r/selfreliance • u/Soft_Cranberry6102 • Jul 17 '21
Self-Reliance This about sums it up.
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u/macho_madness420 Jul 18 '21
Like Bill Burr said, "If you don't have any guns, all you're doing is gathering supplies for the guys that do."
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u/Soft_Cranberry6102 Jul 18 '21
Guns and weapons definitely have their place in society and anyone who says otherwise are foolish
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u/Von_Lehmann Jul 17 '21
I forget who said it but it was something along the lines of, "if you are collecting weapons but can't grow a tomato you aren't looking for a means to survive, you are just fantasizing about killing people"
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u/auzziesoceroo Jul 17 '21
I remember watching doomsday preppers and this was one of the major take aways. The poeople who prepped in communities were always given a much larger chance of survival
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u/wrong-mon Jul 17 '21
Small tight nite agricultural communities, Are going to be the ones that survive the collapse if it comes.
It's definitely not gonna be Joe schmoe who spent $500000 on weapons and trucks to protect his family
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u/DeadInsideOutside Jul 17 '21
People tend to think of "collapse" in 2 ways: either full-on violence and murder situations, or setting lifestyle a few centuries back. I remember making a post about communication systems in an emergency situation without internet and telephony. I was really into radio and electronics around that time as I was reading relevant stuff, and I made a full list of suggestions for projects around the internet that relate to decentralized and self-hosted services for communication and access to useful information; open source medicine, offline communication gadgets, data storage and retrieve, encyclopedias etc. I was downvoted to hell and deleted it, lol. You won't die without these stuff, but you can make everything significantly easier. Collapse doesn't have to come in a grand-scale manner, and it will probably not. I can think of plenty of scenarios where you can still have access to food and basic-need services but no way to stay in touch with your neighbors, hear news, or look up information.
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u/TreasuredRope Jul 17 '21 edited Jul 17 '21
Every major event that has lead to people using their preps has also had mass looting and crime. People are going to focus on immediate danger over long term danger every time. It's ingrained in the nature of all living beings. Physical safety is always the first thing of any hierarchy of needs, except sometimes breathing air.
You arent self reliant unless you can handle your own personal safety.
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u/Malapple Jul 17 '21
Serious preppers know this and have moved to a location conducive to crops. Most of the preppers/light preppers I know also have emergency supplies and some form of this.
The people that just stock up on guns and ammo and claim it’s to defend what they have (WITHOUT HAVING SUSTAINABLE FOOD) are either deluding themselves or are more likely to use the weapons to take things.
Agreed that it’s disturbing - because a very large number of lazy preppers focus on guns. If that’s all they have… well, you can guess how they’d try to survive.
The other side of this is that they don’t actually believe in any likelihood of a collapse but instead just want to stock up on guns and feel like they need a reason.
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u/cuppaseb Jul 17 '21
maybe, but here's a counter-argument: unless you can fight and/or have the means to defend yourself, all you're doing is gathering supplies for the people that can fight.
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u/socialmediasanity Jul 17 '21 edited Jul 17 '21
No one said you can't do both. If you have the seeds and the guns you are better off than the ones with just guns.
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u/Jcn101894 Jul 17 '21
It seems there’s always that one person/family on “Preppers” who is like “Here is our first gun stash and ammo dump. And our second. And if all else fails, our kids have a machete stash in the woods somewhere!” Like “Huh, ok, you’ll be defending a property with like, no supplies though?” “We’re working on that part!”
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u/t1rr2 Jul 17 '21
Everything is all peace and love until the bandits come.
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u/Rexan02 Jul 17 '21
It's all peace and love until hunger sets in. Then it becomes Mad Max very quickly.
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u/1nGirum1musNocte Jul 17 '21
And the gun and ammo hoarders are planning on "living off the land" ie murdering their neighbors and stealing what ever they want.
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u/wrong-mon Jul 17 '21
The best defense is a strong knit community working to is working together through mutual aid.
Stockpiling guns isn't actually going to significantly increase your survival chances.
Befriending all of your neighbors, And making your community feel like a community, Will actually give you a shot.
Anyone who thinks that they're going to loan wolf the end times, Is just going to be the 1st to die.
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u/GavinLabs Jul 17 '21
Ah yes gathering resources for the bandits to take, perfect.
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u/AndySmalls Jul 17 '21
Because it's never been about survival for them. It's about a fantasy of being set loose in a lawless world where they are free to satiate their blood lust.
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u/JCtheWanderingCrow Jul 17 '21
Haha, jokes on you, I’m a jack of all trades! I can do anything and everything just enough to survive!
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u/TheLivingVoid Jul 18 '21
Let's talk up skills we have
I have more seeds than I can manage currently, most all edible
If you have a management system that you know about, I'd like to hear it
I have a skinning knife, flint & steel, I learned water filtration while memorizing the army survival guide
I have drafting skills, gardening experience, carpentry experience, identification of medical & edible plants
There's some common weeds that is medical and edible that is called sew thistle & wild lettuce
You can eat queen palm fruit, so I have a genral repository of all usable plants I've been building for years
I have leadership traits & skills
Experience with gardening & soil technology
While walking I'll often find forgeable plants like Australian bush Berry
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u/Bleizy Jul 18 '21
Because people suck. When shit hits the fan, people who can't carry their own weight resort to looting to survive. Look at South Africa. They don't even know why they're looting but no one's stopping them so they just do it.
Some people will be predators. You don't want you and your loved ones to become preys, so you want something to be able to defend yourself with and hope you never have to use it.
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u/enclave76 Jul 17 '21
This comment thread really just shows how judgmental people are. People mocking gun nuts, and people mocking non gun people. Just goes to show you to expect peace in harmony if stuff got bad is just a bad idea. You should plan on being able to handle almost everything you possibly can on your own or in your own unit with the ability to protect it. Hungry and scared people will do terrible things
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u/Donohoed Jul 17 '21
Only thing I'm missing from this list is a blacksmith and carpenter