In the news today.

I'm having trouble finding any good news. Maybe someone can shoot some my way.

We've got the Greens who want to declare one of our most prolific species as endangered. Yes, Koalas are doing their best Panda impersonation in some areas but (and I'm no lawyer) if you declare them endangered then aren't they protected everywhere,... like... in the places that you can't throw a rock without hitting one? Such legislation would lock up just about every acre of land with a gum tree on it but I suppose that's the point. I guess our kids will have to build their houses in the desert...

Having had the knife surgically removed from his back our former Prime Minister is talking sense regarding protectionism while our current Prime Minister pulls in the opposite direction. Her plan? Un-viable Australian companies should have their wares forced on other (formerly) viable Australian companies. Is she playing at some kind of patriotic angle knowing the harm she'd cause or is she just that stupid? Then again I shouldn't credit her with having the authority to write her own script. How naive. I'm just now slapping my own wrist.

Meanwhile, the Eurozone is in dire straits and despite the many predictions made about a U.S. default it may turn out that the death of the E.U. is the crisis that finally drags us down the tube. Greece has been teetering on the edge for a long time and there's now talk of them leaving the E.U. Whichever way you cut it these are not things that tend to happen when prosperity is in the air.

If you know anyone that lived through the Great Depression then you ought to have a chat with them. They, more than anyone else alive, understand that the best minds of the day armed with a thousand history books and unprecedented levels of technology still created a situation that resulted in mass poverty for millions of previously well off first world citizens. 

It's happening again,

                      so prepare like it's 1928.

A beacon of restraint.

Well, our quaint firearms laws once again vilify the victim and send a message to the criminal class, "we are indeed legally helpless against your thuggery". At least his sentence was suspended. What a world. We give this guy a battle rifle in Vietnam and tell him to kill commies for democracy. Now, we tell him he can't pick up a shotgun to defend his own land and livelihood. I now know the feeling of national shame, even if I'm a part of the minority in that regard.

On a happier note I picked up two rifles today after jumping through a half dozen authoritarian hoops. I'd heard stories about how some police officers go less by the letter of the law and more about "what they feel comfortable with" but I experienced it in full yesterday and it opened the floodgates of my anger toward our loss of freedom. Apparently four dynabolts through the base of a gunsafe into dense concrete does not constitute "securing against easy removal" to the officer in question. 

"It wiggles a fair bit at the top, doesn't it...", was the response. "Is there a reason you didn't bolt it to the wall?"

"Well...", says I. "The wall is made of crappy cinder block. If those bricks survived the dynabolts they certainly wouldn't survive a concerted effort to lever the safe away from the wall..."

"But I've never seen one wobble at the top like this..."

I read out loud from the piece of paper she'd just handed me regarding my responsibilities as a firearms owner.

"The receptacle must be bolted down or otherwise secured in such a fashion as to prevent easy removal."

"Yes", says she. "I'm not satisfied that this is the case here..."

I take a deep, calming breath. I wanted desperately to respond, "well why don't you go ahead and show me just how easy it is to remove?" At times like these you start weighing your desire to fight the man against practicality. The wise voice tells you that fighting the man at his own game is for mugs, especially when you live in a small town where the law enforcement officers aren't likely to forgive and forget.

"Tell you what", says I. "I'll bolt it to the wall if it makes you feel better..."

Perhaps sensing that I spared her an hour of argument and a call to her supervisor (on his day off) she shared in the spirit of diplomacy.

"In that case", she replied, "I'll fax the paperwork straight away."

Sick of climate change yet?

Though I was half joking when I said that it seemed Climate Change was responsible for everything terrible that was, is and will be, it turns out that every new study seems to prove that ridiculous assertion to be correct.

Climate change the cause of rising mental illness trends? Perhaps a more accurate link between the two would read "Scaremongering climate change nonsense proven to drive people bonkers." I mean really,... I like the environment as much as the next guy but if I hear about one more stupid study regarding this all intrusive phenomenon then I'm going to burn my hatchback and replace it with a Mack truck. Then, I'll invest all my money in Brazilian palm oil portfolios and top it all off by spending my weekends ring barking trees. 

This is not science anymore. It's hysteria, and the worst kind of hysteria because in spite of all the actual threats we face, the real ones that can manifest in the time it takes you to eat breakfast, people choose to pack their dacks over the idea that the world is getting warmer by (GASP) a tenth of a degree a year! Well folks, I'll call it right here. If we're still building strip malls and watching American Idol by the time that pitiful temperature increase actually matters then I'll eat my hat!

It's the oft forgotten fact that Democracy is never better represented than in a free market. If you're a climate change fanatic then by all means plant a hundred trees, buy a Prius and go about heating your home by rubbing your hands together really fast, but don't come hither with any Stalinist assertions that the rest of us are too stupid or greedy to make the "right" decision. When the minority repeatedly burdens the majority they're adding straws to the camel's back.

Did I mention the camel's name is "Restraint"?

In the news today.

I know you've been meaning to visit, Mr Obama, but it's all right... We understand that you should probably be back in The States DOING YOUR JOB!

In other news, it appears that climate change is responsible for... well... just about everything bad that has ever happened or will ever happen. 

Says Cane, "...previous work has shown that when people get warm and uncomfortable, they are more prone to fight,"

It's difficult to imagine the peaceful, Utopian world before the industrial revolution when temperatures never ranged above a balmy 24 degrees Celsius. Perhaps violent offenders can now claim that they were unduly influenced by the amount of clothing they were wearing when they committed their crimes. It truly seems that a "scientist" can try have their work banged up by a blindfolded chimp at a typewriter and as long as it contains the words "climate change" and "bad" then the cheques will keep rolling in.

Momentum.

When you're starting out as a prepper it's easy to get bogged down on survival sites and burn out from information overload. It's been my personal experience that if I spend too much time reading about prepping and not enough time practicing what I've read about then I tend to get down on myself. After all, more is achieved by a single executed action than a million dormant plans. With that in mind it's important to do things every day, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, to further your prepping agenda. 

Make lists. Learn to tie different kinds of knots. Practice making fire without matches. Start writing a survival journal (hard or soft copy). Plant seeds in pots, even if you have no intention of growing them past seedlings. Sharpen your kitchen knives. Practice tossing a gill net. Do some push ups or go for a run. Buy a chicken or two (the living kind). Learn to make flat-bread from scratch. Print out some maps and formulate escape strategies. Go to garage sales in search of dirt cheap gear. Take a self defence course. The list could go on and on. 

It's very easy to sit in front of a monitor and put a dollar sign on your survival future. "I'll need this, and this, and two of those..." Well unless you're a millionaire that's quite a pointless task (and one I'm often quite guilty of). Between the guy who spends an hour trawling through Ebay for stuff he can't afford and the guy who spends that same hour learning to scale and gut a fish, who do you think is more prepared at days end?

Don't get me wrong. There's plenty to learn from the interwebs and you should absolutely spend time researching prepper related material, but be keenly aware of when you've crossed that boundary between productiveness and pointlessness. Those unproductive hours on the net will not only rob you of your time but of your momentum. 

TEOTWAWKI doesn't take notice of how many hours you've spent at Amazon.com so get off the net and start getting your hands dirty!

The Nanny State

Here we are. Free men and women becoming less free by the day. The insidious Nanny State has inched one step closer to becoming a reality. However, before I go into rant mode I should specify that I don't smoke and never have. 

SO, ignorant masses of the world unite! We're supposed to believe that a single person in this country, nay, THE WORLD buys cigarettes because the packaging is just irresistibly awesome. Millions of tax-payer funded dollars go into conceiving and legislating this pointless garbage. Hundreds of thousands more go into the court battles to uphold it. We have truly become the butt of a sick joke. No pun intended.

Now, on a tangent, the recent spate of dog attacks are a matter I take very seriously but I was dumbfounded when I read a letter to the editor of the Examiner (Tasmania) that insisted all dog owners should require a license to retain their loyal pooch. Now, between using a chainsaw, working with (agricultural) chemicals, driving a car, owning a gun and working on a construction site, my wallet is stuffed with enough government licenses and permits, thank you very much. The sad fact is that there are plenty of workers in this country that would look at that list and think "if only MY list were that short." But a "dog owners" license? Scary, but yes, people actually have such a strong knee-jerk reaction toward "preventative legislation" that they will rally and lobby for tighter and tighter controls on anything and everything that could conceivably result in someone suffering a booboo. 

First hand, my course requirements to attain a "White Card" were eye opening for all the wrong reasons. See, you need this accreditation in order to enter a construction site. Not to WORK on a construction site mind you, just to walk in an empty the bins in the foreman's office after everyone's knocked off for the day. The materials for this two day course? Read: do not go swimming in the cement mixer. It was truly common sense redefined, and when this training requirement sprung into existence EVERYBODY in the construction industry had to undertake it. Guys who'd been banging up skyscrapers for forty years had to lose two days pay and sit there patiently as it was explained to them why you shouldn't drill through a wall without first turning off the power at the mains...

So what's the solution? Fight back! Take every over-regulated occupation, industry and hobby and form a "NO NANNY STATE ALLIANCE". They/we can rally against all those taxpayer funded anti smoking, anti drinking, anti careless driving, anti drug abusing, anti leaving your towel too close to the heater (I'm not kidding) advertisements that plead with people to stop being idiots (guess what, for that demographic idiocy is not something they dabble in, it's a way of life). 

We will never stop danger surfacing in this chaotic world of ours. Bad things happen, sometimes to good people, but the answer is not to make more rules and fund their enforcement by taxing people harder. Such a system creates timid, fearful citizens who take no responsibility for their destiny and rely on the government of the day to save them from the ups and downs of life. 

File that way of life under "In Communist Russia..."

SHTF Rifle

So this is just the funniest thing I've seen in ages. I mean, I pay for my bandwidth by the meg but I've still watched it every day since it was posted!

I, myself, have agonised far too much over what guns to buy and what order to buy them in. Should I wrap my entire life around trying to fulfil the requirements for a C class license? Should I hold off on buying a pistol until I can start silhouette shooting and fulfil the requirements for owning a .45 ACP?

The answer in each case is an emphatic "NO".

I humbly submit that your priorities should be:

1) A cheap 22LR rifle.

2) A reliable (hopefully cheap) pistol of calibre no higher than your significant other can handle.

3) A .223 bolt action rifle of mid to high range quality.

Here's my reasoning.

The cheap 22LR rifle will get you out on the range and shooting for very little outlay. Rifles with only iron sights can be had for as little as fifty bucks. The ammunition itself is very cheap and works out at roughly 5 to 7 cents a round. The sooner you get out to the local range the sooner you'll start meeting fellow firearms enthusiasts who are typically a wellspring of tips and pointers for new shooters. Shooters in Australia have their backs against the wall these days and as such tend to welcome newcomers into the fold quite eagerly. Don't concern yourself with appearing to be a "newbie". The fact is that you ARE a newbie and they'll know it. Turning up with an Arms International .338 Lapua Magnum (a very big, expensive gun) only to have difficulty figuring out where the bullets go will result in people laughing AT you, not WITH you. Don't be discouraged by the bevy of forum posts where new shooters talk about "going straight to the .308" or such nonsense. They're probably posting in between rounds of the newest Playstation war game. Talkers talk. Shooters shoot. Get shooting as fast as you can. The 22LR is the cheapest, easiest way to start. The other reason to get that lump of wood and steel in your hands ASAP is because if the SHTF then you'll want something to point at any potential looters in order to shoo them away. A looter isn't going to look down the barrel of a rifle and think "I'm pretty sure that's just a 22LR so I'll take the bullet and rob this person anyway". They're going to think "that's a freaking gun so I guess I'll go rob someone else for the time being". To me that's worth fifty bucks right there.

The pistol is your go to gun if ever something goes bump in the night. Remember, it's illegal to buy the gun for self defence purposes, but not to USE it for self defence if you HAVE to. When it comes to home invaders I'll take my chances with the legal system, not the criminal scumbag. So you buy your pistol for target shooting at the appropriate club. The requirements for getting your "H" class license vary from state to state but typically you have to becomes a pistol club member. You join the club and attend as regularly as able. You will still be limited to .38 calibre weapons unless you fill the aforementioned criteria for owning a larger calibre handgun. Still, as I mentioned before, bigger is not always better. Shot placement has been proven to be more important than the size or velocity of the bullet. In layman's terms, you're not going to stop someone you don't hit. Furthermore anyone capable of (legally) using the weapon should be taught to do so. Your teenage daughter might be persuaded to fire a revolver chambered in 44 magnum but afterwards she'll never want to hold a gun again. Everyone that can be legally armed in your household SHOULD be and standardising your armaments means everybody knows how to use everybody else's weapon. It means everyone will be using the same ammunition, the same holsters, the same magazines and the same accessories. Into the future it also means that the weapons can be stripped down for spare parts to keep their counterparts operational. Finally, the weapon doesn't need to be A grade accurate or made of advanced tritanium polymers. Most modern firearms when well maintained will last a long time. You're looking for rugged reliability here. If the enemy is so distant that accuracy is an issue then you should be using the next gun up. I.E.

The .223 bolt action rifle. This is a military round (equivalent of the 5.56 NATO) so it has a huge following and ammunition is cheap (for a centrefire rifle anyway). It's shootable by even the frailest of folk and it can be used for hunting pretty much any kind of animal a novice is likely to encounter. If the rifle is well made then this round can be accurate to quite a distance and is an excellent platform for turning rookie shooters into professionals. Sure, there's no shortage of gurus telling you that this cartridge or that cartridge out-performs the humble .223 but for anyone learning the arts of distance shooting then I don't think you can go far past this time tested round. In a SHTF situation for anyone living on a farm (or bugging out to the wilderness) this is an excellent choice for ranged defence or hunting. You could opt for the .308 Winchester round but once again it comes back to everybody in the family being able to use the weapon without flinching. I advise that this weapon would be a good one to spend some extra money on. This is because, at distance, quality counts. You don't want to be down at the range wondering if it's you or the gun that's the problem. 

So then, if you've gotten those three tools, you can look into that "300 WinMag for 1000 yards", but try to keep your family out of that FEMA deathcamp :)