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Well, made it past the halfway mark with no pitchforks and torches visible on the horizon. We’ll take that as a good thing.

As is our habit, we start once again with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer.

As I’m sure most of you know the months of summer do far more than bring forth a bounty of corn and beans. They bring forth the ubiquitous rummage/garage/sale here signs that beckon you to wreck your wallet on the rocks of their wares.

But all is not lost, my mariner of the concrete (asphalt and gravel work, so does dirt) seas of the modern world. Bargains are to be had that can greatly aid you in your survival goals at a great savings when compared to the harpies of retail.

The key to successful navigation in these areas is to have a plan. Look first for obvious items such as garden tools: rakes (garden is my preferred type), shovels (pointed or flat are my preferred) along with a miscellany of small “planting type” tools are my personal “look fors.”

Granted, having a small farmstead makes it difficult to have too many of these things. Think ahead to how many other able bodies you might be dealing with and equip for them.

Next I look for outdoor “stuff.” Hunting items, heavy duty clothing and things of that nature. Hopefully it will fit me or my wife. After that, generic sizes will do for the “others.”

Next food preservation items. Canning equipment and supplies. Both water bath and pressure. Remember, you may not have electric so I’d lean more heavily towards the stove top variety. Also you need to consider how many are in, or might be in, your tribe. With canning equipment the more you can have going the faster (and more) can get done. Dehydrators are something of a “Holy Grail” item to find. While they require electricity you can run them 24/7 and preserve damn near everything. [Remember a few days ago when we talked of training? While a class in canning and preserving food is not as “sexy” as a small unit deployed in an ambush class might be, I’ll bet you spend more time eating than fighting. Just a guess. YMMV].

I could go on but your situation will be different than mine. A person in an apartment might see little use for shovels and rakes but I know a guy that has, I’m pretty sure at least one, multiple dehydrators going constantly. He does everything.

I’m thinking he’s almost got water down…

Don’t just think rummage sales. Thrift stores are also great to search through. Looking for bargains on food alone could be a whole ‘nother post.

I’m sure you see the point of all of this now. Yeah, you’re buying something used. What do you think that new shovel will be the day after you buy it?

Please remove pants before ironing.

Management is not responsible for items left overnight.

Day 3. The journey continues.

We start once again with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer.

Due to popular demand (OK, a couple of comments by James) I’ll throw my two cents out there with regards to the 3D printer files kerfluffle going on.

First off, it seems that there are files out there that have been previously released. All you have to do is look for them. They’ve been out there for years. Defense Distributed may have some newer designs they wanted to release but there are plans out there for at least the Liberator.

Secondly, I’m loving all of the “pearl clutching” and anti-gun/anti-freedom moral outrage being spewed by all of the usual suspects. Once again they can breathlessly hype (and probably fund raise off of) absolutely nothing.

C’mon, people. There already are well over 300 million guns in the USA. A few more single shot homemade ones are not going to push us off of a cliff.

If you’re working the angle that you want to make one “off of the books” you’re fooling yourself. You’re already on a list if you’ve ever done anything, belonged to anything or bought anything (by means other than cash/barter) gun related. Spending a couple grand on a special machine and then ordering special materials only to have to go and buy additional components in order to complete it does not an off the books gun make. I don’t doubt that it could be done BUT I’m guessing that you’re already on a list.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not in the least against someone doing it themselves. It’s just not for me. And, in my opinion, there are far better ways of spending your money.

One suggestion I have is to get a combination drill press/lathe/mill and have something that can do far more than just 3D printing. They can be had for less than $2,000. I know they’re not perfect but they’ll suffice unless you want to get separate, full sized stand alone machines. Besides, metalworking can be a fun hobby and a valuable skill.

History tells many stories of “hidden” firearms manufacturing in occupied areas. I have heard stories, but can’t verify, of Sten gun plans being dropped to the resistance in France during WWII so they could make them.

I also stumbled across this article during my browsing: http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/shovel-ready-ak-47-t10152.html. I don’t know who this guy is but he seems familiar.

In short, I’m loving it but it’s not for me. Maybe if you want to make me some of those Frito Bandito erasers from a few years back…

I’ll wait for the technology to get advanced to the point like in that old Star Wars tv show from the ’60’s. You know, where Kirk and Jeannie would ask the Tardis to make something and there it was. Yeah. I’m waiting for that.

Well, as far as I know Herschel hasn’t come screaming out of the woods to end this little escapade so either all is going well or he’s blissfully unaware of what is going on.

We start day two in front of the Golden TCJ Keyboard with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer and get right into it.

Yesterday I brought up training that is available from a plethora of instructors in a variety of areas. One thing that may bring pause in consideration of actively seeking training is what value or practical use will it be. To be honest, unless you plan on developing a program that will continually refresh and reinforce what you learned the skills you paid to learn will go away. Use or lose it, so to speak. In my opinion having a plan in place to continually utilize what you have learned is just as important as the training itself.

Sometimes the training you get can have unexpected, and pleasant, results.

A very good friend has taken a few of Mosby’s classes. Now this guy is a driven animal in his approach to this stuff. His time is too precious to waste on something that he will not be willing to use and build on.

I received an email from him with regards to an “opportunity” he had to use the skills learned from Mosby. Here are his words:

“Local PD rangemaster just invited me to use their indoor range tomorrow night with whatever hardware I want. I asked about my AK w/fmj and he said sure, why not if I get tired of their Eotech’d M-4s. Methinks word about me attending Mosby’s classes has reached the right ears. Or not…”

“Okay – that was a blast and very ego satisfying. No way around it. Turns out I was being used but in a good way. Anyone surprised about that? Anyhoo, showed up as planned dressed in Dickies and a sweatshirt and a concealed G19. Shoulder bag held the day’s work clothes, work Makarov and holster, earpro, etc that I didn’t want to leave in the car.  Got met and buzzed in and greeted by two before led into a concrete maze to the range. Trip chat was them asking about my background & interest in firearms, what training and why. My views on what a man is and being prepared to solve one’s own problems seemed to go over well enough and I asked about their interest in me. They’d heard some favorable things and wanted to see for themselves.

We get to the range and I drop the bag and grab the earpro from it. Targets are man sized armed perp pics at 75 feet. They tell me to help myself and get warmed up. I notice how little direction they give me and suspect it’s a test to see how I run on my own re safety etc. Everyone’s ears are already on so I lift my shirt, skin my smokewagon and start putting rounds in and around the head of my target. They jump back and start swearing before calming back down. It never occurred to them I might be carrying and ready to go *immediately*. Gotta say that was enjoyable to see.

To my joy I’m getting good face hits at 75 feet and the misses are within 4 inches and a number of those “misses” are upper chest and neck hits due to jerking the trigger down. We’d only gone to 30 feet max with Mosby so this was seriously pushing it for me, but I remembered the training and worked the steps in order. They look at the target and say that wasn’t bad at all. Later they tell me I’m better than all but a few in the department and those equal or better are gun nuts, present company included. Turns out this is department weapon qualification week and they wanted to show the newer officers their marksmanship borderline sucks and there are civilians out there who can and will put pistol rounds in their face at 75 feet before they can draw.

Next up are the carbines, again at 75 feet. They’re all zeroed so hits are quick and easy. Eotechs are nice but irons are plenty at that close range. Easy as it is, several officers need hours to qualify and some never do (with no real consequences due to affirmative action and the union). I pointed at holes in the ceiling downrange and asked if those were what I thought they were. He shook his head and said ‘fraid so. There’s more but you get the idea. All involved made friends and left friends and a great time was had at least by me and I was given two full medbags – probably a result of my mentioning the TC3 training I got with the pistol class and how I’d spent a bunch of my money to fill out my very inadequate kit. I doubt they’d have done that if they thought I was an asshole at the end.”

So, there IS value in the training you get but only if you have a plan to keep your skills fresh and take advantage of opportunities as they may arise.

Please note the generally poor marksmanship of the department’s officers. These are paid professionals. Unless they have a personal interest in the shooting arts they have no real motivation to try and excel at it. My friend, with Mosby’s training under his belt (and his desire to excel) out shot the majority of officers on a fairly large department. He was the equal of their best.

Let that sink in.

[Sorry about the font change after the quote. Monkey just pressing buttons. I’m also forced to use my phone because I have had no luck getting my computer to work with WordPress. Sigh.

Mongo just pawn in game of life…]

Until next time.

A week or so ago Herschel contacted me and said he was going on a trip and asked if I would “like to guest post for him that week” or something like that. I replied that I was both humbled and honored by his request and said yes.

I then told him I have no idea how to do any of this. That didn’t seem a deterrent. We figured it out.

I still don’t know what I’m doing…

Well, a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer and here we go.

Ruby Ridge, then Waco.

All we get is Xin Loi.

Countless no-knock SWAT raids with innocents and dogs injured and killed.

All we get is Xin Loi.

People shot dead in the doorway of their home, because…

All we get is Xin Loi.

LaVoy Finicum.

All we get is Xin Loi.

FBICIANSA shredding the Constitution they took an oath to.

All we get is Xin Loi.

Politicians raping this country, both figuratively and literally.

All we get is Xin Loi.

When is our Xin Loi moment?

There are a plethora of trainers out there ready, willing and able to pass on valuable skills that will greatly increase your chances of survival (or at least make a decent accounting) in the struggles that seem to be on the horizon.

Martial skills.

Medical skills.

Communication skills.

Local communities can even offer an education in growing and preserving food.

There is a wealth of knowledge out there. Knowledge to be gained in any price range. For any skill level.

You just have to look around. Urban, suburban or rural. It’s there.

The only thing I haven’t found is a course that tells you when to get out/bunker in. Or, more importantly, when to shoot.

Even Selco will tell you that he doesn’t have the answer to that. Sure, there are signs. Easily visible in hindsight.

But hindsight only helps the living.

In my “youth” I knew a man, a Korean War vet. A big man. Beyond good with a rifle, knife or tomahawk.

He would always say that he would make the first move. We were just to watch. We wouldn’t know when to shoot. He would. By the time we figured it out it would be over.

The Time to Shoot had passed and the Time of Shooting had started.

He’s long dead now. The ferryman has his payment.

I wish I could ask him about the time to shoot. Maybe, just maybe I could learn something.

NYP:

Police holding a weapons amnesty were stunned after a man handed in Clint Eastwood’s MP40 machine gun he used in the film “Where Eagles Dare.”

Officers say the prop German sub-machine gun was dropped at a police station by an unnamed male who worked in the film industry.

He told cops the MP40 sub-machine gun was used by Eastwood in the movie while he was disguised as a Nazi.

It was handed in at the Bridgwater Police Station in Somerset.

In the UK, guns are highly regulated with handguns all but banned. Amnesties are regularly instigated by police wherein citizens can turn in illegal guns without facing penalties.

Richard Vise, evidential property and stores manager for the Bridgwater Police Station, said: “A man walked into the station claiming to work in the film industry.”

”He said the machine gun was used by Clint Eastwood in ‘Where Eagles Dare.’ He said it was a prop which we have since confirmed. It could be valuable.”

Vise added that the majority of guns will be destroyed.

I’m right here, others are here, but no, this idiot had to turn this in to the UK police to be destroyed.  Or played with by them.

Cue WiscoDave, who through his tears may say something like, “I’ve tried to live a good life. Been kind to animals, children and the elderly. This stuff never happens to me… sigh.”

Yea, I know.  I’m right there with you buddy.

As you know, gun confiscations were threatened by governor Mapp prior to hurricane Irma (he called it “seizures”).  Then he vacillated and equivocated and said that seizure doesn’t really mean seizure.  I’m sure he equivocated because of the negative attention he got from mainland U.S.

There are continuing reports of trouble on St. John and other locations throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Fox News calls it a looter’s paradise, and the Miami Herald also has a good report.  There are many, many more.  I have written the author of the Miami Herald article (Jim Wyss) to see if he knows anything about whether guns were actually confiscated prior to, during or after the hurricane.  I have not heard anything back.  I don’t expect to.

I also wrote the nice woman who authors the blog News of St. John and asked her if she had any personal knowledge of such confiscations.  Of course, she got back with me immediately.  Imagine that.  A blogger responded immediately, the MSM writer ignored me.

At any rate, Jenn of News of St. John told me that she had heard that something like that was going to happen but didn’t have any direct knowledge of it, and had no experience with it herself.  I asked her to inform me if she learned anything else.

But it occurred to me that whether guns were confiscated or the islanders simply didn’t have them because of an oppressive gun control scheme, the end result is the same.  They had no means of effecting self defense, and hence, the fear and terror through which the peaceable and law abiding men and women live.

This is something I intend to keep tracking as I have the time.  If any of my readers find reports on what actually occurred prior to, during or after the hurricane, please send them to me or link them in the comments.  I cannot imagine a better object lesson for why you need guns than this.

UPDATE:  Jim Wyss of the Miami-Herald replied to my note.

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thanks for your note. The short answer is I have no idea if firearms were collected before the storm, and it has been incredibly difficult to get a hold of anyone since I left the islands on Monday. However, Gov. Mapp is holding a press conference today in St. Thomas and I’m hoping he’ll address some of these concerns. As you are probably aware, there are a lots of rumors (hopefully erroneous) about armories being raided, etc.

Best of luck,

Jim Wyss

Latin America Correspondent Miami Herald Bogota, Colombia

Thanks to Jim for the reply.  I really appreciate it.  Unfortunately, I don’t put much stock in the press conference or anything communicated by the governor.  What interests me are reports from the ground by people who were there, or people who are still there.  I’m also interested in what happened with gun stores (are there any on St. John?) and the N.G. armory.  It may take a FOIA request to find out this last part, since any theft of the armory will have to be cataloged.

As always, I’m still supremely interested in whether guns were confiscated, and whether they actually expended effort going door to door demanding that peaceable people hand over their only means of self defense during a time when they (the government) should have been preparing for the storm.  I’m also interested in gun control laws on St. John.  Again, this is as good an object lesson as any imaginable.  If the reports are accurate, St. John was dystopia after the storm.  Now, let’s examine the role of weapons in the aftermath.

Prior:

Apocalyptic News From The U.S. Virgin Islands

Hurricane Irma Survivors Face Looting And Violence

U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Orders Confiscation Of Weapons In Advance Of Hurricane

Breitbart:

This means 12 states recognize the Second Amendment as your concealed carry permit. The states are Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

I’m not quite sure where Hawkins gets his information, but 30 states allow unpermitted open carry, my own state of North Carolina being one of them.  Fifteen states allow permitted open carry, and open carry is only prohibited in five states: California, Illinois, Florida, New York and South Carolina.

It should be embarrassing to South Carolinians that you’re on the same list as California and New York.

Post links and talk amongst yourselves.  Be back tomorrow hopefully.

Free Beacon:

There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.

Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.

The “Militarization of America” report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage.

“Regulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,” Open the Books said. “For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed ‘special agents,’ a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), ‘Special Office of Inspector General Agents’ are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.”

Open the Books found there are now over 200,000 non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, surpassing the 182,100 personnel who are actively serving in the U.S. Marines Corps.

The IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment for its 2,316 special agents. The tax collecting agency has billed taxpayers for pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, semi-automatic Smith & Wesson M&P15s, and Heckler & Koch H&K 416 rifles, which can be loaded with 30-round magazines.

The EPA spent $3.1 million on guns, ammo, and equipment, including drones, night vision, “camouflage and other deceptive equipment,” and body armor.

When asked about the spending, and EPA spokesman said the report “cherry picks information and falsely misrepresents the work of two administrations whose job is to protect public health.”

“Many purchases were mischaracterized or blown out of proportion in the report,” said spokesman Nick Conger. “EPA’s criminal enforcement program has not purchased unmanned aircraft, and the assertions that military-grade weapons are part of its work are false.”

“EPA’s criminal enforcement program investigates and prosecutes the most egregious violators of our nation’s environmental laws, and EPA criminal enforcement agents are law enforcement professionals who have undergone the same rigorous training as other federal agents,” Conger continued.

Other administration agencies that have purchased guns and ammo include the Small Business Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Education, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

I know a little something about NIST.  What on earth is the justification for allegedly needing to be armed?  NIST needs more PhDs, not armed bureaucrats.  Noteworthy in this is that the size of the Marine Corps is set by law (see 10 U.S. Code 5063), and Congress tightly controls how many active duty Marines we have.  The Marine Corps has been pressed to cut its size.

Not true of the bureaucratic executive in Washington and around the country.  Every law, every new regulation, every fine they levy, further empowers these armed bureaucrats with the Senate and House watching, while the courts further justify virtually every one of their actions, warrants or not.

And while the *.gov arms itself, the gun controlling whores in Washington seek to disarm the population at the whim of that very federal executive whom they expect to operate fully independently and in secret (h/t WoG)  This all exemplifies, by the way, just why we cannot disarm.

Finally, I’ll note that we seem to have come full circle, and I seem to recall from history that there has been something like this before.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures … He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

I’m just pondering the similarities.