An interesting side issue keeps on coming up related to prepping and survival and that is that our leaders look upon any tool that is historically used as a weapon as an item to be restricted. To take over a country you first have to disarm the population. We are well down that road at this stage where even making the sign of a gun and pretending to shoot someone is seen as an threat and must be stamped out.
However, for prepping porposes we need these tools. They are nothing but tools to us and will be needed no matter what. Even if our governments ‘nudging’ works, which it won’t, we will still need guns, knives and pointy sticks for hunting and defence against wild animals. However, knowing that after an event we will revert to our base instincts means we also have to defend ourselves against predators of the two legged variety. Sure, we can’t do this now but at the moment we, shouldn’t anyway, need to. Plod is supposed to look after that and at the moment most of the population still follow the rule of law so it is still on the edge of being a civilised society.
However, with our government looking for excuses to restrict even more tools that can be used as weapons we should be careful. Although we can’t control what the chavs do and the government gets another statistic to restrict something we should as preppers be more prepared than that. We must always remember OPSEC. We as preppers should make sure that when we talk of weapons we talk of the use we intent to put them too, such as hunting and not for defending ourselves agains feral scum. That is a by product like waste is a by product of eating which we usually don’t talk about.
What we don’t want is the power of the Stasi coming down on us like a ton of bricks, with MP5s, and confiscating any of our tools. Rifles, shotguns, crossbows, knives or even nail files like the paranoid idiots do.
If we are not careful then if an event happens we will have no tools and that is not going to be a good position to be in.
Remember, tools not weapons. For hunting not offence. Probably best to skip the defensive part as well. The poor souls may get the vapours.
that shows you the main thing you need is know how,
with know how you can make a crude knife with flint or bone for cutting and with know how a stick can be given a point for digging or stubbing if you look around you now you should see loads of tools that could be use to defend your self start looking at japan and china’ history both countiers were ruled without the subjects having weapons and join a ju jitsu school and learn more remember know how can never be taken from you and you carry it all the time everywhere you go
BEFORE posting any further comments – please READ the above article properly & do not discuss “weapons” for “defence” etc, as advised not to in the article. They are tools for hunting, or work reasons! The English language is plenty adaptable enough to cover the points we wish to make without broadcasting it aloud. This is an openly accessible public place……. Thankyou, TL.
DEAR TIMELORD
YOU FAILED TO UNDERSTAND MY POINT
CAN WE TALK ABOUT PEN’S, FRYING PANS OR HOW ABOUT ANY OTHER THINGS AROUND YOU AT THIS TIME AND PLACE.
I WAS POINTING OUT THAT YOU DON’T NEED ANY WEAPONS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND MOST TOOLS FOR ANYTHING YOU NEED FOR SURVIVAL CAN BE FASHIONED FROM THINGS ALL AROUND YOU.
AND AS FOR LEARNING A SELF DEFENCE SYSTEM, HOW COULD YOU BE ARRESTED FOR THAT?
MOST THINGS ON THIS SITE AND MANY OTHER SITES COULD BE USE FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE STATE?
I THOUGHT WE WERE TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE TO BECOME PREPPERS AND NOT JUST HORDER’S AFTER ALL WHEN ALL YOU BEANS HAVE GONE WHAT YOU GOING TO DO THEN?
GOM,
No need to shout. I thought from the comment he was talking about other posters not your comment which didn’t contain any of the things he discussed.
Sorry” Mr Grumpy Old Man” if you thought I was replying to you. I was not. It was a general comment to all new posters. It is imperative to try to discourage the open public use of the term “weapon” & “self defence” being generally lumped together in the prepper sense. It is fine to discuss military applications, SOE weapons, prototype designs, martial arts unarmed or armed etc in the vein of human to human interaction. It is conversely also fine to discuss guns, crossbows, bows, knives, blowguns, catapults etc for survival/prep, hunting or sport or for research historical or modern, but NOT for survival/prep HUMAN to HUMAN interaction. Otherwise this may well eventually bring the disdain of the authorities to bear on us, which we can do without. It is enough to categorise or suggest the discussion is about hunting for game or larger game dependent on weapon type.
I hope anyone reading this will be wise enough to be careful about placing any weapons discussions into a suitably STATED category. Otherwise a news reporter or similar will probably have a field day with the rate these posts build up. The stats may look bad indeed. You know how stats can be misrepresented.
I hope that clears it up. The posted reply was not aimed at you, it is aimed at everybody. I hope for all our sakes people will reflect on this. Please pm me anybody if you wish for clarification & regards to all, TL.
For example :-, discussing the effects of shotgun ballistics & shot on the human body in different scenarios, say 2nd world war marine boarding parties or British soldiers in the malayan jungles or the gangsters in the roaring 20’s or the police use of against armed assailants in the USA or Russian use of in urban warfare, city block, room by room clearance.. – Is not in any way furtive. It is intellectual discussion or research, historical or modern.
Discussing SOE or other spy ops use of say a ball point pen or a hidden lapel dagger – fine..
Discussing blowing away raiders on your prep hideout with your magnum deltaforce commando shotgun -…… well thats not good!!
Discussing silently taking down adversaries post SHTF in the woods with a compound crossbow -… Not good!!….
Discussing silently stalking large game in the woods in a SHTF situation – Fine!
Discussing effects on different materials & penetration of shot from a shotgun – Fine!
The list is long… pm for further info.
wasn’t shouting just kids on computer before me and i’am not to concerned how i type result of a bad school and learning other things?
my point is everyone should learn and remember how to do things and not rely on weapons or other parts of their kit,
if anything happens and you just have what’s on you at that time and place then that’s your kit. if i go overseas i can’t take my bug out kit on a plane or just going to the town?
you can’t carry a knife or gun or crossbow in a public place even in your car.
the laws the law right or wrong if you break it you could end up in jail which would be a bad place for a prepper if tshtf
i have noticed peolpe put to much trust in items or storing stock and growing your own
remember the goverment keeps you safe most of the time with out law and order the security would be your 1st stop because if not some will take the lot from you
Well said & very true. TL 🙂
Yesterday evening I was buying a set of razors from a supermarket and the self-service machine started biping for “approval needed”: the lady in charge came and gave me the “approval” without hesitations, ’cause I’m in my forties and I was unshaved for about a week or so. However, asking why the approval is needed and being told that “razors can kill”, when I told her I don’t need weapons to be able to kill she started to look around to localize her colleagues 🙂
She calmed down only when I started to smile…
Therefore, don’t be surprised if the sheepish are following the donkeys leading them – poor sheep takes for granted the path followed by the donkey!
Raul,
Welcome.
I liked doing that as well but we are just terrorising the sheep. The shepherds then have to sooth them while the farmer sees his job being made easier.
I use walking sticks. I have to else I fall over, BUT I also train to use them in a self defense mode as do other OAP’s.
So my walking aid is a weapon or is it a weapon with a dual use as a tool?
Are we allowed to discuss it’s use in self defence or would we be talking about a weapon (or a tool)?
Confused? I am and I’m writing this.
it’s a tool as weapons are not allowed that’s what the police are there for:.)
Great. I’m glad it’s a tool so I relate a little tale and can point out the article on scribd.com called stick defence for seniors. I’ll probably will be told off but in todays increasingly violent world I think this is ‘just being helpful’.
Having to use a walking stick marks you as a target in some parts of the country as they think the elderly and disabled are easy targets. I’ve come to this conclusion as I had been previously mugged one winters evening and pushed to the ground. The little B’s even kicked my dog which upset me more than anything!
So, on finding this article, I thought it was a good idea to practice it’s principles. Not too long ago I was again “ambushed” by two older youths demanding my wallet and used the training to good effect. One staggered off and the other crawled away. Not a bad result and no bruises for me.
The moral for me is that even the most basic of tools with minimal self disipline and training, i.e. 10 mins a night bashing my old kitbag, can help save one from today’s more unsavory ‘erberts but you must practice BEFORE the main event.
Sorry to all the sensitive souls who probably now regard me as one of those rabid out of control OAP’s!
Hello again!
As the topic is ‘weapons or tools’ it seems to make sens in clarifying the main difference between the two categories:
a weapon is an object designed to kill as it’s primary destination;
a tool is an object designed to help the user in accomplishing any task related to human activities except for killing.
Of course, a weapon can be used as a tool and vice-versa.
The only problem about interchanging them comes from ignoring who is handling them:
while serving in the army I used my hand gun to crack nuts, but also I used a shovel to kill a rabbit – so, who could decide which is what?
After living in UK for several years I can only say that the famous British common sense seems to be in danger of extinction, especially on the authorities’ side 🙂
To Paul: there is an art of defending with the walking stick developed by a French guy (Pierre Vigny) over a hundred years ago and it’s name is Canne de combat… To become efficient with a minimum energy may I suggest you to train in sticking it into the trachea of your aggressor? …as the Chinese martial arts were pointing: if one can not breath one can not attack you and if one is rolling on the ground one can not stop you running away 🙂
All the best and don’t forget: the main weapon of a human is the human body!
Raul
Hi Raul
I’ve always subscribed to the acronym K.I.S.S i.e. keep it stupidly simple. Canne de combat, Barton-Wright, and Capt Fairbain’s excellent booklets are all too complicated and requires too much footwork and most of all BALANCE.
So I looked round for something a bit simpler for them like me who shuffle our way through life.
The trachea is a tempting target but get it wrong and it’s deadly. Besides they can always duck or arm block!
Now the side of a knee, simple and big enough for even me to hit cleanly. Also damn hard to protect!
To incapacitate is my only goal, just long enough for me to warm up the batteries in my mobility scooter and toddle off home.
Dear Paul,
You’re absolutely right: it can be lethal!
However, from my experience one needs huge amounts of good/bad luck to kill in that way, mainly because the opponent will take instinctively some evasive action.
If you ride a mobility scooter perhaps it would be more effective to buy one of those electroshock sticks available on US market.
All the best,
Raul