My Next Gun, Won’t Be A Gun

It’s summer 2022 and the SCOTUS just defended American’s right to bear arms in a groundbreaking decision. But, as big as these developments may be, we might all soon have bigger fish to fry. Sure, old people in black robes telling the State that we the people have rights is a big deal, but in a future of nightly riots, absent police, the bank is repossessing your house, there’s no jobs and food costs have quadrupled, guns will be necessary but not sufficient to get you through safely.

In plain English, this means that in a severe economic collapse guns will be very relevant, but so will food production, medical supplies and transportation / logistics.

Disclaimer: This article is for those of us who already own several firearms and generally have our 2A bases covered. If you don’t have at least one full size service pistol, one carbine such as AR15 or AK47 and a concealed carry pistol then yes absolutely focus on those. Also, don’t worry folks, I have more cool night vision videos, gun and optic reviews on the way.

Why “My Next Gun” Won’t be a Gun.

If you already have basic 2nd amendment and self-protection covered and you’re like me, you know that no matter how many guns you have, you might like to have one or two more. I like guns. I appreciate training, improving my skills and improving my preparedness with the specialized functionality that customized firearms bring. As gun guys who are into disaster preparedness, uncertain times always lead us to think of guns, ammo, optics, body armor, spare magazines, tourniquets and reloading supplies.

But, what if WROL looks more like a high crime Great Depression seasoned with bread riots? In this scenario, things like money, a car to drive, keeping a job, credit scores etc will still matter. When imagining WORL, it’s tempting to picture the world of Mad Max or the Terminator (after Sky-Net takes over). But, what if things get tough but the banks and the politicians still want their money?

Things that won’t erase our financial liability:

Civil unrest
Riots
Food Shortage / Famine
High crime rates
High inflation
High unemployment
Defunded and/or Hostile Police

With the above in mind, right now I’m focusing my efforts on food storage and production, reducing consumer debt and lowering my reliance on “the grid”.

For me, this looks like reclaiming wood from an old shed and building a chicken coop, restoring an old tractor, getting a mig welder that runs off of a 240v generator, clearing brush on the property so that I can expand pastures, plant fruit trees and other crops. This also looks like getting into a used plug-in hybrid vehicle (Chevy Volt) that can drive on electricity only for up to 40 miles and can also run off gas if the battery runs out.

And last but not least, I’ve got to do all of the above while also reducing my consumer debt.

In the Brave New World to come, things like food production, transportation, construction, industrial capability, medical supplies and skills will all be relevant. But when inflation finally crushes hardworking families, the demand for goods and services will collapse and we’ll all be left with mountains of debt, no job to pay off those debts and steeply rising food, fuel and housing costs.

When I was a boy, I grew up stacking hay and working as a farm-hand. One day, my grandfather showed me a barn that someone had built entirely out of used pallets. The man who built the barn had pulled the nails out of the pallets, pounded them straight, and re-used the nails. To my young mind, in a world where nails were cheap and came in huge crates, this seemed ridiculous. But, if supply chains, inflation and the job market gets as bad as it could, we’d all be lucky to have basics like junk pallets and used nails on hand.