Category Archives: Getting Prepared

Michigan Considers Revising Outdated Handgun Laws

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Michigan is finally reviewing its old laws regarding the requirements of purchasing a handgun in the state. A House Judiciary Committee will review House Bill 5225 which will
revise permit-to-purchase and registration requirements. The NRA has been working to repeal these requirements since federal law already requires a criminal background check and has done so since 1998.

The NRA has teamed up with some state Representatives to change the language in the bill.  Some of the changes include:

  • If an applicant has more than one licence application, then that person will only have to complete a single basic pistol safety review questionnaire.
  • “The application is not required to be notarized and shall be processed free of charge.”
  • There are also provisions to make it easier to transfer ownership to an heir or “devisee.”

Read all the changes in language here. They’re all in bold.

These changes are only common sense. The legislation was introduced by Representative Paul Opsommer who says:

“Much of what we have in our gun law regarding the purchasing and registering of firearms, known as Public Act 372 of 1927, is still on the books for no other reason than that it is the way we have done things for decades upon decades. It is time to make this all less duplicative and bureaucratic for gun owners and also free up law enforcement time and resources so that they can focus on things that have real impact on public safety.”

Indeed.  Making it easier for law-abiding citizens to purchase handguns while giving law
enforcement back some precious time to fight crime—I’m all for it.

If you want to support this revised bill, contact info for the Michigan Judiciary Committee can be found here.

h/t NRA-ILA

Food Inflation Update

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I was at Costco a couple of days ago and the price of honey stopped me dead in my tracks. I’ve been buying 5lb containers of clover honey there for a few years and since me and the Mrs. use it in our tea and I sometimes cook with it we do go through a container faster than you would think. So I always pick up one at Costco for the larder so we have a few on hand. About a year or so ago I was paying around $8.99 for one. The it went to about $10 bucks a piece.

This week it was $11.45.

I must have had some trouble keeping my dismay to myself because my reaction started a conversation with a nice gentleman who informed me that his popcorn had similarly spiked. We chatted briefly and conversation quickly turned to the dreaded “h” word – hyperinflation.  We had a nice conversation and my wife and I were heartened to meet people who understood the disaster we are heading into as a country.

Massive Fed printing leading to dollar devaluation, attacks on farming limiting food supply, increased global demand, peak oil – there’s a lot of blame to go around and this inflation we’re seeing s the product of a perfect storm that is sweeping across not only America but the entire industrialized world. The politics of whom to blame might be interesting but the reality of the situation is that we need to learn to live in a world where we will have access to less and less.

My wife and I went to a local diner yesterday and noticed that both the meals we go, while delicious, were smaller and skimped a bit on the meat. I no longer buy meat at my local grocery because it’s too expensive – I buy from Costco or Aldi.Gone are my veal chop dinners as I begin eating more ground pork and turkey which is always cheap.

Onions, peppers and potatoes have become staples of my diet and right now I’m starting a bunch of pepper plants so I don’t have to buy them. They too are too expensive.

On my site Hunter-Trader-Trapper I’ll be adding a frugal living category where I’ll be sharing with readers my tips on how to save money on food in these tough times without going hungry. I’m also looking for articles if anyone would like to submit.

But the warnings are there. We are heading off a cliff and there is nothing politicians or parties can do to stop this. It’s time for you to prepare for what is coming which is a long period of prices raising so much that only the very rich will remain unscathed. The days of dollar dominance are over and everyone know it. I just read a Daily Caller article dealing with drug dealers accepting bottles of Tide laundry detergent as payment rather than money. Think about that for a second.

Dealers are now bartering for drugs because they know Tide is now as valuable or more valuable than money. They are selling the Tide on the black market for half price as the prices in stores become too much for the inner city poor.

We’re partisans here at Red Alerts but right now it’s time to put away the partisanship and think about how you will feed yourself and your families. These warnings have been made for years but it still is not too late to put some food away and think about what to do when the bread is $15 a loaf.

Electromagnetic Pulse and American Security

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Eric Harris of Etherton and Associates (a defense consulting firm) wrote an article called Electromagnetic Pulse and American Security that has been called a welcome addition to the growing voices calling for more attention to the threat of EMP weapons being deployed against the U.S.

There are the usual panicky pronouncements about America being thrown back into 18th century overnight when our electricity is out long-term due to an attack, which is silly since people moved easily from the 18th century (the 1700s) into the 19th and 20th century sans power grid, iPhones and computers. But Harris’ attitude toward a long-term blackout is indicative of the attitude of many Americans – which is why an EMP would be so dangerous. A region wide blackout that lasted more than a week would be seen by many as an Apocalypse and they will act accordingly. And by act I mean loot, riot and lose their collective minds.

Harris makes several suggestions to mitigate the threat which can only be implemented by the government. Among them are hardening infrastructure, creating a national space weather emergency plan and having a missile defense capability aimed at stopping EMP warhead strikes. If we weren’t broke I’d say they’re all great ideas. I would add that each one of us can personally mitigate the threat by being prepared for extended blackouts and the service interruptions that entails. This means having ways to cook and clean without power or running water, food storage that can be utilized without electricity, water storage, heat and shelter that isn’t reliant on the grid and back up plans for procuring necessities when credit cards won’t work, gas won’t pump and stores are closed.

This doesn’t mean going solar (solar systems will be fried as well) it means being able to live a non-electric lifestyle when necessary. Check out stores like Lehman’s to find appliances that work without power. Have multiple oil lamps on hand as well as candles and flashlights, with plenty of lamp oil. Re-learn skills your grandparents had like doing laundry with a washboard and washtub. Have multiple emergency cooking methods including charcoal and wood grills, sterno stoves (I have one which works well) and the old-fashioned campfire tripod.

There’s much more but you get the idea. The EMP weapon threat is a terrorist play. it relies on Americans being afraid of losing their comfortable lifestyle for a long period of time. If Americans can prepare themselves for a few months or *gasp* years of not having reliable power that threat loses much of its teeth.

Which isn’t to say this isn’t a serious threat. High mortality rates are the hallmark of any country without reliable power and sanitation. Disease and starvation will run rampant even if we are all prepared. But the government can’t stop the eventual use of EMP weapons by terrorists or a rogue state, so it’s prudent to prepare for the eventuality.

More Detroiters Taking Responsibility for Their Own Safety

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Justifiable homicide, what normal people call self-defense but what one writer at The Daily calls vigilantism, is up in Detroit 79% from 2011. It’s a common complaint around these parts that Detroit police and some of the suburbs have a shameful 911 response time. One woman didn’t get a response until the next day!

Rick Ector of Rick’s Firearm Academy of Detroit discusses these issues with Cam Edwards of NRA News in the video below. He says that the typical students coming to him for instruction now are first-time gun owners. Many of them were once reluctant to have anything to do with guns.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx9wtfG81Gc]

In an overwhelmingly blue area of the state and nation, Rick’s pro-gun business is booming. There has been the usual anti-gun rhetoric aimed at Detroiters for the longest time. But if the statistics are anything to go by, then more Detroit citizens know they can’t rely on anyone else but themselves for help. And with the help of people like Rick Ector, they seem to be developing a not so blue state attitude towards responsible gun ownership.