It never fails. Everytime I read a blog on hyperinflation, economic collapse, gold and silver trading, or survival preparedness involving food and medicine, some moronic toad scralls a message boasting how his guns and lead is all he'll ever need. The implication, of course, is that when things get tough this armed grasshopper will just murder his way to food and any other necessity that he needs to survive!
Leaving aside the obvious anti-social and immoral nature of the plans of such a marauder, I thought I'd just like to examine such an extreme course vs. more conventional preparedness methods from a purely objective viewpoint.
Firstly, lets look at a hyperinflationary economic crisis. Studying examples like Yugoslavia, Argentina, and the Weimar Republic we get a pretty clear picture. In all three of these instances, sporadic lawlessness did occur in cities resulting in food riots, theft, armed robbery, truck and car hijackings, and increased assaults and murder. However, while rising disorder definitely impacted the lives of the average citizen, police and military were usually available for deployment to restore order with a few days to several weeks. Armed criminals were quite often arrested or shot. Neighborhood watches supplemented the law enforcement in the absence or delayed response of the authorities. Curfews tended to dampen down crime, and shoot-on-site anti-looting laws made things quite hot for the sneak thief.
In the country, small communities also kept eyes out for strangers and warned out the shadier types. Of course, instances of robbery and violent crimes did occur in the remote communities as well. However, lingering bands of outlaws were rare in rural environments due to the difficulty of concealment in the small town environment. Reports of thieves being shot and killed were not infrequently reported as well, discouraging stand-out criminals.
In both these cases armed criminals did prey on the populace, but by no means did they get away with their activities for long. Indeed, most were usually caught or shot on a fairly regular basis, cutting down the number of extended crime sprees.
However, it is the breakdown of society event or "Mad Max" scenario, that the Lead-Heads really begin to salivate like rabid dogs. They theorize that in the absence of law and order theirs guns and ammo will be king, as they meerily roam about the countryside robbing, raping, and pillaging to their black-hearted content. My response to this assertion finds its roots in the Christian Bible, "those that live by the sword, die by the sword". Now, I'm not necessarily implying that God will strike these miscreants down. No, I'm just observing that a life of violent crime preying on a populace that is sporadically armed as well, is just a really high-risk way to make a living!
Vietnam Vets tell us that the average infantyman carried 100 rounds of M16 ammo. The reason they didn't carry more is that most fire fights ended before the soldier could fire more than one hundred rounds. Either the enemy was killed or fled, or the American soldier was dead or in retreat. I see no reason that the mathematical logic of guerilla combat in South East Asia should not be applicable to roving bands of rogues in post-apocalyptic America. They'll also never know just who or what type of resistance is waiting for them around the next copse of trees. Add a lack of medical care and antibiotics for the wounded law breakers to the equation, and death rates even from flesh wounds will inevitably prune back their numbers severly!
I recommend that proper preparedness include food, water, medicine, survival gear, gold and silver, as well as self-defense guns and ammo. If the key to the whole exercise is indeed SURVIVAL, however, I just suggest that the guns and ammo portion of the plan should get as little combat use as possible.
Rick
