We should all prepare for the United States to become more violent. We’ve seen political violence, but we’ve also seen violence brought on by mental illness. We’ve seen violence against specific ethnicities and violence against those who are wealthy or famous. Then there is criminal violence and gang violence.
Sadly, the United States has reached the point where you can be attacked for something as simple as a bumper sticker or yard sign. You might be attacked because of where you worship. Someone might even attack you physically for your online posts.
You need to be prepared.
Three Approaches
I’m going to outline three ways individuals can address the growing pandemic of violence and protect themselves. Consistent with the layered approach to prepping, you’ll find your best chance for survival is to adopt all three, but any of them is better than doing nothing.
The first way to address violence is to avoid it. I’m going to divide avoidance into two parts.
Don’t do Stupid Stuff
I’ve always said one of the best ways to avoid trouble is to not do stupid stuff in stupid places with stupid people. That could mean don’t drink in a bar and drive home after last call, or don’t hang out on street corners late at night. (You can avoid a great deal of stupid trouble by being home at a reasonable hour.) Depending on where you live, it might mean don’t walk home alone after dark or calling an Uber instead of taking the subway. It could mean avoiding a trip to Israel when it is being attacked by missiles and rockets or Cancun when the cartels are acting up.
In this context, I am going to expand “not doing stupid stuff” to include not doing stuff to draw attention to yourself or ask for trouble. For example, don’t drive by a leftist protest with big Trump flags waving from the back of your truck. Have a pseudonym on Twitter and keep your political posts anonymous. Don’t get into political arguments; you can’t convince anyone anymore.
Don’t go to Stupid Places
Stupid places to avoid include high-crime areas and neighborhoods known to be dangerous, places where protests are scheduled to be held, or where there has been civil unrest or riots. It can also mean moving if you live in a city or neighborhood where no one shares your political viewpoint because we are reaching a point where politics can get your tires slashed, your home graffitied, your kids bullied, or your windows shot out.
Where you live matters. I’ve lived in two of this nation’s most populous cities, and I’ve visited 23 of the country’s 25 largest cities, but that was in the past. Not only won’t I live there now, I won’t visit. I do my best to avoid cities with a population of more than 100,000. When I lived in cities, my home was burglarized, my car broken into, and a gun stolen from my place of work. I’ve had roommates who were mugged and neighbors who were robbed, and that was before this latest spate of violence. My choice to live in the middle of nowhere helps me minimize my exposure to this kind of violence.
I know many will disagree with this, but I also avoid crowds, and I either carry in or avoid so-called “gun-free” zones. As a result, I no longer go to concerts, professional sporting events or the state fair.
You could say that these choices restrict my life and limit what I can do, but they are my intentional choices and I am fine making that tradeoff. I choose to avoid places where there is a higher likelihood of political violence, criminal gangs, protests, terrorist attacks, and random violence. This isn’t a new decision on my part, but the reasons for it are more important than ever.
Fight Back
If you can’t avoid violence, then you can fight back. I made the decision to fight back long ago. Back then, I was younger, stronger, cockier, and had significant martial arts training. Today, I am older, slower, weaker, and I have no desire to get into a knock-down drag-out fight with anyone. If someone attacks me and I cannot defuse the situation or disengage, I’m going to create some distance and draw my gun. In some cases, drawing my firearm may be enough to stop the fight, but if not, that’s why I have concealed carry insurance.
The ability to fight back is why I carry constantly, why I have a truck gun, and the reason there is a shotgun by my bed. It’s also the reason I train regularly and continue to improve and upgrade my weapons. Because you never know when trouble will start.
To fight back, you have to be ready and willing to meet violence with equal or preferably greater force. Not everyone is mentally prepared to do so. If you can’t bring yourself to shoot someone, don’t carry a gun. Carry a rosary instead, because you’ll need a higher power to protect you.
Becoming a Harder Target
The last method on my list of how to prepare for violence is to discourage it by making yourself a hard target. This is like avoidance because it makes it harder for others to attack you. It is also similar to fighting back because it makes your attackers—unless they are a mob or have significant numbers—feel less safe or worry that they might be biting off more than they can chew. It’s almost like declaring in advance that you will fight back and hoping the villains in this story will take their mayhem elsewhere or pick a softer target.
You can accomplish this in many ways. Situational awareness is a good first step, but having more than one person—both of whom appear to be alert and ready—is an even better one. While we can’t get bodyguards, most of us have friends. Two or three people are a harder target than a lone individual.
The time may yet come when you need to form a convoy of three vehicles and nine or ten armed people just to go to Walmart. Until then, there’s nothing wrong in two buddies or two couples going into the city together, two women leaving work together, or asking the security guard to walk you to your car at night.
Hardening your home includes many of the common steps like getting better locks, an alarm, a dog, and video surveillance. Just keep in mind that these do not prevent violence; they only slow down criminals or give you a chance to arm yourself and fight back. A bullet hit then-candidate Donald Trump in his ear despite Secret Service protection. That should be proof that no amount of professional security can keep you safe.
The Worst is Yet to Come
We live in a world in which there are still police officers, even if it might take them a while to show up. Society does put deterrents in place to prevent violence, even though many big-city prosecutors let criminals back on the street without bail or let them plead down their charges. What we have is better than nothing, and in a collapse scenario in which the rule of law no longer exists, that’s what you will have: nothing; no protection. You’ll have to make your own rules when you go up against bad guys no longer restrained by society.
That’s when you’ll need all three of the above tactics, and you better not scrimp on number two. If you are not ready, willing, and able to defend yourself in a world without rule of law, then you better be well hidden or well protected by people who are.
