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Survival Guide – How to protect yourself from looting and riots

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Survival Guide - How to protect yourself from looting and riotsIn recent years riots became more and more common place in the us and plenty of countries around Europe. Folks are angry, be it over a race killing, the falling economy, corrupt officials or simply mindless opportunistic youngsters who are massively susceptible to the mob mentality.

As a prepper, you need to have seen this. From the riots in Ferguson, to those in the streets of the United Kingdom that started off in the capital London and sprung up in cities across the country. Then there was Katrina and after all the devastation that it brought with it, home owners still had to encounter looters.

Millions of bucks in damages, businesses ruined, people hurt and killed and all for what? To stand up against injustice? No, to take the opportunity to do as they pleased without fear of repercussions. This is why people need general liability insurance in the case that there livelyhood is taken away

These people don’t seem to be protesting peacefully. They see that the law cannot management an outsized angry mob and choose that the law not applies to them.

The media also plays a large part in these riots, I mean what good can it possibly do to state live on air that “angry mobs are expected if X does/doesn’t happen…”

What this causes is for these mindless criminals to suppose “Hey, perhaps I should be angry. We should go out there and show them we’re angry”.

So they do, and what ensues could be a mixture of violence, robbery, looting, arson attacks and physical bodily damage to whomever stands in the way.

I would rather watch the riots unfold on the news than be stuck within the middle and need to defend my property and family from many those that fear no repercussions from their actions.

So, what if things begin and increase quickly. You arrive home from work and it’s already kicked-off and you can’t get out. What things can you do in and around your home to create these folks pass you by? Well, there are some ways to create yourself and your home less appealing. Let’s dive right in.

  • Hidden or In Sight?

The individual scenario would greatly determine if you are attempting to stay hidden or let folks see you’re there. for instance, if you’ll get family and friends to come to your location or a predetermined location, there is safety in numbers.

This will permit you to be visible, using long arm weapons slung over your shoulder as you move regarding your property and garden.

There is also a downside to this, in that your neighbours who don’t have any preps for this type of scenario can see your lights on and maybe come begging for help, protection, food, water etc. so you must be ready for this. Hey everything has it’s ups and downs right!

Staying hidden may seem like the most obvious alternative at first, but you want to remember, these people are usually looking for an opportunity.

Sure, if they’re returning thick and quick, destroying everything in their path then you’ve got no alternative but to escape or shoot. However, normally everyday life, that’s not how it happens.

Riots take time to heat up as people encourage others to induce involved. This offer you a bit time to get yourself, family and friends together and create a plan of action to discourage looters.

  • Vehicles

Making it difficult to access your property may be a great deterrent. but if you’ve got set to be in plain sight then you must make sure you move vehicles out of the way so you’ll be seen from folks walking in the street.

Using your neighbours route or the garage may be a smart choice and one that will also permit you some cover from gun fire should you need it. It’ll also give a fast escape route do you have to want it.

You can also use your vehicle to light your house and front lawn. Looters hate being spotted, they’d rather sneak in and out between the shadows with a bag full of loot. By exploitation your headlights to create your house look like a sports stadium, this could deter people from approaching.

The other choice is in fact to use the vehicles as a barricade round the house. Forming a semi circle the front of the house where the mobs are likely to pass by will limit the entry and exit points. Think about Woodbury, the city within the Walking Dead episodes where the buses are used as gates into the compound.

  • Noise

Ever seen a fight get away in the street or on your way home from an night on the town? Notice what happens as shortly because the police are heard to be approaching?

Everyone runs or walks quickly away from the scene. Even those not involved, bystanders can usually flee. However what is it that creates them do it?

Well, there is a reason they need loud sirens and flashing lights and it’s not just so they’ll break a red light and obtain through a queue of traffic. They’re a deterrent and that they scare people. Loud noises, flashing lights and a megaphone.

A megaphone is one prep you’ll get to assist deter looters. They’re terribly loud and have the specified impact to scare or startle. They even have several uses like finding lost children and family members or for warning off the dangerous guys with a simple stop or we’ll shoot you.

  • Weather

Do you know what stopped the riots in Ferguson? It wasn’t that they found peace with the situation or that they got what they needed, it had been the temperature.

Riots and looting often take place in summer time when the weather is heat, not within the depths of winter or when it gets simply cold enough to visualize your breath as you exhale. The temperature in Ferguson dropped and so did the passion for opportunistic violence and criminal activity.

  • Activity

Don’t think that looters won’t hurt you, however in the same breath, they’re searching for easy targets. so it’s necessary to create your home or neighbourhood seem like a place of high activity, with many people to defend it. Have folks walking around, torches in hand, vehicles driving up and down and a lookout at every house and corner.

Music or a tv set turned up loud enough to hear as you go by in the street can usually be enough to obstruct potential threats. Essentially, the a lot of folks you’ll muster in your community to band together the better.

  • Cooking and Eating

This is a tricky one and debated by several, but most of the people confuse this question with a ‘doomsday’ situation.

We are strictly talking regarding looting and rioting, not a post apocalyptic world wherever people are starving and killing their neighbours for a cup of flour.

My answer to this would be to cook outdoors if you’ve got set to discourage by showing a presence. If you’ve got set to lay low and hide, you need to be ready to eat cold rations and not have an open flame or any kind of smell that may attract folks to your hiding hole.

If however, you’ve got recruited friends and neighbours to assist deter looters, then preparation and eating outdoors in plain sight would be ok depending on the case.

Say after a cyclone like Katrina, folks lost everything and had no food or safe drinking water. It’s possible that you just could have lost everything too, but if you do have food, it’s most likely best to keep that to yourself and your close knit group and not advertise to the world that you have things they need.

Say you do cook outside, what do you have that you can cook with? Do you have a grill, a smoker and wood/coals to burn? Can you utilize gas? These are all questions to ask yourself and cooking indoors with these isn’t an option.

  • Already Looted?

Most of this article has take the stance of the ‘strength in numbers’ deterrent of looters. but there’s another choice which would require some powerful choices and tiny sacrifices to be created.

I’m taking about creating your property appear as if it’s already been looted. however can we go about that and what would it entail?

  • Trash and Broken Goods

I know of many friends who keep their previous broken tv set in their garage and arrange to use it during this kind of event. they’re going to take a bat to it and place it on their front lawn to provide the impression that folks have already been to the property and here is what’s left.

You could also empty your garbage all over the property, folks hate smell and muck. especially if it’s been festering in there for many days.

Got animals? Dog and Cat poop smalls bad and could be a nice deterrent. As disgusting because it sounds, attempt smearing it across your front and back door handles, if a plunderer touches it to open the door they’ll get a nasty shock.

Then there’s human excrement. Pooping into a bag and agitated outside around your property will certainly keep me away, a free TV isn’t worth catching a disease over!

  • Hidden Valuables

If you are doing take the hunkered down approach it’s best to take your valuables and a few of your stored preps and move them away from the property or at least in a place wherever folks won’t simply find them.

A hole in the floor or a buried cache location could be a good idea, even a fake stud wall or picture frame covering alittle stash box will work.

I would avoid keeping any valuables on my person like jewellery or items that have sentimental value. harm or lose them will have a devastating impact on your outlook and morale. Not what you wish in a scenario where having your wits regarding you is of the upmost importance.

  • Going to the bathroom

Staying hidden is all well and good, heck it works for our special forces behind enemy lines thus why not? Well they even have to do everithing wherever they prefer to hide, which means going to the toilet.

If you may be staying inside your home, you may want a way to get eliminate your waste and clean yourself afterwards. That also means washing your hands and body. Illness is a huge killer in unhygienic conditions after events like a cyclone or tsunami.

  • Fire

There is no shortage off fires where looting and rioting is concerned. however regarding making an oversized fireplace in your front of your property? Burning tyres smoke and stink like crazy and cause the eyes to water, which could be a good deterrent.

It will also mask the smell of any cooking you are doing and makes it seem like folks have already been to your property thus there won’t be something left.

  • Window Boards

With hoards of people breaking into a stores, there will only be so many who will fit through the door, most often looters can smash the glass windows to grab what they’ll with ease.

Having a variety of pre-cut boards all measured up to fit the windows of your property may both defend your glass from being shattered and also create it look like your property has been condemned and is empty.

If it’s like nobody lives there, then there’ll be nothing to steal. and it’s the added advantage of restricting the looters from peering into your home.

Above we’ve some very completely different options, to stay and defend what’s yours, staying hidden or in plain sight, or fleeing and living to fight another day whilst your property succumbs to vandals and looters.

Each one could be a powerful alternative and would take plenty of planning, people, skill and determination. there’s no right or wrong answer, there’s only the correct answer for you and your scenario at the time.

John Turner
John Turnerhttp://www.patriotdirect.org/
Dedicated to upgrowth, developement and prepared for the "worst" to come... Simple guy, simple skills, simple attitude. Just an ordinary guy who tries to survive!

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