Gun Shops, Grocers, Other Retailers Key to Disaster Survival

When the stinkiest FEMA kind of stuff hits the fan, anyone who has a business dealing in key resources will find their valuable inventories and property at risk of sack and pillage by looters, or outright theft by government. There is a way to protect such assets while at the same time insuring better chances of survival of families.

How do I protect my business in a disaster?

by H. Michael Sweeney

copyright © 2013, all rights reserved. Permission to repost hereby granted provided entire post with all links in tact, including this paragraph, are included.

What can gun shop owners do to protect against gun consfication?

The Threat to Business Property is significant in a disaster…

Korean shop owners (rooftop) defend shops during LA Riots to augment or supplant Law Enforcement (click for riot details)

In the prior part of this series we reviewed a wide variety of disaster situations that make emergency preparedness an ultra-important concern for families, reasons far more serious and far reaching than mere quakes, floods, or tornadoes. In the second part, we proposed a disaster preparedness plan much more comprehensive and truly useful than that advised by FEMA/DHS, albeit one government will never approve. Why? Because it’s closer to their own preparations and mimics their own capabilities, and removes you from dependence upon them. That means they cannot control you by being your only source for key survival items.

But the previous material addressed family needs from their perspective. And, there were certain aspects of such a plan which would prove difficult for many families without the help of an outside party. Then we have businesses to consider, who have their own unique concerns as to what happens in dire emergencies. Business owners or responsible managers of many kinds of retail and other business with select kinds of inventories or resources, should be every bit as concerned as a family, and looking for a disaster preparedness plan which specifically protects their valuable business assets, both real property and inventories.

There are several key reasons to consider this a critical concern: One, many disasters are deemed Acts of God and are therefore not included under insurance provisions unless, perhaps, paying extra premiums for specific policy riders such as a flood or tornado insurance. No insurance policy provides protection against acts of war, which includes revolution, military coups and similar political unrest, often even excluding protection against riot losses — regardless of the cause of the riot.

And beyond the worry of insurance protection, FEMA’s plan for your assets in an emergency will very likely include confiscation and take over of your property ‘for the good of the community.’ Similar concerns exist in any Martial Law situation. So if you have such a business, you should worry and wonder if there is not some way you can protect your assets from such total or near-total loss or take over. Never fear, the Professional Paranoid is here to help…

What will happen to gun shops in a FEMA declared emergency?

Partnering with Family Collectives

The prior posts in this series dealt with idea of forming multi-family unit collectives for improved emergency preparedness at the family level, as well as why such preparedness plans and kits should go well beyond minimal FEMA advice and prepare for long-term disasters, not just three day fire/quake/flood protection. This involved numerous considerations and plans in terms of organization and supplies, individual responsibilities and more. But for many such collectives as might be established, some items become difficult to come by or store due to cost or special attributes.

The bottom line is, in a serious emergency situation, looting and general criminal activity become a serious threat to any owner of a business handling inventories of critical resources which are also valuable to long-term disaster kits. Often just as important, many such inventories represent a storage problem for long-term home survival kits. Gun shops especially, and even food or fuel can be difficult to store in quantity suitable for a long-lived disaster. Many more items could be added to such a list, as a given collective of families will have their own unique set of limitations and issues to resolve. As result, even a motorcycle shop or car dealership, auto parts store, tire shop, or tool shop, may find themselves in the same position as a gun shop. In some communities, for example, boats will be a key product in need of protection and in demand as an emergency item. So there are many kinds of businesses who can take advantage of the ideas offered here.

My goal in this series of posts was to attempt to find a solution addressing both these concerns by partnering family collectives with such owners. And, the word owners could in some cases mean ‘managers,’ where owners are corporations or persons who do not themselves manage and/or live near enough to ‘take charge’ for the purpose. Such partnerships are simple: the owner joins or heads a family collective, either one they formed on their own (perhaps made up of employee families), or by joining with someone who approaches them with an acceptable offer.

In some cases, such as gun shop owners or owners of vey large facilities (e.g., super market,), they may wish to partner with multiple collectives. This is because in the event of worst-case long-term disaster scenarios, there may be a need for significant armed resistance against third parties, even to include unconstitutional seizure by Federal forces. By unconstitutional, I mean in the event of an attempt to overthrow the government by the military, or armed insurrection to restore the Republic against some other form of tyranny.  We will know that horse when it rides into town; mass arrests or attempts to seize weapons door-to-door will be its hallmarks.

We all remember the LA Riots? Even though the National Guard was deployed, it was up to citizens to protect their own property. Neither soldier nor Police and Fire were of much help. Korean family-owned businesses gave us the model we need to consider following; they armed themselves to the teeth and took to the roofs of their stores and residences and fended off looters. Family units can band together in like fashion, and better yet if also joining with a one or more business owners in some mutually beneficial arrangement.

Gun shop owners, in particular, have a serious need. They become the highest-value target in town, and therefore, need many able-bodied people to bear arms — in sufficient number to become a significant deterrent to assault. This works well for the families involved, as well, providing them with low or no-cost access to weapons needed to protect their families and homes. The trick is to find ways to do it which do not amount to simply giving away inventory. Not a problem, given that provisional contractual agreements can be drawn up in advance.

How can we prevent government confiscation of our business assets in a declared emergency?

Making it work for all concerned

I propose that such partnerships might be best approached with a contractual agreement for mutual protection. The agreement should provision for both the possibility of taking possession of weapons and munitions immediately and only after a serious event transpires. It might provide for trade of ownership of weapons deployed once the crises is over for a minimum guarantee of service to the shop owner providing protection of the business property.  Weapons can be deemed as ‘rented’ during the disaster with options to purchase afterwards, perhaps with rental applying to the price, or may be considered as ‘payment’ for protection helps rendered, or some mix, thereof. Such items, pre any event, need not be fully deployed to family possession, allowing for normal inventory turnover so that older inventory is sold off and replaced with new, and families don’t need to worry about storage.

Take a gun shop: Only if the family collective partner wishes to take possession (ownership) of weapons for storage at home up front (the suggested kit calls for one pistol minimum), need any money change hands. Once a serious emergency transpires, the families can be issued the additional firearms from shop inventory, and sign for them. They must keep them safe, and must use them on call or by schedule in protection of the store property. It would only take one person from each family unit at a time, given the quantity of family partnerships participating — to adequately defend the store. They ‘pay for what they use’ in the form of a rental/purchase option to be addressed after the emergency ends, perhaps involving payment terms (perhaps involving very small payments pre disaster). There are any number of creative solutions to make it mutually viable.

I am no lawyer, but in a civil emergency, many laws fall by the wayside as a matter of practicality. A gun permit process is not something you worry about when the government is shut down and lives are at stake. However, a wise shop owner might want to check with a lawyer and get some advice and deal with such concerns up front. There is no reason a single individual from each family collective could not undergo a permit process as part of the contingency preparation. What they do with the weapons in an emergency should at that point no longer matter to the shop owner, with reasonable agreements to avoid illegal uses in place. One might also want to address how to safely store key records in order to insure lists of gun holders are not compromised and lead to confiscations, anyway.

Other kinds of businesses? Consumables such as food from a grocery store which have dates of expiration would be lost, anyway, so any financial arrangement to distribute storables in an emergency with any level of appropriate financial reimbursement or property protection services of participants should, IMO, be eagerly embraced. For most shop owners, it converts a disaster where they face the potential loss of all inventory and significant property damage into a situation that more closely approximates the ultimate ‘sale’ where all inventory goes out the door to happy customers, AND the property is protected.

From the family side, a collective should easily be able to field 6-10 adults to defend as many different business sites simultaneously, while still retaining sufficient adults to protect the home base camp. Therefore, they have access to 6-10 different key survival items they might not otherwise be able to afford or store long term. It is a win-win situation for everyone but looters and would-be confiscators.

Upon event occurrence, family members ‘report for duty’ and are issued weapons, sending the appropriate portion back to the family for home defense and protection from confiscation by FEMA/Military.  I propose an organized convoy is the only safe way, as otherwise, armed interlopers might dare to ambush a lone person or single vehicle. I further suggest that, if not already the case by natural instinct, a strict military-like organization and rules for command and engagement be established. Such a model should ideally trickle down to the family units as well, if a long-term event is involved.

Therefore, prior military service, especially in combat or involving combat training, is to be highly prized in any collective or partnership. Where such experience is found in a retired Officer (as opposed to an enlisted rank), so much the better. If there is additionally someone with prior intelligence or forward observer experience, or demolitions or military engineering background, better still. Likewise for any medical corps. or other medical background.

In closing, the business itself should have on hand sufficient stores of foods and other resources (as opined in the prior post) to sustain several months of a ‘stand off’ in defensive posture. A key factor will be the ability to communicate with partnering family units that they may be called in to provide force rotation, deliver emergency supplies, or outright tactical relief against assaulting forces. The prior posts cover communications alternatives in a total outage of all utilities.

How can I protect my business as well as my family in a disaster?

Related articles

• FEMA Preparing Military Police For Gun Confiscations and Martial Law (eutimes.net)
• The Use of Food As a Weapon Against American Citizens (republicbroadcasting.org)

Logical Emergency Response Plan Government Won’t Approve

The government has for some time now been turning up our ‘threat perceptions’ regarding emergency preparedness… taking us to levels of ‘concern’ not seen since the height of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crises. As discussed in the prior post of this series, we need to figure out what they are NOT telling us, and prepare for THAT, too.

Why should I have an emergency plan?

by H. Michael Sweeney

copyright © 2013, all rights reserved. Permission to repost hereby granted provided entire post with all links in tact, including this paragraph, are included.

What can I do to prepare for any emergency?

What you will learn reading this post:

• That there are kinds of disasters government is not talking about which you should also prepare for;
• That some disasters are best addressed by preparations based on collectives of households instead of reliance only upon one’s own household;
• That the nature of the emergency dictates how long the period of time of distress, which dictates what the emergency preparedness plan should look like;
• That some considerations go well beyond government’s advice, and in fact would not likely be approved by FEMA, DHS, or the Miltary… because they want you dependent upon their help and mercy as a means of political control.

What should my emergency preparedness plan look like?

Government is EMPHATICALLY urging us to prepare

In the first part of this series, we talked about WHY you need an emergency preparedness plan and kit which goes beyond FEMA/DHS recommendations. Regardless of their true reasons for such urgent and dramatic advice — by all means, do what they tell you: establish an emergency plan centered upon a home emergency supplies kit adequate for the kinds of emergencies they imply are of most concern (fire, quake, flood). But do it smarter than that, and cover all the bases, including the far more serious and dangerous possibilities reviewed in the prior post. Here is how best to do that without taking on the whole burden of cost and logistical overhead, yourself. But I warn you, the government will not approve, so part of your plan should include an attempt at quiet preparation and concealment.

What should my family do in a disaster? 

Multi-layered Partnerships

Don’t rely on just my advice, see what officials  have to say say (click for Morrow County Health)

A single family household, no matter how well prepared, cannot fare as well as several family units banded together. So much the better when those units are either actual neighbors, or relatives who live not too far away (say, an hour’s walk or less). So if you do not have relatives close enough to meet the need, you should immediately be sounding out the viewpoints of neighbors on this topic (a simple way is to suggest they read this post series, and ask what they think) and cultivating relationships with those of like thinking.

Herein, a ‘family unit’ may therefore consist of any combination of actual blood-related families joining with single neighbors or childless couples who are not related, or may be made up entirely of unrelated persons with no core family, as such. A unit should ideally be in the range of three-five adults, but in an emergency, teens are considered adults. So where most units are single persons or couples, you may want more participating units.

Such a collective of family units, no matter how well each unit is prepared individually, can indeed far better survive a serious matter by their alliance. It makes it possible to spread the need for more costly specialized emergency resources over a broader group; some family units can be designated as special resource parties with everyone sharing the financial burdon.  This makes a superior readiness more affordable as well as eliminating storage restrictions which might exist, such as faced by a given family unit in the group living in an apartment.

In the next Part of this series, we will also see that an ideal partner might be deemed a special resource party because they own a gas station, grocery store, gun shop, etc.  Many such businesses, in fact, have some special strategic opportunities to consider, which will be the focus of Part III — but you get what I’m hinting at.

How do I prepare an emergency survival kit?

Key Decision Point Factors

Some circumstances alter both individual and collective needs dramatically and will need to be accommodated with detailed planning. The following topics should be fully explored early in organizing the collective, because they may dictate a need to add yet another family unit into the mix, or help define who is a special resource party and what that will mean for all concerned in a disaster event:

Talk about disaster considerations in terms of resource needs and response plans…

a)    Categories of disaster events to be considered (i.e., individual events such as fire, plane crash, etc., area-wide events such as flood or terrorism, regional or national events such as Martial Law or pandemic event);

b)   Level of availability of, or threats posed by damage to critical services supply lines; water, power, gas, telecommunications;

c)    Types of destruction of home and property (i.e., fire, earthquake, flood, assault);

d)   Levels of community-wide destruction and resulting third-party threats to home/property/resources;

e)    Transportation shut down or impedance to access to home/property/resources, or each other by third-parties;

f)     Impact of communications shut down vs. alternative solutions for the collective;

g)    Disparate location of individuals (i.e., at work, home, in transit, shopping, etc.) as might impact on reaction and hooking up post event;

h)   Estimation of self sufficiency of a given family unit before connecting with the collective;

i)     Estimation of time before outside helps become available, as will vary according to the above considerations.

j)     Fully review FEMA emergency guidelines and their pitiful performance in actual disasters such as Katrina, as well as the shameful role of military and police. In Katrina, they came for the guns and gunned down blacks to keep them in their own area. In Hurricane Andrew, the National Guard deployed a psychological warfare unit who set up detention camp-like relief centers and set up telephones which were 100% monitored by the Defense Department, and CIA, etc. You need to know what frightening provisions the government has made in preparation for total control of your lives ‘in an emergency.’

Such factors are most simply addressed by establishing multi-level options for individual family unit’s responsibilities to the collective, as well as event response. Each individual’s plan/options should deal with each such contingency, and consider where the individual might be at any given time (i.e., at work). Resources should be redundantly distributed over as broad a range of storage points as may be practical — a key reason for multiple family units. Examples of determinations:

a)    A family without good storage capabilities may need to focus on an ability to relocate or hookup with one who does;

b)   A family without good financial clout may need to focus on an ability to provide special skills or manpower, or deal with relatively low cost special resources such as communications or transportation;

c)    A family with inherent special resources already in place (e.g., owns a gun shop) will likely get a free ride, financially speaking;

d)   A family with many adult males will likely be the best collective leader, though clearly, other factors also come into play. Such determinations may vary according to event type being addressed, so a different family unit might be deemed a better leader or resource for one type of event than determined for another event. Military experience, for example, would be of great value for long-term, regional, or political upheaval events, but less important in a short or localized events.

Where can I get advice on emergency preparedness?

Term of Survival without helps dictates needs…

A key factor in planning is knowing what constitutes a minimum level of stored resources (emergency preparedness kit) per household for each event type, as well as kit content details. Again, distribution of resources will likely be required, and there should be some level of redundancy to accommodate the total loss of a given family unit’s houshold kit. More: because FEMA’s draconian powers extend to cover broad powers of confiscation, and by their wish is to control ALL MANNER resources, they deem HOARDING to be a punishable crime with significant penalties to include arrest.

Hoarding generally appears to be defined as no more than a week’s supply, but some things are even more tightly controlled, such as gasoline storage. So plan on hiding long-term reserves, and likely, on protecting your weapon’s and munitions in similar manner as well; gun confiscation by military is highly likely in a long-term event.Below find a minimum suggest level of supplies and their dispersal. Naturally, your own thoughts may yield improvements based on your own skills, location or environment (e.g., lakeside = boat), and availability of special items (e.g., scuba gear):

A)   Localized and single unit events will likely require no more than 1-3 Days of self sufficiency: Food, water (1 Gallon per day per person*), blankets, three changes of clothes each for normal and extreme weather conditions, three sets of rechargeable batteries for all devices, portable lighting, one flashlight per person, multiband radio, propane stove and 3 propane refills, sleeping bags, rainslicks, first aid kit, bagged clothing, and about $250 cash. Matches, newspaper bundles for kindling or insulation.  Local storage should be sufficient even in an apartment situation. Each person can keep a ‘go bag’ in their room, or at least a flashlight, if using centralized bag location, only. Regardless, the bathroom or other storage point for prescriptions must be raided along the way*.

* Each of the levels below can impact prescription and water issues negatively. It becomes increasingly difficult to store large quantities of water, and thus some form of water reclamation or source should be considered, as indicated. Prescriptions can run out in mid event and would be near impossible to refill, and it is difficult to obtain a long term supply, and even if possible, long term storage of many prescriptions may be a bad idea as drugs degrade with time and sometimes even become dangerous through chemical changes wrought by oxidation. Since some prescriptions can be dangerous if forced to stop cold-turkey, you should consider the side effects and warnings on each prescription to see if weaning off gradually might be wiser. Fortunately, Diabetic and other select medical problems rely upon supplies and treatments which can be acquired and stored for long term needs. A final comment: each person with a significant medical need should keep on their person a card citing such concerns, medications, etc., in case they become incapacitated and found by third parties. The card should include information on any alternate location the collective is using as the emergency ‘address’ if different than that on identification, as well as names of key persons to be sought out, which should likely include more than direct family.

B)    Wide area events may require 4-14 Days self sufficiency: Add one pistol per household and box ammo, and walkie talkies locally retained by each household. Globally augment food and water appropriately, and add a store of gasoline, axe or chainsaw, shovel, generator, rope, tent(s), hammer, propane torch, handsaw, nails, screws/eyehooks, canvas. Sewing kit, 1 or two GPS devices, hand-held multi-band radio scanner, water reclamation kit (and supply of filters), road flares, pepper spray, motion alarms, binoculars, $1,500 cash.  2 additional boxes ammo per household. Secure storage facilities are a must, especially for weapons and fuels, with no exterior access to unauthorized parties. One person must jump through gun registration hoops to acquire the gun, unless given them as a gift.

C)   Regional or national events could easily require 3-12 Weeks sufficiency: Globally augment Food, water, consider augmenting a base station home with defensive modifications*. Note that GPS accuracy may be downgraded by government action from 50’ to several thousand feet. Add 1 rifle w scope per family unit, 1 pistol per adult globally, 1 or more night vision device for guard duty/firefights, short wave two-way radio, surgical kit, hiking/fishing/camping gear, flare gun, wheelbarrow or cart, 1-3 pairs binoculars, $5,000 cash. 3-5 boxes ammo per weapon. It may be advisable to bury some items or provide external hard and secure storage site(s)*. No additional gun registration applications by secondary parties should normally be needed, especially if the primary purchaser applys for a Dealer’s permit, which can additionally allow purchase of fully automatic weapons.

D)    Longer Term events such as revolution or Martial Law, invasion – Base Station only: 1-2 Shotguns, 1 or 2 targeting lasers for tactical pistol use, 1rifle per adult w or w/o scope, 1 crossbow and sword per household, Seed bank, military survival/combat protective gear, welder, expanded took kit, block/tackle, smoke grenades, flash bangs, salination system if near seawater, still, bear traps (for perimeter defense).  25 boxes ammo per weapon. 3 dozen bolts. Hardware nuts/bolts kit.  Bolts can also be used to make spears. Burried and external storage sites much more important, to include off site and well hidden locations. Here is where you want to have dosimeters, Geiger Counter, and Potassium Iodide tablets in case of radiation concerns.

E)    Regarding Vehicle kits, all levels: spare ignition cables and parts, full set of spare fuses, serviceable spare and jack, snow chains, tools, 6 flares, 1 gallon water, blankets, first aid, 1 days food per person in family unit, 1 box ammo per type of weapon (pistol, rifle, shotgun), 6 bolts. Pepper spray, sand bag, matches, newspaper. First aid kit. External of vehicle, spare set of tires, anti-freeze, case of oil, two cans each of brake, power steering, transmission fluid, service manual for vehicle. Car alarm advised.

*In my book set, Fatal Rebirth, specific advice given on how to reinforce a home or other structure, conceal critical items, and other tactical considerations, including home-made weapons. You might want to read some books which specialize in such topics for an even better insight. Also included is tactical advice for possible conflict scenarios useful to militia or other armed defenders of the Constitution. A free ebook copy of Volume I is available by request to pppbooks at Comcast dot net. Learn more at proparanoidpress.com.

What happens if government does not respond quickly enough in a disaster?

Summary

Some people are better prepared than others…

These considerations, with a properly organized dispersal of resources among cooperative family units, along with a good understanding of responsibilities and event responses according to event type… assure a far better defense posture against the unknown than FEMA or anyone else in government would seem to wish, even to the point of their being the actual problem against which you must defend.

If guns are to be acquired in quantity, it is imperative that all adults (including teens) take firearms safety/operation and care classes for the specific weapons. Target practice and practice breaking down and cleaning, reloading, and dealing with jams are just as important. Self defense courses in martial arts are also advised: if a long-term event comes along, all manner of problems will originate from third parties seeking to take valuable resources from you by force. Be prepared to fight with skill, and thereby hopefully deter violence, or be prepared to die.

In Part III, we look at how owners of gun shops, grocery stores, gas stations, and other key resource businesses can be incorporated to both the benefit of the collective, and to assure the owner that their resources will have the best possible chance of survival without sack and pillage by looters, and possibly even withstand government seizure. It also better explains what is meant by the last point about who the enemy might actually end up being:  Gun Shops, Grocers, and Other Retailers Key to Survival in Major Disaster

What can I expect when a disaster happens?

Related articles

• Emergency Preparedness Guide | Business Disaster Planning (thehartford.com)
• House bill calls for emergency preparedness for schools (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• Emergency Preparedness Month (foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com)
• Military Police Leak FEMA Gun Confiscation Plan (wemustknow.wordpress.com)
• Six Steps For Creating A Workplace Emergency Response Plan (safetysourceontario.com)