If you woke one morning and society had collapsed

Well, my wife and I are not survival wackos....

But we do think about the eventuality that was posed in the original post. We now live by a lake that historically is never low. It's in a gated community with its own police force. It's in a state (VA) that supports gun owners and concealed carry. We have room in our yard to plant a garden sufficient to our needs and will do so this next spring. And I have a large selection of guns that are well suited to such an eventuality, most especially several FALs, several scoped hunting rifles and several long range precision rifles. I have plenty of ammo for each...more than plenty, and I know (without any hesitation) they are sighted in. Finally, my house was modified to help in case we had "issues" with the utilities. My lower level, which is a self contained apartment with its own kitchen, has been rewired to run off of an auxiliary generator. One of the stoves in the house is electric and the other one is propane. The on-demand water heater is propane, as is the gas fireplace in the upstairs kitchen. Interestingly, these changes were not expensive, they just took some planning and discussion with various contractors.

My wife and I don't plan to "bug out", but we do intend (if need be) to protect the homestead from all enemies foreign and domestic. I would suggest that similar planning on all of your parts would not be time wasted.

Keith

PS: I know this is the S&W Forum, but please don't forget the first two rules of any gunfight - 1) have a gun, and 2) the real value of any pistol is to fight your way to a rifle.
 
No bugging out for me.
I'll get jacked up on caffeine. Lots of strong coffee and strong tea.
Pop in a couple of snus, sit back, and enjoy the show.
 
At 66 yo, it would be a very slow bug out. Where would go? My food, water, guns and ammo are here.
But I'll play. I'd take a my 1911 and 10/22 and as much ammo as I could carry.
Yiogo
 
I'd relax. No stock market to keep an eye on.... ah... sounds good already.

I guess I'd throw the sling on my AR over my shoulder and then go for a walk with the dog.
 
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calmex said:
Mexico suffered a partial societal collapse in September of 2008 and has been recovering slowly ever since. When grenades were thrown into a crowd of innocent people trying to celebrate Independence Day and all over the country businessmen or their family members started being kidnapped or extorted -- things got pretty hairy. It is better now than it was but it is not back to normal by any sense of the imagination. But it is a lot better now in most of the country. There are still serious problem-spots.

However, life goes on. Where could you run if you're not going to leave? Most people in Mexico entered into the situation unarmed because legal gun-ownership is a tough hurdle to leap over down here (although it certainly is possible). Running or "bugging out" with any type of an assault weapon would probably have gotten the person running or "bugging out" shot at that time -- and maybe still today. There were, and often still are, roadblocks all over the highways, and the Police and Military are not 100% reliable. If they catch you with weapons you don't have all the paperwork for, well, they might shoot you. If they don't you still have a real problem. So right off, in any type of collapse, the normal "defenders of the peace" may or may not respond amicably to you if you are armed or at least visibly so.

So, life goes on, but the day-to-day survival becomes tricky. Shotguns and rifles are not much use because you can't go to work, walk to the bank, and handle normal transactions with them because the "Civil Authorites" will take them away from you or shoot you on sight. At the same time, if you choose to go unarmed as they want you to, you put yourself at risk because all the bad guys do not respect this ruling and often have paid off the "Civil Authorities" so they can run rampant.

You need to have a good, easily concealable piece of equipment for each member of the family. "Partial Collapse" is probably something more likely to happen than total collapse. Total collapse, in fact, probably requires more luck to survive than skill or proper prior planning. But partial collapse puts you, and your loved ones, on the street everyday as you try to go through the motions knowing that some of the dirt is all around you and the trick is to bring everyone back home at night.

It's Old-West rules. Think "Unforgiven" when English Bob wanted to go out on the town with "just a Peacemaker" and Gene Hackman caught him. And very few people get to be Gene Hackman in a partial collapse. Most of us are English Bob. Or the prostitutes. Pick your card game, but as did Indiana Jones, you must choose wisely. In my unqualified opinion, as I wade through another day here in the sunshine with trouble all about.
Click to expand...

Cal makes a fine point. I just returned from Baja, and after the cat 3 hurricane hit last month, the difference in the way people behaved in La Paz as compared to Cabo San Lucas gives a good lesson. Pick your spot before the trouble hits...WELL before.
They went crazy in Cabo; panic, looting, robbery, home invasion...but in La Paz a whole different scene. Neighbors worked together, stood with each other and fear never took over.
The Wild West doesn't have to be all bad.:)
 
I spent years living in the ghetto. Transvestite working "girls" having fist fights with "management" in the street, drug dealers, crazy people...limited or no police response. You get used to it. At the time I carried several handguns, favoring an alloy frame Commander size 1911 in .45 ACP.

These days I would opt for a shiny hi capacity 9mm. Then, now, and in the future most people flee at the sight of a weapon.
 
Illogical question. Why wouldn't I grab more than one gun and all my ammo?
 
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