Riots, mobs and survival

Always err on the side of caution

HPCadm17 said:

Avoidance is always the best strategy whenever possible. It doesn't take much to set people off these days. Anything that involves longer lines or longer wait times than usual is sometimes enough to cause people to snap. I avoid crowded shopping times, crowded stores, and crowds in general. I won't even hit a busy drive-thru or stop for gas at a busy service station any more unless I have no choice, because I've seen too many people reach the brink of assaulting each other over a 5 minute wait. In these times when people are more likely to overreact, it's vitally important to be prepared and to stay back, stay calm, and think.

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Excellent advice; especially since people are getting shot for not providing ketchup packets...

When we relocated to our current residence, we were selective of our location more so than other considerations such as close to conveniences. We also do not draw attention to our selves thus in Roman be a Roman applies thus we blend in. Viewing the broadcast news on TV the subject of "Gun Violence" is common in population centers. The incidents are more so in minority neighborhoods than not. The previous is just a matter of fact thus its just the way it is. Can it be otherwise yes thus avoidance is a life style. Why knowingly places yourself in location/positions of jeopardy.

Possibly useful resource:

https://rallylist.com/

Searchable list of scheduled rallies and protests. In other words: where not to be and when.

Mike Glover has started American Contingency to form a network to avoid mobs and riots. The idea is to share information from different regions and to provide training so everyone can be their first response. I just joined.

Mike’s YouTube videos on field craft is what convinced me to give this a try.

Local travel probably isn't as much of an issue, because information on local events tend to spread better.

Traveling to different cities/states, however, is another issue unless it's already gotten pretty major.

I look at travel in our country right now like I did when traveling overseas, or making port calls while in the Navy: Check it out. Pay attention to advisories. Keep your eyes and ears open, and leave yourself room to evade/escape.

Rarely do people just "happen" upon mobs and riots without some kind of warning.

scaatylobo said:

I totally agree with your escape method.

My issue with it is,what if its a simple accident and your about to commit a few dozen traffic law violations ?.

I am pretty sure that you will not get a sympathetic ear from the State Trooper that is trying to get to that accident and has to dodge your --- driving in the wrong direction.

I would hope & pray that your radio would supply enough information to TOTALLY AVOID the roadway.

I too would do whatever I needed to get away,rather than trying to use force or get attacked in my vehicle that is now immobile.

All we can do is prepare for the worst,PRAY for the best.

Which raises so many questions as to ALL the possible scenarios that could arise = TOO MANY to game them all to a safe & happy solution.

The only answer that I see is "Situtaional Awareness" at all times your out.

And yes,even in your home !

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Waze and Google maps.
Crowd sourcing is a great way to organize BLM (the alternative meaning) events; it's also a GREAT way to avoid them.
That's of course assuming that the crowd-sourced database has been fed sufficient data to be useful. But then the same is true of the radio, in that the DJ needs to have a slip of paper with The News on it handed to him for him to read.

at some point when faced with war you're either going to reciprocate or else you're going to lose

everyone always trying to run away...where you gonna run to? normal is gone, my friends.

Avoiding the situation in the first place is rule #1. But if for whatever reason you were to find yourself in the middle of one, unable to turn around or turn back, exactly what is keeping you from playing along for the moment? Throw your fist in the air, honk in approval, call cops bad names. That's pretty much all it takes to get through safely. Your convenience may be infringed upon, but likely not your life. Most of the people that have problems go out of their way to wear their home team colors on their sleeve. Don't wear a MAGA hat or be an auto parts store. Problem solved.

... Benjamin Martin will be my spirit animal.

Years ago while stationed in a country that was undergoing political upheaval we regularly had "security briefings". We also had briefings and training on driving techniques. We were advised that if you were surrounded by a crowd that was trying to hurt you the answer was simple. Accelerate. It would take an awful lot of bodies stuck under a car to stop it. If you survive you can deal with the fallout later. If you're dead you screwed up and it doesn't matter to any but your survivors.

mokin said:

Interesting reads. Particularly the parts about vehicles. I like Ayoob's idea of carrying ear protection in his car.

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I was already doing this, but now I have to buy safety glasses for however many people will fit in my vehicle. My prescription progressive bifocals are polycarbonate, but now I'm worried about over/under/sides. Need safety goggles and hearing protection for my 60 pound Lab mix, too.

An endorsement for those who emphasize awareness and avoidance, from my experience:

I spent 20 years in LA investigating homicides privately, there and around the country. I have had 7 incidents, that I can recall off-hand, where I would have been justified in defending myself with a firearm - 2 street confrontations and 5 home invasions. Incidentally, I would have wound up much worse off in most of those situations if I had drawn a gun (because of what the Los Angeles DA would have done to me).

Looking back, I can see that if I had been better about locking my doors, keeping my eyes open, and understanding street-gang dynamics, I would have avoided every one of those 7 incidents.

Once suggested regarding traffic accidents, but applicable to all sorts of things.

"The second best thing in the event of ____________ is presence of mind. The best is absence of body." If is is not imperative to 'be there', be elsewhere.

The real issue with preparation is the vast sea of possibilities for these situations to arise, and once they do arise the vast sea of ways for them to escalate. Just before I moved to TN there was a local guy known to be a pain in the rear to law enforcement. He would thoroughly learn the law and get within inches of breaking it constantly hoping that police would react and give him grounds for a lucrative lawsuit. In quick succession one of his antics was to wander around near a college and adjacent high school and middle school campus carrying a visible weapon. He stayed a couple feet outside of the legal boundary for possession of a weapon. The schools got locked down and it caused a local panic. Several parents of the kids in the schools attacked the mans home that evening and staged protests in the nice neighborhood where he lived. Law enforcement responded to protect him. He danced around in his yard burning flags and generally being an idiot legally. Then the motorcycle gangs showed up, and counter protestors began planning to come. It snowballed very quickly over the course of a couple hours and then over the weekend it was very tense. So how do you prepare for that? There was only 1 way into his little subdivision, so as his neighbor what do you do? These situations are just a grander scale of “make the best of the situation at hand” in which case sometimes the right answer is to have the wife/kids climb the fence to escape through another street and go stay with friends until it’s over, which is exactly what a friend of mine did.

Weed

Avoidance at all cost! I think the recent events will show that even defending yourself will get you a murder charge. What I would be interested in, for the sake of some business owners, is how they are expected or what they can do to protect that business? In appears there is nothing they have a right to do either. Saw a video of a man Pleading/beggin with rioters ,to not torch his business saying over and over "I have kids to feed". Yet if he did defend his business would mean a murder charge if he killed one of them.
People will say the law says this and the law says that, but we know laws now mean nothing. Not only have the Police been defunded, but now even one state is going even further and giving more Power to the Rioteers by lowering the charge of attacking a Police Officer, Fireman, Judges, EMT's etc. A huge bonus for the Rioters and a tremendous blow to the police.



This happened in Virginia-What should be their defense other than to not show up at all?

azrocks said:

Avoiding the situation in the first place is rule #1. But if for whatever reason you were to find yourself in the middle of one, unable to turn around or turn back, exactly what is keeping you from playing along for the moment? Throw your fist in the air, honk in approval, call cops bad names. That's pretty much all it takes to get through safely. Your convenience may be infringed upon, but likely not your life. Most of the people that have problems go out of their way to wear their home team colors on their sleeve. Don't wear a MAGA hat or be an auto parts store. Problem solved.

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This would all depend on your personal abilities. Some of us are not good at surrendering.

Protest is what Martin Luther King did.
Self-defense is what Rob Williams did vs KKK (his Black Guard, Monroe City, Union County, NC).
I respected that in the 1960s.
I agreed with the NRA giving Rob Williams a gun club charter to arm the Black Guard with civilian marksmanship guns and ammo.
The liberal editorialist TRB in The New Republic in the 1960s condemned NRA for that.

These BLM today (especially the woke White BLM SJW activists) are something else.
I don't respect them and nothing good can come from interacting with them.
They are like the Maoist Red Guards. Beyond reason, looking for a fight or someone to cow and beat down for ego boost.
Don't give them what they want.

Locally we have had modern black activists go to Volunteer Pawn in Bristol and stage basically an ATF training scenario for a straw purchase, then they picketed the pawnshop for refusing to sell to them. They went in as a group, looking at guns. with one designated to buy and submitt to 4473 and NICS check. These "useful idiots" apparently don't realize that the ATF rules and regulations the pawnshop owner had to follow to keep his FFL were promulgated by the same political faction urging them on to more confrontations and that faction does not want blacks (or anyone other than military or police under direct govt control) to own guns for traditional lawful purposes anyway.

Mobs, Riots, and survival.

Avoid mobs.
Avoid riots.
If they come to you, do what is necessary to survive.
But avoid them at all costs.

There is no shame in avoiding unnecessary fights. Edgar Allan Poe: "That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem or to be, when it suits him, a coward." -- Marginalia.

Ernie Bass said:

Avoidance at all cost! I think the recent events will show that even defending yourself will get you a murder charge. What I would be interested in, for the sake of some business owners, is how they are expected or what they can do to protect that business? In appears there is nothing they have a right to do either. Saw a video of a man Pleading/beggin with rioters ,to not torch his business saying over and over "I have kids to feed". Yet if he did defend his business would mean a murder charge if he killed one of them.
People will say the law says this and the law says that, but we know laws now mean nothing. Not only have the Police been defunded, but now even one state is going even further and giving more Power to the Rioteers by lowering the charge of attacking a Police Officer, Fireman, Judges, EMT's etc. A huge bonus for the Rioters and a tremendous blow to the police.

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This happened in Virginia-What should be their defense other than to not show up at all?

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So the mobile pharmaceutical supply (ambulance) staffed by unarmed care providers is now a prime target because A. You can steal drugs, and B. Your probably not going to get caught due to lack of funding for investigation purposes, and C. Even if you do get caught it’s a slap on the wrist misdemeanor and your out on bail within the day, probation by the end of the week. Why in the hammered hell would anybody choose to be a paramedic now? I guess since the groups looking for general anarchy can’t get it directly, so making the jobs of what are typically called hometown heroes impossible to fill might get us to anarchy via attrition. Yay. Virginia used to be a free state. I wonder if assaulting a public servant will get firearms rights revoked under new laws?

I recently learned I have a moderately high visibility neighbor who might possibly be targeted for protests (not necessarily mob or riot). I have discussed this with the family and instituted a basic plan: close all blinds on the front of the house; set up surreptitious video recording from an upstairs window, as well as from my installed security cameras. All other family members move to the back of the house, away from the crowd, while I monitor the videos. We will take NO action if the crowd becomes destructive of our property, even vehicles in the open, not closed in the garage.

Kind hearted wife said if the crowd was out in the hot sun she would take them water. I emphatically told her under no circumstances would anyone go out into the crowd. If they want water they can go home.

I also said the only time I would take action would be if the crowd physically breached our house, under which circumstances I would take serious action, because that is immediately a threat to harm of people, not to property. I have at least two neighbors, possibly more, who have arms at home and are also prepared to use them for defense.

This simple plan is informed by my completion last year of Branca's complete LoSD course, of my recent completion of his Riots, Mobs, and Arsonists course, and my learning so far as I am half way through his Defense of Property course. Note: Branca opens the course by saying while there are legal provisions for use of (non-deadly) force to protect property, he emphatically advises simply, DON'T! Once any form of confrontation happens, you become subject to a non-zero probability of physical injury, legal consequences, or both. This advice pretty much echoes our theme in this thread: avoidance.

Trunk Monkey: "Always err on the side of caution."

Those who err on the side of recklessness often end their career of erring. Or take others with them. Or both.

AlfieB said:

This would all depend on your personal abilities. Some of us are not good at surrendering.

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The thread title is 'Riots, Mobs, & Survival.' The hypothetical being discussed is one of being restricted in movement and greatly outnumbered. I'd hardly consider it surrender to take actions necessary to avoid making yourself a target of mob hatred. If you want to show up to the protests to speak your mind & represent your tribe, more power to you. But that's not what this thread is about.