Feel free to repost "Arm Thy Neighbor" anywhere you want.
Posted on 03/27/2010 9:58:15 AM PDT by Travis McGee
If you don’t presently own any firearms, you may have been considering taking that step in order to protect yourself and your family. Or perhaps you already have what you consider to be an adequate home armory, but is it really enough? In the event that our economy tanks, one certain outcome will be much higher levels of criminal violence. Read Fernando Aguirre’s excellent “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse,” based on his experiences in Argentina after 2001, to see what happens to civil society when a national currency collapses and the banks are closed. Today’s career criminals will be that much more desperate and willing to use violence against their victims. The feral youths who need little encouragement to bust heads for sport in times of relative plenty may be starving, and no moral consideration will keep them from sticking a gun in your face or a knife in your back.
At the same time, the federal government may define this surge of criminal violence as civil disorder and enact emergency decrees, especially if armed citizens begin to fight back on a wide scale. One need look no further than the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to see how officials react toward ordinary people with firearms during a period of civil disorder. A freeze on gun sales and/or ammunition is a predictable outcome during government-defined “emergencies.”
Most of the readers of this column probably don’t need to be convinced of the wisdom of owning and practicing with firearms. You may even believe that you already possess all of the guns you need, whether a .38 caliber revolver in your bedside table or a small battery of handguns, shotguns and rifles in your closet or gun safe. You may even own one or more of those liberally despised so-called assault rifles. In any of these cases you may think you don’t need to consider any more gun purchases.
There is, however, one reason to purchase at least a few more weapons: to arm thy neighbors. I can hear you saying, “What is Bracken talking about? If that foolish grasshopper of a neighbor didn’t bother about his security when guns were readily available, why should I worry about him now? Besides, he may even be an anti-gun liberal, so the hell with him!”
This reasoning is short-sighted on several levels. First, we have all heard the old saying that “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged.” When violence explodes during an economic collapse, millions of new conservatives will be created from former left-wingers. And besides philosophically anti-gun liberals, many folks simply grow up in families where guns are not present and reach adulthood having never touched a firearm. But no matter why they don’t own firearms, when the ultra-violence breaks out your neighbors down the street will deserve a way to defend themselves from criminal predation. Simple charity, Christian or otherwise, suggests that we should not leave the elderly couple, the widow or the single mom with young children defenseless against evildoers bent on rape, robbery or murder.
When the incidence of home invasions, carjackings and “express kidnappings” skyrockets, some of your neighbors will discover a sudden interest in acquiring firearms, just when firearms may not be available through normal channels. These unarmed neighbors may then ask if you have any extra firearms to lend to them. Which one of your carefully considered collection of guns will you hand over to arm your defenseless neighbor? Your high-end “concealed carry” pistol, which fits your hand like a glove? Your wife’s? Your pump-action shotgun? Your AR-15 Sport Utility Rifle? The fact is, you will be loath to give away any of them, not even to a neighbor in need. You have acquired each of them for a carefully thought-out reason! But your neighbor is still defenseless.
That is why I encourage you to buy a few extra firearms in anticipation of this future need. I would suggest that a revolver is the simplest entry-level firearm to provide to a non-shooting neighbor. There are no magazines, safety catches or slides to learn to manipulate. You simply open the cylinder, insert the bullets, close the cylinder and the revolver is ready to go. A revolver has the shortest “learning curve” of any firearm. Anyone can learn basic gun safety and effective close-range self-defense with a revolver in one afternoon. In dire extremes you could hand a revolver to a non-shooter after a five-minute period of instruction and dry-firing. Revolvers are intuitive; you can even see if they are loaded or unloaded simply by looking at the cylinder.
Of course, a much greater level of firearms training is highly desirable if there is time for it. If possible, take your non-shooting neighbor to a gun range now, in advance of a period of “civil unrest.” Training a non-shooter in the safe operation of firearms also shows your own overall knowledge of security issues. This demonstrated firearms proficiency will stand you in good stead when your leadership skills and tactical knowledge may benefit your overall neighborhood security posture.
Beyond the simple morality of providing a means of self-defense against criminal violence, there is another reason to be prepared to arm thy neighbors: the force multiplying synergy of multiple fields of fire. Recall the old cowboy movies when the gang of black hats rode into a town where the citizens were forewarned and prepared. As an historical example, consider what happened to the vaunted James Gang on the Northfield Minnesota Raid when they lost the element of surprise. Only Frank and Jesse escaped unhurt. The rest of the armed gang were killed by the townsfolk or captured shortly after, badly wounded.
An armed and alert neighborhood is a very dangerous environment for criminals. In a time of rampant violence, with the ever-present threat of home invasions, more armed neighbors mean more angles of fire for the criminals to confront. Instead of focusing their evil intent on a single home, selecting one sheep in a helpless flock, they will be threatened by fire from many directions and their retreat may be cut off. This compounds their risk compared to attacking a neighborhood where most folks are unarmed and cringing in corners, praying to remain unmolested.
Of course, it is best if your neighbors have all received a high level of firearms training. Otherwise, the risk of a “friendly fire” accident while repelling an armed gang with shots from multiple directions is increased. And of course, you should not provide a firearm to a drunk, a druggie, or a mentally unstable neighbor for obvious reasons. But the danger of living in an unarmed neighborhood is even greater, because such an area is a magnet for repeated violent criminal attacks.
The best outcome would be to leverage your training of individuals in safe firearms usage into general neighborhood self-defense drills. Then if the “James Gang” rides in…they won’t necessarily ride out! Word will get around, and your neighborhood will achieve an aura of armed strength that deters future criminal incursions. Consider why tiny Switzerland has never been invaded by its much more powerful and often bellicose neighbors. It’s not because of the Alps. It’s because the Swiss have a strong tradition of armed self-defense at every level. Both invading armies and criminal gangs go around “hard targets” that are known to shoot back!
If nothing else, from a strictly selfish standpoint, the humble .38 revolver you lent to that widow might provide you with a critical early warning of imminent danger when she fires it in self-defense. Forewarned is forearmed, even if the warning is a rapid series of pistol shots heard from up the street at oh-dark-thirty. But in any case, I would rather hear the widow’s defiant shots than her helpless screams.
So, consider buying a few extra firearms and ammunition while you can easily and inexpensively do so. A used revolver in good working condition can be purchased for as little as $250, a used pump-action shotgun for not much more. And if you don’t know what an SKS rifle is or what they cost, find out. Then you will have the option of arming your neighbors in a time of extreme peril, without diminishing your own family armory.
Feel free to repost "Arm Thy Neighbor" anywhere you want.
Besides the people one side of me would probably rather wave the Obama sticker in their window at a perp.
My wife and I own a 9mm Cougar, and we’re thinking of branching out either into a shotgun or a rifle. I’d love to hear some recommendations.
I can attest, that each and every novel is well worth reading. Stunningly similar to headlines and events from the past few years and a chilling look into a possible future, if we don't do some serious changing.
Just the other day I was discussing the Argentine parallels with 2 very good friends; funny you should mention it.
Any Mossberg tactical shotgun will do and an AR15 carbine.
mark
For shotgun [home defense] a Mossberg 500, or a Remington 870. Rifle: a Ruger mini-14 in 7.62X39 or .223, or any lever carbine in 30-30.
For the stewpot, a .22LR bolt or lever [a .22 mag. as well], a Ruiger single action combo revolver [cylinders in .22LR and .22 mag
Handguns: a .357 mag revolver, a Springfiled Armory XD in .45 ACP.
I like this one myself.
http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/su16c.htm
Not terribly expensive and ammo is plentiful.
Btt
Here's a tip: there is still a great pistol and ammo deal out there waiting for you. If you have waited too long to arm up, or if you want one more, look at the excellent milsurp CZ-52 pistol and 7.62X25 Tokarev ammo.
You can get a CZ-52 for about $200 at any gun show or at many gun stores. You can also find them by googling around the internet. The ammo can be had for as low as 11 cents a bullet in any quantity you want. Extra mags are from $12 to $20 each.
The milsurp ammo is full metal jacket, firing an 85gr bullet at 1,600fps. These will go through car doors, kevlar helmets, kevlar vests etc like an icepick through butter. OTOH, they will also go through one bad guy and maybe hit a good guy behind him.
However, you can buy hollowpoints ("Wolf Gold" with brass shells) for about $19/50, or half the price of comparable 9mm JHPs. My test "Wolf Gold" JHP ammo expanded to .60 caliber, the same as my test 9mm JHPs.
So for $400, you could buy a CZ-52, 1,500 rounds of assorted ammo, and a few extra mags. OR, you could buy about 2/3s of a "brand name" pistol, and no ammo.
It's just a thought. This is a great bargain. The ammo is cheap and plentiful at all of the internet catalog sites. Don't wait, the libtards will soon slam the door on foreign gun and ammo imports, and the prices will go way up.
Another benefit of this pistol is that it is very accurate, with very fine sights. WIth this flat-shooting ammo, you can hit at 100 yards with ease. Downsides are brittle firing pins (buy a spare, and don't dry fire) and a decocking function that you should not trust. Just lower the SA hammer like a 1911. The safety works like a 1911, so if you are used to 1911s, it will be very easy to use the CZ-52
Arm ONLY the neighbors that have the stones to USE the damn thing..
Your logic is sound, although I still feel “you voted for this, now suffer” attitude. Any reason to buy a few more guns is good enough for me. Thanks for all you do.
Today’s career criminals will be that much more desperate and willing to use violence against their victims. The feral youths who need little encouragement to bust heads for sport in times of relative plenty may be starving, and no moral consideration will keep them from sticking a gun in your face or a knife in your back.
That’s why you don’t wait for them to come to you; that’s when it’s time to clean out the neighborhood.
I shot the XD and wasn’t a fan. Ruger Mini 14 seems like a good idea. Do they make it in 7.62?
A curious name you chose taken from a person that had the motto of being in most of his actions in the novels as one that would find a victim that had an item stolen that was something that they preferred to not having the authorities know about or of substance that normal laws could not help the victim.
Travis McGee the character from John D. McDonald a famous author starting in the early 60’s would reclaim the “item” so to speak and take half as payment for services.
When I was in my teens it was my absolute favorite series, even to this day I picture myself living on a houseboat in Florida, not having any regular job but performing these knight in shining armor jobs every now and then and having the funds to live on for a year or more.
Randy Wayne White has introduced a similar character called Doc Ford, his first book Sanibel Flats is worth buying, some of the early books tend to be vague and wandering but eventually the quiet marine biologist is revealed to have a secret past in BUDS with Navy Seals, and some darker secrets working for a certain agency in vague job descriptions.
I have been following your posts for a long time and I always enjoy them, please keep up the work, its excellent.
I think he means when things REALLY go bad.
I’ve never shot a CZ 52. But I shot a CZ 75 and was amazed that I actually preferred the feel and accuracy to the M9.
I lost all my guns and ammo when my boat sank
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