But this Argentinian brings up a good point. How big a SHTF situation do you have to have before it would be ‘socially acceptable’ to walk around, out of uniform, with a slung rifle on your shoulder? His country had a pretty big economic collapse, but toting a rifle was still out of the question. Times would have to be pretty bad. Not just a Depression times 3, or a Katrina times 10… You’d have to be in a The Road type worldwide disaster with giga-deaths. And then you wouldn’t want folks to SEE you and your rifle. Maybe something lesser like One Second After (EMP knocks the US into the 19th Century), and then it would be in your capacity as part of the community militia and you’d be carrying it around folks you know.
It’s good you have the rifle, but you may find yourself only carrying the pistol you chose most of the time. US hyperinflation and nationwide food riots? Just the pistol on your daily commute to your job. Big volcano in Yellowstone that blots out the sun and makes all the east coast look like Seattle after Mt St Helens? Yup, you still would go to work in New York. Times would be bad, yes, but there would still be officials trying to maintain order. And you don’t want them to think you are a possible source of disorder unless you are bigger than them. Peak Oil turns out to be very real and on a single day in 2013 all oil well just stop? You will be walking to your job, and you may have a new job farming, but electricity may still work most of the time and people would be trying to cope.
Of course in a pistol carrying CCW everywhere SHTF scenario you might not carry the rifle everywhere, but it would be close by and easy to hand most times…
Soldiery type invasions and insurrections? Then you might need that rifle constantly. By then you’d BE a soldier. With very little logistical tail. You’d have your rifle and you’d be on the move, probably eating the seed corn of the area you are travelling through, successfully fighting people that stayed put because there are more of you then there are of them. Congratulations! In this scenario you’ve become part of the problem instead of part of the Survivalist solution. Even if you are fighting for the ‘good guys’.
Yeah, there seem to be no GOOD outcomes in a TEOTWAWKI situation. Lots of suffering. It would really suck. I got an idea… Let’s try, as much as possible, not to go there.
[Update: THIS is the specific post I was referencing. 2008. No wonder I couldn't find it. Sorry about that people. Money quote:
"What I’m trying to explain, is that it’s ok to prepare for China invading you country, Germans and UN or Martians. That is the extreme, less likely worst case scenario.
There is an infinity spectrum of gray between the black and white. White being your average normal day and black being total TEOTWAWKI, lizard men invading the planet.
Rifles do have a place in the survivalist’s arsenal, and a very important one. But you have to understand that 90% of the time, the handgun will be the weapon you have available when you need one. You can’t compare to a trooper in Iraq that has his weapon with him at all times. I ask you how many soldiers do you know that keep wearing cammo and totting their M4s around town when they return home?"
and it keeps going from there.]
7 comments:
While I haven't read the Argentinian's post, it still seems to me that the analogies are inaccurate - Argentina's laws are considerably different from ours in the main. It's certainly not an event in Switzerland for people to carry rifles openly.
There were a number of "out of uniform" people known to me toting rifles in defense of their homes during Katrina.
Just as with open-carry of handguns, the problem is really one of perception. What about the young man exercising his liberties in Phoenix? The one the MSM was having the vapors about? The one whose skin color was obscured in order to prove "rascist" opposition to ObaMao?
I will say I prefer to "open carry" an M1 rather than an M4 but it still makes the point; we need to "desensitize" people to the sight of a legally-carried long-arm. It's true that if I really wanted to be "out there" the M4 would be the better (and LIGHTER) option.
I still remember a time down in rural Southern Ohio when a lot of pickups would have a rifle and/or shotgun hanging on the rear window gunrack. Today, they have to be hidden, ammo separate,going to the range,etc. Yet the idea of having a rifle near me when I leave home is a comforting feeling. Doesn't have to be TEOTWAWKI to have a long gun handy. Remember the Korean shopkeepers during the Rodney King riots? The neighborhood watches set up on the Gulf Coast after Katrina? Something to think about.
Yeah, I lost the link to the ACTUAL specific post of that Argentinian blogger, much to my shame.
Remember the vapors the media had with the young man in Phoenix? Well that was in a time of peace and calm. What would the cops have done if Phoenix was on day 10 of total failure of municipal water services? Day 10 would be martial law, I bet.
Korean shopkeepers during the riot wouldn't tote their rifle off premises, I am sure.
Let me try ot find the ACTUAL article and update the post.
I'd be caching weapons where I could get to them at various "trusted" places... and be carrying a large caliber pistol ALL the time (gee, much like I do now)
Need pistol all the time.
Only need rifle once in a lifetime for bi-pedals - but then you REALLY need it.
Still unsure whether the LEO folks will bother much with citizens toting rifles in favor of active looter and arsonists, most of whom won't be carrying rifles - even, or perhaps especially - on "day 10".
If we really do melt down, how many responders will show up for work?
Out here in God's country rifles in racks are still quite legal. Most of us stopped putting them on display for thieves, however.
That large-caliber pistol I tote IS handier than a rifle, but I'd still druther have a long gun with me when things are scary.
We probably need to be OC'ing rifles more often...
it's all fun and games until they out range you...............
Post a Comment