Who Feels Like They Are Well Armed If Needed?

[Flight567]

Originally Posted by rc

I agree with this, you cannot defend a position alone with no support from neighbors or friends. In that situation, bugging out and having a mobile evasion plan may be of more importance. If a mob can converge on your location they can and given time will flank you or burn you out if they are motivated and coordinated. Thankfully most looters are cowards that are going to run at the first sign of determined resistance. Large mobs are unlikely to loot out in the sticks where people are well armed and there are not that many TVs to steal!

Yep. The best solution is just getting away. perhaps if you have enough training, man power, and favorable terrain you can put together a properly defensible position. It really depends on your personal situation.

Myself? The wife and I have go bags, and a list of family items that we can grab in 10 minutes. We are going to get out to some farm land that a buddy owns to the west; preferably by vehicle.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

[Mainah]

I think I'm all set for whatever I may face here in the suburbs. But my concept of being well prepared changed this year. I have over 300 rolls of toilet paper.

[Brit]

A Glock 19 on the belt, a Steyr AUG, pair of earmuffs.
Abode, end unit of a block of 5 townhouses. Two-story, 100 yards view from the bedroom balcony. LED street light in front of the house. Two rechargeable 3 cell flashlights, a vest. My garage actually has our Jeep in it (Novel concept?) full tank always, 5 gall spare.
Nothing around us but houses. No projects. Rioters in vehicles? Leave them alone. Closest stores, half a mile away. Loot away.
A threat to me, and mine? Would need to be less than 50 yards away.
The first 42 rounds of 5.56 plus 1 might cause cease and desist? From the second floor.

[RETG]

Plenty of Ammo, enough guns (handguns/rifles) but only one person to use them; me. Although it is rough to get to my place with a clear line or sight down the driveway; I have a lot of trees for people to hide.

So am I ready? As much as any person living alone in the country can be, but like already noted, I have plenty of TP, canned and packaged food, generator, and I know the land better than any visitor will ever know. So I could scoot out if needed.

[musicmatty]

Yep. The best solution is just getting away. perhaps if you have enough training, man power, and favorable terrain you can put together a properly defensible position. It really depends on your personal situation.

Fully agree!!!! I live in a very non conservative area. BLM had a protest not 2 miles from my house marching down the main roadways in the area that I live in. I’ve been in my home for 28 years and I am a board member of our HOA for the past 25 years. I know most everyone in my little community and unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anyone on this street or enough of them to put together any type of defense plan.

It was just yesterday that I was having this conversation with my brother, that it would be best to evacuate if it was just you defending your home against a mob of crazy angry people.

My mother who’s going to be 90 years old in a few weeks lives in Washington DC. We are considering taking her out of the city in case there’s any civil unrest.

[Geezerbiker]

Since the one BLM protest here stayed on main street and didn't get out of hand, I don't think they're going to try and take on our town...

I live alone but I have all the shotgun ammo I could ever use and I'm willing to take out as many of them as I can before they get me. However, I really don't see it getting out of hand here. I do worry about my family in Portland. I don't think the .380 my daughter has is enough but she knows how to use it...

Tony

[44 AMP]

I think there is something else to be considered, along with the worst case situation, and that is the less than frontal assault by determined killers.

We have seen it in numerous cases, where there is armed resistance, a high percentage of criminals will leave rather than attack.

Make no mistake, there is a difference between legitimate protest and criminal action, and as someone once put it, looting and arson are great fun, until someone starts shooting at you.

So consider that, if you are in a situation where you HAVE to shoot (and if you don't have to, you shouldn't), what are the mob most likely to do? Storm your position, no matter the cost?

Or get the hell away from the "nut" with the gun?

Of course its will be entirely dependent on the specific situation and the people involved, but do remember that most of the people out there, even the dangerous ones are not there to "die for the cause".

ALSO, ALWAYS remember that lawlessness is a temporary situation, and sometime after the fact you will be called on by our legal system to answer for your actions. You can legally defend yourself with deadly force against specific imminent deadly threats. You cannot legally indiscriminately open fire on a mob as a group just because they are there.

Popular fiction heroes and action movie star's behavior is FICTION and doing what they do in the real world WILL have consequences those characters won't be facing, but YOU will.

SO, hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and get on with your life seems to me the best advice practical.

[gaseousclay]

I’ve watched quite a few videos with Massad Ayoob and he offers a lot of common sense into the equation when it comes to self defense and mobs. Mind you, don’t take his comments as legal advice but know the laws in your jurisdiction and when to engage a threat. I would get as far away from any threats as possible, if possible. I think most people would

[Ignition Override]

The looting has been-with few exceptions-in downtown areas, mostly in big cities.

Do most people realize that the armed "Roof Koreans" in the 1994 LA riots were in a very urban, commercial area, full of shops and stores?
Those guys were Not on top of their homes.

And Memphis hasn't even seen any urban residential areas hit at all, last spring or summer.
>>Nobody is saying that it's impossible.

There is no rational reason to be paranoid ("Defund Da Police..."Right On 'Mo'-F'!"" is just to scare people-and it is Working...), due to daily images, mostly from old Seattle and Portland videos, which were only in very defined, small, Very Urban areas of those cities?

[HiBC]

To each his own. IMO,if I were to approach my neighbors about any form of plan,or set up some group connected by cell phones, I'd EXPECT to be on some list and probably visited by homeland security as an organizer of a Right Wing Radical Supremist Xenophobic Homophobic Transphobic Islamophobic Misogynistic Racist Heavily Armed Satanic Militia Terrorist Hate Group.
.I'm far closer to Mr Rogers,neighbor. Did you bring your sweater today?
But no,I have not organized a neighborhood paintball league.

I prefer not to advertise "Burglarize here if you need guns" So I'm quite low key.
And I have no control over what fear demons my neighbors might conjure up. Scared people are dangerous. I don't want anyone to be scared of me.

I don't even have a Gadsen Flag. No bumper stickers.

I don't go near protests,demonstrations,or rallies. I vote.

Ill run away every chance I get.

However,I'm uncomfortable with the idea of being helpless. IMO,it does not matter how well stocked your arms room is,or how "Really Cool" your guns are.
Sure,its fun to optimize, but when Clint Eastwood said "Get off my lawn" holding his M-1 Garand, he was "Well armed if needed"
As would John Wayne and his Win 92 and Colt.Just go ahead,tell him "Thats bold talk for a one eyed fat man" Fat shaming and mocking disabilities is quite politically incorrect. See what happens next.
In the book "Unintended Consequences" a character illustrated a man with a single shot 22 is not to be trifled with.
Unless you are a member of some militia, you are likely a lone armed man.

Likely your threat is within handgun range. Likely if there are more than three of them,armed, you had better be very good.

We aren't going to have a fire support unit.No overwatch snipers. Can't call in an A-10.
I'm old and painful enough I can't even run. I'm not Bruce Lee. Nobody has my back.

Well armed if needed? I usually have a 45 or 9 mm within arms reach.

I watch the 1970 movie "Little Big Man" Chief Dan George 's character gave his death speech. "Its a good day to die" I said that once,to a guy who had a loaded Mini 14 pressed to my skull. Then I said "But first,I will have one more of your beers" And I turned my back on him,walked to his refrigerator,and popped one. He could not win. He could have killed me,but he could not beat me.
I'm going to die. When? Who knows. Its a good day. Knowing that,What do I have to fear?
I would prefer to die without regret. I would prefer to die well,whatever that might be.
If I must be killed,I prefer to die in a pile of my own hot brass.

I can be "Well armed if needed " with a 45-70 Rolling block.

But by far, I'd sincerely like to pass naturally,without ever shooting anyone.

More toward the OP's question, if you have something in the class of a good service pistol backed with an M-4 clone ,an M-1 Carbine,or an AK or SKS,or a Mini-14,or even a 357 or 44 mag lever action, You can put up a good short term fight against any fight a lone man is likely to encounter and have much chance of surviving.
You can't spend enough on guns to be secure. But having one you can put your hands on is good.

[stephen426]

I have been thinking about this kind of thing more often. One thing is political unrest, but I am also very much in the zone since I live in South Florida. I am about a mile from the Atlantic and in a mandatory evacuation zone. You can have all the guns and ammo you want, but there are plenty of other needs that take up lots of space.

When hurricane Irma came through, we went to our office building which is on the 3rd floor and has impact windows. It didn’t make sense to move all my guns there since other families (with children) were staying there as well. I grabbed my AR-15 with a few loaded mags and my concealed carry with a couple of boxes of ammo. The looting and nonsense that occurred after hurricane Andrew is not the same as a mob coming for “restitution”.

We live in a gated community with two entrances. Between my next door neighbor and I, we have more than enough “firepower” to secure our neighborhood. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I’m sure there are other neighbors ready and willing to step up based on some of the conversations I heard while they were trick-or-treating.

[Iron Deacon]

Being well armed and well-stocked, out in the country is not necessarily well-prepared.

The best preparation one can do is to think honestly through the worst case scenarios that you can possibly face.

Can you pull the trigger first if....

...a brief shining of light reveals the main looter is a friend you've known for years...

...there are those among the mob charging your house to loot...which wear badges from a local LEO organization...

...you have to shoot, but you know you're going to be prosecuted for self-defense...

Most people will hesitate at the moment, because most Americans are culturally wired to not pull a trigger first. That is why the Patriots of America now would rather the Left shoot first, rather than shoot first and send them scurrying. In our culture, shooting first = murderous maniac who shouldn't be allowed to live. At the least, that's how it will be portrayed by the Left, absolutely.

In martial arts, it was drilled into myself and my sons to absolutely NOT strike first if it can be avoided.

Are we mentally prepared for what a SHTF scenario can offer? This is perhaps the most important point, and it goes beyond chest-thumping about our set-up, our arsenals and our stockpiles.

[BJung]

I'm not keen on killing animals like sheep and pigs. I'll do it but I'm not a use to it.

That said, I will shoot a person if he is a direct threat to me, family, friends, or the community. Even if he runs at me to take my gun to use it against me or someone else, I'll shoot enough to stop them. That's my rule and if the judge doesn't like it, I'll stand by it because I don't want my family or myself hurt.

I think some of the readers got side-tracked and started talking about survival scenarios. A friend of mines lives out in the country. He has a few dogs and posts them in key areas as an alarm system.

[Double Naught Spy]

If riots, looting, and social unrest continue, how many of you feel like you are sufficiently armed to deal with the unrest circumstances?

Given the large number of people complaining about not being able to get ammunition, I would say that their are a lot of people who are not prepared for any sort of major event in terms of supplies. Chances are, they aren't prepared in terms of skills, either. Many of these are the same people who didn't realize for the majority of this year, despite Covid, despite many months of civil unrest, and despite it being an election year, that there were ammo shortages and that they needed to be buying ammunition and then are surprised their LGS doesn't have the ammo the need.

[shurshot]

Do I feel well armed? Well, being in Maine, I'm stocked up on .22's, which are my round of choice to deal with invasive squirrels trying to steal seeds and destroy the feeders that belong to my feathered friends. Not too worried about bands of violent criminal protesters in my rural community. At this point in life, I would prefer to avoid conflicts of any kind and prefer to retreat if possible. Not worth it.
Guess if it gets bad around here, I'll make a run to Canada. I'll bet they let me keep my recurve bow up there. Maybe...

[BJung]

deleted

[Erno86]

I am really upset that I'm running really low on my inventory of 22 rimfire ammo.

And I'm also upset that the over under sporting trap shotgun I want to purchase is out of stock everywhere.

[4V50 Gary]

I hope it doesn't come to this. Living in the country though has its advantages.

They won't survive in my area. Neighbor on the other side of the mountain told me of a land dispute where one fellow was riding on horseback to check something when he was bushwhacked. His murder was never solved. That was eleven years before I got here. Even further back was a revenue agent who was killed in the '30s. What I didn't learn until a few years ago was that another agent came out to investigate and both he and his car vanished. He and the car are still out there somewhere.

Knowing that history and under those circumstances, outsiders who come to stir the pot won't last long.

[dakota.potts]

I'm armed enough that I feel I would have superior tools and understanding of how to use them in most any situation that doesn't involve trained professionals coming to hunt me down.

I will never be armed well enough that I hope for a situation to test this theory.

[Mainah]

Do I feel well armed? Well, being in Maine, I'm stocked up on .22's, which are my round of choice to deal with invasive squirrels trying to steal seeds and destroy the feeders that belong to my feathered friends. Not too worried about bands of violent criminal protesters in my rural community. At this point in life, I would prefer to avoid conflicts of any kind and prefer to retreat if possible. Not worth it.
Guess if it gets bad around here, I'll make a run to Canada. I'll bet they let me keep my recurve bow up there. Maybe...

I can't imagine a better way to defeat social unrest than a Maine winter.

[cslinger]

. I can't imagine a better way to defeat social unrest than a Maine winter.

Ehhhh I have family in Maine and have spent a fair bit of my life there and Maine winters are not THAAAT BAAAD. Now truth be told I am an Eskimo person at heart.

Now Minnesota winters......now those can get just plain stupid cold.

[Kevin Rohrer]

The only Looting going on in my area are the chipmunks raiding the bird-feeders. I can handle that.

[ojibweindian]

Originally Posted by mk70ss

If riots, looting, and social unrest continue, how many of you feel like you are sufficiently armed to deal with the unrest circumstances?

Read what rc wrote: "I agree with this, you cannot defend a position alone with no support from neighbors or friends. In that situation, bugging out and having a mobile evasion plan may be of more importance. If a mob can converge on your location they can and given time will flank you or burn you out if they are motivated and coordinated. Thankfully most looters are cowards that are going to run at the first sign of determined resistance. Large mobs are unlikely to loot out in the sticks where people are well armed and there are not that many TVs to steal!"

[seanc]

dakota.potts

I'm armed enough that I feel I would have superior tools and understanding of how to use them in most any situation that doesn't involve trained professionals coming to hunt me down.

I will never be armed well enough that I hope for a situation to test this theory.

^This.

[pete2]

To be well armed it has to be belt fed, automatic.