Survival during social chaos

(Survival manual/7. Warehouse/Survival during social chaos)

A.  How People Act in Times of Trouble
Pasted from: http://www.ki4u.com/guide.htm

“When tough times come, you’ll likely  discover that people today, overall, are not as resilient as they were in times past. For many of us, our grandparents generation included a higher percentage of self-reliant rural folks who both ‘made do’ on less while growing and raising their own food. Today, most people are far removed from the land and the routine of being responsible for supplying their own food; many even have a dangerous government-dependent mentality of entitlement. Fact is, the morality that both sustained and restrained previous generations during tough times is not as widely embraced in this present population. As a result, many people will more quickly rationalize theft, robbery, looting, and rioting when they fear hunger and deprivation. Crime is already a problem today–even with nobody being hungry, and with law enforcement in place. Crime, then, could explode when hunger threatens and law enforcement deteriorates concurrently. It is therefore prudent for anyone making serious preparations to also include plans for maintaining their own security if law enforcement is either unavailable or cannot keep pace with the demands of an overwhelming crime wave. If you do not own or use guns, I would strongly urge you to re-evaluate your personal security.
If you find it lacking, acquire some guns and ammunition immediately, and get some safety and practical tactical training in their use. Ask the clerks at your local gun store for advice on defensive arms and to point you to local resources for that essential training.

For those who already have weapons, be sure they are effective models and calibers for self-defense, and that you have stocked plenty of ammunition and high-capacity magazines if needed. Weapons and ammo will quickly disappear, or they will become prohibitively expensive or restricted, once the essential need is more widely recognized.”
.

B.  Crime Prevention for Home
Prevent robbery, theft, and burglary with a fundamental enemy, a motion sensor light. Motion Sensor lights are your first defense against crime at your home property. Motion lighting will startle a potential thief or burglar outside of your home and will often send them somewhere else instead. Thieves are looking for easy access with the least resistance and they do not want to be seen or caught. Obviously this is only a night time deterrent however this is when many bad guys prowl for cars to steal, entry into yards for property valuables, or look for ways to enter the home. Their success begins under the cover of night and not being seen by the property owner, tenant, or neighbor.

According to statistics:
•  The best times for a home break in is after lunch in the early afternoon.
•  The second best time for a home burglary is from 2:00-3:00 pm, people just left from lunch, and nobody is at the house, this provides a short window of time, but comes unexpected.
•  For a military assault or to breach a building, the best time is 4:00AM, right before dawn when the body is just starting to wake up and is still most sluggish.
•  40% of the felonious assaults involved firearms, 12% represented cutting or slashing, and 6% involved other types of assaults.”
•  Most burglars spend six to eight minutes inside a victim’s home and only have time to check the most obvious places for valuables.
.

C.  Survival Psychology “Deadly Force”
Survival Cache, by Captain Bart, Catholic Deacon, Retired US Army Pilot, Suburban Survivalist
http://survivalcache.com/survival-psychology-deadly-force/
“A great deal of survival talk and survival psychology centers around weapons and their use. The use of weapons for hunting or protection from aggressive animals is a (relatively) morally neutral action, but the use of weapons against another human being is not.

Note: SurvivalCache.com remains “Religion” neutral, this entry was submitted by a man of the cloth and we felt that it had enough merit to be posted for all.

While you can be a Vegan and a survivalist, it is extremely difficult and even a Vegan might see the need to protect people and crops from predatory animals. The moral dilemma arises when the discussion turns to the use of deadly force against fellow human beings.

For those of us raised in the Jewish or Christian faith, the prohibition against murder is absolute. The commandment is actually, “Thou shall not commit murder”, not “Thou shall not kill” but that is a different discussion.  Let’s address survival, preparation and the use of force against people.

The Scripture, both Old and New Testaments have many examples of being prepared.  Joseph in Egypt is a prime example in the Book of Genesis.  In the New Testament, note that Jesus wasn’t born in a stable because Joseph and Mary were homeless, he was born in a stable because the central government in Rome ordered them to relocate for the purpose of being taxed.  The Holy Family fled to Egypt because the local government was bent on destroying the Infant.

Nowhere in Scripture or the earliest Church writings are soldiers told to put up their arms or to change jobs.  They are told to do their job honestly and to the best of their ability.  Paul explains that government has the power of the sword since it is their God given role to enforce law and punish evil.

The early Church fathers addressed this issue at the same time as they addressed the issue of war in general. Men like Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas explain in detail what constitutes a just use of deadly force. There are three main events that must be met before deadly force can morally be used:
1.  Force may only be used defensively.  Deadly force may only be used against people to protect one’s own or another life.
2.  The amount of force must not be excessive.  You cannot kill someone for minor offensives.
3.  There must be a reasonable possibility of victory.

Defend
The first requirement means that open aggression is never morally justified.  Deadly force may only be used against actual or reasonably threatened force.  The leader of the biker gang who threatens my family and me, gets off his bike and walks in my direction has not actually used force against me.  The threat is however creditable and deadly so a deadly response is justifiable.  It further means that deadly force is never available to an aggressor even to defend his own life.
Shooting a homeowner who is using deadly force against me after I have broken into his home is not self-defense.  It is murder.

“Eye for an Eye”
The second item is rather straightforward but is often misunderstood. The Scriptural “eye for an eye” injunction is not a command to seek revenge but is an absolute limit on the amount of retribution that can be sought. If you break my tooth I may not kill you for it.  I may do no more than break yours in return.  This was a great limitation in a land where blood feuds last centuries.  Interesting arguments crop up discussing what is ‘justifiable’.  There is an old saying from the American West that ‘Horse thieves are hung not because they stole a horse. They are hung so that horses may not be stolen.’  In a time and place where having your horse stolen was often a death sentence, being a horse thief was a capital offense.  In the Eastern cities of today or even of the same era this was not true because the result of being afoot was not nearly as severe.  Horse thieves are not hung today, not even in Texas.

Victory
The final criterion requires a reasonable chance of success in your endeavor.  Attacking an armored column with a bow and arrow is suicidal and suicide is forbidden.  You are not allowed to murder, not even yourself.

The final, perhaps most interesting, point brought out by the Church fathers is that if there has ever been such a thing as a just war (justifiable defense) then it follows that there is such a thing as an unjust peace (failure to act).  As a husband and father, I do not have an option, morally speaking, when it comes to defending my family.  I have an absolute responsibility for their welfare.  This means I must also defend myself, even if they are not present, or I deprive them of the care they are entitled to.

The time to think through this responsibility is before TSHTF.  In fact, it should be done before the first weapon is purchased.  Establish your limits of what is and is not acceptable force. Then, if the time comes to act, there will be no hesitation. The same applies for survival in general.  I know what I believe is my responsibility to my family’s welfare and no person or act of government can remove that responsibility from me.  The Moral and Natural Laws set requirements that man made law cannot alter or remove.

People must decide for themselves what their responsibility is to their family and community.  They must then take appropriate steps to ensure they can carry out that responsibility.
Any other action is not in keeping with the long Christian tradition of just wars and self-defense.
By Captain Bart, Catholic Deacon, Retired US Army Pilot, Suburban Survivalist”

Deterrents & defense from criminal assault
Crime                                                Defense
Burglary                             Home security: locks, lights, arms
Armed robbery                 Awareness of  surroundings, Concealed carry
Aggravated assault          Awareness of  surroundings, Concealed carry, Pepper spray
Murder                              Concealed carry
Rape                                    NA
.

D .  A Guide to Looting When the SHTF (And Your Counter-Strategies)
April 21st, 2011, SHTF Plan, by Mac Slavo, see this article and other invaluable survivalist information at:
http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/a-guide-to-looting-when-the-shtf-and-your-counter-strategies_04212011
Law and order will be the first casualty when the shit hits the fan [SHTF]. Recent historical examples the world over, including New Orleans, Haiti, and Chile show that without policing, looting will become an immediate danger.

The following Guide to Looting When the SHTF by Thomas Northrop of No Bullshit Survival shows that survival and preparedness planning does not include just storing food, supplies, guns, and medicine, or creating tactical defense plans for your home and property.
There will be organized gangs, whose sole method of acquiring necessities will be through looting. A friend recently mentioned that when discussing possible collapse scenarios at the water cooler, one of his office coworkers suggested that he would simply take what he needs from other people if it came down to it. Thus the looter mentality is not as isolated as we may think. In all likelihood, this person has already considered what he would do, how he would do it, and how far he was willing to go.

This is a reality, so understanding and accepting it as such is important now – so that you are fully prepared to deal with it if ever confronted by such a situation.

If you’re a law abiding citizen I suggest you don’t read this section. In some historical instances extraordinary measures have been taken against looters during times of crisis. It’s not uncommon in some countries for looters to be shot, either by police, army, or business owners. Some governments will justify the shooting of looters with the excuse of “preventing further damage to the economy”. I suggest you get out of countries that value the economy over your life.
Warnings aside… Let’s get down to business!

What is Looting?
Looting is essentially the act of stealing goods during a catastrophe, riot, war, or natural disaster and can also be referred to as sacking, plundering or pillaging. Looting is almost always opportunistic and usually occurs during a collapse in authority.

Looting can be justified in many ways. Some people may feel that if the goods are not stolen, they will be wasted. Another common belief is that if they don’t steal the goods, it will be stolen by someone else. In the aftermath of a large disaster, these beliefs both hold credence and are good reasons for you to be looting!

 Preparing
As with any endeavor, preparation is the key to success. In order to take optimal advantage of a disaster and loot effectively you’ll want to get several things handled ahead of time. The next few pages will cover all the information you need to become a master looter.

Make a Looting Kit
There are a few items that will make looting a lot easier. You’ll want to keep these items ready and on hand for when shit hits the fan. They should be kept together in the location for easy access so you just pick them up and go when it’s time.
•  Crow bar: The ultimate urban survival tool! A nice, heavy crowbar can be used to break into stores, clear your way through rubble and it can be used as a weapon! Don’t underestimate the crowbar. There are a million things you can do with a crowbar, just use your imagination.
•  Bump keys: These are keys that have been ground down in such a way that they can be used to open almost any lock. Bump keys are used by locksmiths and they’re relatively easy to use. A crowbar will get you through any door or window, but a bump key will get you through without making a mess.
•  Laundry bag: A strong, large drawstring bag is a definite must for looting. Laundry bags are great for the purpose of looting. They have a large carrying capacity and when empty they can be folded to fit in your pocket. You can always go for a large backpack, duffle bag or rucksack but they’re cumbersome, expensive and made for looks more than anything else.
•  A dollar coin or quarter: You may be wondering… a dollar coin or quarter? What the hell for? Well the answer may be a lot simpler then you imagine. The coin is for a shopping cart! Just make sure you get one before the other looters! If you don’t want to use a coin, you can always use the crowbar to break the chains holding them together.
•  Flash light / Lantern: It’s very likely that if the situation permits looting, the power is probably out. Good luck getting over fallen shelves and getting food in the dark. Looting with one hand will also be difficult, but there are a few methods around that. I suggest placing the lantern or flash light in the shopping cart, get a head lamp, or just bring someone along to shine the light and push the cart.
•  Make a Looting Team: Find several friends or family members and make a plan! It’s all about leverage, you can get a lot more done if you work as team. Get everyone together in a room and discuss a plan of action.

Here are the questions you’ll want to have answered:
•  Under what circumstances will looting take place?
•  Where will the goods be kept?
•  Who has a vehicle for transportation?
•  What are the best locations for looting?
•  Should each individual go to a different  store?
•  Should everyone go as team?
•  What goods have priority?

If each person  focuses on acquiring a certain type of item, you’ll collectively save a lot of time and effort. What I mean by this is that one person will collect water filters, one person will collect rice and beans, and the other person will collect fuel. That’s just an example and should be customized to fit your team needs.

Mapping and Creating a List of Target Addresses
Get a detailed map of your city and mark off important looting locations. Make a legend with symbols to represent different types of locations, for instance, use a circle for food stores, triangles for hunting/outdoor stores, squares for hospitals and pharmacies etc. A good resource for finding addresses and locations is Google maps, just type in a store name and Google will give you all the addresses for that store in your area. Copy and paste the results into a .txt file and print it out for future use. This map is extremely important and should be kept in a safe area. The map should be copied and distributed among friends and family.

Here’s a list of some locations to keep in mind:
•  Hospitals
•  Restaurants
•  Grocery stores
•  Large stores and warehouses
•  Police stations
•  Fire stations
•  Factories
•  Shipyards
•  Pharmacies
•  Liquor stores
•  Malls
•  People’s houses
•  Schools
•  Sporting good stores
•  Outdoor living stores
•  Garden stores
•  Hardware stores
•  Military / Armory bases
•  Gas stations
•  Air ports
•  Shipping container sites
•  Hotels

What to Loot
Some items are important to loot and some aren’t. A wide screen TV for instance will not contribute to your chances of survival. The highest priority should be on food and water but depending on location, finding water may be a problem. Water is too heavy to move around so instead of looting water bottles the focus should be on buckets and water filters. The value of money may be worthless in a disaster situation and therefore should not be a high priority.

The most important items to loot are as follows:
(This list of  items should have already been purchased  and included amongst your long term security preparations!
•  Personal medicine (if required)
•  Water filters and water
•  Rice
•  Dried lentils, legumes, beans
•  Salt
•  Oatmeal
•  Whole wheat flour
•  Sugar
•  Cooking oil
•  Coffee
•  Money (preferably in change)
•  Alcohol
•  Cigarettes
•  Energy bars
•  Coolaid/ electrolytes
•  Fuel/oil

Places to Avoid
The family-run corner stores should be avoided as the owners actually have an interest in the store. The best historical example to illustrate this point occurred during the LA riots… remember Korea town?  Go for the Wal-Marts and Super stores where the employees could care less about you looting, they
have no vested interest in the store.

Looting When Shit Hits the Fan
You have a plan and you know what to do, but now we’ll going into the details of what happens next.   It’s my personal belief that violence will not break out in the first stages of a disaster since food and supplies are still in relative abundance and people have what they need to survive. This has been
proven during hurricane Katrina and many other disasters. The first few weeks of a disaster should be spent looting and acquiring resources. Everyone in your team should loot the area and acquire as much as a possible. It’s only after several weeks of looting that gangs and groups will have formed and violence will erupt. Fighting will most likely occur over food and resources. All looting from that time on should be executed with extreme caution.

We will undoubtedly get flack for publishing this “guide,” so to clear things up, we are posting this not so much as an instructional manual for how to loot, but to reiterate the point that there are those, and they are plentiful, who are fully prepared to take what they need at the expense of others.

You may have stereotypes of what a looter looks like and the people they will be traveling with. Stop stereotyping, because the fact of the matter is, that when people are hungry and under extreme stress the line between right and wrong is blurred and very easily crossed, and color or socioeconomic background will not matter.

With respect to the looting guide above, Mr. Northrop’s list of items to loot are, for the most part, necessities. Some might even suggest that instead of looting, we could call it “foraging,” at least when it comes to the essentials. Imagine for a moment that one of your family members has sustained an injury and requires antibiotics. Would you or would you not break into the pharmacy down the street to gain access to Penicillin? The same goes for food. If you’re food stores were wiped out, for whatever reason, and you knew of a train fully loaded with boxes of dry goods, would you or would you not “loot” that train to acquire the much needed food?

Some would argue that abandoned grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals or distribution centers don’t belong to any one individual, so looting in those areas is not as bad as, say, breaking into someone’s home.

Supplies at those abandoned locations, however, will eventually and likely very quickly, run dry as everyone who hasn’t prepared (probably north of 90% of the population) will be scrambling to get as much food as they can.

You can probably guess what happens next. This is why it is important to prepare right now. The last place you want to be when the SHTF is out with the rest of the looters and foragers. It would be much more preferable to be at home finalizing your defense preparations – doing things like setting up barbed wire, firing lines, booby traps and coordinating with neighbors – because if the disaster event lasts for more than a week without outside resupply, gangs and looters are going to be headed your way next.”

.

E.   Using your Expandable baton
1.  Display your baton openly. Often, just the presence of this weapon deters an assailant. Holsters are available that attach to your belt so the baton is in clear view of any would-be attackers.
Since criminals usually look for easy targets, simply displaying a baton may help avoid an attack in the first place.
2.  Grasp the baton firmly in your hand and quickly flick your wrist. This will open the baton. You want to maintain a secure, but not tight, hold of the baton. Since fluidity of motion is required to strike effectively, a grip that is too firm will cause tightness in your wrist and arm, decreasing your ability to strike quickly and smoothly.
3.  Create a distance of a few feet between you and your assailant, if at all possible. In order for your strikes to be effective, make room to maneuver. Take a step back or to the side to create the distance needed.
4.  Target your attacker’s weapon to disarm him. Then, aim for the bony areas of the body, including the head, knees, collarbone, ribs, elbows or wrists. This is much more effective than striking areas of muscle. While muscle strikes will hurt, they are not nearly as debilitating as a strike to a bony area.
5.  Block your attacker’s blows, and aim at disabling him, if possible. Stop him long enough to get away and get help. Put your whole body into the strike. Using only your arm for leverage is not nearly as effective as a strike that has the force of your body behind it.
6.  Close your baton by holding it perpendicular to the ground, and strike the tip firmly onto the ground. This will start the retraction process. Continue to tap the ground until all the sections of the baton have retracted, and the baton is in its closed form.
•     Handle length: 8- 1/4″ for the 21″ vs 9- 5/8″ for the 26″.
•     Each state has its own laws regarding expandable batons.
•     In most states carrying an expandable baton is not a problem. Using it is. Carrying a 2 x 4 x 3 is not a problem but using it to hit someone is.
•     I’m certified in expandable baton use for police work and cannot understand why someone would carry one for self defence. They are good for helping to take control or controlling a subject, but I wouldn’t depend on one for self defence. You need to get way to close to your aggressor. I would rather run into the street than allow myself to get that close to an aggressor and try to pull out my baton.
•     For the police, the expandable baton has some advantages. You always have it with you on your belt, the wood batons are great but they were usually in the car when you needed them. Also the expendables make a nice intimidating noise when opened, almost like a pump shotgun, but again that is for police work were you have to get in close to the aggressor, not for civilian life were you should be running away calling for help.
Pasted from <http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071028033543AAwTtOH