In Part 1  we talked about making sure you have some food in case there is another run and having some cash set aside in case power is out or debit / credit cards are not used.

Once you have your expenses (emergency fund money) for 3 months and food for 3 months, you can now go out and buy a firearm (if you don’t own one). If you do already own one, even if it was your grandfathers 38 revolver or uncles 870 shotgun, don’t go out buying 4, 5, 6 or 8 other guns.

It is better to have one 38 special and 500 rounds of ammo than three handguns and only 50 rounds of ammo for all three.

In today’s environment and based on what happened during the 8 Obummer years, you want to get ammo. First get what you can for what you have. Self-defense and Hunting ammo would be a priority.

Remember, you don’t need 1,000 rounds of defense or hunting ammo, 200 should exceed your lifetime need. Think of it this way, as a non-military combatant, how many firefights do you really want to get into? You don’t have the backup or the medical evacuation that the military has. Fight when you must but only if you must.

After getting defense ammo, get bulk practice / training ammo. If you don’t know what that is, contact a firearm training business in your area. As a rule, it is less expensive and less accurate than defense ammo, however you can shoot a lot of it during training to become proficient in your weapon.

As for weapon add-ons (lights, lasers, optics…), don’t go buying Ninja cool, Sniper certified Navy Seal “recommended” laser beam, x-ray vision, red dot, super optics, sniper scope or any of that stuff! That is right, I am NOT telling you to buy the stuff that the marketers will try to convince you will make you a better blacktops home defender of Truth Justice and the American way.

What you must do is get training on the equipment you have. Just because you “have been shooting all your life” doesn’t mean squat. Quite honestly if you have been shooting all your life and not taking training, you are a major liability and multiple lawsuits waiting to happen.

Take what you have and go to a firearm training class. You will have to find a reputable one and they will cost you money and time. You might need to purchase some stuff for the class. It should be on their web site. You will need ammo, eye and ear protection, probably a holster and magazine pouch. If you don’t own that gear, contact where you will be taking the class at and ask what they recommend and then politely ask why.

1. I HIGHLY recommend a beginner’s class for your weapon. Normally called a “new gun owners” class. They are usually 4 to 8 hours and cover the very basics of firearms ownership such as safety, cleaning and functional use.

2. Next take your State’s concealed carry class. You may not ever conceal carry or even want to. What you will learn in the class is your state’s laws and regulations. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Especially if things go more socialist to communist or fascist.

3. Take a basic 2 day shooting course. Sometimes called ‘Tactical Handgun 1’ or ‘Handgun 101’ or “introduction” course (though none I have taken are really for beginners).

You can contact me if you want to for a training facility thoughts and advice. I only have limited experience with limited trainers, yet I do know people.

Quick note, no I will not “train” you and you should not have a friend “train” you that is not certified. You need ‘Legally defensible’ training otherwise you will be in hot water if you are involved in a shooting incident. You CAN practice with friends and others however practice is not training. http://the22man.com/2019/10/training-vs-practice-there-is-a-difference/

There are a bunch of idiots out there. If they have a video of themselves doing a quick draw super McGraw, rolling on the ground in full combat gear for their class. Do NOT go to that class! That is not a real-world class, and at this point that is what you need. You need to know when and how to defend your life.

I don’t care if they were a 32-year Green Beret-Secret Seal-Black Ops-Ninja-CIA guy. That is not the training you need to protect your home and family. You want a basic handgun, shotgun or utility rifle course.

After the three above classes, then you can take the more advanced training with the secret squirrels.

You now have an emergency fund, food put away, a firearm and some basic training on the firearm, you now need medical supplies and training.

When it comes to medical, you need to know what you and your family need. Guys, you can’t pass this off to your wife. You need to know what allergies, medicines and health conditions you, your significant other and children have.

You need to have a 90 day plus supply of medicine and things you and your family use. I don’t mean the 90-day prescription where you get 90 days’ worth but wait until you have one weeks supply left before you can order another 90 days’ worth.

If COVID-19 should have taught any of you, getting the medicine may not be easy. You may find that you cannot start with a 90-day surplus due to insurance and the cost of the prescriptions. If that is the case, get at least a 30-day supply and then work up to a 90-day supply. Kind of like getting the emergency fund in part 1 of this article.

As I began writing the article, I had just left my doctor’s office. I told him that I needed to have a 90 day plus supply because I was unable to get my (none of your business). There was a med I could not get it.

It was not a lifesaving medicine for me, however in your case it may be. You can have your doctor send in a prescription for the excess. Mine did, it did cost me more because the insurance would not cover it because I was getting it “early”. However, it is better to pay extra now and have the insulin or other medicine you need.

Besides critical medicine you need to have extras of what you use around the house. Band-aids, peroxide, what it is you and your family use. What is it you use daily, weekly or monthly? You don’t want to be forced to make that Walmart run. COVID-19 has taught us that they may not always be open and they may not have it in stock.

If the Chinese Flu has taught us another thing (we have learned a lot from this “adventure”) one is there is a legitimate need for face masks. I don’t care which side of the debate you come down on.

Masks have their purpose. Even if you use it to cover your mouth with you family at home or put it on a victim you are helping. Think of it this way, someone you are helping is coughing up blood and who knows what else while you are trying to assist them. If you put a basic mask on them, you keep fluids and stuff out of your eyes while you work.

Should you get the really cheap ones? Are the home-made ones really effective? Well it they are for the basics of use during a medical situation then yes, they do help. If you are preventing the Contagion (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/) then you are screwed.

For a more effective protection from spreadable stuff, I would suggest at least one 10 pack of N95 masks per person in your house. For spouse, kids, others. They don’t have to be replaced every day. I made mine last 60 days. I didn’t go out every day and I did put it in a paper lunch bag to preserve it. The brown paper bag for storage is reduces the humidity / moisture from your breath and the environment. Moisture will build up in plastic bags (Ziplock type) and on the mask creating more germs and bacteria.

Now you have Money, Food, Security and basic everyday medical supplies. It’s time to get training. Did you notice a theme here? Training is Survival!

Basic Medical training. You should take now, while doing step 1 of putting $1,000 away, take all the basic medical training you can get. Red Cross CPR and Basic First aid come to mind, however there are many other groups that teach the basics in a better more in-depth format. FEMA has a “stop-the-bleed’ course which is very good for a basic one. https://www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed

Many of these classes are free or extremely inexpensive. Quite often your church or synagogue will have a medical team and normally someone there can teach these. This way you are training with those you know and if you spend money, you are helping people you know in their mission of helping you.

Having these basics should help you not panic over a cut forehead that bleeds a lot but is not literally brains coming out. They will teach you about fevers and what to do at the first signs of a stroke or heart attack.

After the basics, take advanced medical training. I am not talking about becoming an EMT (unless that is what you want to do). I am talking about classes that are in-depth enough that teach you how to take care of your kids broken nose.

Understand, that when they won’t let you in the emergency room with your kid that fell and broke her nose, your stress will be through the roof. This happened to us on two occasions during this fake epidemic. Once with our 20-year-old daughter and once with my wife’s 87-year-old mother. Both times we had to sit in the car, in the parking lot. We were not allowed in period.

You need to know basic medical so you know if you can take care of it (whatever the issue is) or know if you need to go to the Emergency Room and pay the $500 deductible. The knowledge of knowing you can take care of the problem or that you can’t is a great stress reliever, and during a national or even regional crisis having less stress is significant.

Knowing more advanced medical so you can delay or know that the delay in getting emergency care will not cost you a life. I would hate being in the middle of a crisis and have a heart attack or one of my family having partial amputation and not have a trauma kit on me and the know how to assist in keeping them alive until the “professionals” can take over. Watching someone bleed to death while waiting is not the memory you want.

I am talking about a home trauma training class. These classes will take 8 to 16 or more hours. This type of class is commonly called something like “Beyond the Band-aid” (from Studentofthegun.com), to TCCC (Tactical Casualty Combat Care), Tactical Emergency Casualty Care. Even though it is not combat, they teach you how to take care of your family for hours until they can get to the professionals.

After that, I would suggestion a multi-day 24 to 36-hour Wilderness First Aid class. These classes are specifically designed to teach you how to take care of someone, when the closest help is hours or days away. If you break your leg in the Appalachian Mountains, it may take 6, 8 or 24 hours to get the professionals to you. If you know how to treat this, you can surely be calmer when helping your child who broke their arm on the trampoline in the back yard.
NASAR has a decent class https://nasar.org/sandbox2020/event/wilderness-first-aid-3/ and I teach one for ECSI https://www.ecsinstitute.org/catalog/productdetails/9781284147681 that in my humble but amazingly accurate opinion is the best out there.

This is almost 2,000 words, more than most people can read. Stay tuned for Part 3 Tactics and Body Armor.

Until we meet again, keep your booger hook off the bang switch  until on target and ready to fire.