I have always been a ‘gun-lover’, but kept and keep the numbers small, under half a dozen, almost always, never over a dozen, and that was a short, rare period of experimentation when I was young. The “collection” built up while i was overseas as a soldier, you see. Then I averaged a new gun a month for 10 years, but I was selling-trading them as fast as I acquired them. As I became more aware of what matters to me, I cut it to 2 pistols and one rifle.
Things look bad enough that I got some camping gear, which I enjoy using, some gold coins, which are a good bet, anyway, and some grain and legumes, which we can always just eat. I"ve got a few bux in preps, but not a lot, cause I think that most of it, a guy is likely to have to abandon/lose in one way or another (ie, quake, flood, nukes)
I think you’re in the wrong forum and it’ll probably get moved to a different one soon.
Can you elaborate? I’ve heard this or “The way things are going…” and I always think “I don’t understand what they mean things are actually pretty good for me.”
So you’re just a token prepper? What good is that going to do you, and for how long, when the whole world goes to shit? Just how much is “some gold coins”? And how much is “some grain and legumes”? Enough to live on for a week? A year? Ten years?
Preparing for a complete and utter breakdown of society based on a wafer thin risk… no.
Could I live in my house if I lost all utilities and no help could get there for 72 hours to a week? Yes.
In the winter do I carry enough in my car to survive overnight if I get stranded in the middle of a blizzard? Yes.
A natural disaster is not a wafer-thin risk. Go ahead and wait for FEMA to save your ass, if you like.
And how are we talking about this? On the internet. On our computers. With electricity. You can scoff at the odds of a solar flare or an EMP, but I don’t see how you can deny that society would break down. We’re so dependent on the grid, we are doomed without it.
There’s a big difference between someone having a generator and a few days’ water stored up in case a not-unlikely disaster happens, and someone who’s so obsessed with prepping that they are neglecting their current needs and/or those of their families (common on that TV show) or do things like homeschool their kids so outsiders don’t know about their unlicensed gun arsenals.
:eek:
I post on a website that’s mostly about gardening and natural living; however, there is a small but extremely vocal core of people who do indeed do things like that. It’s been pointed out to them that if you really truly think Obama’s minions are going to break down your door and take your guns, it’s probably not a good idea to brag online that you have them. :dubious:
It’s one thing to prepare for a hurricane causing a power outage or flooding. Maybe have a canoe and a backup generator, etc. Maybe a container you could store a lot of fresh water in.
Something like that is a risk that is both likely (happened near where I live twice in 30 years) and practical to prepare for (a backup generator with a few gallons of storable fuel is just a few hundred bucks. By storable, I mean propane or diesel)
It’s another to prepare for the end of civilization. Not only would this require immensely more resources, resources that almost no one has, but simple probability says if 99% of the population dies…what are the odds that I’ll even be around, wishing I had “prepped” with more supplies? (and, if everyone else is dead, why can’t I just use their stuff?)
Well, when you put it like that. Still, the odds of a solar storm are slim, but not zero. Same for the odds of an EMP attack. The aftermath would make post-Katrina New Orleans look like Disney World. It’s not a question of how many people die; it’s a question of how many people will kill for food, how many people are rampaging because there’s no law enforcement, and how long it would take to get the grid back up. Hint: not soon.
Both solars storms and EMP attacks probably don’t quite work that way.
Even if you’re totally correct, you need like 1 long gun and a few magazines. It is unbelievably unlikely you are going to end up in a shootout that
a. Doesn’t end with just a few rounds fired
b. Leaves you still alive and wishing you had more ammo.
Other supplies, like antibiotics and a way to filter water (not just a supply of water, one of those reverse osmosis filters that can remove the contaminants from almost any water source), etc would help more.
So, as a doomsday prepper, you’re preparing for the one event that is virtually certain to happen and will cost you your life, right? You’re all paid up on a cryonics membership and you’re donating money to research brain preservation and brain emulation?
The odds of an EMP or a solar storm killing all the power where you live is low. I’ll give you 1% odds to be charitable. The odds of old age causing your body to fail, but leaving your brain in a state that can be preserved is…well…it’s more than 50%.
If you really value your life like that, why spend money prepping for something that is probably not going to happen and neglect preparing for the event that is almost guaranteed? Yes, brain preservation isn’t guaranteed to work. It might even be a long shot. But, in terms of utility gains versus cost, it’s still a much better thing to invest in than a bigger gun collection.
I haven’t said a thing about guns. I was talking about water, food, seeds, medical supplies – stuff to survive on. (Water filters would be a good idea too.) Wasn’t talking about doomsday/armageddon/alien takeover either. Natural disaster or technological failure. You don’t know where I live, so how do you know the odds?
I keep enough ready that I could make it through some Katrina-level (not a flood since after Agnes I went to really high ground) disaster or a temporary breakdown in public services. We also keep bug-out bags in case we would have to move somewhere in short order because of a disaster. But as most folks define “prepper”? Not even close.
People can and do panic. Some people here are old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’m not, but my parents are. My mother has told me about the run on grocery and other stores, and the shortage for days or weeks afterwards. “We don’t have it because everyone bought it in October.” Sure, it came to nothing, but no one knew that at the time. I don’t want to get caught up in that. I also don’t want to have to loot/“find food” if a crisis really does happen.
The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. The Hindenburg was supposed to be the latest thing in air travel. The Twin Towers were supposed to be…well, damn near indestructible. “Unlikely” does not mean “never happen”. And as I said upthread, I am not counting on FEMA or any other government agency to provide for me.
ETA: And something else about 9/11. All my life I heard “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.” If it were a real emergency, we were told, we would then be given instructions on where to go and what to do. On 9/11? Not a bleat. I don’t think the government is out to get me. I just don’t want to put my survival entirely in their hands.
no, because the whole “doomsday prepping” idea is fucking retarded on its surface. If something sufficiently bad happens where I seriously need to protect myself with some degree of vigilance, the first thing I’m going to do is stay in the shelter I already have; you know, my home.
there are reasonable things like keeping a supply of non-perishable food on hand sufficient to ride out short term shortages e.g. after a natural disaster (tornado/earthquake.) But stupid stuff like “bug out bags” or hoarding ammo won’t help you nor anyone else. because again, if something bad happens to society, why would I “bug out” of the shelter I already have? And if there’s something widespread which makes my existing shelter uninhabitable, it’s going to be very very unlikely I’ll find somewhere safe within reasonable distance, or even manage to make it there if I try to go.
this is the key mindset of preppers. it’s some sort of perverse fantasy that the world as we know it is about to end, and these people are going to just pick up from their suburban homes and go out into the forests and fend for themselves while everyone else starves to death or is killed by roving gangs of thugs.
just because you can buy guns and ammo doesn’t mean you know how to hunt,
gold is going to be worthless if society collapses, because apart from some industrial applications gold is pretty much useless,
if you think you’ve got a chance after a nuclear incident, you’re insane. even if you survive you’re not going to have much future hunting or farming on contaminated land,
Then I averaged a new gun a month for 10 years, but I was selling-trading them as fast as I acquired them. As I became more aware of what matters to me, I cut it to 2 pistols and one rifle.