Guns and Guts

A New Year Brings New Priorities

January 4th, 2009

The holiday season is now over, and with its passing a new year has begun. My two week vacation is coming to an end, and work is waiting for me in the morning. This new year brings with it many uncertainties that have been consciously ignored for the last couple of months. The economy is in the dumper, employment is not guaranteed, and we have a likely foe to freedom preparing to take over the governing of our country.

We have settled into our new role as parents, and that has changed the reality of my priorities as the head of my household. I have a wife and baby to support beyond just supporting myself. Thankfully, the wife and I have good jobs at the moment. Our companies look to be stable, and hopefully nothing will change on that front. Preparations need to be made for a change in this department in the uncertain times however. My family must be protected in the event of prolonged unemployment.

We are fortunate to be able to survive on either of our incomes. Things would be tight, but doable. Up until this point I looked at my 401k as a backup plan. It still is, only its backup potential has been lessened significantly with the market downturn. We could have survived solely on it for a year or more before, and as of now we are looking at six months or so.

While many have been forecasting a depression like the one the country experienced during the 30s or worse, I don’t see it happening. My feelings are that we are in the midst of a deep recession and will come out of it in the second half of this year. Not being an economic guru makes my elementary forecasts nearly worthless. Therefore my plan for this year is to live frugally, and stock away as much cash as possible.

We don’t have any car payments, or massive amounts of debt, so socking away money won’t be to difficult. At least it shouldn’t be. Our biggest problem is frivolous spending. Between going out to eat, and randomly buying crap, we easily could put away $500 a month if not more.

One aspect of becoming more secure financially involves smart shopping for groceries. We have used the grocery game off and on for a few years now. This has multiple advantages really. First, you get groceries as cheaply as possible. Second, you end up stockpiling quite a bit of food. You can easily eat off of it for weeks or longer if need be.

We have enough guns for now, and if anything is banned, we have what we need for the future. There are of course dozens of firearms that would be great additions to my collection, but none will likely be added this year. A few more “assault rifles” would be very welcome, but they will likely have to wait. If there is a ban, our current lineup will be sufficient. Finishing out my extra AR will be the only probable gun purchase this year.

Ammo is another story. Part of my preparations for familial survival will include finally setting up my reloading bench, and creating loads of cheap ammo for us to practice with. There is enough ammo for each gun now to make it useful in a TEOTWAWKI event, but we all need to practice and become proficient with all of our family arms.

One expense we have decided to add this year will be getting our concealed carry licenses. With the withering economy crime is on the rise. There has been an uptick in carjackings and muggings, and several women have been followed home and robbed in our area. Security is another huge priority that will be addressed in this new year.

Our home has iron grates on the operable windows in the house. The front door has an iron security door. The gates to the backyard are locked as well. We need to add an alarm system, and some strategically placed security lighting.

If possible, I would like to find some affordable cameras that can be monitored remotely. This would be useful for monitoring the front door and maybe a couple of other key locations. It would be nice to be able to see who was at the door before opening it.

All of these security ideas have been thought of in the past, but there has always been a different priority at the time.

I am responsible for protecting my wife and my child, and with a world that is becoming less safe every day, my vigilance in this area must be upgraded. My wife must be able to defend herself and our child while they are out on their own, and so the concealed carry licenses will be our first security priority.

Categories: Freedom, Guns, Life | Tags: preparedness