Mainsail
Member
For What Are You Preparing?
I often read, in several gun forums, different strategies, tactics, and gear load-outs that people suggest. This has left me wondering; for what are we preparing? Numerous extra magazines, tactical flashlights, knives, back-up guns, pocket tools, even handcuffs. How does one keep their pants up? How does one run with that much weight on their belt? What is the threat?
I have to accept that is impossible for me to go about my daily life fully prepared for any possible contingency that might occur. To believe otherwise would mean driving an armored car, wearing full body armor, and a toting backpack full of survival gear. So I must accept that to be prepared for a violent crime I must compromise between the two extremes; carrying nothing and carrying everything. There seems to be differing opinions on where the line of compromise should rest on that scale.
For example, I’m going to run to the grocery store, then the home center store, and then stop for a coffee; some average errands one might do on a weekend or after work. What is the threat to me on such a day; organized and heavily armed terrorists, or some drug whacked 15 to 30 year old armed with a knife or gun?
Bearing in mind that almost all the “armed citizen” stories in the NRA magazines or elsewhere are resolved with one or two shots fired by people who have little or no training, from small caliber handguns or shotguns, do I really need to walk out my front doors with a batman belt as though I’m running my errands in downtown Kandahar?
The needs of a police officer and the needs of the average citizen are completely different. The police officer must be prepared for offensive action as well as defensive, not only for himself but for the public at large. Yet I often read forum posts where people make equipment suggestions to people who are not police officers as though they were.
On the other hand, the average citizen like me need only prepare for defensive self protection. Yet I often read (and there’s a new “equipment” thread almost every week) people recommending what seems to me a ridiculous gear load-out for the average person. The only sort-of offensive action I can envision is a mall type mass-shooting where one might desire to actively engage the shooter (say he’s between you and your wife or child, or you don’t know where in the mall your wife or child is). But even then, what does a tactical flashlight do for me, or a knife, or a pocket tool?
What sort of violent crime scenario do you envision when you’re just engaging in your daily life- or- how do you build your personal safety plan, and using what third-person experiences?
So my question is; for what are you preparing, and how have you equipped yourself for the threat?
I often read, in several gun forums, different strategies, tactics, and gear load-outs that people suggest. This has left me wondering; for what are we preparing? Numerous extra magazines, tactical flashlights, knives, back-up guns, pocket tools, even handcuffs. How does one keep their pants up? How does one run with that much weight on their belt? What is the threat?
I have to accept that is impossible for me to go about my daily life fully prepared for any possible contingency that might occur. To believe otherwise would mean driving an armored car, wearing full body armor, and a toting backpack full of survival gear. So I must accept that to be prepared for a violent crime I must compromise between the two extremes; carrying nothing and carrying everything. There seems to be differing opinions on where the line of compromise should rest on that scale.
For example, I’m going to run to the grocery store, then the home center store, and then stop for a coffee; some average errands one might do on a weekend or after work. What is the threat to me on such a day; organized and heavily armed terrorists, or some drug whacked 15 to 30 year old armed with a knife or gun?
Bearing in mind that almost all the “armed citizen” stories in the NRA magazines or elsewhere are resolved with one or two shots fired by people who have little or no training, from small caliber handguns or shotguns, do I really need to walk out my front doors with a batman belt as though I’m running my errands in downtown Kandahar?
The needs of a police officer and the needs of the average citizen are completely different. The police officer must be prepared for offensive action as well as defensive, not only for himself but for the public at large. Yet I often read forum posts where people make equipment suggestions to people who are not police officers as though they were.
On the other hand, the average citizen like me need only prepare for defensive self protection. Yet I often read (and there’s a new “equipment” thread almost every week) people recommending what seems to me a ridiculous gear load-out for the average person. The only sort-of offensive action I can envision is a mall type mass-shooting where one might desire to actively engage the shooter (say he’s between you and your wife or child, or you don’t know where in the mall your wife or child is). But even then, what does a tactical flashlight do for me, or a knife, or a pocket tool?
What sort of violent crime scenario do you envision when you’re just engaging in your daily life- or- how do you build your personal safety plan, and using what third-person experiences?
So my question is; for what are you preparing, and how have you equipped yourself for the threat?