Troubled Times Part II: There’s more to being prepared than just guns and ammo.

Last week I talked about safety measures during times of civil unrest. Most recently, the FBI is warning of the possibility for terrorist activity in this country and suggesting that folks shelter in place. As I mentioned, this shelter-in-place idea is not a bad one because the defender nearly always has the advantage.

Too often, in times like these, people focus on their choice and selection of guns and ammunition. While there is nothing wrong with this, I would suggest that it is only one of several considerations for keeping you and your family safe until things can be straightened out.

A decent medical kit would also be an excellent addition to your home defense plan. And, along with that would also go some first aid training. It could be extremely important to know how to stop bleeding, treat certain wounds and deal with the effects of shock. It is a really good idea for the entire family to have this training since you never know who will need the treatment and who will be available to apply it. Right in line with that is to make sure that there is an adequate supply of prescription medicines that the family members might need. Civil unrest is not the time to run out of blood pressure medications for example.

It also might be that you have to wait out a few days with your power cut off. Do you have enough non-perishable foods to get you by? How is your supply of extra batteries? When you think of just getting by for a few days until order can be restored, your list might get longer than you expected.

Mind you, I am not predicting some sort of doomsday event. However, we need to realize that there are people in this world who would like nothing better than for that to happen to us. I don’t think there is a need to start digging a bunker in your back yard or to build a survival camp in some wilderness area. But it is time to consider that you might just have to stay home for a few days while our police and other officials get order restored (or even recovering from a weather event like a hurricane, tornado or snowstorm).

So look beyond your guns and ammo and try to focus on the big picture. Start making that list of necessary items and give some serious thought to all of the ways you will need to protect yourself and your family.