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)