You Are On Your Own

Michael Bane constantly reminds his listeners that in times of unrest or natural disasters that “you are on your own.” Reliance on police or emergency services to save you can be futile. Many Israeli civilians have just learned that fact. The Times of Israel estimates that the death toll from the Hamas terror attacks this weekend has reached 800 with many more wounded. If you were to scale that number up in the United States like blogger Cdr Salamander did, the number would approach 25,000 in a day.

IDF soldier next to dead civilians [Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo] from Al Jezeera

We often think that Israel is an armed country. We have all seen the pictures of off-duty IDF women carrying their issued M-16s. The reality is much different. It is estimated that only 2.5% of Israeli civilians have gun permits. Those permits allow them one firearm and 50 cartridges.

As Stephen Gutowski of The Reload reports, this crisis has forced the government to relax the requirements.

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Sunday he has ordered officials responsible for issuing gun licenses to broaden its standards. As the death toll inflicted by terror group Hamas grew to over 600, Ben-Gvir said he wants more Israelis to be able to legally arm themselves.

“Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves,” he posted, according to a Google translation. “The plan will take effect within 24 hours.”

Ben-Gvir also increased the amount of ammo that one can have from 50 rounds to 100 rounds. To my mind, both amounts are insignificant when faced with terrorists armed with full-auto AK-47s.

Tom Gresham on his Sunday Gun Talk Radio broadcast devoted time to the attack on Israel and its people by suggesting an “imagination exercise”.

While there is no magazine in my ready AR-15, this is what is next to the AR along with a ready bag with more filled magazines and a first aid kit. In retrospect, I think I need to add a set of shooting muffs to the setup.

I can’t say my idea is original. I got it from author Matt Bracken who first wrote about how to make duplexed magazines in 2010. I modified mine a bit from his in that I used a piece of dowel instead of a pencil for the spreader and I didn’t fill the space in between with silicone caulk. If you decide to make your own, use GI-type metal magazines. I think mine were either C-Products or D&H. P-Mags just won’t work for this. You could just get the 60-round drum mag from Magpul but the duplexed mag is a lot cheaper and works just as well.

I don’t expect to be attacked by Hamas, Hezbollah, or Mexican drug cartels. But then again neither did most of the Israeli citizens who were killed or kidnapped this past weekend. That said, home invasions with multiple attackers are on the rise. Being prepared doesn’t mean you are paranoid. It just means you are prepared for something you hope will never happen. If you are prepared, then it will be one less thing to have to worry about.

Something To Start Your Day

I need a cup of coffee to start the morning. Without it, I start dragging by mid-morning and begin caffeine withdrawal soon thereafter.

The video below is about how to make coffee when you are camping. However, you could use the same methods if you’ve lost power or having to bug out due to a disaster natural or otherwise. As long as you can heat water, you can make coffee regardless of whether you go with instant, French press, or the cowboy method.


A Sales Tax Holiday For Preparedness Items

Colorado State Representative Dan Nordberg (R-Colorado Springs) has proposed a sales tax holiday to encourage Colorado residents to purchase preparedness items such as hand-crank radios, generators, and flashlights. The sales tax holiday would be the first weekend in September for the next three years.

While the proposed law has been derisively called the “Pimp my Bunker Act” and the “Doomsday Act”, it does have the support of groups like the American Red Cross. Nordberg proposed the law in reaction to what he saw at the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs.

Nordberg said the proposal stems from the heartbreak he witnessed last year when the Waldo Canyon fire hit. Nearly 350 homes burned to the ground and two people died. At the time, Nordberg worked as an aide for Congressman Doug Lamborn, and he worked on helping the fire victims.

“I came to the realization that a lot of people aren’t prepared for something like that,” Nordberg said.

I think he is right – a lot of people aren’t prepared. Alabama has a similar law that they approved after the string of killer tornadoes hit that state in 2011. I think this is something that more states should consider.

The text of HB 1150 can be found here.

Ham Radio Communications Cheat Sheet

I came across this infographic on Pinterest this morning. It was developed by the folks at OffGridSurvival.com and gives the new amateur radio operator something of a cheat sheet.

I found it very useful as I have my Technician Class amateur radio license. While I really haven’t really pursued it that much, I got the license and radio so as to be prepared. While a Katrina or Sandy is unlikely in western North Carolina, we do lose power, we do have flood situations, we do get the remnants of hurricanes, and sometimes we do get blizzards. It is nice to have some means of communication in those situations beyond smoke signals and semaphore flags.

From A Sam’s Club Ad

Today I received an email flyer from Sam’s Club which featured this week’s top sellers. Some of the stuff was fairly obvious with students going back to school such as a couple of laptops and the Nexus 7 tablet.

Other stuff caught me by surprise. This included a 10kw gas-powered generator and Augason Farms Emergency Food Storage Kit which is supposed to feed four people for one year. This latter item sells for $2,774 which is a substantial sum.

I could see the generator selling with all the news about Hurricane Issac. However, the long-term storage food is a bit surprising. It does fit in with the post I did yesterday about a story from The Anchoress detailing people in her area buying firearms and stocking up on food as they don’t trust Obama and his cronies.

A Different Type Of Preparedness Tip

This tip comes from the podcast Zen Tiki Lounge which deals with all things Tiki.

If you live in an area that is subject to natural disasters such as earthquakes, make sure your home bar has one or two bottles of booze that come in plastic bottles. That way, even if all the other bottles fall off the shelf and break, you will still have something with which to drown your sorrows and get you through the cleanup.

Remember even if you live along the East Coast, you can have earthquakes as we saw earlier this year.

I think I’ll stop by the ABC store this morning! There is nothing like being prepared.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad