SHTF. Shit Hits The Fan. The End of the World as we know it (EOTWAWKI). Whether by zombie apocalypse,plague, power grid collapse, or a magical stoppage of modern technology, some folks fear the end of our modern civilization. Many articles are available about what firearms you would need for SHTF. I figured I’d toss my hat into the ring and offer my perspective.
Firearms and ammo are expensive, so before we get started, let’s ask the question, how often does SHTF happen? Looking over the past few decades, we had the nuclear war in the 1980s, the Japanese buying everything after that, nuclear blasts from bombs stolen from the Ukraine, Y2K, terrorists spreading tularemia-- Oh wait. None of that stuff happened. The main thing we know about SHTF is that it has never happened here in the US. When first starting out, direct your prepping dollars to things that help your life before SHTF happens. What sort of things? It could be a wide variety of things. First, ask yourself how are your finances? Credit cards maxed? No savings? If that’s the case, pay off your credit cards and get a couple of months living expenses saved. Do this before you do anything else. Now your credit rating won’t matter after SHTF, but before SHTF, it certainly does. Peace of mind knowing you have savings for emergencies is wonderful. As you stop paying credit card interest rates, your savings go up, and you have more options. You can transition to other preparations for the end of the world. What other preparations? Well most people can stand to lose a few pounds, so you might spend money to lose weight. Buying more vegetables generally costs more than cheap frozen foods, so you’ll spend more money at the grocery store. Many diets are low in carbs, so no more cheap meals with pasta or homemade french fries - you eat expensive lean meats and veggies instead. Exercise can help a bit to lose weight, so you may want to join a gym -- more money. You can also join a dojo and learn some martial arts, which would certainly be useful in SHTF. Also, before SHTF happens, you may actually have a need for martial arts. It’s uncommon to get attacked, but certainly more common than SHTF. Going to a dojo will certainly help you lose weight, get fit, and help in an altercation. Disaster planning is actually a good thing to spend money on, within limits. Creating a bunker with a year’s food supply is extremely expensive, and not much use before SHTF. But having a week’s worth of food, water, medical supplies, survival radio, and so on can be extremely helpful, especially if your area is prone to the more extreme disasters like hurricanes. Disaster preparedness carries less expense than SHTF and can be done gradually. The food supplies can be used as they expire and new food rotated in, so that can turn out to be a net zero in cost. What else to spend your money on? How about public speaking and learning a foreign language? Such skills have obvious uses before SHTF, but how would that help surviving SHTF? Eventually, the hiding phase of SHTF will end and you’ll need to interact with other survivors in a non-violent fashion. An ability to speak well at the survivor enclave can help you push things in the direction you think is appropriate. And of course being able to interact with people that don’t speak English after SHTF is just as useful as before. A few caveats here. If you have lots of money, you can spend more money directed to SHTF if you want to. You aren’t so concerned about your money doing double duty. If you want a gun for other reasons - you want to take up hunting for food or you’re marrying into a skeet shooting family- then knock yourself out. Not going to take that right away from you. The top preparations for SHTF aren’t guns at all. It’s the realization that SHTF has never happened. Focus your efforts on the present and not terrible stories Spend your wealth wisely with faith and hope for the future.
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September 2019
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