i've got guns AND butter...Quark:"Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working."
"But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes."
"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Siege of AR-558 (#7.8)" (1998)
I was talking to some people at a party a couple of weeks ago. One of the guys told us he was buying an AR-15 and showed us on his phone the one he was going to get. I asked him why he was buying it and at first he said just because he wanted to try shooting it. I told him that I knew a guy who had one similar to that one and he bought it because he was afraid SHTF. He told me that was actually why he was buying it but didn't want to be ridiculed about it. We then talked about how much ammo he should have and so forth. When I asked him if he had been storing food he said he hadn't. So I asked him what he would do with his AR when his family ran out of food to eat. He said he hadn't really thought about that part of it. It told him that since food was cheap enough right now he should go out and either start canning or looking for a longer term solutions to avoid becoming part of the problem.
Just more stupid comments from immature people. They will be the first ones dead as they arrogantly proclaim they, and they alone, are armed and start making demands. *bang* They’re dead.
I’m a neo-viking. I bought a fixer-upper sailboat w a diesel, cheap, 5 years ago and moved aboard...Right now I sit in a Florida river with excellent fishing, waterfowl flyways and swamps infested with alligator and pigs. I could hopscotch throughout the southeast and find hundreds of other such likely spots away from the more urban zones. If it turns into a zombie-fest, I’ve always wanted to check out the Pacific..tools, seeds and chem fertilizer will go with me, and maybe even a couple breeding potbelly pigs. I’ll go where people ain’t and do my semiannual trading where they’re few. That’s the basic plan...
And there's always the old “Quarantined” sign as one layer of the “defense onion”.
Here, outside Philadelphia, the threat used to be the zombie hoards; now it is the extremely well armed “russian” immigrants. But we know that, and are suitably prepared.
They’ll be in for a BIG surprise after they eat my instant mashed potatoes with the little red “x” on the bottom of the can.
Smell ya’ later....enjoy!
However these people don't understand that going out and killing someone for their food is a very risky business. It might be deadly even today. After the society collapses defenders will be taking intruders out at 500 yards. Armies have a way to deal with that; they have armored vehicles; but when not, they throw bodies at the problem. If you lose ten guys taking that position, it's just war. But very few criminals will be willing to die for a bit of food. If you are that desperate, shoot a bird; a sparrow probably has more calories than a can of soup anyway.
There is one more problem. Even if the criminal is willing to kill for that can of soup, and if he succeeds in killing someone, that is not a guarantee that the soup will be there. The resources will be limited. If one prepper has ten cans of soup and twenty attackers succeed in taking them, they only have ten cans for twenty people - and nothing else. They can kill everyone in the city, they still won't get food that is not there. That food will be all taken from the shelves of stores in weeks and months that precede the collapse. Preppers will actually notice that and escape the cities. Whoever is left are just as hungry as the attackers.
If we believe SciFi literature (and why not, writers are not idiots, and they thought about this subject) then the cities will be quickly divided into zones of ownership that various gangs will claim and control. Those zones come with food supplies (such as remaining stores, or a railway station, or a few trucks, etc.) All the food will be concentrated there, and it will be sold to others... if they can afford it. Everyone else will run out of their supplies within a month, and robbing them becomes pointless. If a gang is intent on getting food, it will not be rounding up grandmas. It will take control of a large food store or a warehouse. That's what makes sense. Adult criminals don't rob children of their lunch money - not always because they love children but just because children don't have enough money to even bother.
Also, those who plan on just winning their daily bread by using their warmaking skills will quickly find out that the ammo costs more than food. Ammo is a high-tech product; it does not grow on trees. But food does. You can grow food everywhere in this country; but there are only few ammo factories, and their production will be entirely under control of one armed faction or another. So those "thug preppers" can burn a few rounds on killing one guy and possibly find nothing of value at his site - or they can sell those rounds for a lot of food.
This is proven by history of humankind. How many prosperous, happy robbers walked the roads in middle ages? You could do it back then; soldiers of the local lord had no radios. Still, most robbers ended up hanging on trees along the road. It was a very high risk business. Robbers of 21st century will not have an easier life.
i've got guns AND butter...bfl
In a SHTF situation, what’s to keep the ChiComms from invading the US and taking over?
If the SHTF I’m going to eat the catfish out of the dirty river.
After a few seconds, however, I realized that many of these customers already looked very much like savage, primitive cannibals, and that maybe I was the one on their SHTF menu!
Well, it certainly seems to me that it is LEOs who are going to go to the Dark Side, long before the military that the author is so worried about. The military does have some orginization and controls that should last for a while as we slide toward SHTF. Law enforcement does not, and they will be using what hardware and training they have for their own purposes as soon as they figure it is in their best interests. This may not be perceived as much of a threat to the author, but it will be what people experience first, and it will hasten the slide.
A lot of naivete on this thread. Having been in a disaster I will tell you that people will join together immediately to provide for their families. Organization is a force multiplier whether for defense or for food acquisition.
Nothing to do with armed parasites, just thought it was a cool invention. Willie Nelson and Governor Perry own the product...Wonder if they’re preppers?
news story which shows product:
http://tinyurl.com/7nr3hpm
website with Terry LeBleau’s droughtmaster product, and other inventions/products:
http://www.droughtmasters.net
My own experience is that in a SHTF scenario it would become very quiet. Polite people cooperating for mutual benefit.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about regarding preparations is that you really need a village to survive. A small family won’t survive alone in a hostile environment. You may get through a few days or weeks, but it won’t be easy.
You’re going to need a doctor and mechanics, people who can sew and cook. You need folks to care for children and grow food. ...and you will need people to defend what you have.
It things really go to hell, you need to have a group of people with a rally point. People who will be committed to surviving together, maximizing their strengths and working to a common goal.