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Monday, February 27, 2017

Gun Shooter vs Gun Fighter

Image result for teen shot columbia county
The title of the story linked above is pretty self-explanatory. A girl sneaks a boy into her house, apparently the boy hides in a closet. Dad thinks someone broke in, ends up shooting the boy.
Its one thing to kill someone you are 100% sure you want to kill. Its another, VERY different story, to look down on a person you just killed and realize you made the worst mistake of your life.
I’ve said it a hundred times but I haven’t said it enough: Keeping a loaded firearm for defense without proper firearms training is like getting on a car for the first time, turning it on and getting on the highway. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Any clown pulling the trigger is a shooter. Now, someone that has received advanced training and keeps it up to sustain the level of proficiency, that’s who your’re supposed to be. Someone that actually trains to fight with his gun. Not in the sense of the old west gunslinger and professional duelist, but a modern day gunfighter that has trained for the martial use of his weapons.
My old instructor used to say, “we don’t train shooting machines here, we train hitting machines.” Anyone pulls the trigger and shoots, not everyone hits what they are shooting at in a violent dynamic encounter. There’s a big difference. My first firearms instructor when I was 14 or 15 years old insisted on target recognition. “ID the target before you put a round in it”. Till this day, I believe that’s the most important lesson I’ve ever learned regarding firearms. The truth is that for most normal people, far more often than not whatever went “bump in the night” will be something you do not need to kill. Yes it can be a home invader, but far more likely it’s the dog, the cat, one of the kids that went down stairs to get something to drink in the middle of the night. It’s the friend that stayed over for the night. It’s the wife that is a day early back from that trip or the son that “broke in” through a window in the middle of the night because he forgot his keys and didn’t want to wake everyone up.
Lesson of the day folks: ID your target before shooting. Once the round leaves the barrel you can’t take it back.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Federal appeals court says weapons “like M-16 rifles” not protected by Second Amendment

Image result for wiki ar15
Now this is disturbing news.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decision upheld Maryland’s ban on assault rifles, which was passed in 2013 in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut. It cited a 2008 Supreme Court case, Heller v. District of Columbia, which said that weapons “most useful in military service” are not covered by the Constitution.
Federal appeals court says assault rifles are ‘weapons of war’ not protected by Second Amendment
This shows a concerning level of ignorance regarding the basic principle of the Second Amendment were clearly the “security of a free State” involves warfare against tyrants or foreign invaders, meaning yes, using precisely weapons of war. If anything it’s sporting firearms that have a limited or nil combat application therefore aren’t strictly “necessary to the security of a free State”.
This serves as a reminder that gun rights should never be taken for granted and that there’s people always operating to take them away from us. The minute you relax, the minute they take a bite. Relax too much and one day you have nothing left.
Take care folks,
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Happy people: A Year in Taiga




I’m pretty sure I posted this before, maybe last year, but in case you missed it it’s worth posting again.
Happy People: A Year in Taiga goes along the journey of one year with the professional trappers and hunters living along the Taiga river in Russia. These are hardy, no-nonsense old world people. They make a living in one of the harshest parts of the world, one that is at that beautiful and full of natural resources. The skill and resourcefulness they show is admirable.
It’s the second time I watch this documentary. Its four parts, one for each season (as in actual seasons of the year) each lasting one hour. Again, worth every minute of it.


One of the things that stuck with me this time though is that even though I bet they are happy people and some of them probably chose such a life, I sure wouldn’t trade places with them any time soon. In spite of the beautiful natural surroundings you can also see the Spartan way of life, in many ways limited. At the end of the day the trapping, fishing and hunting is done for good old money mostly, and they make rather little of it at that. Clearly being frugal is one of their main survival skills and if applied to any other line of work, likely one that pays better, it’s also understandable that a person would thrive as well.


Again, the skill and resourcefulness is amazing. How they cut down trees to make everything from skies to canoes, driving, navigating, repairing, fishing, hunting, trapping. While these people may be jack of all trades, they sure have mastered several of them as well.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
FerFAL

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Oroville Dam: Have you bugged out already?



You may want to if you haven’t done so already. It can be nothing, or it can get biblical over there folks.
According to Los Angeles Times, more than 100,000 people were ordered to flee to higher ground Sunday afternoon after the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam developed a hole, prompting fears it could collapse. With rain expected later this week, things can get really bad really fast.

Now this isn’t a storm or winter blizzard we’re talking about. If the dam collapses and you’re down range its bye bye. With such high-stakes I at least wouldn’t be risking it and would get the hell out of there until the crisis is resolved. After all this is precisely the kind of thing we prepare for. Taking such risks makes no sense if it can be at all avoided.

Oh, remember what I always say about bugging out and bugging in not being a matter of choice? well… this.
FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Brazil SHTF: Police Strike allows for “Purge” type Chaos


Police go on strike in Brazil, cities being wiped out in "Purge" fashion
Police in Brazil have gone on strike, leaving the country unarmed and left in a "Purge" like chaos. In 30 cities across Brazil, militarized police are refusing to do their jobs. According to an anonymous source in the city of Espirato Santo, Brazil, the chaos can be comparable to the 2014 thriller "Purge", with people running rampant with guns and machetes, stealing from malls, and even dead bodies lying in the streets. As buses are set ablaze on night streets, and people crawl for shelter covered in blood, Brazil is slowly becoming overtaken by it's people.
"A pm is on strike and the thugs are randomly shooting at anyone who passes the street in EspĂ­rito Santo, my God what is happening" says one Brazilian resident.
...
"I won't even leave my house today," one Brazilian resident in Espirito Santo told Political Outsource. "things are absolutely crazy, there are people running around with guns in pretty populated areas, dozens of people stealing sh-t from malls, even dead bodies on the streets!"
In another interview with Political Outsource, one resident in Espirito Santo said in a phone interview; "It'a f--king mess what's going on here. The worst part is the regular citizen can't have a gun to defend himself!"
This same thing happened in Argentina a couple years ago and left many dead behind. Now its happening in Brazil with similar consequences.
Lesson Learned I: When cops go on strike all hell breaks loose and you better be well armed in a defendable position. Yes, like in the movie.
Lesson Learned II: The day cops go on strike is not the time to go buy guns and ammo, let alone the time to train and learn their proper use.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Advanced EDC: Which tools are a Must-Have and Why


Monday, February 6, 2017

Pocket EDC Update February 2017


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Survival Footwear: Salomon Quest 4D Forces


The Philosophy

Every hiker knows that his boots are the most important part of his gear. Lose your backpack, lose your pants, its all good, but without shoes… your mobility is greatly handicapped and without mobility you have very few options.
Given how important it is to have adequate footwear during an emergency, your daily wear shoes should reflect that. If something happens and today whatever you chose to wear is all you will have to walk several miles, get by for days or even weeks, walk across broken terrain, help people or extract yourself or others across rubble and debris, keep yourself dry when raining. Therefore we are looking for practical, capable footwear.

Salomon Quest and X-Ultra

I’ve been using Salomon footwear for about a year now and have not been disappointed.
Even the low-top hikers X-Ultra have kept my feet dry and provided more than enough foot support and traction.
The Salomon Quest boots are a in a league of their own. Tough, impossibly comfortable once broken in and durable.

The grey ones are the typical hiking boots that made the Quest boots famous. Since these ended up in the feet of military personal nearly as much as in the feet of hikers, they came up with the Quest Forces model. The colours are more militaristic and use leather loops instead of metal eyelets but other than that its mostly the same great boot.

I think they all work very well for all-round footwear. They are comfortable enough for normal, everyday use yet provide serious hiking capability if it’s ever needed. It doesn’t hurt that they look great. The Quest boots are clearly more suited for moderate to cold climates (especially with Goretex models) and the low top do well in very warm climates. These do have goretex as well, which granted, makes it warmer, but then again its great to step on a few inches of water and not have a single drop go in (have done so numerous times already)
Give Salomon a try. You won’t be disappointed.

FerFAL
 Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.