PP #43: Violence: How to Protect Yourself
Project: Pioneer #43, July 11, 2024 Thursday 9am
“It’s better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war.” —Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings
The violence in my last post might have been a bit hard to deal with. I’m sorry about that, but it’s important to drive home what’s happening, what could happen, and to prepare. The shock factor was to wake people up, to motivate them to become active, to hopefully, possibly prevent this. This post will be about how to protect yourself if it does.
Project: Pioneer is the live weekly reality journal of a couple and their small dog as they leave their ‘normal’ life in a luxury apartment for a new semi-off grid life in a small recreational vehicle. We cover prepping, politics, spirituality, afterlife, RV life, and personal finance. Most posts are free, more personal posts are to reward our loyal paid subscribers. You can listen to and subscribe to the audio podcast version of this journal at Substack, Apple, Spotify, PocketCasts and others.
What’s New
Before we get into the subject of the week, I’ll get you caught up on our pioneer journey. Our White House RV has kept up well with the constant, oppressive heat. We’ve had to run the A/C quite a bit—another reminder we’re too reliant on the electric grid and need more solar equipment. It’s almost mid-July and so far, our fears of rowdy, drunken, loud campers has been unfounded. This place is beautiful, quiet solitude for the most part. We’ve chosen well.
We need to be able to survive the coming climate apocalypse, especially if Trump gets elected, because it will certainly come much faster than otherwise. Have you noticed that it’s much harder to get out and enjoy summer? Even in June! The heat is Florida-summer oppressive, even in the north. We’re smashing through every record.
Giavana and I went up on the mountain behind our pioneer home. We staked out the route, possible locations to flee to and hunker down out of sight, possibly set up camp, and if necessary make a last stand as I described in my last post. A cleared area that’s not visible from any road or path is optimal, especially with a high vantage point. Our little dog Pia would certainly notify us of anyone approaching. We’d place place trip wires, snares, and more around the perimeter.
I traveled to a reggae festival. Have you ever noticed that the most beautiful, hopeful, joyful music has come from the most oppressed populations? This is true of reggae, jazz, blues, R&B, and so on. Here was another festival, in 100 degree heat, filled with people rejoicing. It was very multiracial, gays, straights, young, old, people simply rejoicing together on a sweltering summer day. Nobody fighting, or shooting each other. “Don’t worry, ‘bout a thing. Cuz every little thing, gone be alright…” Here’s an excellent take on one of those hopeful songs, Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come. (Narrator: We’re still waiting…) I like it because it’s done by a bunch of young kids, carrying that torch.
I grew up in white suburbia, literally no black kids in my schools. I heard all the racists tales about black folk, passed down from racist parents to their kids. When I went into the military, I got a wakeup call. Turns out, they’re regular people, and there’s bad ones and good ones, like any other color of human. If you assume all black people are criminals because of something you saw one do on the news, do you assume all white people are school shooters? Serial killers who eat people like Jeffrey Dahmer?
So, I’m pretty tired of these pasty-white milquetoast silver-spoon trust fund baby country club golfing white dudes hating on everyone who isn’t just like them. Get out to some of these festivals and be among your fellow human beings a little, you hateful idiots. Or, get out of our beautiful diverse melting pot of a country and head to your utopia - Russia. You’ll be welcomed with open arms, a rifle, and one-way trip to the front lines. Enjoy your trip.
Lastly, it’s been big fun now that the evil, horrible Project 2025 plan is out of the bag, watching Trump and his acolytes try to distance themselves from it. Who? What? Never heard of it, never heard of them. Too bad it was architected by 140 of his top administration officials, and is subtitled, A 2025 Presidential Transition Project and A Mandate for Leadership. Yes, “Mandate.”
Violence: How to Protect Yourself
We’ve heard explicit calls for and threats of violence up through, during, and after the coming election. There may be violence at the polling places. There is violence at the stores, churches, movie theaters because we’re so divided. It might come to your neighborhood, or God forbid, your home. It could happen anywhere, and happen suddenly. People are still stressed from COVID, and on edge. The extreme Project 2025 fundamentalists on the right are calling for the next American revolution. A lot of innocent citizens died in the last one, and in the Civil War.
So, what can you do? A big theme of this journal is prepping, or “preparing.” I’ve posted before on this topic, so see those for tips on things like home security and other important aspects of this topic. What I want to discuss here, in more detail, is how to protect yourself from violence.
You’ve seen the standard advice on what to do in situations like a standard mugging. Making lots of noise is good move, for example. Learning a few self-defense moves may buy you a few seconds of separation to pull that siren alarm on your keychain, and/or pull a weapon of some sort. We’ll cover some of those. But, know this—you aren’t going to get into some kind of movie or TV-show martial arts battle with an attacker. Most fights begin with maybe a blow or two exchanged, and quickly turn into a grappling match. All that karate and boxing stuff goes out the window quick. Trust me, I know. If you want to learn useful skills, learn something like jiu-jitsu.
The kind of violence in the scenarios to come isn’t like a mugger waiting for you in the shadows. It’s likely to be chaos, lots of people involved. Blowing your whistle or siren won’t be much help, because everyone around, including any law enforcement, may be tied up in altercations. Most fights last only seconds. It’s the aftermath that drags on—court battles, physical and psychological healing, etc. Here’s how to stay clear, or what to do if you can’t.
Situational Awareness: First, get your head out of that phone. Good Lord. The number of people walking around transfixed on their phones, even when standing around, is a goldmine of targets. When driving, even! If something is about to happen, a situation is about to get dangerous, you are missing important clues and time to escape. Practice situational awareness, always. Be keenly focused on your surroundings, and more importantly, the people around you and what they’re doing. Even when driving, but more importantly in public settings. At home, make it a practice to pay attention to what is “normal” in your neighborhood. On your walks, get to know the cars, the habits of people, who your actual neighbors are. This makes it easy to pick up on anything that’s abnormal—strange cars, strange people, and so on.
No matter where you are, make a practice of asking yourself what the escape routes are. If a shooting starts, where can you take cover? How can you get to the exit without exposing yourself? Keep your head on a swivel, and exude confidence. If you look scared, you might be the first choice. We know how bullies are. Look tough, look like you belong.
If you get into a confrontation and hurt someone, and they cease to be a threat you need to call 911 and your attorney. Drop your weapons if it’s safe to do so. Give enough info to allow them to get there and render aid, but skip the details until you have advice of counsel. Make sure the authorities know you are the good person—hands up, no weapons. Make sure you aren’t hurt—adrenaline can mask that! If so, make sure you get aid before any attacker.
If you use deadly force, you better be able to back up in court that you were in genuine fear for your life or your family’s life or health. Castle doctrine means you can defend your home, but for example you can’t drag a body in there, or go outside and taunt or lure someone inside so you can shoot them. You normally have a duty to retreat, if possible. Again, laws around this are different in different states. Even if you aren’t charged criminally, you might get sued civilly.
Amazon Prime Days is upcoming, so I was tempted to throw some links in here for you. But, you should really go to a brick and mortar store to personally handle these types of items to find out what’s comfortable in your own hand, with your own physique. Talk to the staff, they’re usually quite knowledgeable. These items are sold at stores like Cabela’s, Bass Pro, Dick’s, Army/Navy, and hunting/gun stores. That way you’ll also be more assured what you’re buying is legal. Be very careful about leaving items in your car as you drive over state borders, because they may be illegal along your route.
That said, here are some excellent books. You might consider both the paper versions and the ebook as a backup, in case the paper is destroyed or lost in a crisis situation.
Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide
Complete Prepper’s Survival Bible
Weapons: First, know the laws where you live and don’t violate them. Here are some ideas for items you can carry on your person and/or in your vehicle easily, if legal. Remember, these items are useless and more likely dangerous to you, unless you practice with them and get training. YouTube University doesn’t count, you have to develop muscle memory.
Expandable Baton: These can be used to disable, create space, or restrain an attacker. They’re compact and surprisingly lightweight.
Pepper Spray: This may buy you time, but consider you may end up with a more enraged attacker, as some of these are very inaccurate, defective, weak, and ineffective. The newer types use a streaming gel system that’s much more accurate and sticky, and may also have a dye to help law enforcement identify the perpetrator. The only strength measurement that matters is the CRC level. It should be at least 1%.
TASER: This is an electroshock gun that fires two metal probes attached to wires in the gun. Both probes need to hit the target for it to work, so proximity is an issue. Usually it’s about 15 feet max. Closer is better, but not too close, the target should at least be a few feet away. You might also miss, and most only give you one shot.
Stun Guns: These are hand-held devices that deliver an electric shock when pressed up against someone’s body. They’re good for up-close confrontations, and do work through clothing. This can be a problem if it’s taken away from you before you can use it! Many are disguised as everyday items.
Flashlights: Small, rugged flashlights are often also designed as a self-defense weapons, i.e. for bonking someone on the head, striking them in the face or other sensitive areas. They also typically have a strobe setting that can distract attackers, disable their vision, and identify that you’re in distress to bystanders.
Guns: Just the sight of one is often enough to get an attacker to back away. State laws are very important! In some states you can carry a concealed weapon, or an unconcealed one. Above all, the mantra of practice being critical appears here. Guns can kill in many ways, including being left out in the open in homes with children.
Most handguns are simple, but do involve a few mechanisms that make them useless if you aren’t aware of how they work, such as the safety, clip release, bolt, barrel, slide, etc. Assault rifles are designed for long-range killing with precise aim. If someone is invading your home, you’re much better off with a shotgun. Get professional help at a good local gun store and range, as there are many variables as to which is the best one for you. Memorize the four primary rules of gun safety:
Always assume a gun is loaded
Never point a gun at something/someone you don’t intend on destroying
Never put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to fire
Always look at what’s behind your target, because that’s what you very well may hit
Refer to my previous posts for more specific recommendations. You should practice cleaning and assembling/disassembling any weapons you own.
Bows, Crossbows, Slingshots, Blowguns: These can be lethal and effective weapons, especially if you live somewhere that you can’t have guns. There are likely places to buy and train on them near you. They can be used to deploy various types of projectiles to kill, maim, disable, cause fires, explosions, gas, etc.
Knives: These are typically fixed-blade or folding models. Folding knives are easier to conceal and safer, but do require that extra second (and practiced skill!) to open. Folding knives can break, as can fixed-blade knives that aren’t truly one piece (called a tang). It should have a strong handguard or hilt to prevent your hand from sliding down across the blade. A knife should be kept sharp, so make sure you know how to sharpen it. A lanyard wrapped around your hand helps to prevent it from being taken away from you. But, if not used properly, it can also be used to control and manipulate your body. For example, you stab someone, they twist around or fall, and you go to the ground with them.
Improvised: A rock or pool ball in a sock (um, not that ankle kind) can be a good weapon, on the cheap (please don’t steal the pool ball from your local bar, I hate that!). A can of hair spray can make an improvised flame thrower, but don’t burn your house down, please. Walking sticks can be used as batons, and some even have concealed blades or even shotgun shells in them. Remember all the creative things Kevin thought of in the movie Home Alone? Be careful out there!
Again, we hope none of this ever comes to pass. However, the calls for violence and likelihood grow louder.
Finally, if you think this is, again, sensationalism, here’s a pretty good take on how things could very well go down within a few months. It’s exactly what they’re saying they’re going to do, after all. The quote I led in with is significant in this regard! Be a warrior in a garden.
This pioneer journey continues… Don’t forget, commenting is now turned on for everyone on these free posts. Let’s interact!
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