Firearms

Following the firearms safety rules is a universal best practice for all gun owners. However, there are additional safety concerns for preppers. We’re planning on using guns in a very different environment that we use guns in right now.

One of the misconceptions about SHTF situations is that they’ll be similar to war. Surviving without infrastructure support, law enforcement, and other daily essentials is much different than wartime operations.

Preppers often crib their gun safety procedures and protocols from the military. But, in reality, not all the military safety standards work in a survival context.

So, gun safety for preppers is more of a holistic approach. Handling your weapon safely is important. But, being safe with your guns as a prepper requires more environmental consideration and planning.

We’re not going to cover the traditional safety rule stuff right now. Here’s what you should think about in regard to keeping yourself and your family safe with your guns in a survival situation.

Storage and Staging

In a survival situation, the environment where you store and stage your guns will be much less stable and controlled than it is now. You need to protect your guns to keep them serviceable for when you need them.

Some quick definitions before we move on:

• When you put your guns away for use at some later time, without concern for quick access, that’s storage.
• When you put your gun in a place where you can access it quickly, and you plan on retrieving that gun if you need to defend yourself, that’s staging.

Now, obviously, you want to protect your guns from unauthorized access. Keeping your guns away from children is a priority. But, you also want to take special precautions to protect your guns from burglars or raiders, and possibly even government intrusions.

However, you also want to protect your guns from the elements. If you’re in a survival situation, something really bad has probably happened. So, your storage location may need to keep your guns safe and functional until you can retrieve them.

That means your storage location needs to be pretty sturdy. It might need to withstand some pretty serious trauma.

Clearly, a solid gun safe is almost a slam dunk in this regard. However, it’s not the only option. If you’ve got the resources for an underground gun vault, awesome.

But, no matter how you store your guns, a big part of prepper gun safety is protecting your guns from whatever might happen.

In regards to staging: it’s best if you keep your weapon on you as much as possible, and we’ll talk about carriage in a moment. However, even if you have a gun or two that you keep on your body, staging some guns is still a good idea.

This gives your family options for getting a firearm if you’re not around. Or, you can use a staged gun if your carry weapon is unavailable for some reason.

Wherever your bug-in location is, your staged guns should be inaccessible to anyone who you don’t want to get them. If you might be stuck in a more populated area, it’s especially important to protect your staged guns from snoopers or looters.

There are quick access gun safes and options for securing staged guns. However, hiding the thing that secures your staged gun becomes much more important when you’re living in an unsecured environment. Building something like a tactical wall is also a good idea.

In short, the need for keeping your guns handy and the need for keeping them away from bad people goes way up in a survival scenario. So, you need to take this into account when selecting your storage and staging locations.

Carrying Firearms

As we mentioned earlier, carrying a gun is your best bet for ensuring that you’ve got one handy if you need it.

Carrying a rifle is a totally viable option in a survival scenario. It’s not like you’re going to alarm anybody at Starbucks. But, you don’t want to just carry your rifle around all willy nilly.

First, one of the things you should consider doing right now: pursuing some weapon retention training. One of the biggest concerns with carrying a weapon in the open is that people know you have it and can try to take it from you.

So, knowing how to retain a weapon in a hand-to-hand fight is some of the most valuable knowledge you can have.

Also, carry your rifle on a two-point sling. One-point and three-point slings are excellent for fast, tactical operations. But, a two-point sling is perfectly serviceable for shooting and running your gun. And, it provides a lot of utility for keeping your rifle on your body while you’re doing stuff.

With a two-point sling, you won’t need to unsling your rifle so often as you go about your daily tasks. That minimizes the opportunities for being caught without your rifle or being permanently separated from it.

Your rifle can be an insanely powerful defensive tool. But, carrying a sidearm is also a good idea. Even if you’re using a two point sling and keeping your rifle slung as much as possible, sometimes you just need to unsling your rifle.

Now, keeping your sidearm concealed is best, even in a survival scenario. A concealed gun provides a tactical advantage, because it gives you control over when you deploy that firearm. And, it keeps people from going after your gun right out of the gate.

Yes, concealing your firearm makes it more difficult to transition from your rifle to your pistol, if you need. But, you’re not going to be in a ton of tactical situations where switching weapons quickly is the priority.

Most of the time, you’re going to be gathering food, cleaning water, and doing daily survival things. An ambush or intruder scenario is much more likely than a pitched gunfight.

So, the most secure setup for weapons carriage is a slung rifle with a concealed sidearm. That way you have a primary defensive tool readily accessible, and you have an element of surprise for regaining control if you’re caught flat-footed.

Securing the Compound

Obviously, the fundamental rules of safe firearm handling apply to all firearms use.

But, prepper firearm security requires a bit more consideration. In a survival scenario, you’re most concerned with:

1. Keeping your guns safe from whatever caused the SHTF situation.
2. Keeping your firearms away from other people who may become more aggressive without ordinary societal restraints.
3. Ensuring that you’re still able to protect yourself with your guns whenever the need arises.

So, check your storage locations and consider how you plan to carry your weapons in the event that you’re forced to strike out on your own. And, make sure that you’ll actually have your guns when the time comes.

With the present economy, metropolitan areas are seeing an increase in crime and longer response times from law enforcement. More and more U.S. families are choosing to purchase firearms for protection.

But the basic training of a concealed weapons class and regular range practice do not prepare you for thoughtfully dealing with scenarios that would seem ripe for engaging a firearm. Below are 11 questions to discuss with your spouse and age-appropriate family members.

Consider it scenario-based training. It’s a way to help you establish home tactical standard operating procedures.  Discussions such as this may reveal better ways to handle the situation, without engaging the firearm.  It may also prevent an accidental firearm injury to a family member unexpectedly returning home late at night.

1. You arrive home after dark.  You are in the car.  The electric garage door is in the process of opening when you notice shadowy movement from a dark area of the exterior of the house, near the garage door opening.  What will you do?  (If you don’t have an electric garage door, substitute details for your normal arrival home.)
2. At the end of the day, your spouse normally returns home at a later time than you.  When you arrive you find the door to your house is ajar.  This is unexpected and unusual.  What will you do?
3. When returning home at the end of the day you sense something is not right.  The flatscreen TV is missing, with wires hanging from the wall.  The lamp on the table is laying on the floor.  What do you do?
4. Your spouse fell asleep on the couch while watching TV. You are in bed. It’s now 3AM, when you hear the sound of breaking glass in another part of the house. What do you do? What does spouse do?
5. Your spouse, having been traveling, is expected home tomorrow.  It’s 3AM and you hear a key and jiggling of the door knob.  What do you do?
6. It’s 3AM, your spouse hollers from the other room, “Are you awake? Did you hear that?”  What do you do?  And spouse?
7. It’s 3AM. Someone is at your front door, banging aggressively. What do you do? And Spouse?
8. It’s 3AM. You hear people arguing loudly, immediately outside your bedroom window, what will you do?  And spouse?
9. Two neighbors have had their houses broken into.  One such occurrence happened while family members were at home.
   • How might this affect your routine of leaving home at the beginning of each day?
   • How might this affect your routine of coming home at the end of the day?
   • How might this affect your routine before retiring to bed each night?
   • How will this affect where you store personal protection equipment?
10. From each room in the house, do you have
    • an alternative way out
    • an escape
    • a hiding area that provides concealment?
    • An area that provides safe cover?
11. Where will you and other family members meet up after evacuation?

For the past twelve years, I have been living and providing firearms training to civilians in the Las Vegas, NV area.

Las Vegas is unique in so many ways. One of those areas is the abundance of jobs for women. The only “war on women” in Las Vegas is from the criminal element! Unfortunately, some jobs that are offered to women in LV many times leave them exposed to unwelcome behavior. And because sex sells in Las Vegas, working, striving women are unduly targeted by creeps intent on aggressive advances.

So, Las Vegas is a leader in sexual assaults, stalking, Temporary Protective Order (TPO), divorce, child stealing, and vice related (drugs, prostitution) crimes. And because all of Nevada took an exceptional hit from the housing collapse, the building trades and associated businesses have been decimated. That meant more unemployment and more property crimes.

Because of this city’s vast female entertainment job core, many of my clients are single women or women singled out.

Now ladies, here are some of my personal observations. In almost every concealed weapons class I’ve conducted in the past 25 years, women have been the better shooters! I have coined a prophecy for men. “Men, you can’t successfully teach your girlfriend, fiancée or spouse to shoot, drive or play golf!” You know it’s true. They feel that they must be given direction by an instructor who is recognized as someone who has knowledge beyond yours.

I find these results to be grounded in a true interest to learn to protect themselves and their children. Some of these female clients have gone on to become serious shooting competitors, police officers, armed guards, executive protection agents (body guards) and badass Moms!  I’m so proud of my female clients. They are truly motivated and serious when it comes to firearms.

Some female spouses, however, are hard over about NO guns in the house. This reaction often seems to come from having young children present. Other ladies just don’t like guns. No explanation. They just don’t like guns.

So, one of my techniques that I have developed over the years is to give a homework assignment to the husband that consists of making a survival plan for the home in case of home invasion, burglary (while someone is in the home), or come home to open doors. The key to the assignment is to have all members of the family, sans small children, involved in creating the survival plan.

This task enlists the input of the wife or girlfriend, who first acknowledges a potential threat, then helps to come up with a good viable safety plan. This method of “buy in” is effective and again lends itself to my favorite subject of all times, FIREARMS TRAINING!

Because I am an old firearms trainer, a student of police involved shootings, an expert witness in the use of firearms and the father of three wonderful women, I believe that training with whatever tool you decide to use to protect yourself and those around you will have a direct correlation with your ultimate survival.

Just a few pointers for your consideration:

• Never carry a weapon (gun) that you have not personally shot and checked out.
• Never carry a new magazine w/o shooting through your gun first. This goes for all lifesaving equipment.
• Don’t search your own house during an invasion. If you can see to get around, the bad guy can also see you. Set an ambush and stay put!
• Give more attention to training with the gear you now have. Find its attributes.
• Develop your “warrior spirit”.
• Clean weapons for two distinct reasons; clean it- so no misfires due to residue. Inspect it- it may have broken w/o failing while you were shooting.

I sincerely hope this information adds to your endeavor to keep you and yours safer.

Although some may argue from my point-of-view firearms and preparedness absolutely go together.

From talking to many readers of this site and others there are people out there getting involved in prepping and have NEVER shot a firearm. They are uncomfortable with firearms and often do not know where to start. Every person and situation is different but here are a few thoughts:

Rules to handling guns –

When I work with people new to firearms – I emphasize the following safety rules over, and over, and over again:

1. Finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shot then it i impossible to pull the trigger before you are ready.
2. Never point the gun at anything you are not willing to destroy. If the gun is NEVER pointed at something you wish not to destroy then you will not shoot something you do not mean to.
3. There is no such thing as an unloaded gun. If you treat the gun like it is always loaded you will never think a loaded gun is unloaded.
4. Know your target and what is behind it. Lastly – you need to know your target and what is behind it to prevent a stray bullet form impacting anywhere you wish it not too.

Take a course –

An excellent method to becoming familiar with shooting is to take a course. Most any decent gun shop can point you in the direction of a local trainer. The course should be hands on with YOUR gun.

Start small –

Starting off with a small caliber or even a an air rifle is a great way to get used to shooting. Remember that even smaller caliber firearms can kill – so they must be treated with respect.

The Ruger 10/22 is an excellent long gun to start with.

Practice, practice, practice –

Once a firearm is acquired  – practice with it. Practice is the only way you will become proficient. What is proficient? Being able to safely engage a target with confidence and hit it.

Unless you’re fond of shooting out someone’s eye, regularly cleaning your shotgun is a must. Granted, not every speck of dirt, gunk, rust or grime may have the power to mess up your gun badly enough to blind someone, but three major dangers can quickly evolve into hazardous situations.

The Repercussions of Rust

Rust on gun’s exterior is a massive eyesore, but rust on the moving parts or inside the barrel can do more than just hurt the eyes. Rusty parts and buildup inside the barrel can hurt the foot, arm, pet, neighbor or anything else you inadvertently shoot when the buildup creates an unwanted obstacle for the bullet.

Attempting to fire a wholly rusted gun is akin to playing Russian Roulette with anything in your immediate area. It can also wear your gun parts down more quickly, making them undependable and prone to replacement.

Even if you go for bluing, passivation or micro-coatings of a rust-resistant material, rust can still attack any and all metal parts of your gun, from the trigger to the muzzle. In its simplest explanation, rust forms when iron meets certain elements, such as water and oxygen. Early stages of rust can be invisible, while later stages can morph into corrosion and full-blown disintegration.

Prevent rust from forming on your shotgun by wiping it clean after each use and adding a protective layer of gun oil or other sealant.

Cleaning rust off a shotgun can be a bit trickier, but you can typically have success with oil, fine steel wool, an old rag and a keen eye. Apply oil to the rusted area, rub the surface gently with the steel wool, wipe with the rag to inspect your progress, and repeat as necessary. Finish it off with a light coat of oil for prevention.

The Curse of Crumbling Parts

Cleaning time is the ideal time to inspect parts of your gun that may otherwise go unnoticed. This includes your gun’s collection of screws, bolts, levers, springs, pins and even smaller pieces like the oft-forgotten O-ring.

Missing, loose or broken hardware can result in malfunctions, with damaged or incorrectly placed O-rings often responsible for problems cycling shells.

Going for high-quality replacement parts specifically designed to fit your shotgun is a must. You can find a wide array of accessories and parts online and at standard gun part suppliers.

The Horrors of Gunk

Call it fouling, crud or good ole gunk, this residue left in the barrel after shooting can bring really bad tidings right along with it. Shotguns get the added bonus of gunk formed by shotgun powder mixed with plastic wad residue, and the gunk starts building up after a single shot and keeps on building from there.

Fouling can be responsible for killing your shotgun’s accuracy and pattern, can ruin the barrel and put your gun out of commission altogether. Poor accuracy and misfiring can again lead to those hurt arms, legs and neighbors.

Clean gunk out of the barrel by using a flexible brush you can slip into the barrel from breech to bore, dabbling the brush with a bit of commercial solvent such as Break-Free CLP.