charge cell phones. This brings up the glaring problem for the moment – gasoline. Our genny is doing very well on gas consumption… but between it and the chain saw, we are burning a fair amount. Same with the neighbors, and especially the ones using the cars for heaters. The town has opened the Rec/Senior centers for temporary warmth and water – but not after 8:00pm. Don’t know how many people are driving to use these facilities. Anyway, back to gas. While I used on/off shutdowns for the genny for a few hours of the time to save gas – I had the living room fireplace raging yesterday – this is not optimal especially for the refrigerators. Yesterday, I heard from two neighbors that they had found open gas stations with ridiculous lines and rationing. As it was getting late, I opted to stay home and deal with it today.
 
Woke up today (Thursday) at 6:30 am, and headed out with 4 five gallon safety cans looking for open gas stations. The Traffic lights were still out and only the main artery roads are dependable to be open. I was lucky to find two gas stations within 5 miles of the house. Gas stations that were open yesterday were now empty of gas. As to these two that were open, they already had lines of cars 50 deep. They also had police officers enforcing the lines, gas rationing (10 gallon maximum per person) and general traffic flow order. It took me and hour plus, and it was cash only as I expected, but I started home with 20 gallons of gas. I thought about coffee on the way, and pulled into our main shopping center with a Thomas Sweet, or in the alternative, a Dunkin Donuts in the ShopRite Supermarket. The entire center was closed. ShopRite was open with minimal lighting and I had hope, but when I got to the door, there was a sign saying they only had non-perishable items for sale. The mini-Dunkin Donut stand was closed. By the way, we are hearing from other supermarkets… same story. They cooked what they could, donated to soup kitchens and have thrown out the rest of the spoiled food. At this point, I think Whole Foods on Route 1 may be our best bet for fresh food. As you guys know, I have plenty of non-perishables. And yes, I do have organic coffee at the house, so I am enjoying a cup as I type. I just have to unplug other stuff to brew it.
 
I am breaking to refill our genny with gas. Next agenda once things warm up is to get the fireplace going, and then I will rig up extension cords so that we can do laundry for the first time since Sunday morning. Bear in mind, my genny is only hard-wired into the home for critical systems, and that didn’t include the washer and dryer. So I will need to power them and the house water system – should be fine – but they are energy hogs.
 
We also got word that five nuclear power plants had issues during the storm, and that Salem actually had a “controlled” emergency steam release and pump failures. Nice. I’m sure it was only safe levels of radiation, no harm to the public. Right. Oyster Creek was offline anyway, but had cooling issues with the spent fuel pool. I’m assuming that the state and Federal folks are on top of this. Hopefully.
 
The update on the Shore is pretty dim. We still don’t have good onsite intel. Island access is closed and the residents are upset/trapped. On the positive side, there are parts of Margate with power. There is limited non-perishable food and no fresh items, and water remains contaminated. Some areas are still flooded – though its draining. Ventnor City which is right next to Margate, is sealed off due to city septic failure and more than 1,000 homes with moderate to severe damage. We have received limited pictures of our home from locals and a Sheriff friend. The sand is piled against the house three feet deep which means the six feet of water on top of that probably got into the entire first floor and basement. All critical systems will be trashed. We are beginning the process of talking to contractors and getting mom situated at a nearby hotel to make daily trips to the home to coordinate. She’s upset, but holding up - tough nut.
 
Cheers. I mean that: single malt whiskey does not need refrigeration, is good for brushing teeth and warms the soul. - Bill H.

James,
I'm located in central New Jersey not far from the Delaware River. In the days prior to the hurricane hitting, everyone packed the supermarkets, warehouse clubs and home improvement stores to stock up.

At the home improvement stores, the people who had best luck getting generators were those who purchased them online and selected in-store pickup. There were lines of people 100+ deep from the front of the store to the back waiting for new shipments of generators to arrive. The only people who were guaranteed anything were those who had already purchased and paid online.

For those lucky enough to get a generator, they'd have a hard time fueling it if they didn't already have gas cans and gas stored at home. The shelves were cleared of gas cans days before the storm hit.

The warehouse club that we are members of sold out of water the day before the storm hit. They normally have pallets of water on shelves up to the ceiling along the length of an entire aisle. That aisle was completely bare. They also sold out of most fruits/and vegetables that could store for a little without power. The displays that normally hold bananas and apples were bare.

Flashlights and D batteries were gone days before the storm too. The only ones that were left were plug-in rechargeable flashlights that would be of little use after the first discharge in a power outage.

My sister had luck finding a huge display of batteries at a big chain baby store. Most people went straight to the supermarkets and home improvement stores, not thinking that many other types of stores also kept basic supplies.

The winds really started to pick up Monday afternoon. There wasn't much rain, even at the height of the storm, but the winds were very strong. Our house, which is only 4 years old, shuddered a couple of times in the highest gusts. We didn't sustain any physical damage to the house, but a couple of small trees tilted over but didn't uproot or break. Some sections of vinyl fencing in our neighborhood blew out and shattered from the force of the wind.

Sections of our neighborhood started to lose power around 6 PM not long after the hurricane made landfall. Street lights were out and the power to houses across the street were out. From our upstairs windows, we watched the sky glow blue and pink in all directions as transformers blew. Every minute or so another one would blow.

Finally, around 8:30 PM, we watched a transformer light the sky up for about 30 seconds. When it finally darkened, we and the rest of our neighborhood were out of power.

I had filled our spare refrigerator in our garage with cases of water and the spare freezer with bags of ice. I also took every empty plastic jug and bottle out of our recycling bins and filled them 3/4 of the way with water and froze them in our main/spare freezers. Every inch of freezer space that wasn't packed with food was packed with an ice bottle.

I knew our refrigerator wouldn't keep food cold long, so we immediately transferred our most critical food (milk for the kids, etc.) into ice filled coolers. The main freezer with most of our frozen food and frozen water bottles was never opened. It stayed perfectly cold until the power came back on, and most of the ice bottles had barely started to thaw. The food in our ice-filled coolers also was fine. We did sacrifice non-critical food that we didn't have space for in the coolers to the garbage bin.

We lit the house with long-lasting led lanterns that definitely did the trick. We hunkered around an old battery power radio to keep up with storm news, and gave our two-year old son a spare lantern to play with, which kept him happy. With no power and little news expected until morning, we turned in early (for us) at around 10 PM.

Our furnace was out and we don't have a fireplace, so the temperature dropped to the low 60s in our house overnight. It was a little chilly, but we were comfortable enough. We were definitely lucky it wasn't colder outside.

By the morning the storm had passed and a family that we are very close friends with down the street had their generator running. We and several of our friends congregated there for the day. They had enough power for their refrigerator, several lights, a tv and cable box, and a power strip for charging phones.

Although the power was out, the cable stayed on until around noon so we were able to see the first images of storm damage. After the cable went out, most of us switched to our web-enabled smartphones and social media to stay informed and reach out to friends.

We grilled outside for lunch and dinner, with everyone pitching in food that would go bad if unused. Everyone with spare gas stored was prepared to pitch in whatever they had until the power came back on to keep the generator running. We brought over 10 gallons that wasn't needed.

Cell phone service was spotty. People who were subscribers of one the two major cell providers in our area had no problem making/receiving calls and surfing the web. Subscribers of the other major service had a signal, but couldn't make calls and their data service only worked intermittently.

The day after the storm, most traffic lights remained out. All gas stations and most stores were closed. One home improvement store opened under emergency power. They only let a limited number of people into the front part of the store where they had set up displays with their remaining emergency supplies (flashlights, batteries, power cords, and a new supply of gas cans). They surprisingly even accepted credit cards. Some other stores we checked out only accepted cash if they were open at all.

24 hours after the power went out, it came back on for most of our neighborhood. We're definitely lucky since of the 2/3 of our state that was without power, only about 15-20% of homes had been restored when we were reconnected.

It was an interesting experience for a day, but something that none of us would have been happy to have continue. We all realized, individually and as a group, what things we were missing that could have made us more comfortable.

Although we were lucky that our part of the state suffered little more than downed trees and power lines, New Jersey is very small so we all have friends in the hardest hit parts of the Jersey Shore and we are very familiar with the popular vacation spots that have been destroyed.

I've been in contact with friends who live just blocks from the beach who have raised homes and still have standing water lapping at their front doors. A few other friends live in beach neighborhoods that have essentially become islands with bridges, highways and other access roads out of service and surrounded by water. Others left some of the very hardest hit communities before the storm hit and don't know if their homes are still standing.

Some neighborhoods devastated by storm surge and flooding are now burning. Along some of the barrier islands, emergency services from the mainland are cut off and fires will likely be left to burn themselves out. Some entire towns are expected to burn.

There are a lot of people who have lost everything and many who are still in harm's way. Keep them in your prayers. Thanks, - Brad S.

James,
I have family from Pennsylvania to Maine.  I tried to encourage my family and cousins who I knew would be affected by Sandy to visit me in the mountains of New England, but they were all so sure that they could survive the storm. 
 
Only one family had a generator.  It wasn't wired into the house, so plenty of extension cords are in use there.  The others had nothing at all setup.  So I briefed them on filling the tub, freezing extra containers for ice, etc.  And all were briefed on staying put during and after the storm.
 
Of course, some don't listen so well.  While all survived in some fashion, here is the latest and worse from my cousin on Long Island:

"Pumping out water all day.
We had absolutely not a drop of [drinking] water. Storm surge at 830 p.m. and we were seeing it force its way in at the rate of a foot a minute!! I have never witnessed anything like that in my life!
Scary stuff!!!

We tried to hold it back just no way hydraulic pressure was just too much.
Total 10 feet of water. We jumped ship when it got to 6 feet. Then couldn't get to [deleted for OPSEC]'s house... Every path home and on every road trees were down, we didn't plan for that. We slept at a friend's aunt's house. She welcomed us (dog and all) with open arms and we are total strangers. The walls all cracked assuming will be a total loss.

We are going to call it quits soon will be back at it again tomorrow. No [phone] service so can't call our insurance company. Friends are coming from all over to help. No big deal--It is just a material asset. Insurance hopefully covers hurricanes. We are fortunate, as it could've been much worse."

He was right.  They were fortunate.  They could have drowned leaving during the night.  They could have been injured trying to leave that location to their 'safe' house.
 
I suspect that the next time they will evacuate in a timely fashion.  I doubt that they will ever disparage a prepared mindset again.
 
We can't save folks from themselves.
 
I will head into New York and New Jersey when possible to reach them with support.  I expect to have to wait until after this coming Tuesday.
 
Thank you for your SurvivalBlog site! Regards, - Mike A.

Good Morning to You!
Our area of the East coast was spared the worst brunt of the storm.  Massive snowfalls to our west, and massive flooding to the east.  We were very fortunate.

We live on top of a hill, and by Monday morning, we had water filling our basement.  I went outside with middle son, and we found a deep hole filled with water next to the foundation of our house.  We dug a ditch from the edge of the hole far, far away from the edge of the hole and down the hill well past the fall line.  I would estimate we dug at least 30 feet of mud.  While I dug, my son took the shovels of dirt that I pulled out of the ground and put it back into the hole by the foundation.  Once we were finished, we moved the drainage pipe from the gutters so that it, too, fed into the ditch we had dug away from the house.  10 more inches of rain fell over the next 24 hours, but no more of it ran into our basement. 

I understand now what you mean when you say you need to be physically fit!  I'm a 40 something mother of three, and my 17 year old son and I put in a good two hours worth of physical work in the driving rain, diverting water away from the house.  Maybe insurance would have covered the damage if we hadn't done the work, but I prefer the effort of digging a ditch in the rain to the effort of clearing a basement of water and carpets and furniture.  Best two hours worth of work I've ever done, and our house is still in one piece!
 
Besides the obvious water and wind damage around here, there is one thing that stuck out more and more:  The number of people killed by falling trees.  Tall trees close to the house really do need to be trimmed back so that damage is lessened if a tree or limb falls on a house.  One gentleman told the story of how he and his father had a conversation on Saturday about how they needed to trim or cut down the tree next to the house.  Then on Monday, his father was killed instantly when the tree fell on the house during high winds. 

Peace to you all. - B.L.W.

James,
The report from Delaware. With the exception of flood prone and some beach front areas we dodged the bullet.

It was an excellent exercise for our small family. The preparation for with this sort of an event turns on do you stay or leave. Different priorities for equipment supplies and staging following from each of those two choices. However what this storm brought home to us (since we have a shelter in place default ) is that within the shelter in place paradigm is,"suppose that tree falls on your house and you must leave in a hurry anyway' sub-plan. Since for us in our location Sandy was forecast to be a wind event, this latter sub-plan rose up from the back burner rather forcefully.

Now, we had to pull out and check the go bags (not seen since last year's windy scare) marshal water, food rations, range bags (did I restock those mags after the last week) , document case, comms and other take-with items by the door while preparing to deal with prolonged electrical outage (potentially weeks) therefore check generator, water reserves, fuel, etc etc.. 

I found that while our shelter in place preps and SOP were fairly well in hand, the "Yikes, we got-a-go now" end was pretty confused. Part of the reason for this is that we really need to have more duplicate gear stashed in the "Go now" configuration, and it was clear from this go round that we ain't there yet. I also know as I write this that I have all sorts of essential items stowed carefully labeled clearly that I will want to toss in the vehicle, but it will take me days to think through the inventory. Not something to be doing as water is cascading through a rent in the building.

So I tell you to tell me, "build the list now while it is still fresh."

One side note: We were "powerless" for only 8 hours, but as a result I am looking to replace my noisy old Generac (such a headache! The thing just roars. I must be getting old) with newer quieter Yamaha or Honda digital. While researching I found this very useful worksheet for calculating loads on the Yamaha web site.

Blessings... Pray for the folks in New York City, Connecticut and New Jersey.... They have a long way to come back. - Dollardog

JWR:
As per your request for info out of the New York City area: Having grown up in Florida, I kind of knew what to expect. Needless to say, I was well provisioned and my powder, so to speak, was high and dry and at the ready well in advance of Sandy's final approach...

My wife and I rode out the storm in our "Brooklyn Bunker," a fourth-floor apartment in a solid pre-war building. We spent a long night watching for the flashes of transformers exploding in the wind, and darkness encroaching as lights went out in the homes all around us. Luckily, the lights managed to stay on in our neighborhood, and we didn't lose power once. After the storm passed, we emerged to discover no major damage, some trees down on cars and roofs, limited cell phone service, but that's about it...

The same can't be said for lower Manhattan and parts of Staten Island, though. The six-foot security fence around some rental property I own there came down, right into my truck. A violent storm surge turned most of the coastal communities on the island into what looks like a war zone, with the National Guard deployed to keep order. No working street lights, no stores open, no gas. People are attempting to drive into northern New Jersey to find gas stations that have power, with little luck. Con Edison now says power will be out to 60% of the island for more than a week. My tenants are in the dark with no heat...

Looking across the East River into Lower Manhattan at night, I am reminded of my time as a journalist in New Orleans during Katrina, where I witnessed another entire American city abandoned, darkened, and brought to its knees by Mother Nature (combined with a healthy dose of human stupidity). The entire subway system here is paralyzed, and along with it commerce, and most of the city's inhabitants. There are already some rumblings on blogs and other social media platforms about the "lack of government response," like this one here, but for the most part, people have remained unusually calm and accommodating to each other, at least for New Yorkers.

As with Katrina, Sandy reminded me of just how fragile the veneer of civilization that most most city-dwellers often take for granted truly is. During the final 24 hours leading up to Sandy's arrival, lines at every major grocery store in Brooklyn and Manhattan were several blocks long, with hours-long wait times just to enter the stores and clerks taking small groups of people in to shop, just a few at a time.

Given the mentality of the average city-dweller, the run on grocery stores was to be expected. Perhaps more importantly for the SurvivalBlog readership at large, what's transpired here over the past 48 hours is nothing short of an amazing exercise in the efficacy of state control circa 2012 (much better execution than what I witnessed during Katrina). I am at once somewhat pleasantly surprised yet shockingly dismayed by just how quickly the authorities were able to shut down and subdue the country's biggest metropolis. Within a few hours, they were able to - successfully - deploy several thousand National Guard troops, shut down the country's biggest subway system, 15 major bridges and tunnels, three major airports, and cut power to eight square miles of a world-class city...all with nary a whimper nor major objection from the populace.

New Yorkers in three major boroughs were - and in the case of Lower Manhattan, still are - effectively cut off from the outside world. Moving forward, most SurvivalBlog readers like myself who either choose or are forced to reside in cities should perhaps (re)consider their long term plans and preparations given the recent tactics on display here in NYC.

Thanks and best, - KTC in NYC

Dear Jim:
Sheeple no more here. Sandy came and went. Our area is Bucks County about an hour north of Philadelphia. We border the Delaware River. Power here went out early and and only came on today.

I think we weathered it well. I was one of the last minute "run to the store" folks. Bought a gallon of milk. Everything else was in place. As soon as the power went out, I fired up our generator and hunkered down for the 70 MPH winds.

We did lose a couple of shingles and some aluminum trim on the house. Those unprepared suffered flooded basements, many areas will not have power for a week or more. Lots of trees down, snapped telephone poles, sink holes in the road. The emergency services were running 24 hours for two days. Constant sirens all over the place.

Where did I come up short? I never got around to getting my ham radio license or programming my Baofeng UV-5R. It would have come in handy to keep in touch with the others in my group. I have some Uniden walkies and they proved worthless.

At the end of the storm my wife she thanked me for being prepared. Up until this happened she kind of went alone with my "hobby". Always a little smile on her face. It's different now.

What I need to do:

• Get my ham license.
• Run a dedicated electrical line to the crucial items in the house. Pumps, freezer, frig, security lights.
• Replace my burned out chainsaw.
• Read "How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It" for the 12th time and update my (your) lists of lists.

Take care and God Bless, - M.

I'm sure that most SurvivalBlog readers--except those who are without power--have by now seen the amazing photos and videos of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, aka "Frankenstorm." All of these many images serve as stark reminders that it is the responsibility of individual families to prepare. Government agencies are incapable of providing assistance in a widespread disaster. (In radio interviews. I'm fond of saying that FEMA should more accurately thought of as an acronym for: "Foolishly Expecting Meaningful Aid.")

The hurricane brought with it a triple whammy: high winds, flooding, and power outages. The power outages--which extend 1,000 miles from North Carolina to Maine--are expected to last as long as 10 days in parts of New York City and perhaps three weeks in parts of West Virginia. More than eight million people were without power, at last report. Even the New York Stock Exchange closed because of weather, for the first such closure in 27 years. There is rain throughout the eastern seaboard, and even some snow generated by the hurricane.

The only impact on my life thusfar is having to reschedule a consulting phone call for a gent in North Carolina who had his local cell phone tower blow down. But I'm sure that a lot of you have some very interesting stories to tell. In coming days, I'm hoping to post some of your observations and valuable lessons learned. Please e-mail us your observations. Thanks!

I believe the global economy stands on the brink of meltdown. The immediate trigger of this collapse is the European Debt Crisis, but the build up to this catastrophe has been building for years and decades.

Three of the major drivers of Global economic growth: the US, Europe, and mainland China , are all on the verge of economic slowdown, if not outright collapse. Usually, if one region of the globe is contracting other regions are growing and able to take up the economic 'slack'. For the first time in modern history, all regions are slowing at once. This is uncharted economic territory.

I will look individually at how each region got into the economic malaise it is in and what some consequences may be.

EUROPE

Greece is the poster child for Europe's economic  problems, but they are not alone. Europeans have lived beyond their financial means for decades and now the bill is coming due.

A immediate result will be Greece getting ejected from the Euro Currency group of nations-- or they leave on their own. Greece will be plunged in economic chaos. I do not believe a Greek exit can be "managed" by the rest of the Euro Zone. A Greek exit will result in the eventual death of the Euro Currency and a return to national currencies. It will be a hot, ugly fall and  a very cold and bleak winter in Europe.

The death of the Euro Currency will plunge all of Europe into economic turmoil. This turmoil could possibly last for years as all the financial, legal, political and other questions regarding a break up get worked out. I believe the break up of the USSR gives some ideas about Europe's future. I think that a return to military governments in some European countries that have undergone it in the past (Spain and Portugal) are possible.

About the only good news is that European defense spending is low. Unlike the 1930s , there is a slim possibility of open military conflict breaking out across Europe. However, when the BEST outcome is a low chance of nation-state warfare this shows what a mess Europe could become.

CHINA

China sits on the edge of a housing bubble that will make the US housing bubble of a few years ago seem tiny.

China has grown into a global economic power by becoming a factory to the world. When the US went into recession in 2008, China kept their factories humming by launching a stimulus program costing trillions of Yuan.

This stimulus led to massive government waste (think "bridges to nowhere" on a massive scale) Entire CITIES were built just to keep workers employed. All that spending  during those years  led to high rates of inflation across the board.

The one thing that keeps the Chinese communist leadership awake at night is the thought of the Chinese people standing up against them and questioning their authority (Tiananmen Square is a a perfect example of this). Domestic stability is the first, second , and third priorities of the communist leadership. High inflation can and does cause instability (look at 1920s Weimar Germany and modern Zimbabwe as examples) Add high inflation with a bursting housing bubble and it leads up to economic disaster on a epic scale.

This could get ugly because Communists (regardless of nationality) have never been shy about spilling the blood of any opponents who get in their way. The PRC leadership will do whatever it takes to stay on top and in charge. I believe that "whatever it takes" could include invasions of Russian Siberia and\or Taiwan-Republic of China. Citizens tend to overlook economic problems when their country is at war. If China were to engage in a invasion of Siberia, this could result in the potential loss of tens of millions of lives since the Russian Federation does not possess the conventional military means to stop a invasion (not enough well trained infantry with substandard equipment having to cover too large a land area). They would be forced to rely on nuclear weapons to stop Chinese aggression.

Look at the recent rise in nationalistic sentiment spurred by the central government over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands issue with Japan. I believe this is a better indicator of the true state of the mainland Chinese economy, regardless of whatever their 'Official' economic statistics say

UNITED STATES

The US economy still hasn't fully recovered from the housing crisis that started in 2008. Like Europe, The US has lived beyond it's financial means for decades. Government spending (at all levels) is out of control.

I believe that America's future hangs in the balance. we will not know which path we will head down until the November 2012 election. I think that if President Obama wins a second term, America can forget about being the world's sole superpower. It will mean political death to the Democratic Party to engage in any entitlement reform/cutbacks, so I believe that issue is off the table if the Democrats win on Election Day

Even if Mitt Romney is our next President, America's economic future still has plenty of potholes ahead. Entitlement spending (Social Security & Medicare/Medicaid) are  consuming larger and larger amounts of all federal government spending with no end in sight. These entitlements need to be bought under control if America is to have  any chance in the future. Like Europe, America needs to have a cultural shift.The mentality of  dependency on the government to provide one with a certain standard of life needs to end. Every individual, and the individual alone, should determine a person's economic success. It must not be the role of government to determine this.

Social Security was never intended (even at it's inception) to be a American's primary money source in retirement. It was viewed as 'one leg of a retirement stool' with the other 'legs' being a company pension and a individual's personal savings/investments.  However, today, Social Security is the primary source of income during a person's retirement.

The Social Security trust fund is heading towards collapse. This will mean many retirees will have a GREATLY diminished lifestyle going forward.

Like Europe, the time for easy painless solutions to these looming financial problems has come to a end. Either entitlement spending gets reformed or we all go off the fiscal cliff together.

The level of governmental spending needed to support the huge increase in the size of government over the last few years is also something that cannot continue at it's present rate. Government faces the prospect of collapsing under the weight of spending needed to prop it up.

Consequences

Some of the consequences that will result from all of this will come in many forms. Here are some possibilities I see:

* Self-sufficiency will be a ever growing trend as people realize that government can't afford to support them anymore. The Federal government needs to get out of a lot of things. For example, the Feds need to get out of financing home mortgages. The quasi-governmental agencies 'Freddie Mac' (FHLMC) and 'Fannie Mae' (FNMA) need to be wound down and killed. Their backstopping of sub-prime mortgages is the main reason for the housing crash of 2008. I work part time in a Real Estate office. I know that killing off these entities will destroy the housing market, but they have become bottomless money pits loaded with unrecoverable toxic assets  and I see no other choice.

* Brain drain and capital flight from weaker European nations to financially stronger ones. This is already happening as people pull their savings out of banks in Greece, Spain, Portugal and move it to German banks,

 Funds may even totally leave all European financial  institutions and go overseas to less risky parts of the globe. Right now, pretty much any Greek with the means to do so is packing up and moving out of Greece, Some Irish and Spanish are not far behind in doing the same.

 * An increase in desire for regional government and in nationalism. In the last couple months the Catalans are increasingly wanting to get away from Madrid. The Venetians don't want to pay taxes to Rome anymore, and the Scots would rather answer to Edinburgh instead of London.

This can also be seen in a rise of nationalistic political parties, such as Golden Dawn and Syriza in Greece, the True Finns in Finland, Jobbik in Hungary, and Front National in France, among others. There is even a possibility of the military seizing control, maybe in Spain and Greece, which have both known military rule in modern times. It looks like the Swiss are preparing for some major economic and political pain across Europe.

* Here in the USA, government at all levels (federal, state, local) will have to be cut dramatically. Excessive and unaffordable public pension obligations at the state level are killing some states (California and my Illinois are prime examples). Going ahead, these states will only have two options: cut their public employees pensions, or cut other state spending to free up the pension money. This will involve pain either way, but the time for painless options went out the door a while ago. I think Marc Faber's ideas on cutting government a minimum of 50% is a good idea (however, I would do it over months, not in three days!)

I also believe there will be a wave of municipal defaults. Several cities in California have already filed for  'Chapter 9' bankruptcy protection. Filing for bankruptcy can lead to a variety of problems.

 There will be more of this across the nation.

The path ahead for the global economy is shaky. Decades of over promising and overspending has bought all of us to the edge of the precipice. The needed cuts and changes will be painful, possibly even leading to outbreaks of violence, and even war. However,  no changes in policy will lead to outright economic collapse. About the only certainty will be a decrease in lifestyle and a increase in hardship. Living could become a even greater  struggle for a lot of people globally.

I truly wish the economic picture wasn't so bleak, but I see limited options ahead for  us. I can be reached at chicagodudewhotrades@gmail.com if you wish to contact me. Thank You for your time.

Jim:
I too live in an open carry state where it is also allowed in private vehicles and have chosen not to apply for a concealed carry permit. According to the most recent CDC data, West Virginia has the greatest proportion of homes with at least one gun East of the Mississippi and the fifth highest in the entire country. During a recent discussion with a local LEO, he didn't even look twice at the 9mm on my hip. We even have two rifles on our flag and the mascot of our flagship university is authorized by state law to fire his muzzleloader on the football field.

Another concern is that in many states allow public access to lists of concealed carry permit holders. Property crimes went up 11% last year according to the DOJ and if the trend continues we may see thieves targeting homes from available lists of licensees like concealed carry and ham radio. - Allen C.

James:
I have the following comments on the letter: “Concealed Carry Permits – Pros and Cons:”
 
Most people that frequent James’ web site would agree that carrying a weapon, openly or concealed, is our natural right, and a plain language reading of the Second Amendment makes it clear that this right was intended to be unencumbered in the United States.  I have no ethical or moral objection to those who chose to exercise their natural rights without consideration of the current legal climate.  If you do that, however, please make sure you have to understand the risks of becoming part of the criminal justice system.
 
I have CCW permits in five states, which through reciprocity entitles me to carry in most jurisdictions.  I originally obtained my CCW in my native California because open carry, while at the time legal, was not practical for me, and I did not want to violate the law in order to carry concealed.  For professional and family reasons I am not able to move right now, and many people find themselves in this situation.
 
If you live in a Constitutional Carry state – lucky you! – and you do not travel regularly outside the state, then don’t bother.  In this situation there are two things to consider:
 
(1)     When you obtain a CCW they make you take training, and that is a good thing.  For most of my life I had ignored pistols – I spent my time and money trying to be a better rifleman – but being forced to take the very limited CCW training got me started, and I am now a combat pistol training junkie – and I think that the training does make me more qualified to be an armed citizen on a day-to-day basis. So if you begin to carry please dedicate yourself to becoming better trained.
 
(2)     Secondly, don’t think that you are actually escaping the notice of local, state or federal governments by not having applied for a CCW permit or recently purchased a firearm.  In fact, a police officer friend of mine comment that we are fast approaching the time when you will attract more attention by not being “part of the system,” and that it might be easier to escape negative attention by going ahead and becoming one of the rabble that has some sort of record, albeit a “peaceful” one.
 
(3)     And lastly, even if you don’t travel regularly, you might want to do so but without sufficient notice to get your local CCW, so why not get it and have it in case you need to jump in the car and head out?
 
Good luck! - Bill C.

Dear James,
When a police officer pulls over a car in the Redoubt, he/she calls in the license plate and in reply, dispatch tells the officer that the occupant has a carry permit.  This allows the officer to know that the owner is carrying but is a vetted non-felon.  Now whether the car has it's owner driving is another question.  Most officers I talk to, (I'm an ex-cop) assume that the occupant of any car is carrying.  There is a survival benefit to that thought as a cop.  Remember that having a CCW means you have to tell the officer up front anyway in most states.  It's a good idea even if it's not required by law to inform the officer.  

You, having a CCW allows a gun dealer, not to have to run a background check on you if the national "instant" check system is down.  If the phone system isn't working and the internet is down, even if you throw silver coins at your dealer, they can't let you take home guns without a CCW.  In Wyoming (not necessarily all states), The dealer can sell you a gun as long as you present me a CCW (even an out of state one) without having to do a background check.  So if the system isn't working, you can still get a last second purchase before the infra-structure stops working completely .   If the whole system goes hard down and resets, I doubt that many dealers will worry much about the existing rules and continue business as usual albeit with somewhat higher prices.  If we can't renew their stock, things will get expensive fast so get your defensive preparations settled sooner than later. 

Acquiring a CCW requires one to have a training certificate in most states.  That is a good thing because most people need a training course (or 5 or 6) under their belt before strapping on a Glock.   I would say that 2 out of 10 people that buy guns, have a clue how to use them.  The other 8 should get trained fast.  What you do under stress mimics your lowest level of training.  Get your training up to snuff please soon.   

Getting a Wyoming Resident CCW and a out of state Florida CCW will give you 40 states to carry in.  Only Illinois is the hold out at this point.  The reciprocity map to look at is at:  http://www.usacarry.com/concealed_carry_permit_reciprocity_maps.html

BTW, congratulations, Wisconsin is now a "Shall Issue" state and they even have reciprocity with some other states.   Ye,s Freedom is marching on. - F.B. (15 miles from asphalt)

Dear JWR,
After reading the letter about the pros and cons of a CCW permit, I thought I would weigh in with my comments. To start out, I agree that carrying a concealed weapon is a right that some sort of government entity does not have the right to give permission to do. That being said, however, in Nevada here, and especially Clark County where Las Vegas is, the consequences of getting caught carrying a concealed pistol without a permit can be quite severe. I am sure you could fight a conviction in court, but that could be costly and take much money and time for an unknown and possibly bad outcome. I have held CCW permits in four separate states including Montana, Utah, Arizona, and now Nevada. Quite frankly they were all very painless to obtain. The hardest portion was shelling out the money (Almost $100 here in Nevada for the government fees alone!). I know some people are afraid of the government having your name and the fact you carry a weapon, or at least the ability to do so (Most people I know and the ones I have met in classes, don't carry a gun on a regular basis or at all. That in itself is a topic worth discussing: the mental mindset to go from sheep to sheepdog and consciously choose to be able to protect yourself and others!). Some will tout open carry as a way to go about without a CCW permit. I do believe open carry has its place. On a hike in the woods, yes, to open carry. Work around the ranch, yes to open carry. Wal-Mart on a busy afternoon, probably not. I do want people to become more comfortable with guns in our culture and to respect them. Not fear and shun them. I do believe open carry in urban centers can bring unwanted attention and negative attention, whether it be from a anti-gunner or prospective criminal. Concealed keeps them unaware and you in total control. The pros of the permit do outweigh the cons in my opinion. My having the resources available to defend myself is paramount. If I have to get a permit to do it, I will. In the meantime I will fight for Constitutional Carry laws ()where citizens don't need a permit to carry a gun, concealed or not. As you said, Freedom is on the march! God willing we will have our rights restored as they should be. - Steve in Nevada

Hi Jim,
I find it amazing that after decades of people fighting to prevent the government from having a list of gun owners and their guns that people now line up and pay the government to get on that list.  The government is changing how people think.  With a CCW card people are thinking of it like a drivers license, which is a privilege not a right.  We are already seeing how things like the TSA are changing what Americans are now putting up with and accepting as the new "norm".

Some people think that when they buy a gun from an FFL dealer that they are on the "list".  They are not.  Your on the form in the files of the firearms dealer.  This is why in the original "Red Dawn" movie the Cuban commandeer tells his men to go to the sporting goods store for the firearms 4473 forms  to find out who has guns.

Once the government has a list and then decides to outlaw gun ownership (UN small arms ban possibly) they will have a pretty good start to confiscate these weapons.  You also have to deal with LEOs who don't think you average citizen should have a gun.  Now that our law enforcement agencies have become more militarized this is more frequent than you think.  When a LEO runs your plate or automatically scans it as he drives by you, it tells him all kinds of information, including if you have a CCW.  So if you are trying to stay under the radar the fewer lists you are on the better. Keep your powder dry, - Karl G.

Good Day James,
I wanted to touch on the pros and cons of CCW permits in North Carolina.
 
The county I reside in requires certificates issued by the Sheriff's office. It's a cumbersome process that requires one to go downtown, apply and pay a fee ($5 per certificate up to 3 maximum). After a background check that takes a few days (5-10 if memory serves) the certificates are available for pickup at the same downtown location. Once these are in hand, firearm purchases are cash and carry. Re-apply as needed.
 
This method allows one to carry openly, which means non-concealed (including car glove boxes, consoles, under seat etc).
 
However a CCW permit, while more costly eliminates all of the above, with one exception. A class is required ($80-$120), and certification is granted. That document is then taken to the same downtown office where a major background check is performed, for a $90 fee. Once passed, the permit is ready for pick up and finger prints will be taken.
 
Once this permit is in hand, firearm purchases are cash and carry. The firearm maybe concealed (law permitting) including those car compartments mentioned above. the permit is valid for 5 years and can be renewed without going through those steps again.
 
I saw the benefit, mostly, in the ease of purchasing firearms, including private sales (not legally required, but may sellers will not sell without one). Being able to keep the firearm car compartments was also a big "selling" point for me. 
 
No doubt agree it is not as ideal as the American Redoubt (and other areas). However, at least in the Tar Heel State,  I believe having one certainly out weighs the consequences of going without it. - Drew D.

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I am a long time reader, first time commenter. I live in Colorado which is a shall issue state, which means that the local sheriff must issue a CCW as long as the applicant passes a CBI background check, (like we were common criminals). Along with running a family business, I am also the chairman of the board of directors of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO), Colorado's only no compromise gun rights group. I personally believe the requirement to have a CCW is not only unconstitutional, but infringes against my right for self protection endowed by my Creator. That being said, I have a CCW because of my vocal opposition to ANY restrictions on our gun rights and the fact that I prominently open carry about 50% of the time. As far as others (family and friends) getting a CCW, I take a different position. I personally believe that concealed means concealed. Which means that no one knows if you are carrying. The state keeps a record of CCW holders, which means that LEO and other agencies have knowledge of who has been issued a "privilege" to carry. I have known of several woman who have been the subject of harassment and even solicitation by male LEO's. (most of those have resulted in the firing and prosecution of said LEO) The last thing I would want is for that "type" of LEO to know if my daughter/wife/sister/friend, was carrying a firearm.
 
This is just my 2 cents. - Bluebleeder5.56

James:
First off, Thanks for your years of guidance and information. God bless you and your family.
I think there are numerous correct responses to Greg S about having a Concealed Carry Permit. I am in Tennessee and have had my permit for three years. I do not have to register my guns with the state. I can use the permit to buy a gun from a dealer, immediately with no three day cool down period. Also, I can buy from a private individual and show it to him to to ensure that I am not a felon. Making a private sale of a weapon can open people up to liability if it's to the wrong person.

I have the majority of my weapons from private sales, but I keep a few "on the books" in case of a "U.S. gone wrong" gun banning and collection from big brother. Then I can turn my registered ones in and say, "See, I am a good, obedient citizen", and stay under their radar. - John S

James,
Thanks for soliciting input on  this topic.
I have been living in Minnesota for many years now. As a recent CHL holder (less than two years), I can only add that the benefits of being able to legally carry in my home state and elsewhere far outweighs waiting for TSHTF before anyone starts carrying full time for the first time. Just like moving to your retreat pre-shtf, and learning self sufficiency skills before, carrying a sidearm will desensitize you and your family to you being armed. Case in point, my wife is opposed to owning, carrying, shooting guns herself. While she tolerates my indulgence, she has become used to me always being armed. This fact will lessen my family members from the trauma of firearms when TSHTF and it's game on.
I don't like having to beg for a permit with a recognized right, but it beats living in California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, etc.

Thank you James, and all the other contributors for my education and growth. Worth every minute I spend learning!
Sincerely, - F.W. in Minnesota

Hi James:
I'm just wondering what you and your readers think about concealed carry permits? When the SHTF, do I want to have a permit and be within the bounds of the law, but also be "registered" with the government? So far, all the weapons I have are hand-me-downs, so haven't had to do a background check for purchasing a new weapon, but needing a new handgun, so unless I find a private sale, that may soon change. Any thoughts or advice? - Greg S.

JWR Replies: My view on this topic is undoubtedly biased, since I live in a western state where open carry without any permit is legal, as is carrying a loaded gun in privately-owned cars and trucks. So my view is: why pay a fee to seek permission for something that is our pre-existing right and hence should already be legal?

FWIW, I predict that Idaho and Montana will soon follow Wyoming's "Constitutional Carry" lead and legalize concealed carry inside of city limits with out any permit. (Freedom is on the march!)

For those who live in more regulated states, getting a permit might make sense. And even for me, it might make sense so that I could carry concealed when traveling out of state. (Under interstate reciprocity agreements.)

I'd appreciate feedback from the blog's readership. I'm sure that opinions must vary widely.

Jim,
Sorry to be late on my Knob Creek roundup I was indecisive as to the interest level in the past, as it concerns those mostly east of the Mississippi.
 
Arrived Friday morning and was shocked at how sparse the crowd was compared to past events. It was still a good sized crowd but I could actually get around and wasn’t standing room only. I am guessing that a couple of rain fronts that came through in the week previous dampened enthusiasm, along with the economy and people have been on an ammo buying spree for over a year, reduced the turnout somewhat. The sound of automatic weapons and cannons in the background was as constant and loud as ever. Didn’t spot any celebrities but usually that happens on Saturday.
 
1st order of business, hit up Model 1 Sales out of Texas for my 5.45x39 AR-15 bolt and carrier to complete my upper conversion build I started a few years ago. I decided against having some machine work done to a standard 5.56 bolt and went with the product designed for my purpose. These bolts are currently listed as out of stock on their web site but my past experiences and a sweet Texas Belle at their HQ let me know that there was a good chance they would have some at the creek. Purchased the bolt and carrier and engaged their resident guru in some debate, to the point, he said their bolts had an altered inside diameter firing pin hole and pin which allows the firing pin to travel much further than the 5.56 pin in order to give consistent strikes on communist ammo that seems to be all over the map in terms of primer seating production standards. So no need for a heavy duty spring to give it some umph. We shall see if this holds true. He also said that the extractor and firing pin were different from standard. Enough said, add a few of those to my bag. As soon as I got home I used an electric engraver to try and label the bolt as 5.45 for posterity. The hardened steel was resistant to my idea but I finally managed to make a dent in the parkerization if not the steel.
 
2nd order of business, DSA for some FAL compliance parts and adjustable rear protected leaf sights and miscellaneous parts. Apparently they were not in a mood to negotiate much since I only managed to save $40 over retail after saving several hundred last year. I must remember to dress more shoddily and practice my pitiful face for spring. While at the table I observed two elderly gentlemen drop cash for 12 DSA AR uppers. Go figure.  DSA’s $3-4 FAL mags in excellent shape are a thing of the past and a wooden crate full of cosmoline and abused metric magazines  a  5 for $45 was the best they had. After myself and another passerby spent a large amount of time sorting through this mess, we sweet talked the kid into getting another crate out of the truck. And finally, some minor pity as the kid let me grab 12 for $90. That probably averages out to somewhere around $7.75 per mag. Used inch pattern mags were $20 and their new USA made 30 rounder’s in metric were $25 apiece. The crotchety old guy who you had to talk to for parts and had a definite resemblance to the Soup Nazi on the Seinfeld television series has thankfully retired. That was always an extra special treat after 8 hours of travel through the night and cash in your hand.
 
On to Ammo. I went to Pat’s Reloading out of Ohio as they are one of my favorites. Got Aquila .223 for $318 a case and PMC for $330. Later I saw that much of their stuff had been bought by the pallet load by machine gunners or dealers. I am sure they probably brought in another load for Saturday but at the time there wasn’t much selection left. They did still have some 1,000 round cans of Israeli 9 mm loose packed SMG ammo for $199? I went around and didn’t really see anyone prices were that much better. 7.62x54 R seems to be holding steady at $75-85 a spam can and $150-165 a case. 5.45x39 communist ammo is still the best deal going for Semi-Auto self-defense rifles at $275 a case. That’s 2,140 rds for less than the price of  1,000  5.56 rounds (exponentially that is 3,000 of 5.56 for $1,000 versus 6,500 for $825). Hence, having the uppers in this caliber for your AR. Not to mention that the Russian and Chinese troops currently reported to be in Denver and Texas will likely be using this round. So that is where you go to resupply yourself.  Another dealer had Privi-Partisan new .308 by the sleeve for $200 per 250 rounds. Uggh, that’s $800 per case, although I am sure there was a discount for case purchases, I didn’t ask. I was mainly there for hardware not software.
 
Having said that. I then went over to see Lance with all his obscure and foreign war films and books. I had to repurchase my copy of the Finnish war 1994 movie “The Winter War” which disappeared in a buddy’s divorce proceedings seven years ago. While there, I picked up a 2011 French movie with subtitles about communist members of the Resistance assassination teams in Paris during WWII called “Army of Crime”. Has been pretty good so far. Then I picked up a title from a Korean outfit? Called Well-Go entertainment.  Called “Warriors of the Rainbow”. I had previous purchased a title by this group called “My Way” at my local Target store (of all places) for $12 which was the true saga of some Koreans who were drafted into the Jap army, captured and sent to the gulag by the USSR until they needed bodies, captured by the Germans and sent into a far east battalion to Normandy, and finally captured by the Americans who no doubt wondered how these guys got there. An epic on the scale of “Saving Private Ryan” with great cinematography. If you thought I liked that one, I bought the 2011, 4-½ hour international version of “Warriors of the Rainbow” for $30 and I cannot say enough great things about it. If you like war, adventure, combat movies and don’t turn into a prima donna over subtitles or beheadings, You have to put this movie on your bucket list. Just simply amazing and as good of cinematography as you are going to see. It is the true story of the subjugation of the headhunters of the interior of Taiwan when the Chinese ceded it to Japan by treaty and Japan set out to exploit it and strip it of its resources. The head hunter tribes gave better than they got but were eventually subjugated in the early 1900’s. They bided their time and finally after all the abuse they struck in 1930. Using captured Japanese weapons and their swords  a little over 300 headhunters brought the Japanese forces to their knees and were only subjugated by the use of planes and poison gas. It is a movie about the last stand of a culture and has similar elements to the Last Samurai, the Alamo, etc. except is all done in the native tongues of the characters in the movie. At one point before the rebellion starts, a young lad sees the chief who is now 40-50s on his porch and goes over to him and engages in some small talk. The young man says “My grandfather says you were  a great hero when you were younger” the Chief turns and looks right through him and says “What makes you think I ever stopped being a hero”. Enough said. Go watch this epic and  you won’t regret it.
 
Picked up military issue Celox and Quik-Clot 3 packs for $25 with 2013-2015 expiration dates (which probably are good for a long time after) and some various medical equipment. Went over and picked up springs and some spare parts  as well as other things. There was a character there and his company was called Forbidden Ideas who had a truck full of Mountain House cans, Wise food buckets, Aqua Rain filters etc. But I got a Civil Defense charger (recalibrator) and 2 Bendix 200 milrad dosimeters ($12 each) from him for $50.  He had a package deal going for a bag of stuff with all the manuals of radiation meters, dosimeters, chargers and other stuff for $115. Recalibrating your radiation detector will cost $80 (according to this guy) and these have already had it done from some outfit in Texas.
 
On the way back after 24 straight without sleep, I went over what I had observed. The difference between the number of people loaded down with carts, ATVs, army mechanical mules and red Radio Flyer wagons filled with ammo was startling since last fall, but as I explained at the start, I think there is a logical reason for it.  The most startling thing was the number and volume of young men 25-50 plunking down $600-1000 in this economy and being fitted for full scale body armor and ceramic plates that can withstand multiple rifle strikes. I saw multiple groups weighted down with multiple sets of the plates at a minimum of $275 a set and one table was busy all day fitting people. I actually began to feel quite under protected with multiple police style vests and titanium trauma plates.

I was actually quite moved driving down the highway at what a horrible thing this meant, as to what we have come to as a country and what is coming. It also gave me a great sense of pride that many (not enough), I do believe are preparing for battle, when it is finally brought to our doorsteps, and don’t intend to go quietly to the FEMA camps. Pastor Lindsay Williams states that there is one thing the elites have learned in the last years, they can do anything to the American people and we will do nothing in response. I hope that is not true. Other than constant prayer for the spiritual battle in the heavens going on, as always, keep the mottos of our ancestors, Sic Semper Tyrannis and De oppresso liber safely enshrined in your hearts. - B.T.
 
 

James:
I would like to add a little information and advice to Louie's excellent primer on the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. As a former local who still attends semi-frequently (currently living behind enemy lines and soon moving to the American Redoubt) it's always great to see folks from around the country that attend this. I once had a problem with  immigration /customs crossing into Canada and the CBP Agent's familiarity with the shoot is what got me across. No joke. He believed my story because I could give him details on the shoot and had the accent to match. He's an annual attendee. Awesome. I swear the nicest people believe in armed civilians. Now for the info and advice:

1. Accommodations. 
The show is outside Shepherdsville Kentucky but this is just past the suburbs on the south side of Louisville. You've never heard of Shepherdsville and maybe never heard of Louisville so Mapquest it. No offense intended, most people I run into ask me what states are next to Kentucky. There are a few motels in "Shep" but as you go north into Louisville there are motel/hotels galore. Louisville is a convention hub and hosts The Kentucky Derby so it is well prepared for more visitors that the shoot will ever bring.

2. Parking. 
Bring a 4x4. Much of the parking is in a field down by the creek. It's soggy bottom land. It will not appear to be a problem on the first morning. The grass is all pretty and glistening with dew. When you leave and many cars have had a chance to spin that field into a mud hole...let's just say it isn't pretty anymore. A way to avoid this is to camp there. Then you can get better parking with less traffic on higher ground. You might even have a handful of gravel under your tires. Friendly, local rednecks make some decent go-to-town money by hauling sedans out of that field. The first time I went I was one of those sedan people. Completely embarrassed was I since I'm from there. The girlfriend had the 4x4, scout's honor. BTW, most of them pull you for free as long as you're the guy who crawls through 18", or deeper, mud to attach the chain. I drove home in my BVDs. I swear I had to scuba dive under the front bumper.

3. Firearms. 
You can bring your firearms to this show just like other shows. It gets inspected (for empty chamber/mag) and a zip-tie safety seal installed through the open bolt. So if you're interested in selling or trading by all means bring your toys. You will often see a little home made Wiley E Coyote sign sticking up from the muzzle of a slung rifle that says For Sale/Trade. This is a great idea. I highly encourage folks to bring their weapons for sale or trade...particularly considering Note 5.

4. When to get there. 
Get there early on the first day. If you are looking for ammo, lower parts kits, or other items that fly off the shelves...well they fly off the shelves. If you get arrive at lunch time on the first day you will be hard pressed to find 5.56, 7.62, .45, or 9mm ammo Deals. Believe it or not pallets of cases of ammo can go in a couple hours. Locals know the shoot is coming, know deals are to be had, and many come just for that early morning purchase. It can be like Black Friday. Expect prices to change on the fly for high demand items as the stock gets close to empty. Gouging does happen. I showed up looking for a lower AR parts kit for a build I was working on a couple years ago. I had been waiting for months because everywhere online was back ordered indefinitely. Ridiculous. I showed up at 10 AM and found just one table with Rock River AR parts kits. They had two empty pallet boxes (30 inches deep), and a third box that was half empty. If you show up early you can get real savings over what you will find at online retailers and in stores. Our usual plan is to get there in the morning and shop, and then return for the night shoot. Also, at the end of the day on Sunday you can find deals from vendors who don't want to lug their stuff home. The selection will be limited but you can find gems.

5.  Purchasing Firearms. 
If you buy firearms from the tables under the roof, most of them are FFL dealers, not private individual sellers...so they will be going through the usual NICS check procedures.. If you're looking for person to person sales you pretty much have to work outside of the covered area. As a matter of principle I like to avoid NICS [background checks] when possible. It's none of their dang business what I do with the dollars I earn. I suggest you do the same, and let them enjoy their revenue decline. Watch for the signs displayed by private sellers. 
 
6. The Main Store. 
Louie is right. The staff at KCR is very knowledgeable and they have everything you ever wanted. Looking for a Barrett. I don't know about during the show, but during normal times they provide discounts for shooters who are current or retired soldiers and marines. They are friendly but come with a thick skin. There is good natured chop busting to be had in the store. 

7. Shooting the Toys.
Nothing to add there. Louie covered this like a champ. 

One Last Piece. Bring a wagon. A good old child's red wagon will save you from strain on your feet and back. Especially if you intend to buy ammo. 

Thanks for letting me submit this. I also want to thank Mr. Rawles for including the Fort Knox area in his latest novel in his book series. That's my old stomping ground and I can tell you it's populated to behave in that exact manner. Once you escape Louisville you run smack into old-timey prepping. Not necessarily up to date on the movement, heck not much Internet access, but provident living is in the DNA. If it wasn't so close to major population centers, and Fort Knox, I would stay for life. That was sub-MOA accuracy sir. Wet boots and dry powder 'yall. - InvisibleSoul

Mr. Rawles-
The following appears in the 10/6/12 "Odds 'n Sods" section:

"Do you carry concealed and/or in your car?Be aware of "Must Inform Officer" state laws . (No such laws in any of the American Redoubt states, where the gendarmes all rightly assume that most of the vehicles they pull over will contain at least one loaded gun.)"

The linked text goes to an image which is at least misleading for at least one state - Minnesota. (I suspect this is true for other states but I am not as familiar with the laws of the other 49...)

While there is no duty to inform any law enforcement officer "upon official contact" - i.e. initial or first contact - permit holders do need to adhere to the following:

"The holder of a permit to carry must have the permit card and a driver's license, state identification card, or other government-issued photo identification in immediate possession at all times when carrying a pistol and must display the permit card and identification document upon lawful demand by a peace officer."

Such a "lawful demand" may or may not ever come, but it is a petty misdemeanor to either lie or refuse to answer the question once it is asked.

This information is easily found for each state by going to handgunlaw.us and clicking on any state in which you are interested. Unfortunately they do not have a single map showing this information like the one to which you linked, but the info is there.

I don't know how many others might assume that "no duty inform upon official contact" means there is "no duty to inform at any point during official contact", so I don't know if this is worth pointing out to your readers, but at least you have the info and can make that determination for yourself.

Thank you very much for all the work you do keeping up your site. It is an incredible resource that I refer to regularly.

Regards, - Dan X.

JWR Replies: Your point is well taken. Their map would be more accurately captioned: "No duty inform immediately upon official contact, without demand."

Sir:
Anyone who spends any amount of time on survivalist and preparedness oriented forums knows that a certain political worldview is the most commonly encountered perspective, particularly with respect to economic concerns. Particularly in the literary niche that is survivalist/preparedness fiction, the protagonist is often identified as a conservative critic of Keynesian economic thought and favors the gold standard. Very often the plot presupposes a very right-wing political orientation. Matthew Bracken (Enemies Foreign and Domestic), Thomas Sherry (Deep Winter, Shatter), Glen Tate (299 Days), and even James Wesley Rawles (Patriots) all share to some degree this worldview. Some authors even make efforts to settle scores with Democrats and liberals. I enjoyed all those books, and authors certainly have the right to write whatever they want. However, fiction serves a valuable role in outreach and education (not to mention entertainment!), and I think that it may useful to remember that being a card carrying member of the political right is not a requirement to be a survivalist. There is nothing inherently political about wanting to guarantee the health and safety of your family. You don’t need to be a conservative in the Austrian school of economics to want to be prepared.

Government Might Not Help You

Both the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party protest movements share a common jaundiced eye toward the motives of government. Whether the criticism comes from the right or the left, it is not unreasonable to worry that the most powerful people in this country, or the world, don’t necessarily have your best interests in mind.

There seems to be a perception that rich bankers and the political elite all seem to eventually hold some fraction of their wealth in precious minerals and mountain retreats. Perhaps they have peeled back the curtain and have seen the fragility of modern civilization. Or perhaps it is just prudent for the super wealthy to take some small percent of their vast wealth and put it to work as a hedge against the most extreme of dangers. After all, gold is pretty and so are the mountains of Montana and New Zealand. Either way, whether through special insight or just good planning, many powerful people are preparing for something. That just makes it all the more likely that if a true danger does appear, they have the ability to escape. That mere possibility of escape means that if comes time to navigate through rough seas, the normal captains at the helm may already be lowering their private life rafts.

Even If “They” Have Every Intention Of Preventing Collapse, They May Miscalculate

You don’t even need to be a cynic about government to want to prepare for trouble. Maybe the power brokers and elites that run the country do have the best interest of you in mind. After all, collapse and disorder are not the ideal methods to accumulating wealth and power. It would be far better to own a small slice of an enormous pie than control a larger slice of a shrinking post-collapse society. Even if the people who man the levers of the economy really are evil geniuses, it is probably in their best interest to keep the entire system perpetuating. But even evil geniuses are people, and people make mistakes.

Many survivalists and authors of survivalists worry about the fiat money system and favor the gold or silver standard. It is entirely plausible that the economic growth and innovation of the last 75 years is attributable to having abandoned the gold standard to the dustbin of history. Maybe fiat money and central banking is a bit like what Churchill said about democracy, it could be the worst form of economic underpinnings except for all those others that have been tried. Certainly inflation, disinflation, and jolting business cycles were well known when the world ran on specie.

The 2008/2009 banking crisis and resulting government intervention was a scary event. Yet some thousand plus days later the wheels of trade are again more or less functional. Nobody should ever wish for a collapse, even if it like the grasshopper, you may think eventually those unprepared are due a comeuppance. If Bernanke was able to patch things together and pull off a last second save of modern civilization, he should be hailed as a hero, not pilloried. However, the fact that a last second save was even necessary should give you pause.

Even if you favor central banking, government backing of the savings and loans industry, and quantitative easement, the fact that it is a human at the lever that makes sure these functions help the economy should give you pause. The most powerful could be evil geniuses plotting every move, or perhaps even scarier, they are just people. Keynes - whose economic ideas are so often the target of the right and many survivalists - was fearful of the impact that “animal spirits” could have on the economy. The spontaneous urge to action unchecked by quantitative benefits or probabilities will always be a core potential risk in society. Even those who politically view government as having an important role in curbing the animal spirits should not ignore the very threats that modern Keynesians argue justify the Federal Reserve.

Other Concerns

Certainly the left offers other justifications for preparedness. Many on the left are concerned about the environment and sustainable ecology. And of course, plagues, nuclear terrorism, meteors, super volcanoes, various peak theories, earthquakes, and weather crises are all apolitical. - Anonymous

Dear Editor:
The monetization dubbed Quantitative Easing (QE) Round 3 ("QE3") is very confusing, and there is a lot of mystery attached to the confusion. To fully understand what just happened to us I find it useful to frame the scenario in this why, and this maybe a better way to understand it for some. When I put currency somewhere(make a purchase or invest it) it is currency that I worked to obtain and represents an exchange of my labor for a specific amount of currency. This currency is representative (if I negotiate the salary correctly) of the value of the work I preformed or the risks I took to obtain it. So when you or I put money somewhere it is a transfer of value that we obtained from our labor or risk from somewhere to somewhere.

When congress decides to put currency somewhere it can be from tax payers in the form of taxes or from IOUs (Treasury notes) that the treasury department sold to investors or to the Fed. When the Treasury sells these IOUs to investors, again the investors are taking the value of their labor or risk and trading it for the chance to to make a return in essence renting their currency to the Treasury for a fee. Taxes are the same way, it is part of the value of our labor that we are willing to trade for services, but the value came from our labor.

However, and this is where it gets interesting, when the Fed purchases these IOUs (Treasury Notes) from the Treasury, they have not traded any of their labor or risk for the currency that they are handing to the Treasury Department. So the big question is where does the value of that currency that the Fed gave the treasury come from? The answer is pretty simple it comes from you and me, it devalues the currency that we hold.

The same is true when the Fed is buying the mortgage backed securities, they are not trading anything that they have for these worthless investments, they are trading the value that we create through our labor and risk for these. The only reason that they are willing to trade the currency they create for these worthless investments is because they don't actually have to give up anything for them. They just take the value from us, and 99% of the population is completely naive to this fact, and this is the reason that I wanted to post this. People are being robbed, hard working people that have no idea that the value of the dollars they have toiled to earn are being funneled into investment banks that made really stupid decisions, and into Government spending that is way out of control. To me this is a hidden tax that is right under our nose, that we have absolutely no say in, and no control over.

That in itself is pretty bad in my opinion. And in the past the fed at least had the decency to put finite terms around it, all be it very large terms. So in the past when they said in essence that we are going to take X% of the value of your dollars and hand it to our cronies on wall street and the bumbling mass we call congress at least it was only part of the value. This time it is the whole enchilada, and in essence they are going to take all the value of the dollars that we hold and transfer it to their cronies on wall street, and the bumbling fools in congress on both sides of the isle. They may say that they will stop at some point but we all know that once the congress sees that they have more money to spend they will spend it in a way that requires it to keep coming. So the way I see it, the value of the dollar is on a downhill slide from here on out, and the reason I am choosing to get out of Dollars and into [tangibles which are] something from which the Fed cannot magically remove value. - Jacob R.

James,
Allen is right on about "arm chair" preppers. Many folks out there only talk the talk, without taking the walk.
 
Like Allen, I did not marry until my mid-40s also agreeing to live near a small community. The drive to my retreat is 42 miles to a fairly rural farm area when I grew up. My wife supports me wholeheartedly in this effort including participating where she can in learning new skills.
 
Over the last 8 years, I have been re-learning many of my boyhood skills critical to a rural lifestyle. It is amazing how much a person forgets over 30 years. I had many successes and just as many if not more failures. We are now just at the point where we can grow and preserve much of our food requirements. This is not an easy task!!
 
Along the way, my wife and daughter learned new skills along with me, including how to properly handle a weapon and became proficient in shooting to the point where it is an enjoyable family event.
 
I would point out, Allen C. does not take into account individual/public irrationality when disasters happen. While his examples may hold true during normal times, when the shtf all normalcy ceases to exist. Folks will do things without thinking or even any reason. Looting and hoarding will become the norm.
 
As far as the numbers go, he is missing the point. It really does not matter that 82% of the population or 90% will die within a couple of months/years from results of EMP.  The point is that large numbers of people will die creating new problems such as loss of expertise, sanitary issue from unburied corpses, etc...  I would think if even 10% of the population did not survive, it would be a major health issue. Bottom line is the people living would not be prepared to handle such a major event without prior planning and preparation. - George B. in Ohio

James,
I would like to bring a correction to Allen C.'s comment about the food supply in grocery stores. Just a couple of months ago my wife left the Northwest division on the largest grocery chain in the United States. She had worked in the food department for 15 years including several years in food department management. When she started her employment the company's business model was no more than 3 days of food inventory on hand based on sales at that location. The current business model calls for food inventory on hand of 1.5 days based on current store sales. In 2009 near Christmas poor weather prevented the store from receiving deliveries for a few days. Without any kind of crisis or panic the store shelves were empty after less than two days. The store where she worked receives no less than four full 53' trailers of inventory per day - unless they send more. This does not include product brought in by dozens of outside vendors seven days per week. This store was just one of several grocery stores serving a middle sized town of less than 75,000 people. I urge everyone to do what you can now to stock up on food staples with a long shelf life. When more difficult times come - and they are coming, you do not want to be compelled to make a rush to the store to try and buy what may be left. - Steve J.

Dear Sirs,
Normally I would be happy to let someone rant, get their frustrations off their chest and not feel it is necessary to address errors.  But, in the recent article by Allen C. there is a deeply flawed assessment of the grocery store inventory control that I believe needs to be corrected lest readers are led astray.

In basic principle, Mr. C. is correct regarding inventory turnover rates of the average grocery store.  Most financial assessments put the turnover rate at around 12, meaning that they keep roughly 1 month of their yearly revenue in inventory.  However, what Mr. C. fails to appreciate is the how the numbers break down.  Grocery stores don’t manage their inventory as a whole:  they manage each product individually based on the just-in-time [inventory control] premise to minimize their capital outlay.  What that means is that there is significant financial incentive for the store to keep on hand only enough inventory to get them through to the next delivery.  Modern shipping typically averages 3 days from distribution to point of sale, hence grocery stores typically look to maintain roughly 3 days inventory of their high turnover products.  Its not 3 days for all products, but 3 days for the highest turnover rate products.  What store wants to have excess days of a product when they sell 100 units a day.  Are they going to maintain 2,500 units in the store?  Of course not.

So how do these two numbers square up?   This is due to other business drivers that a store may face.  They cannot just maintain stock of commonly used items.  To attract customers to their store and provide one-stop shopping they need to inventory and maintain a wide range of rarely purchased items.  Even ignoring non-food items (cookware, bags, personal care, etc) one just needs to look at the snack food aisles.  How many different brands, flavors, and types of potato chips are kept in inventory?  Many of them only sell a couple bags a month.  This could lead a store to just have 1 bag of each on the shelf, but this is very poor promotion and the suppliers would not be happy.  They want their product to appear to be in demand so, through supply arrangements and deals, a grocery store is incentivized to maintain inventories of these specialty items far and above just-in-time inventory levels.  There are well over six months of inventory of many of these specialty products on the store shelves.  In fact many stores struggle with getting turnover rates of these items to be shorter than the shelf life and are often faced with disposing of expired goods.  This is why they have sales on certain items after all.  

Ironically, the in-demand, high use items tend to have the least inventory levels on hand.  These are often the items that appeal to the broadest customer base, like the most basic of food items.  For instance, busy stores will know exactly how many bags of flour they need to maintain from years of tracking data and experience.  It’s the low use items that radically skew the overall inventory numbers.  In a situation that disrupts delivery, the shelves of common items will empty in just a couple days even without panic buying.  What will be left are the bags of avocado-chili-fireball waffle cut potato chips and organic port-wine whole seed mustard, but even so this may only mean a dozen each for the total store customer base of hundreds or thousands.  Even with hundreds of these types of items, it’s not going to feed the populace for very long at all.

I can’t say if 3 days inventory is the best number to use for this type of consideration, but I hope I’ve clarified that it is most definitely not 25 days.  Anyone in storm-prone areas of the irrational mid-atlantic has already experienced this during winter storm alerts.  Milk, bread, and eggs quickly disappear entirely from the shelves.  This isn’t even panic buying.  This is just pre-buying for folks who are afraid they won’t be able to get to the store for a few days.  Even if there is other food on the shelves I shudder to think of the societal reaction when the milk and bread is gone and the next shipment time is unknown. ‘ Let them eat waffle chips’, isn’t going to go over too well I suspect.

I agree with Mr. C that many bits of accepted knowledge need to be critically assessed and re-assessed as needed, but in this instance his analysis is quite flawed.
 
Sincerely, - Mike P. 

I greatly enjoyed reading the letter forwarded by Allen C.  It mirrored many of my own thoughts, mostly not vocalized, that I have had about other "preppers."  I do not like the generalization implied in the word, itself, for it establishes a bias either for or against a whole group of people who seem decidedly different.
 
It brought to mind the much-repeated phrase among preppers: "like-minded individuals."  Now, having met face-to-face with a number of other people who are concerned about uncertain times and are preparing in one way or another for those eventualities, I found that huge differences exist in the ways of going about this task and the philosophies surrounding it.  Thus, to put out an advertisement to join "like-minded individuals" in the "prepper community" is, in my view, about like making the same exhortation to a group of professional football fans on the assumption that they are "like minded,"  when all they have done is to root for the same team that we do.
 
On the subject of paranoia, Allen repeats the oft-used phrase: “I wouldn't be so paranoid if everyone wasn't out to get me.”  This reminded me of a meeting I had in a public place with a few other local preppers whom I "met" on an online prepper network.  These were supposedly like-minded individuals, who, during the course of the meeting appealed to those present to provide their addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses for the purpose of networking, "early warning,"  passing the news, etc.  Of course, I found this proposal astoundingly foolish, and said so.  I was accused of being overly paranoid.  Are there degrees of paranoia?  Anyway, I refused to provide such information to complete strangers, and chalked down having talked myself into such a meeting of this kind to my own foolishness. There are few enough "like minded individuals" within a tightly knit family, or even in a pretty tight military unit, much less in the population at large.  People should dispense with the notion that such a fantasy exists.
 
Concerning Allen's frustration with preppers being "know-it-alls," this statement particularly rang true to me:  "Later the same evening suburban grandma is in a user group regurgitating a half digested piece of prepper knowledge she picked up on another web site without ever having to actually fight anyone, kill anything, or spend a week in the woods."
This brought to mind the image of my teenaged grandson, who, while very bright and seemingly able to absorb any sort of material that he reads, or hears, or sees on TV, has a terrible habit, in my view, of saying "I know...." such-and-such.  I have repeatedly reminded him that he does not "know" anything, nor does anyone else, unless he or she has actually done it or experienced it.  Reading about, talking about, or listening to others who read about, talk about, or otherwise expound on any subject does not constitute a reason to say to oneself: "I know."  There is only one way to "know," in my opinion, at least, and that is to know by the experience of doing.  One does not know how to fell a tree, slice it up with a chain saw, haul it, split it, and stack it, much less burn it, unless one has done it.
 
And Allen's comments further lead me into the frustration I have with preppers who are constantly writing on various blogs a presumption of what "will" happen under certain circumstances, such as a societal collapse.  Zombie biker gangs will roam the countryside, stores will be out of food in hours, gasoline will be unattainable, .22 caliber cartridges will be like gold, etc.  Some of these events might be likely to happen, of course, but for anyone to say beforehand, and in the absence of any evidence, whatsoever, that they "know" what will happen is ludicrous.  No one actually knows what will happen until it happens. Detractors have said "history repeats itself," so we can take from history that we actually do know what will happen.  But we really can't.  We know there is a likelihood of a similar event happening again, human nature being a constant through time, but we still do not know what "will" happen in a given event that takes place in the present times.  
 
In the popular literature, there is only one person whom I can say (because I haven't read everything, to be sure) actually knows about what it's like in an economic collapse.  He is Fernando Aquirre, who, in his book about the collapse in Argentina (2001-present), relates what he actually saw and did in that country during that collapse.  What we have in the American literature on the subject, as entertaining as it is to read, is fictional speculation.  Some of it substitutes well for instruction and even education, and reflects what appears to be very good research, but it is still fiction, causing one to caution oneself, once again, the "no one knows for sure what will happen."  Examples of such works that I have read and enjoyed include the novels Patriots (Rawles), Lights Out (Crawford), One Second After (Forstchen), Holding Their Own (Joe Nobody), Apocalypse Law (Grit), Feathers on the Wings of Hate (Grit), Enemies Domestic and Foreign (Bracken trilogy), The Pulse (S. Williams), The Rift (W. Williams), American Apocalypse (Nova), Lucifer's Hammer, (Niven and Pournelle), Ashfall (Mullen), Molon Labe (B. T. Party), The Old Man and the Wasteland (Cole), World Made by Hand (Kunstler), The Third Revolution (Lewis), Half Past Midnight (Brackett) and Dark Grid (Waldron), among a few others.  There are yet many that I haven't read.  Yes, I do love reading these books.  But they cannot say, and do not purport to say, what will happen, as do so many whom we see writing on the blogs.  
 
Yet, in spite of our differences, we continue to prepare because it seems wise to do so, even though we are not really sure of anything in the future except more uncertainty.  However, I do feel that preparation is more of a lifelong challenge than one that can be accomplished in even a few years.  Some people have had a "survivalist" mindset since childhood, and so "prepping" is second nature to them.  As Allen (and my father) says, they don't even call it that.   It just seems a way of life, indistinguishable from other often-practiced habits.
 
Further, Allen's letter got me to thinking of a Persian proverb, which led me into thinking of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
 
“He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is simple - teach him.
He who knows and knows not that he know is asleep - wake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise - follow him.” - (Persian proverb).

Dunning-Kruger Effect:
According to studies published in 1999 by Dunning and Kruger, there is a difference between what we know and what we think we know. People are notoriously bad at rating their own competence at a whole variety of tasks.
 
Dunning and Kruger found that people who were not very good at a subject also tended to lack the skill to rate themselves at that subject. Such people often figured that the limited information they had about the subject was all there was to know, and that they were consequently more knowledgeable than the average. Hence we are skeptical when we read of so many "experts" on so many subjects on so many blogs.  Take, for example, the case of a "rifleman" who espouses that it is futile to learn for himself or to teach others how to hit targets at 500 yards, arguing that his 250 yard carbine (e.g. AK/AR) will do all that needs doing.  Well, the ignorance extant in such a statement is near to astounding.  Assuming that a majority of our foes are not riflemen, but carbine-men, would it not be wise to prepare to hit them outside of the maximum useful (lethal) range of their own weapons?  But raising such a point in public (Internet) conversation is akin to banging one's head repeatedly against a brick wall and asking for a great argument, considering all of the opposing views on that subject.  There do seem to be a plethora of people who know not, and know not that they know not.  They might retort that I am one of them.
 
Dunning and Kruger also found that people who really were quite knowledgeable about a subject tended to underestimate their ability, perhaps because they knew enough to be aware of how much more there was to know.
Further, they refer to a "double curse" when interpreting their findings: People fail to grasp their own incompetence, precisely because they are so incompetent. And since, overcoming their incompetence would first require the ability to distinguish competence from incompetence, people get stuck in a vicious cycle.
But one need not be obsessed with Dunning and Kruger.  The same effect can be seen in other writings.  Perhaps a few preppers will read this before posting their next expert "knowledge" to a web blog.

Charles Darwin:  "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."

1 Corinthians 8:2,  King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."

Bertrand Russell: "One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.".

Regards, - T.D.

I may as well go ahead and apologize to anyone who is already offended by my title without apologizing for offending you.  I do not actually hate preppers.  I'm just fed up with them.  While I'm at it I may as well apologize for generalizing.  I don't like putting labels on anyone any more than I like being labeled, but it is necessary to generalize in this case so if you consider yourself in one group, but the other better describes you then I accept that in advance.  If it sounds like I apologize a lot it is because I do.  Survivalists being antisocial in nature, I sometimes say things that are inappropriately blunt and get criticism for doing so.  You may disagree that I distinguish between the two, so let's defer to an objective third party on the differences.  Popular Mechanics magazine did a fair job of explaining it:

Preppers call themselves Preppers, in part, to distinguish themselves from survivalists, a term that conjures up images of a paranoid loner hiding out in a cabin.  The Preppers focus on reaching out to other people, and they are avid social networkers. They share tips on things like canning, Port-a-Potties, and other useful skills to have for natural disasters. And they say the effort does not stem from fear. "It's encouraging, uplifting," insists Janet Liebsch, a dedicated prepper, who, along with her husband, publishes guides like It's a Disaster. "Once you start learning, you get addicted."

If you are a survivalist you may have already asked yourself why in the world anyone would want a Port-a-Potty.  You may also be thinking “I wouldn't be so paranoid if everyone wasn't out to get me.” I know I am.  I'm that paranoid loner hanging out in the woods.  At least I was before I got married in my forties and started a family.  I was first labeled a survivalist by local authorities in the 1980s and it was a pretty lonely twenty years so I was originally excited about the blossoming of the prepper movement, but after meeting hundreds of them I must admit I am disappointed.  Here are some reasons why.  

Preppers Are Presumptuous      
The prepper movement has boomed in the last few years and I must admit I resent being lumped in with the suburban grandma who goes online in the morning and orders some MREs, a can of bear spray, and a Gold Eagle coin.  In the afternoon she plants a container garden and fills some soda bottles with water. Viola, she's a prepper and despite the fact that I have done none of those things apparently I am too because prepper equals survivalist.  If it says so on Wikipedia it must be true.  At least that is apparently the mantra.  The fact that I am willing to have an online discussion with her does not make us the same.  To a lessor extent preppers are also attempting to also envelop homesteaders. But that's a discussion for another day. 

It has been said that to a man with a hammer every problem is a nail.  I found this to be especially true in Prepperdom.  First they assume that because they “woke up” and “saw the writing” on the wall they are now supernaturally endowed to survive what is coming.  They also think those who do not possess that one piece of prepper gear they hold most dear will be beating on the doors of the ark while they sit smugly inside watching the water rise.  The truth is there are a lot of people who do not own a gun, a bug-out-bug, or have anywhere to go who are going to feed on preppers like piranha.  For example, my home state recently rewrote laws to allow early release of nonviolent offenders.  These are felons who either did not get caught committing violent crimes or was not charged for them as part of a plea agreement.  Whether they committed them is a question of debate, but I know for sure they have mingled with those who have for years.  I visit one such person with whom I attended high school, but is now in prison and he tells me about post-release crime plans he did not have before he went in.  Although felony convictions prevent them from legally owning a firearm, it will not keep them from dispatching a prepper on the way to the Port-a-Potty and taking theirs.  The motivated ones have already downloaded a list of suspected preppers in their area from ARRL.org.    

Preppers Are Know-It-Alls
Later the same evening suburban grandma is in a user group regurgitating a half digested piece of prepper knowledge she picked up on another web site without ever having to actually fight anyone, kill anything, or spend a week in the woods.  Since most of those repeating these tidbits have not actually tried them, the knowledge usually changes a little like the party game where you whisper a secret in someone's ear who passes it down the line until the last person says it out loud to see how much it changed.  Sometimes it changes a lot.  As I will show later the belief the average grocery store carries only three days worth of food is one example.  It is a corruption of the valid opinion that store shelves would empty within three days of a trigger event.   

A recent volley with a prepper is the one that pushed me over the edge. I've met hundreds of preppers online, individually, and at conferences, but this short exchange was the straw that broke the camel's back prompting me to blow off three preppers in the anonymous “let's meet for coffee” pipeline and stop developing lopsided relationships with people I would not want to help me build a shed.  As with most tipping points, it was about something small.  It was about not being online on the weekend because I am at the retreat.  I agreed to move to town when I got married and since I get to keep all my stuff the price of having a great wife and family is worth the hour drive from the national forest.  It went  something like this:

(Me) High speed Internet is unavailable at my retreat location. I can't even get cell phone service unless I hike to the top of the mountain and then only digital roam text messaging.
(Them) {Immediately} Satellite works everywhere.
(Another Guy) Sometimes terrain or trees get in the way.
(Them) {Immediately} #^@#snet works ANYWHERE. Their web site says so. 
(Me) I'm in the North side of a mountain covered with trees.
(Them) {Immediately} Cut down some trees.
(Me) I'm not in some subdivision where my homeowner's association can force the rancher that owns the top of the mountain to cut a swath of fifty foot trees so #^@#snet can site in my dish at an 80 degree elevation because there would still be a mountain in the way.

This is a harmless example, but he could have just as easily been giving advice on food storage, how to treat a gunshot wound, or any number of possible life-and-death circumstances.  If there is only one ill consequence of the prepper movement it is the avalanche of inexperienced people giving advice in users groups when their only qualification is that they read something similar elsewhere on the net. 

Preppers Are Gullible
No where have I seen this more prevalent than in predicting the timing of total collapse.  Many preppers are disciples of nationally known doomsayers who have been predicting since at least 1999 that we are six months away from anarchy.  When confronted with the obvious they sometimes revert to the argument that collapse has already come.  I wish that were true because having hit rock bottom we could start rebuilding.  The economy may be held up like a horizontal mine shaft about to collapse, but when we run out of bread and circuses these preppers will see what total collapse really looks like.  The different federal agencies who are stocking up on ammunition are going to need it.

I have lost count of how many preppers I've heard from over the last three years who knew someone who knew someone in some branch of intelligence that had inside knowledge of pending collapse.  In one particular case I replied to the email several months later pointing out they had been worrying for nothing.  The sender immediately shot back that the original message only said SOON.  Apparently SOON is not necessarily within the same year.  She wants to meet with me personally. I told her we will get together SOON.       

Preppers Lack Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking is a type of reasonable, reflective thinking that is aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do.  Preppers want to believe the worst to justify expenditures of time and money.  Since this diagnosis in not one preppers will accept without proof, check for yourself to see if you blindly accepted a couple of the more popular prepper myths currently circulating:

Government Study on EMP: 90% Would Be Dead
Grocery Stores Only Carry 3 Days Worth of Food

Neither of those are true and despite the fact that I can prove it preppers with whom I discussed these myths were so adamant about believing the worst that they completely lost their critical thinking skills. My experience was similar to when I worked with shock victims at accident scenes.  It took several repetitions of the evidence before it finally sunk in.  Keep an open mind and see how you do.

Government Study on EMP: 90% Would Be Dead
Several Internet sites have recently been repeating a quote from The United West that in the event of an EMP our population would decrease by 90% within 12-18 months. ''Forstchen cited a 2004 study on the impact of such an assault on America. 'Testimony in that study said 90 percent, let me repeat that, 90 percent of all Americans would die within 12-18 months of an EMP attack,' he said.''

I've scoured the 2004 report and testimony he mentions documented as THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSION TO ASSESS THE THREAT TO THE U.S. FROM ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK by the COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES and found only a question by Representative Roscoe Bartlett in the hearing asking if our population might shrink by two-thirds following an EMP and a noncommittal response by Dr. Wood that the population in the late 1800s was one-tenth the size it is today.

The earliest published document I have found containing the "90% fatality rate" is page 338 of the hardcover edition of Forstchen's novel One Second After.  This same author was a speaker at the seminar the aforementioned article was written to promote.  Could it be preppers are relying on a retrospective discussion between two fictional people?  I posed that question to United West directly via email and using the contact page on their web site, but received no reply.  Since no one can provide the source data for the 90% fatality rate, the reasonable conclusion is that it does not exist.  Certainly an EMP event would be disastrous, but to simply pick an arbitrary survival rate and declare ourselves in the fortunate minority sounds equally so. 

Those on airplanes, or in hospitals, hospice, and nursing homes and others like outpatient dialysis patients would be immediate casualties, but even if we include those over 85 and everyone living in communities with populations of 2,500 or greater the rate would still only be about 82%. Since there exists no historical data on EMP deaths, we can debate indefinitely what the death toll might be.  We can only say for sure that the 90% rate attributed to the congressional hearing is not supported by the actual testimony. 

Grocery Stores Only Carry 3 Days Worth of Food
The second example is even more concrete than the first because it relies entirely on basic math and accounting principles.  You do have to learn one accounting term – Inventory turnover or inventory turns for short.  Inventory turnover is the number of times during the year that a retailer sells an amount equal to its average inventory.  A simple example that assumed beginning and ending inventory is the same would be this:

If a grocery store carried $10 Million worth (at retail) of inventory and they sell $100 Million worth a year, their inventory turnover rate is 10 (100/10) because they sold ten times their average inventory.  According the the Food Marketing Institute, the largest grocery store trade association, the average store level turn rate for grocery stores in 2010 was 14.4. This excludes any inventory at company owned distribution centers, wholesalers, and producers.  It averages beginning inventory and ending inventory at retail, and sales at individual stores.  Average days of inventory carried is easily calculated by dividing the number of days in a year by the inventory turn number (365/14.4 =  25.35).  This means the “average” store has a little over twenty-five days of inventory [with normal demand].  Stores where retail space rents are high tend to have less variety and faster turns while those in rural states like mine with few distribution centers usually carry more inventory.   

I understand why people might think there are only three days of inventory because high-profile items like produce (56.4), dairy (36.0), and meat (35.3) have higher than average inventory turnover rates. Dry goods, the kinds of foods people should be buying in an emergency, are the bulk of inventory and have a lower inventory turnover rate.  This is where those who have drank the Kool-Aid start attacking the data by mentioning nonfood items, but toilet paper flies off the shelf and even pharmacy has a turn rate of 12 so nonfood items being in the minority and not turning at significantly different rates than food items have little effect on the turn rate. 

Those trapped by prepper bias often respond by stating an obvious truth that has nothing to do with the topic, but appears to contradict the revelator.  Someone may say, for example, that WTSHTF stores will be cleaned out immediately.  That is another discussion on the effectiveness of martial law.  In no way am I advocating waiting until the last minute to stock up.  The data supports an alternate response.  It shows that contrary to the opinions of other authors, we are not going to emerge from our cocoons two-months after an event to scour the country for other survivors.  The fact there is nearly ten times as much inventory in stores as preppers want to believe is one more reason to expect the violent transition to a third world country will be a long one.  Forty years ago 16 plane crash victims survived 72 days in the desolate Andes Mountains.  They did not have all the food we have in our system.  They did not have nearly one deer for every citizen as my state does.  All they had was each other – whom they ate.

Desperation will make people who did not “wake up” and “see the writing on the wall” a lot more resourceful than preppers want to believe.         

Conclusion
Does living in a prepper free world mean I am going to go it alone?  Certainly not.  Community is important to long-term survival, but instead of meeting up with the local prepper group who has no bug out location when the city becomes uninhabitable, we will be leaving early and alone for our secluded retreat community whose location I did not disclose to any of them.  I am using the time I redeemed from migraine inducing discussions with preppers to build stronger relationships with my retreat neighbors for whom heating with wood, gardening, hunting, and animal husbandry is not something they are preparing to do, but already a part of their every day lives.   

Much more than most survivalists I know who just want to be left alone, I have found the vast majority of preppers to be well intended and it is for this reason that I wrote this critical essay.  Those who think they are ready because they are stockpiling provisions and having Internet discussions really need to “wake up” and “see the writing on the wall” that these things alone will not save them.  Survival is more about skills than stuff.  We are on the cusp of a violent transition to a third-world country which will include an equally violent redistribution of hard assets.  I little humility and critical thinking will be worth far more than that single can of beans that preppers have been telling me they will one day trade for an ounce of gold.

James:
Reader "X." wrote an article Re: State Government Debt Levels, in which the author makes the case that the US income to debt ratio is approximately 1:1. I think the author mixed facts to come up with a mathematical equality where none exists.  I repeat in totality the paragraph where this is stated:

"The trepidation most of us feel when thinking of the current level of debt (not to be confused with deficit) is likely well-founded.  Individuals tend to think of things in relation to themselves; in other words, I earn $56,000 yearly, and I owe $212,000 on my home, and perhaps $12,000 on a car loan.  So my yearly income relative to my total debt (good/bad/ugly) is 1:4.  So we tend to use a similar ratio when thinking of national debt.  As such, we would look at the yearly salary of our State (U.S. GDP  $15 trillion (CIA World Factbook 2011)) and a debt of $15.9 trillion (http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ), rendering a ration of 1:1."

The yearly salary of the United States Federal Government ('the State' as the author rightfully labels) is not the GDP but the tax receipts that it imposes (takes by force) from the citizens and companies that it maintains a direct taxing authority).

Not to get entangled in an argument of where the numbers come from (because there are so many sources that do not "match up"), in rough terms the federal government has collected in taxes the past few years about $2.3 trillion dollars per year.  Certainly a lot of money, but when matched against what the government is spending each year, about $3.7 trillion dollars, one can see that the debt of the US is not decreasing but that it is increasing. In the current administration, the published debt has increase over $5 trillion dollars to where it stands somewhere near $16 trillion dollars.  (This of course does not address the shadowy 'unfunded liabilities' that are estimated between $61 trillion (USA Today) to $84 trillion (National Center for Policy Analysis).  Who knows where the number truly lies?  It is certainly a big number.  I digress.)

I suggest it is the tax "revenue" of the government which should be used in the income to debt ratio.  Taking the $2.3 trillion in "salary" that US Federal Government has at it's disposal, and the $16 trillion of "public" liabilities, I would suggest that the income to debt ration of the country is not 1:1 but 1:6.95.

And then of course is the original subject of the article the author was referring too, many of the individual states and commonwealths have their own additional problems.  Using the author's example of California with a $16,000 per capita "obligation" then the families liabilities would not be $224,000 (house) and $12,000 (car loan) but an additional $64,000 (state of California) raising their ratio from 1:4 to 1:5+, and if we really look at this and make a generous assumption that the household gets to keep 70% of its income (the rest of course is tax paid to various taxing authorities) the ratio now becomes 1:7.1.  And because I don't have the time to figure it out, what is the ratio when factoring in the federal indebtedness?

Now the 1:6.9 matches up with the 1:7.1, but not really in anyone's favor.  Hah, I am mixing my own results to create an "equality" where none exists. 

Okay, I took the time.  $16 trillion divided by every man, woman, and child (315 million rounding up) is almost $51,000 per person worth of "federal obligations".

The family of four from California really (using gross and not net) $56,000 per year match up against $504,000 in indebtedness for a ration of 1:9.

And to think in states like California the debt burden will only increase, and in the US unless something changes the debt will only increase.

Who wants to do the math on a welfare mother with 6 children and no income? No mortgage or car, that is easy: zero.  But $16,000 x 7 plus $51,000 x 7 and now you are talking real money:
$469,000 of public obligation with no money to pay.  Oh, that's right, you and I get to pay for those people as well. There is no ratio with no income.  Just an infinite debt in that instance.  So, to truly determine a families income to debt ratio, it has to be determined if they are a "maker" or a "taker".  Makers have income, so a ratio can be calculated, takers do not.  Suffice to say the money will have to come from somewhere.

Thanks for listening, sorry for the rambling.  Do we have to wonder why a lot of the articles in the Economics and Investing section are so downbeat? - Old Dog, Wisconsin

The problem so much of this country faces can be sourced back to one common practice that many of us cannot bring ourselves to face.  Unrealistic promises.  The world is full of risks, in fact life could be described as nothing but a massive risk management exercise. Will my paychecks be enough to cover my bills this month? Will I have any unexpected expenses this month? Will a plane fall out of the sky on to me? Will my business be adversely affected by Obamacare? Will the price of oil rise so high I can’t afford my commute? Will the value of stocks, bonds, gold, land, or whatever I use to hold and grow value over time crash?  Will those investments go through the roof and I will have missed the opportunity to invest more?

Many people in business spend a lot of time trying to quantify and figure out manage risks but the important thing to remember is that risk never goes away.  It can be diced up, spread around, shared, concentrated, traded, bought, and sold but it never goes away.  Just because you bought an insurance policy or a derivative to offset your risk doesn’t mean the risk went away. You just replaced it with a different risk.  You got rid your basic risk and replaced it with the risk the insurer or derivative originator won’t be able to pay out according to the policy or contract.  You had better know how much in reserve your partner has to cover these risks and what their total exposure is.  AIG sold contracts with 72 trillion dollars’ worth of exposure with almost no reserves and zero visibility to their clients or regulators.  Let’s put that in perspective, global economic output in 2011 was just under 70 trillion dollars. Lesson learned should be lack of regulation may allow for business innovation but that innovation may not be good thing for the unwise.  Always know your business partners.  Don’t accept what they say on its face.  Dig deep, analyze, if they have a problem disclosing information you need to be a wise investor, walk away.

That’s not to say that risk is a bad thing.  Risk is simply a fact of life.  Let’s define risk.  Risk can be defined as a noun meaning “a situation involving exposure to danger” or as a verb meaning “expose to danger, harm, or loss” Taking risks can result in a reward if the expectations are met or exceeded but result in loss if expectations are not met.  In business we often express risk in terms of probability such as 1/3 chance upside risk outcome, 1/3 chance of expected outcome, and 1/3 chance of downside outcome. Equations are developed for each of these three scenarios and a weighted outcome is calculated usually expressed as a return on investment. 

Strangely one of the best expressions of the benefits of risk was not expressed by a capitalist but a communist and not just anyone but The Communist Karl Marx.  He advocated that the flaw in Capitalism was that in any capitalist endeavor workers must be paid less than what the contributed to the bottom line in order for the Capitalist (entrepreneur or investor in modern usage) to make a profit.  By this definition even athletes or actors making millions of dollars per year are “exploited” because their employer is still making money.  By Marx’s definition only co-ops and not for profit organizations could ever be considered non-exploitive.  What Marx didn’t understand is this is the ultimate thing right about Capitalism.  Business owners put their capital on the line when they start the business, when they take a premium on what the workers contribute to the organization they are reaping the reward from their risk. 

The worker on the other hand is taking a discount on what his labor is truly worth because he is not taking as much risk.  He is the first one paid if a business fails, is usually paid sooner and more often than vendors, and he does not invest his own capital. The employee is not without any risk as his employment is not guaranteed nor is his wages fixed.  These all have to be determined by supply and demand in a free and open market place. Just as consumers and suppliers must assign a value to the utility they get from a purchase, employees and employers must assign values to the time, effort, and wages exchanged in the labor market.  Both sides must be free to change those values as their needs change.

Many conservatives express a lot of anger at unions for the contracts they sign with management.  Some of the worst of these contracts promise unrealistic continuation of benefits such as minimum number of workers, fixed wage rates, and benefits regardless of the financial health of the organization.  The thing to remember here is that management agreed to this.  They agreed to offload all the risk of the employee and take it on themselves.  Lots of reasons for this come to mind but the simplest are that times were good and they were short sighted enough to believe good times would last longer than the contract. This is one of those unrealistic promises people make.  Simply put even unions shouldn’t seek contracts that promise too much for too long with too little flexibility.  The company just won’t be able to keep their unrealistic promises.

A second form of unrealistic promise we buy into are pensions.  Pensions are usually classified as guaranteed benefit or guaranteed contribution.  Let’s look at the guaranteed benefit first.  Everyone needs a certain amount of money to stop working and retire.  Hence we have a risk situation: upside we have more money than needed to retire, expected situation we have enough to retire, and downside we have too little to retire.  In a defined benefit plan, the company promises to provide a certain level of retirement income based on some formula usually centered on your wages.  They calculated the amount of money they will need at your retirement time.  Then they discount this (the opposite of compounding interest) by some interest rate back to today’s dollars to determine how much they need to fund in the current period so that investment can grow until you reach retirement. The defined contribution plan varies because they instead guarantee they will contribute so much each year towards your retirement but do not guarantee how much in benefits you will get out of the plan at retirement.  The main difference is who will accept the risk that the investment won’t grow according to plan.  In a defined benefits plan if the rate of growth on the plan’s investments doesn’t meet or exceed the rate used to discount the amount needed to fund the benefits then the company must contribute more in the current period.  In a defined contribution plan, the employee accepts the risk of the plan not having enough to fund their retirement.  Currently most retirement plans are defined benefit plans but companies have made ridiculous assumptions about growth rates or other variables in the calculations to allow them to underfund these pensions. The lesson learned is to check what promises your company has made and see if they are making the contributions and using realistic calculations.  If not don’t expect your retirement to be comfortable.

The way we chose to deal with many of our largest risks in the last century has largely been through government. “The problem is we have socialized risk and privatized reward.”-(Sen. Christopher Dodd)  What do Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and virtually all other “entitlement” programs have in common? They all involve socializing risk and privatizing reward.  This also includes tax breaks for specific industries, bail outs, and preferential regulations for specific industries.  “We the people” are expected to bear the burden to make sure private citizens and corporations get to succeed regardless of what risks they took but they got to keep the rewards of taking those risks. Government has told the poor “you can’t afford healthcare?” That’s okay, we will take care of that.  Didn’t save enough for retirement? We got your back. You don’t produce an airplane anyone wants to buy? Don’t worry we’ll lease them for more than what you want to sell them for. Your competitor makes more than you? We’ll agree to additional regulations that benefit you! (Most regulations don’t come out of thin air or from citizen special interests, they come from rival businesses or industries seeking to straddle rivals with additional costs. If you don’t believe me, then look at who pays the lobbyists.)

The worst part of this is that many of these programs are essentially defined benefit programs.  Congress, in their infinite wisdom, wrote the laws creating Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as guaranteeing benefits rather than levels of funding.  Hence it isn’t as simple as they stop cutting checks to the beneficiaries.  Those beneficiaries are legally entitled to those benefits and if the US Treasury doesn’t fund them then it will just turn into a huge legal mess with the Supreme Court eventually citing the 14th amendment not allowing the government to repudiate its debts.
Reforming the programs to fit our current funding the is simplest fix but trying to cut these programs down to size is politically unlikely as most benefit senior citizens who reliably vote as a block against any attempt to cut their benefits.  Requiring a balanced budget might work.  Since these programs often require funding this would force massive tax increases.  That might produce consensus on how to reform these programs but would rob the government of short term funding needed for things like fighting wars or dealing with a large crisis.  No solution is easy or someone would have already implemented it. 

Another important thing to think about is that people bought into these promises and are depending on them.  If you think a Crunch is coming, then think about the situation if Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security suddenly ended (this is essentially what would have to happen to balance our federal budget).  How many people would die?  How many elderly would starve as their only source of income dried up?  How many children would go without any sort of medical care? How many elderly would die without their medications?
We can say that this should be left up to private charity but lack of private charity is what led to Federal Government taking up these obligations that are now strangling the country!  Remember Christ commanded love of your neighbor. Ayn Rand extolled reason over faith and self over others. Gordon Gecko said “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good”.  Christ said “…You cannot serve both God and money.” (Mathew 6:24).

Simply put, we can’t continue to make unrealistic promises and not deal with the risks of life.  It leads down a path of self-deception and folly.  We have to find ways to make this world hospitable to all in a way that doesn’t destroy our urge to better ourselves.

James,
I just finished reading one of the financial articles you linked in yesterday’s post.  The topic of the article was debt levels of U.S. states.  In it, the author broke down the debt burden of each state citizen; for example, a Californians’ per capita obligation is just over $16,000, while Texans are at a lower level of around $11,000.
 
So:  Two things.
 
First:  I think in doing this we are perpetuating the concept of the State’s (used here in the sense of a nation-state/political entity) authority to impose the public debt burden on non-sovereign individuals.  While I know that the sovereignty concept is hotly debated in many circles, for the purposes of this discussion I am strictly limiting that definition to one’s ability to create currency, conduct foreign policy, wage war, etc…  A sovereign entity may indeed, through processes (or around them….) encumber itself with debt.  In this regard a State is no different than an individual.  We see the same principal demonstrated in corporate activity: a corporation (literally-body: individual) conducts business in a manner that seeks to maximize shareholder value.  When things go well, shareholder value increases and dividends are distributed.  Conversely, corporate actions leading to losses, whether through market forces, loss of comparative or competitive advance or, in some cases, malfeasance, ultimately reduce the value of each share.  At this point the shareholders have various remedies available to them: they may sit tight and ride it out, they may express individual dissent by selling their shares, or they may choose to change management so as to correct the course of the fiscal ship.
 
The value of the corporation is decreased, or increased, by  several factors as we see above: consumers can choose (or not) to purchase goods from the corporation, management can change strategy, or shareholders can move to change leadership.  The political analogies to these three are as follows:
 
·         Consumer choice = any international interactions with the State.  Those interactions run the gamut from mutual aid and trade agreements to belligerency and armed aggression
·         Management strategy shifts = internal and external policy changes.  An example of internal policy change would be a requirement for  voter identification, and an external policy change would be adoption of an international standard or treaty
·         Change of management = elections, where the polity (authorized voters) take legal action to affirm or negate the candidate, or coups de etat, whereby the leadership of the polity is forcibly removed
 
So here we see the three methods by which change is affected.  In the case of the State encumbering (lawfully or unlawfully-not under review here) the citizens recourse is expanded by one further item, that of disassociation with the State (for the purposes of this discussion this option remains tabled).  The citizen, lawfully or unlawfully encumbered by the state, may choose the options listed above in order to remedy the condition with which the State has burdened her. 
 
The question on which this issue turns is as follows:  does the citizen bear personal fiduciary liability for the encumbrances of the State?  If we can agree that the above-listed methods of redress are valid, and that, further, that just as the corporation is fiscally whole and separate from the fiscal wholeness and separateness of the shareholder, so too is the State fiscally whole and separate from the polity.  The natural course of events, then, flowing from fiscal dissolution of the State, does not in and of itself mean the fiscal dissolution of the polity.  We can, however, easily discern that due to the dependencies between citizen and State, the dissolution of the State will most certainly result in some degree of degradation of the individual (and this is the premise behind JWR's novel, Survivors). 
 
So yes, the State can encumber itself, and yes, the reduction of the State’s performance (in the contractual sense, performance means adhering to the terms of the contract) translates into a reduction of the State’s international and domestic relations.  And it may indeed result in the dissolution of the State.  But in and of itself, Statal (‘of’ the State) dissolution does not equal individual dissolution.
 
 
Second:  notwithstanding the arguments re. ‘who owns our national debt’ and ‘the Chinese’ (insert raised fist here), not all sovereign and/or public debt is bad.  See this link for a viewpoint contrarian to the ‘all public debt is bad’ argument:  http://www.multiplier-effect.org/?p=3192 
 
The issue we are all dancing around/thinking of/writing about is balance.  What is the proper (a subjective term) level of debt to benefit?  In the life of an individual, perhaps mortgage debt is seen as ‘good’ and credit card debt is seen as ‘bad’.  Well, perhaps.  This is subjective territory.  So a little explanation is called for:
 
I tell my students (civil-military operations) that the way to think about subjectivity v. objectivity is this:  an ‘objective’ utterance is one made in reference to an observable, measurable, mutually recognized ‘thing’.  The physical.  A ‘subjective’ utterance is ‘subject to debate’: in other words, open to more than one interpretation. 
 
So when someone says that public debt is ‘bad’, we need to be rigorous in our assessment of the term.  Bad with regard to degradation of national security?  National security as measured how?  By whom?  Over what time period?  In relation to which set of potential negative influencers?
 
The trepidation most of us feel when thinking of the current level of debt (not to be confused with deficit) is likely well-founded.  Individuals tend to think of things in relation to themselves; in other words, I earn $56,000 yearly, and I owe $212,000 on my home, and perhaps $12,000 on a car loan.  So my yearly income relative to my total debt (good/bad/ugly) is 1:4.  So we tend to use a similar ratio when thinking of national debt.  As such, we would look at the yearly salary of our State (U.S. GDP  $15 trillion (CIA World Factbook 2011)) and a debt of $15.9 trillion (http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ), rendering a ration of 1:1.
 
So from a purely mathematical standpoint, why worry?  If the average U.S. citizen earns $49,000 (ibid) and has a personal obligation in excess of 1:1, that means the State is actually behaving in a more conservative manner than the individual.
 
Here, then, is the reason I spoke earlier of the subjective v. objective:  I don’t earn $56,000, and I don’t owe $224,000.  I earn more, and owe less.  So my objective condition informs my subjective opinion, and both of those items are substantially different than yours, or his, or hers.  The reasons I earn my own level of income and owe my own level of debt are my reasons, not yours.  Hence, the importance discerning the subjective from the objective.
 
Now, back to the lead paragraph of this rant:   California v. Texas.  Objectively, California may have a larger debt than Texas.  Further, California may have a larger state GDP than Texas, rendering a different (perhaps better, perhaps worse) income to debt ratio.  That is a state problem.  If, however, the state’s fiscal performance incurs remedy from its creditors, the polity suffers.  And this is the heart of the matter: when governments opt to use the GDP to debt ratio as it relates to individual earnings v. individual debts, the state surrenders the protections offered by it to the polity. 
 
So what does all this mean?  It means that each time the state incurs additional debt, our fiscal lives are encumbered, and our liberties are further constrained.  So why can’t we, as citizens, stand together and demand that the state no longer have the power to financially encumber the polity?  We can. 
 
Vote conservative.

Dear James,

I'd like your advice. We live in a house on five rural acres in Wisconsin. It's both our year-round house and a sorta retreat. We now have the chance to refinance our mortgage at a lower interest rate. (Just 3.88%, as oppose to the 5.2% on our existing mortgage.) Our outstanding balance is about $210K. Should we re-fi, or stand pat? Any special considerations, given the perilous economic times, these days? Thanks in advance for your advice. - Hal K.

JWR Replies: Yes, this might be an advantageous time to re-finance. A 3.88% rate is excellent. Just beware that though we are still in a deflationary overhang, it isn't likely to last much longer. Once inflation kicks in, then variable interest rate loans will become a killer. So I recommend that you ONLY take a fixed rate mortgage, and that you make sure that the terms of the new mortgage agreement allow you to pay off chunks of the principal with no prepayment penalty.

There as many opinions and even more guesses than those who are guessing about what will cause the collapse of the world as we know it.  There may be unexpected triggers in nature or in society such as natural disasters of a sudden or a gradual nature, geopolitical events or developments, or environmental triggers that may be natural or man made.  With or without any of these events and processes about which there is an enormous volume of speculation, my previous skepticism about one in particular has been transformed to a personal certainty.
 
Economic Collapse - Really?
 
The expectation that the economy may or will deteriorate beyond a typical recession is gaining wider acceptance every week. Let me explain why I am confident that this situation will become unmistakable within the next six to eighteen months. I will also discuss how serious this problem is likely to become.
 
Before we get too far into the discussion about what may happen in the economy, it is necessary to understand the nature of money and bartering.  Money is fundamentally a way to facilitate bartering among a large group of people.  When one person, lets call him George, needs something that a second person, lets call him Peter, can provide, George may try to offer something he owns in exchange for what he wants.  This may become difficult if the George does not have anything that the Peter wants.  The George is then left wanting unless he can arrange a series of trades or exchanges with other people until the George finally obtains something that Peter wants.  Another advantage of money is if George has something that Peter finds desirable, but there is a wide disparity between the values of the two objects being considered for trade.  For example let’s suppose that George has one too many cows and would like to obtain a hand saw from Peter who has an extra saw.  The difference in value of the two tradable items makes it unlikely that an easy trade will occur.   By this point I am sure you can see the advantage of having a reserve of money or currency to facilitate the transactions between George and Peter. 
 
Now before we get too sold on the advantages of using money, we need to examine the major issues about using money.  The first issue is how to determine the “value measure of money”, and the second is how to assure that the “value measure” of the money does not change unfairly.  To put these questions in plain English we can ask, “What is a Dollar worth?”  The second question is, “How do we know that a Dollar today will still be worth a Dollar tomorrow?”   Some of you may remember the economic atmosphere in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s when the Dollar lost about half of its value in six years. (Many countries had far worse experiences before and during that time.)  Virtually every government, as well as a number of non-government groups, has grappled with those two questions throughout history.  The bottom line is that whatever methods have been devised for addressing these questions, it is the acceptance of and confidence of those using the currency that determines how effective the methods have been.  The biggest issue for those using the currency is, “If I hold on to or accumulate this currency for future transactions, can I be sure it will not lose value while I hold it?” When all is said and done, the value of any currency is measured by the level of confidence people have in that currency.
 
Now that we have considered the role of confidence in a money system, let’s consider factors currently affecting confidence in the U.S. money system.  As of July, 2012, the average American family had an annual income of $43,000 and an average debt of $117,950. In this study U.S. households numbered about 115,000,000.  That comes to a total citizen indebtedness of about $13.5 Trillion.  The national debt, on money already spent by the U.S. government, is now around $16 Trillion.  That put a total debt burden on the average U.S. household of $256,521 compared to an average income of only $43,000. While the total U.S. household debt was reduced in 2010, it increased again in the past year. This means the average household is currently not paying down their debt, but rather adding to it.  This situation is worsened by the fact that and the federal government is currently spending money at about twice the rate that it is taking in revenue, which means it would need to cut its non-debt servicing spending by 50% to keep from increasing the national debt.  Next consider that as of June, 2012, the national savings rate, that is savings divided by total income, was 4.4%.  That means the average household has no more than $1,900 per year that could be applied to the total debt (both paying down the national debt through additional taxes and paying down their personal debt.)  So, if the federal government suddenly cut its total budget in half, and if every household completely stopped saving any money for any reason (e.g. retirement savings) it would take 135 years to pay off the current debt. Remember, however, there are several additional concerns not considered in that calculation.  These numbers do not include any of the state governments’ debts, which the citizens are also responsible for paying. Another very big consideration is that most economists agree that cutting the federal government’s spending in half would surely trigger a serious recession, resulting in more job losses (laying off government workers and reducing government contracts which also pay for non-government jobs), and thus less money would be available among the American households to pay down all the debts.  Conversely, economists also understand that if the government significantly increases taxes in order to increase the revenues, this would also slow down the economy, which is already on the verge of a recession.
 
While the specific numbers are different, the same dynamics described above apply to most countries in Europe at this time.  When you read or hear in the news about the economic crisis in Greece and other European countries, the same issues of too much debt and too little revenue to pay the debts are at work there as they are here in the U.S. Many of these countries have already slipped into recessions as governments and central banks hold meeting after meeting to grapple with the problems that have “developed”.  When we consider how this may develop or play out and affect the United States it becomes clear that there are infinite possibilities as to events which may trigger various stages of deterioration in the economy.  Remember, that the key to a currency being valued or accepted at all depends on the confidence people have in that currency.  What follows is merely a simplified description of a possible sequence of events and the impact of that sequence on various economic activities. 
 
The European community will continue slipping deeper into widespread recession.  Europe , at least the majority of it, has gotten itself into a lose/lose situation.  Most European governments have accumulated a very high ratio of debt to revenue.  Furthermore, most of that debt (in the form of bonds), which is now considered risky because it is so high, is held by European banks and investors.  The economies in Europe , which have become highly enmeshed and this has been a factor in the spread of recession. With the slowing economies, as we discussed above, the revenues have decreased putting strains on government budgets as well as personal incomes. The final factor here is that a major portion of the gross “income” of the European people now comes from their governments. (If they raise taxes they cut personal incomes; if they cut government budgets, they also cut personal incomes.) As the banks and governments struggle to address the risks and economic issues the people continue to lose confidence in “the system”.  In order for the governments to try stimulating the economy, they must borrow to obtain funds to do so, because they were already spending more than they were receiving in revenue. As you can see this becomes a self aggravating cycle as the economies slow, the revenues drop, level of debt continues to rise, and the budgets are cut, etc.
 
While there may be solutions to these problems in the long term, opposing political forces, in the U.S. as well as in many other countries, seem to be focused on opposing strategies; both of which will only deepen the problems (remember our discussion of raising taxes and reducing government spending). Furthermore, even if the solutions, which are apparently unrecognized by the vast majority, were miraculously endorsed by the governments it would take years to repair the damage of the last century. 
 
At this time it appears that the economic situation in Europe will deteriorate ahead of the situation in the U.S.   Since the early 1970s the U.S. dollar has become the World Reserve Currency. We will explain the reason for that status a little later.  The important thing to remember here is that this status has kept the U.S. Dollar artificially high in value compared to other currencies.  As the European recession deepens they will experience growing inflation relative to the Dollar.  This will weaken the demand for U.S. goods, because of the inflating prices, and in turn weaken their ties with the U.S. Dollar.  The slowing economies in Europe will push more investors to redeem their U.S. Treasury Bonds in order to meet expenses.  When the redemption rate rises the value will go down, and yields (effective interest rates) will begin to rise.  While this higher interest rate might normally make the treasury bonds more attractive to investors, this will be caused by too many sellers and not enough buyers.  If the United States government continues to outspend its revenue, borrowing to cover its debts will get more and more expensive. This will make it harder and harder for the U.S. government to balance its budget.  As investors around the world learn from what has happened in Europe, they will also see the parallels in the U.S.
 
Gradually, at first, investors will be looking harder for other investments they believe are both safer and providing better returns (Actually, it is already beginning. China and Japan , the two largest non- U.S. holders of U.S. Treasury Bonds, have already started reducing their holdings in U.S. Bonds.).  As the confidence in the Dollar slips sellers of non-US products, such as oil or manufactured goods, will begin arranging to accept payment in non-US currency. (This has already started now, too.) This will further erode the perceived value of the Dollar.  During this time the market value of stocks may rise until investors begin to worry more about decreasing corporate revenues caused by the slowing economies... Concurrently the market pricing of gold and silver will continue to climb (as will the cost of other commodities like foods and fuel).  At some point it seems likely that the number of investors understanding the absurdity of the U.S. being able to pay off its debt will reach a critical level. This critical level will result in one of the periodic, blind auctions of U.S. Treasuries being a “failed auction”.  This means that there will be too few bidders interested in buying the number of bonds the treasury wants to sell (To put it another way - The U.S. Government states a need for it to borrow a specified amount of Dollars for continuing operations and auctions off what they consider to be enough bonds to pay for the governments cash needs. When they open the sealed binds, there are not enough large investors and small investors willing to buy all the bonds offered. That will result in the treasury not having enough money for the government to pay its bills and salaries.)
 
 If (when) this happens many investors around the world will “panic” because they will see other investors not willing to accept the risk of loaning money to the U.S. Government. These investors will see a need to sell their bonds before their value goes down. Gold and silver prices will begin to skyrocket as “safe investments” since the last, best safe haven, the U.S. Treasury, doesn’t seem quite so safe now. More and more investors will seek to sell their treasury bonds before the value drops even further, which will result in the value of those bonds dropping in value. 
 
I know that some will hear my projections and argue that the pricing or valuation of treasury bonds has fluctuated in the past without a panic in the markets. My response to them is, “THIS TIME IT’S VERY DIFFERENT!”   Normally when the market valuation on Bonds starts to fall, it is because the economy is accelerating faster, so investors are moving their money into stocks and business expansion. This time our economy is slowing rather than accelerating. This time , most economies in the world are decelerating or have already decelerated.  This time , our government has accumulated a far greater debt than ever before.  This time , Europeans have just recently become keenly aware of the dangers of a country carrying too much debt.  This time Europe will have already crossed over from primarily buying U.S. Bonds as a safe haven for their money to selling U.S. Bonds as a means of raising more cash.  When the pricing of U.S. Treasury Bonds starts to fall, all of their notions about them being a “safe haven” will quickly disappear.  This shift toward selling Treasury bonds will create accelerating inflation. This is another aspect in which “ this time it’s different .”  In the past when inflation heated up the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to cool off or slow down the economy.  This time interest rates will have already risen as a byproduct of the decreasing value of our bonds.  So the economy will be slowing down faster of its own accord.  Also, in the past when the economy has slowed down too much, our government has increased stimulus spending to correct that.  This time the government has already been providing extraordinary amounts of stimulus money for years, with less and less benefit. So you see, some of what makes this time different is that all of the tools that had been used in the past to manage a troublesome economy, have already been stretched to the breaking point or beyond in literally dozens of the largest economies in the world.
 
One more element that will make this time different is a little more complicated. When President Nixon took the U.S. off the Gold Standard in 1971, there was serious concern about the value of the dollar slipping since it was no longer backed in gold.  At that time Nixon also negotiated an agreement with Saudi Arabia for them to only accept U.S. Dollars in payment for their oil.  This resulted in the U.S. Dollar being kept artificially high in value relative to other currencies world wide, because everyone needed Dollars to buy oil. This is the primary reason the Dollar became the World Reserve Currency.  The petro-Dollar agreement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia crafted in the 1970s is still influencing the demand for U.S. Dollars throughout Europe.  Even though the demand for oil in Europe may slow as their economies slow, they will continue to need oil from Saudi Arabia (at least while Iran is a political pariah in Europe.)  The conditions created by that 1971 agreement are going to suddenly change this fall (2012). China, Iran, Japan, and Russia have reached a collection of agreements that will support international trade in oil and many other products in Chinese Yuan. This Fall a commodities exchange will be launched to facilitate transactions for oil and other materials in non-Dollar currencies. This will result in further downward pressure on the value of the Dollar.  As more people worldwide turn their attention to the economic developments, which they can no longer ignore, they will find out how the Dollar Printing Presses have been working far faster than could be justified by the increased production of the U.S. , which those Dollars were supposed to represent.
 
If all of that were not enough, there are some extremely well known and highly respected economists stating their belief that the world is, without it being officially announced, already engaged in mega-currency warfare.  Furthermore, China appears determined to play by a different monetary strategy than the U.S. and Western Europe .  China has in the last five years suddenly become the world’s greatest producer of gold and the greatest buyer of gold. It has also revealed itself to be the world’s largest holder of gold reserves. (The numbers provided by the CIA on their web site estimate Chin ’s real gold reserves are about twice as large as what China publicly revealed.   China has also publicly stated that the U.S. Dollar must be replaced as the world’s reserve currency. In addition, China and one of its new “special” trading partners, Japan , are known to hold nearly 15% of the total debt of the U.S. government.  There are other ways in which our own government has made our financial system inexplicably and seriously vulnerable to China specifically.   
. 
At some point, people in the U.S. will grasp the seriousness of their situation, and the fear of rapid inflation will begin to influence merchants and ordinary people in the U.S, They will begin to scramble for immediate cash before the “value of the Dollar” falls too far.  There have been instances of serious inflation (ten percent or more per year) in the U.S. within the last fifty years.  More and more economists are considering the possibility of super-inflation (more in the range of 100% per year) for more than a full year. At this rate the Dollar might drop in value to only 50 cents in one year, 25 cents in two years, and around 12 cents within three years.  So called hyperinflation (like in Germany in the 1920s) has actually occurred in a few countries within the last 60 years as well.  In those cases the hyper inflation was limited to a lone country or a very few countries at a time.   This time the underlying causes of super or hyper-inflation appear to be present in a wide multitude of countries across Europe as well as the United States . It therefore seems likely that this time super or hyper-inflation will not be limited by national borders.
 
Based on historical precedents, once this economic turmoil catches hold, for quite some time to follow (five to ten years, perhaps more), the prices on precious metals will continue to rise. As the effects of severe inflation take hold, steady flow and availability of things being produced (including clean water, food, fuel, electrical power, etc.) will become more erratic and unreliable. People will become desperate to acquire essentials when they are not readily available. The cost of many things will climb so quickly that people will eventually lose their ability to pay conventional currency for bare necessities.  The value of silver coins will rise along with the popularity of bartering. History has shown that when a paper currency looses its value rapidly, people will begin using either gold or silver coins instead.  If there are not enough of these coins to support continuing commerce people will develop a local consensus for another form of currency when barter is too inconvenient.  There will be even more bartering attempted while some people will try to differentiate between the value of paper money and coins, especially silver coins. There is an inherent issue with the continuing rise in the value of silver coins. Most silver coins have been removed from circulation over the last 50 years. Their lack of availability may or may not affect how widely they will be accepted as currency. Remember, the Value of any currency is primarily a function of perception.  The need for cash with which to buy essentials, and “real” items may eventually slow the gold buyers in many countries. At some point in time, due to both the international markets and the greatly lessened value of most currencies; the price of Gold may become too high to be a good, liquid currency asset.  It is very hard to predict how this issue will pan out during the difficult transition that follows.  Just remember that when people are starving, most will realize they cannot eat gold. At some point the value of gold will stop climbing and eventually (maybe in five years, maybe in fifty years) it too will decrease in value.
 
Eventually some form of currency will replace the current money, whether is a newly issued, devalued U.S. currency or some other currency, but it not without serious economic trauma.  There are already localized community groups that are creating currencies accepted by merchants in their locale.  The state of Utah recently passed a law stating that gold and silver are considered legal tender. The practice of bartering will obviously continue.  As a new or newly valued currency becomes more widely available and more widely accepted, currency transactions will eventually replace most but not all bartering transactions. Continuation of barter will gradually fade into more and more use of an agreeable currency, but how fast or slow is impossible to predict.  The man point here is that you need to remain alert to major swings in the value and the usability of various items used for barter, for currency, and for stored value.
 
How Bad Will It Get?
 
The most serious question is, “How bad will it get?”  No one really knows, but there are many, many guesses?  Everyone has their own guesses. Some base their guesses on calculations. Most use their imagination. Some try to project based on what they have seen, or read.  I will not try to impress you with my credentials for analyzing or predicting.  Let’s just say this is one man’s opinion, and I am probably either under estimating or over estimating the severity of how things will really work.  My best guess is that economically it will get at least as bad as the Great Depression in most of the U.S. and most likely much worse.  Also the response of the government(s) to the collapse and the political, sociological, and economic responses of the people to the difficulties will affect the progress of the collapse. I am quite certain that many cities will have riots because of angry and desperate people.  I was fortunate to not be in any of the cities where they occurred, but in the 1960s there were serious riots in many of the large U.S. cities. These riots were fundamentally about accumulated anger over difficult and frustrating conditions in certain sub-sections of those cities.  At the same time there were some riots that were purely political in origin.  I believe the difficulties, frustrations, and anger created by the economic turmoil ahead will dwarf what was going on in the sixties, and I was there in the sixties.  Even in the absence of riots it is very likely that gang activities and gang formation will be significantly elevated in many cities.   This will not be uniform across the country, nor will the government’s response to these troubles be uniform across the country.  I have heard genuine concerns about what the government might do, and the reality is that most of this is rumor, speculation, and conjecture based on many people trying to interpret bits of information they find disturbing.
 
What I do know (and this is not conjecture) is that the federal government does have documented plans for dealing with these kinds of anticipated problems.  A number of people claim to have found evidence of active preparations by government agencies that refuse to give reasonable explanations for those preparations.  It is a fact that these plans that are published designate responsibilities and authorizations for various government agencies and appointed positions that are new and / or altered from their legislated authority. It is also a fact that most of the details of those government Plans for responding to these potential problems are Classified and unknown even to the leaders in Congress responsible for oversight of those agencies that have been designated within the plans.  Some of the Plan documents do provide for such contingencies as troops being used for “law  enforcement”, and confiscation and control of any “important resources” including food, water, power, industrial resources, human resources, and more. There have been many questioning the legality of some of the measures described in the non-classified portions of those plans, but the Supreme Court by precedent will not hear a case until an attempt is made to enforce that law, and a suit regarding that enforcement has already been tried in a lower court.  I also know that ongoing polls being conducted indicate a significant and growing distrust of the people toward the U.S. government.  Whether you witnessed it or not, our government has in the past commandeered all of these resources and more.
 
There are currently a number of organizations and groups that are very concerned about some measures that were taken in New Orleans after Katrina.  Some of these organizations, based on interpretation of those events in New Orleans , have declared and published in advance their intentions to disobey specified types of orders that might be given to them by authorities in a declared emergency.  (My descriptions here are intentionally obtuse, because my own interpretation of the facts as I know them, and my knowledge of the veracity of a significant body of statements which have been issued by government entities have convinced me to be careful of what I say.)  I also understand, both through training and considerable observation, a lot about human nature. When faced with being deprived of access to things that are required for their survival; some people will simply give up, some will mentally zone out and follow the crowd, other people will resort to taking desperate and dangerous actions, and only a few will be prudent and deliberate about taking sensible action.. This is true whether the person is an individual in the community or an individual in a position of leadership and authority within the government.  Put that all together, and, it seems to me, you have a formula for a lot of very serious unpleasantness ahead.
 
I have tried to discuss here what I am expecting.  Could it be worse? Oh, yes. Could it be less sever than I described?  Well, that is possible.  I have observed over and over in nature and in history a phenomena sometimes called Tipping Points.  Some of you call this “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.  There are many factor that affect our ability to cope and recover from problems that come along.  When an event like I have described weakens a society, it becomes far more vulnerable to potential disasters, whether natural or man made.  As mentioned earlier, there are countless possibilities that can affect the scenario above by either accelerating or worsening the process.  For example, there is currently a severe drought in the “American Breadbasket”.  We are already being told that this will have a significant impact on both food prices and fuel prices.  What effect might that have on the stability of the economy?  If we have a major natural disaster, could that tip a whole series of dominoes?  There is continuing tension and turmoil in the Middle East . What about community frustration being worse in some regions than in others due to uneven availability of jobs?. What if  geo-political strife boils over somewhere and the effects are felt in multiple countries?  When you set aside ideological biases of historians, it becomes very clear that throughout history the primary cause of wars has been economic crises being exploited by ambitious leaders. How would any of that affect the anticipated economic collapse?  Only time will tell.  It is impossible to adequately prepare for every known possibility; much less for those events that you may not realize are possibilities.  We have a responsibility to ourselves, our families, and our friends and neighbors to prepare as well as we know how for what we can reasonably anticipate.
 
As you plan your preparations, consider one more concept. History shows that the greater the fall is the longer it takes to recover.   The markets take longer to recover from a 40% fall than from a 20% fall.  The recovery from the Great depression was much longer and more painful that the recoveries from any of the lesser recessions.  Some of the prudent economists have calculated that before this is over, the value of the dollar will have dropped 90%. Do not expect things to return to normal in just a few years.  Expect a completely new level of normal. With wisdom and hard work we can make the new normal gradually improve, but life is not normally smooth for very long.  As both the collapse and recovery drag on your  own self reliance balanced with your cooperation with other self reliant people will be crucial to the life you make for yourself, you family, your friends, and your community. Do not let your short or intermediate term preparations prevent your from preparing for long term issues.
 
Prepare well, keep your family safe, help your neighbors when you can, and help to assure that we get it right when the rebuilding begins.

Dear JWR:
Recent concertina wire sales at GovernmentLiquidation.com are now coming with the following notice:

"All scrap under this contract requires mutilation by the buyer prior to removal if allowed at location or mutilation must be witnessed and certified by DOD personnel at buyers facility. Title to the material does not pass to the buyer until the scrap has been mutilated. Buyer agrees to allow USG personnel to witness destruction."

So much for cheap, domestic military surplus concertina wire. :-( - Mr. C.

Dear Editor:
First off, as a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, a Senior Patrol Agent in the United States Border Patrol, I am getting tired of being vilified by the media and American public for picking a career that has a somewhat decent retirement system. I’m tired of my Union being vilified. In fact, I’m just tired of being vilified in general. It seems like most people are just suffering from sour grapes for not having picked a career that has a somewhat decent retirement system. Why should we be punished for taking a job that offered this retirement? Shouldn’t this be directed at the people in charge that created this benefit? I worked in a job with a mandatory retirement of 57. I am a union officer but we cannot bargain for wages or retirement. Our wages and retirement are set by congress because we are Federal Law Enforcement.

I work 50 hours a week minimum. That is our standard work week. I work outside in all types of weather conditions. My last station was in south Texas. During the summer months, the temperature was always over 100 degrees with 70-90% humidity. For at least 30 of those days, the temp was over 110 with the same humidity. I’ve been rained on, hailed on, spent hours in the hot sun and hours in the freezing cold. Bitten up by bugs, snakes and torn up by the local plants. Ridden in vehicles in 100+ degree heat with no working air conditioning for hours in a day. I have been shot at, cut and been in fights for my life, including one on a moving train. This is the life I chose. I chose this life to make where I live safe for my family and friends and to defend our way of life.

Our retirement system is the way it is because we burn out so fast. By the time we are able to retire we are usually so torn up from the job we cannot do another job. I’ve lost 70% of my hearing in my left ear, (not from shooting), and 30% in my right. I’ve had surgery to repair a damaged joint which will never be the same, but I still do the job. I wake up with aches and pains in all my joints from having spent years walking over uneven ground and up and down hills, but as I said, I chose this career.

I contribute 3% of my salary to my government retirement. Not much you say, but in the civilian corporate world, most companies provide 100% of the employees’ retirement without employee contribution. To make sure I have a decent retirement, I contribute to a voluntary retirement system. I contribute 18% of my salary, (set by IRS law), to this and it is invested in different markets as I designate. I also spent seven years active duty Army. This time will count towards my retirement, but I have to "buy" this time. I will retire with 27 years of active federal service.

I do all this so I can retire with 47% of my averaged, highest three years of salary. When I hit mandatory retirement, my middle child will be 19, and my youngest will be 13. This gives me a four person household, (my middle son can stay at home while he is in college). My retirement will only be $15,000 a year above the poverty level for a family of four. Don’t forget though, I still have to maintain health insurance because I don’t qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or Obama care or I will have to pay an IRS penalty. Also, the average life span for a retired Law Enforcement Officer is very short. So, I have to make sure that my wife is taken care. To do this, I have to take a $500 per month cut in my retirement benefits to provide survivor benefits. This way, if I die, my wife will get half of what I was getting in retirement pay. So my $35,000 a year retirement just went to $29,000. Not bad you say. How about all the doctor bills because my joints are all chewed up and need replacing or the health effects I suffer from being exposed to bacteria and viruses that come with doing this job. That $700 a month Cadillac insurance program that the media says I have only pays about half of what that is going to cost. But again, I chose this life.

Remember folks, when you paint a picture with a broad brush, you tend to smear the small details. In this case, when you smear government workers in general, you smear those of us that put our lives on the line day after day, and we do it all for a pittance. We do it for ourselves, we do it because of our families, we do it for our friends and we do it for our ideals and beliefs.

We do it because it is the right thing to do and we do it because no one else will. - T.R.

James:
I just read Warren Buffett's comments about municipal bankruptcies on the rise.  (See: Buffet Says Muni Bankruptcies are Set to Climb.) Much of the problem is the super generous retirement plans available to many state, federal and local government workers.  As always, a bit of common sense would help cushion the impact of this largess.

After 30 years of service workers are allowed to retire with a full pension.  Many retiring workers are still in their early fifties.  In many cases pensions are being paid out for 10-15 years before the workers are eligible for SS.  To put this into perspective, this results in pension payments (for this calculation I arbitrarily used $500 a month-still way too low) of between $60,000 to $90,000 in benefits paid before the workers goes on Social Security. If the present pensions were kept (still far too generous) and the workers required to begin receiving their pension benefits at age 65 (or whatever the Social Security retirement age is) it would cushion the impact of the insane pension costs.

An ex-government worker in my neighborhood is 82 years old and has been retired from his government job for 29 years.

BTW, I recently read that California's pension plans are underfunded by $62 billion dollars.  There is no way that this deficit can be made up.  The most logical scenario is that, when the younger workers reach retirement age, there will be no pension for them. - Bob G.

The mainstream news outlets are still proclaiming an ongoing "recovery". Headlines in the Washington Post warn that the "recovery may be slowing." Meanwhile The Economist calls the American economy "The Comeback Kid." The stock and bond promoters at Parker Financial had the temerity to begin their latest cheery report (dated July 9th) with: "The economic recovery that began in June 2009..." The BBC, quoting International Monetary Fund officials, more realistically describes it as a "tepid recovery." In my estimation all of these pronouncements are nothing but hyperbole. Any movement in economic indicators has not been a result of any genuine or truly fundamental recovery. To contrast the mainstream media's cheerleading, SurvivalBlog reader "Wallstreeter X." sent us some news about the ugly side of Quantitative Easing (QE, also known as monetization), that came from CNBC: Market Savior? Stocks Might Be 50% Lower Without Fed.

Wallstreeter X. had these comments: "This is a well known fact on "The Street" and has been for years, especially since 2008.  I've worked in the New York financial district all my adult life and the corruption here between Government/Fed and the Banks is legendary.  After the 2008 crash the Fed made the deal with the big banks that the Fed would do the QEs, and the banks would "support" the stock market, with the Fed supplying "free" money to the banks (partly through the Treasury bond sales/purchases, negative interest rates, "bailout" funds/free loans, et cetera.) The Fed would thereby "finance" the banks.)  That's Bernanke's foolish solution to the "economic crisis" from his studies of the Great Depression. He really believes that if the stock market doesn't collapse, then the economy will rebound.  He's not a stupid man, but he is terribly naive.  Wall Street et al is now based on corruption. While there are a few of us that actually work honestly and try to "do the right thing" here, we are vastly outnumbered by the crooks. If the Fed ever stops pumping money then the stock market will be at 6000 or lower very quickly.  Unfortunately precious metals prices may collapse at the same time, because they are pumped up mainly by speculators in funds and ETFs, who will have to liquidate their precious metals "paper" holdings, as well as speculative crude oil and agricultural holdings (futures and OTC swaps) at the same time (due to margin calls).  I actually deal in OTC option derivatives now and I agree with you completely James that it is the derivatives that are the 900 pound Gorilla in the room no one wants to talk about.  If the collapse happens it will be terribly scary.  I only say 'if' not because I doubt its all a house of cards, its just that I am so amazed at how long they have been able to keep the shell game going." 

I concur with his observations. Creating trillions of Dollars out of thin air and artificially holding interest rates of absurdly low levels (ZIRP) has created only the illusion of recovery.

Boom and bust cycles are hardly something new. Attempting to avoid or arrest the bust phases through monetization is just a clever parlor trick.

Despite changes of policy with successive presidential administrations, the law of compounding interest is inescapable. In recent memory, only the Clinton Administration has made any headway toward stopping further accumulation of Federal debt. (And Clinton was the beneficiary of his predecessor's tax policies.) The real demon here is not left/right politics. Continuing Federal spending beyond our annual revenue is inevitably suicidal, regardless of what political party holds office. The debt clock keeps ticking.

Mark my words: Quantitative Easing and ZIRP cannot go on forever. Budget deficits cannot go on forever. At some point interest rates will rise, and the game will be over. Servicing the national debt will become impossible. Derivatives will implode, spectacularly. The United States will become a pariah nation like Greece, only on a grand scale. The inevitable result of the coming chaos will be the destruction of the U.S. Dollar as a currency unit. In the short term we are looking at deflation, but in the long term, mass inflation is inevitable. The turnabout will come when interest rates spike.

When the government reaches the point where it debt service becomes painful, I predict that they will redirect their gaze on the $4 trillion that U.S. Citizens have saved in 401(k)s and the $8 trillion they have in in IRAs and pension funds. They are just too tempting for politicians to ignore. They will find some excuse to grab these funds. Be prepared. Anyone that is over 55 should convert their IRAs and 401(k)s in to Silver Eagle IRAs. (Available though Swiss America and other firms.) Anyone that is under 55 should consider taking the penalty and simply cashing out. Whatever you do, give it some concerted study and prayer, first. Don't rush headlong into a major change in your retirement planning.

Regardless of whether or not you have a formal retirement savings program, I recommend that you shuttle some of your net worth out of Dollar denominated investments and into productive farm land. Ideally this will be a farm that is well away from major cities and well off the beaten track that can serve as a safe haven for your family. Once you've bought your retreat and squared it away with the proverbial "Beans Bullets and Band-Aids", then think about sheltering what you have left in precious metals. Silver is my top pick, and pre-1965 circulated 90% silver U.S. dimes and quarters coins are the ideal vehicle. Those silver coins should be in tangible form (not amorphous ETFs), and kept well-hidden at home. Be ready to hunker down, folks. Instead of "continued recovery" there is now a high likelihood of collapse. When? That all depends on how long Ben Bernanke's game of smoke and mirrors can continue.

In the article “Preparing Your Retreat For a Forest Fire or Brush Fire” by F.A., the author states “In reality though, the gap exists because the Forest Service policy was to fight every fire. I’m not meaning to offend anyone, but I believe they got caught up in the same 'spend it or lose it' budget planning that has helped bury this country in debt. Their policy was to extinguish any reported fire by 10:00 AM the following morning. Imagine the resources necessary to accomplish this goal. Even in the primitive areas, then designated wilderness areas after the passage of the Wilderness Act in the 1970s, every fire was fought”.
 
I’ve worked for the US Forest Service for over 24 years, and this is a sad misrepresentation of firefighting policy.  The US Forest Service did not have a spend it or lose it policy for firefighting - we had a policy based upon a faulty understanding of fire ecology.  This began to change as early as the 1950s, and continued to gain momentum in subsequent decades.  We still aggressively suppress fires in the urban interface but we draw large boxes around lightning-caused fires in the backcountry and manage them for fuel reduction as appropriate.  By the way, fuel reduction isn’t a “spend it or lose it” proposition either, it comes out of the local budget at the expense of planned projects.
 
When the author says that he did not mean to offend anyone, he in fact did.  Firefighters die every year protecting homes and natural resources.  Many of us have decades of experience, and are not as ignorant or greedy as the author apparently believes.  If the author realized how little funding the US Forest Service actually receives, perhaps he could write a more credible article.  He should look at a pie chart of Federal expenditures.  The wedge of the pie the US Forest Service receives cannot be discerned.  That wedge continues to decrease: the fiscal year 2013 budget is bleak, and projections for fiscal year 2014 are worse.  Ignorance is turning the US Forest Service into a caretaker agency.  Perhaps we should let wildfires burn for a few years in order to gain some level of appreciation.  Many of us are awfully tired of sleeping in the dirt and inhaling smoke. Sincerely, - P.F., (PhD in forest ecology, firefighter, conservative, and Christian)

Jim:

There has been a lot of news about an English-speaking boy who claims to have been living for five years along with his father, camping out undetected in the forests of Germany, south of Berlin. Is this fact, fiction, fantasy? - Calvin D.

JWR Replies: I was also contacted by ABC News about this, seeking an interview. I reminded them that this was actually a nine month -old news story, dredged up by Huffington Post. I did provide ABC with some background, which I will repeat here, to explain why I'm quite dubious of this boy's story:

1.) A five day hike north to Berlin would have meant that he had been living in either the Federal state ("Land") of Brandenburg or Sachsen (Saxony.)  As for "living in caves", that is not karst (limestone) country.  No limestone means no extensive caves. There would just be a few rock fall ("slippage") caves.  You mainly find limestone caves in central Germany and Southern Germany, and a few in Westfalia.  There are very few caves in Brandenburg or Sachsen.

2.)  The forests and wild game in Germany are extremely well-managed.  The notoriously observant Jagermeisters (game wardens) and land owners would have soon caught on to anyone illicitly camping out and harvesting game in forest lands for an extended period of time.  The over-managed monocultural nature of their forests (spruce and pine) do not lend themselves to supporting a high density or diversity of small game.

3.)  German forests are not like ours in America. Most forest lands are consistently kept looking downright park-like. Any dead fallen trees are almost immediately removed. The lack of deadfall and dead-standing cavity trees in German forests provides very little cover for small game.  This keeps the rabbit population relatively low.

4.) The same lack of deadfall and dead-standing cavity trees also provides little habitat for wood grubs and other edible critters. It is fairly difficult to "live off the land" in that sort of forest unless you are an expert with traps and snares and can set them across a wide area.

5.) The climate of northeastern Germany is fairly cold and snowy--usually around 120 days of snow. It is unrealistic to expect someone without substantial shelter to survive these winters without gathering large quantities of firewood.  (And again, how could that that done quietly without a copious supply of deadfall?)  A tent set up on warm ground near hot springs might be an option, but all of the springs ("Bads") are well-known and frequented almost year-round by German hikers.

Note: The forests are not as well guarded or well-managed in the western reaches of the Czech Republic.  Perhaps if the boy claimed to have walked from there (five days of hard hiking, 20+ miles per day), then his story might have a shade more credulity, but even that would be a stretch.

The bottom line:  I think that the boy's story is mostly fantasy.

Mr. Rawles,
While traveling to work Tuesday night on the subway, the transit system got partially shut down due to a building fire next to some aboveground tracks. This caused problems and delays during the evening commute. It shows how vulnerable some systems can be to unexpected problems;
 
Tuesday afternoon started out normal enough but due to a fire would cause me some problems getting to work . I live on the North side of Chicago. I work part time at a downtown gourmet supermarket. I worked a afternoon-to-close shift Tuesday night that starts at 4 p.m.  Normally, I can get to work from home in under 30 minutes. On Tuesday it  would take a lot longer.
 
First of all, here is a link to a map of the Chicago Transit system so readers can understand the system layout.
 
I use the 'Red' line to get to work. This is the busiest line in the entire system, so delays on this route can really mess things up in the rest of the system quick
 
Things went well at first. I got on my downtown-bound train around 3:20 PM. At the Sheridan stop, the train sat at the station for a few minutes. I figured it was just a minor mechanical problem and we would be moving again soon. However, by 3:45 PM we were still at the Sheridan stop just sitting there. I phoned the job and told them that I might be a couple minutes late.  Then the train conductor announces that there is a emergency up ahead and he has been told to keep to train there at the station. After a couple more minutes of standing there the conductor announces that the train can proceed to the Belmont station, but it would not be proceeding any further south and all us passengers would be transferred to shuttle buses to continue the trip south. At Belmont station, I got off the train and walked to the south end of the platform. I looked and saw vast amounts of smoke obscuring the tracks and skyline to the south.
 
The cause of all the smoke was a major fire in a furniture warehouse alongside the tracks, as described by The Chicago Sun Times, and by The Chicago Tribune.
 
At Belmont station, shuttle buses were used to move us to other stops along the the subway route. I finally got on a shuttle bus that took us to the North Avenue/Clybourn station. We were told that the subway  was working normally at this station for trains going south, but I had had enough with the system by then and decided to walk the rest of the way to my job (about a mile or so) I got to work at 6PM. I wasn't the only one late. At least one other co-worker (who also rode the system) got to the store around 6pm also.
 
There is never a 'good' time for a fire, but this  one  happened not only during the  beginning of evening rush hour, but a Cubs Baseball game ended at roughly the same time, so add about 20-30,000 people (with a couple of them  drunk) into the mix.  Overall, I can not find much fault with the Chicago Transit Authority's handling of this situation. They reacted pretty well to the hand they were dealt. My one fault I would like to point out was the lack of information the shuttle bus drivers had. Originally, the shuttle plan was to move riders from the Belmont Station to the Fullerton Station (consult the above system map). This was what the driver of my bus planned to do. But, by now some of us riders were looking up information about the fire on our web-enabled cell phones.  We showed this info to the driver who decided that taking us a stop further to North Avenue/Clybourn would be smarter. Furthermore, as our shuttle bus inched south along  on Halsted Street ( lots of traffic) after leaving Belmont Station, we could all smell and see the smoke from the fire.
 
There were no casualties (thank God) but it took 160 firefighters to put out the blaze.  When my shift ended later that night, I decided to took the subway back home (some nights I walk home because it is good exercise)  as the subway went past the fire site, there was still a heavy smell of smoke in the air.
 
Bottom line: a discarded lit cigarette caused significant problems for the major backbone of the Chicago subway system.  - ChicagoDudeWhoTrades

Following two previously-mentioned Self-Reliance Expos in Denver, Colorado (September 16-17, 2011 (see the SurvivalBlog review here) and Salt Lake City, Utah (October 7-8, 2011), the National Self Reliance Organization (NSRO) began it's 2012 season with another weekend expo in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This expo again showcased a variety of enthusiastic and friendly survival, self-reliance and preparedness vendors and presenters. Many of the companies there are loyal SurvivalBlog advertisers. I enjoyed meeting many new vendors in person for the first time as well as those who had been at the September expo as well.

Among vendors returning to the expo with new offerings, Pantry Paratus added a new cheesemaking line to their existing product roster. Chelsea Green Publishing added several new titles to their books on sustainable living, including The Art of Fermentation, The Natural Building Companion, The Holistic Orchard, and The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. And of course our friends at Backwoods Home Magazine has added new issues which will now join the ranks with their extensive and popular back-issue inventory.

Other returning vendors included: American Preppers Network (self-reliance education), AquaPail (gravity-fed portable water treatment systems), Daily Bread (food storage, including freeze dried), DoTerra (dōTERRA essential oils), Emergency and Disaster Prep (food storage products for all types of personal crisis & disasters, backup & emergency power systems), EnerHealth Botanicals (cocoa, coconut milk, meal powder, etc.), FalloutX (radioactivity mitigation), Forge Survival Supply (Survival Cache gear), G & R Foods Inc. (nutritional powders, storable/canned foods, shredded cheeses), Humless (compact portable pure sine inverters with a generous assortment of output connectors), Life Sprouts (sprouters with a diverse assortment of sprouting seeds), LPC Survival (water filtration, storage and many other survival products), National Geographic (film crew for 'Doomsday Preppers' episode interviewing exhibitors and presenters), New Millennium Concepts (water purifiers), Project Appleseed (Revolutionary War Veterans Association, marksmanship clinics), School of Natural Healing (herbalist education, courseware), Shelf Reliance (food storage, racks, emergency kits), Solar Gadgets (solar phone chargers, flashlights), Sun Oven (solar cooking appliances), Ullrich Insurance (broker for various insurance companies), and UV Paqlite (reusable glow sticks).

I counted 39 new vendors, compared with 24 returning ones, so the NSRO expo venue is definitely growing and gaining momentum. In the arena of Alternate Energy, Lighting and Fuel, new vendors included ARC Solar Systems (compact portable power systems with a flexible PV component that rolls up into a storage cylinder slightly larger than a sleeping bag), InstaFire (storage fire starter/fuel), GO Solar (portable solar power systems), SoCal Flashlights LLC (Olight Brand Flashlights), and Survival Bottle (Instafire, flashlights, Legacy food storage, water bottles).

Currency and Exchange exhibitors included Ann Haney Ministries (Living In Abundance Couponing and Swiss America (precious metals).

In the Education, books and media category, we saw new exhibitors Colorado Springs Preppers (a local prepper network; also see American Preppers Network for more self-reliance education), Doom And Bloom (medical preparedness; Survival Medicine Handbook), The Survival Mom (book, a variety of survival products, online classes), Equip 2 Endure (Survival training courses, books), Richard Two Elk - Digital Video (Recording, editing, DVD authoring), Sea Cadets (Naval cadet programs), and Survival Quarterly Magazine (Survival magazine and DVDs. The magazine is edited by Karen Hood, the widow of the late Ron Hood).

Food, Food storage, stores, and distributors were represented by Everest Mountain Foods (freeze-dried and other foods), Freeze Dry Guy (Emergency Prep, Survival Food, Dehydrated Food, Camping Food, MREs), Grandma's Country Foods (foods, spices, milk, preparedness, storage containers, kitchen appliances, contract packaging), JarBOX (canning jar storage systems), Mace Enterprises, LLC - Legacy Premium - Lindon Farms (long-term emergency food storage; 801-369-8887. This brand is carried by several SurvivalBlog advertisers.), My Patriot Supply - Matt Redhawk (heirloom seeds/seed vaults, water, fire, food, survival gear, canning, books), Nova Chocolate (long term storage chocolate), Nutriom (Ova Easy storage eggs - low temperature process), The Pikes Peak Beekeepers Association (local, regional and national apiculture resources), Ready Reserve Foo