Shooting From, Into, And Around Vehicles

My father had a videotape titled "Bullets And Their Affects" [sic]. This was a copy that my dad had made or gotten from somewhere, so I didn't have the original packaging or anything so I'm not sure who made it or when it was made, other than I would guess it was probably right around 1980 based on the clothes and hair styles. 

    A sizable portion of the video was testing the penetration of various calibers and styles of bullets against vehicles. This is not a subject the serious armed defender should dismiss. As many authors that have written about shooting in, from, or around cars have noted, we spend a substantial amount of the lives outside our homes and workplaces in or around vehicles. So, even if we are not going to be shooting our AR through the windshield to stop a fleeing vehicle as one famous video showed a state trooper doing, there is actually a good chance that if we are involved in an armed confrontation it may find us either in our vehicle or around vehicles (e.g., a parking lot).  
 
    The cars used in the videotape were a couple of the large, heavily built American made sedans typical of the 1970s. The producer of the video would set up cardboard silhouette targets just inside a door and then tried out various pistol calibers of different types (standard FMJ or round-nose lead, hollow-point--generally Super-Vel but sometimes others--and a smattering of specialized rounds like so-called "armor piercing" rounds or Glazer safety-rounds). Surprisingly (or maybe not considering how heavily built the cars of that time were), most handgun rounds would not penetrate the doors at all, and with some the penetration was so minimal--perhaps a bit of jacket--that it would have inflicted no real wound. You essentially needed something like .357 Magnum or .44 Magnum. Buckshot was also incapable of penetrating the doors on those old cars, but a standard rifled slug easily punched through one door and then exited through the other. Rifle calibers--even the .223--would do the same unless they hit something with particularly thick layers of steel like a pillar or other part of the frame.  
 
    I would note that even if individual pistol bullets did not penetrate a car door, when he tested some submachine guns, they were quite capable of chewing through the door even if the particular round had performed poorly in the earlier tests. 
 
    If he had made the video ten years later and used Honda or Toyota vehicles with the aluminum side-panels, the results would have been different with probably most anything going through the doors. But with automobile safety more paramount than gas-mileage, auto makers have abandoned the aluminum and gone back to steel bodies. I don't think that the sheet metal used in modern cars is as thick as on those older cars, but there is probably more stuff in the doors--electric motors to run the windows and additional interior bracing--such that I'm not sure how modern car doors would stand up when compared to the 1970's behemoths. 

    My point here is that vehicles are not monolithic objects providing uniform cover and concealment, but it can vary depending on the part of the car and even as to the make and model year of the vehicle. One author writing about this subject suggested:

The 17-year-old Honda Civic parked in my driveway (laugh it up, jerks, it still runs like a top after 250,000 miles) is probably not a great choice for stopping any type of projectile, be it a bullet or an errant corn dog. A semi built like a tank, on the other hand, will shrug off everything from firearms to a herd of cattle. ...

This is hyperbole, of course: the sheet steel used for the semi-tractor is probably no thicker than that used on the 1998 Civic, so the semi won't be shrugging off bullets and the Civic won't be destroyed by a corn dog. But the engine of the semi is much (much!) larger than that of the Civic, and the frame will be much heavier; so, in that sense, the semi will provide a much larger area of cover ("hard cover" for my European and Australian readers) than the Civic. But as a very good article from Redbeard Tactical explains:

... Vehicles are composed out of cover and concealment. The parts that can cover you are either to small to really fire from them without forcing you into some weird shooting stance or just prevent any [kind] of movement. Therefore we shouldn[']t talk about what vehicles “count as”. We should talk about the fact that concealment is better than nothing and that fire and maneuver always wins. Use the vehicle as concealment and shoot from it in either standing, kneeling or prone, get your head down while manipulating your rifle or communicating, move from one side of the vehicle to the other so you are a small target popping up at long distances just to fire at the enemy and dissapearing [sic] after that. Of course the vehicle will get pounded with bullets, but that[']s why you always employ fire and movement. 

The article covers quite a bit about fighting from inside or around vehicles beyond just the cover ("hard cover") versus concealment ("soft cover") issue, including shooting out of a vehicle, vehicle tactics (e.g., how to respond to an ambush), and some equipment considerations. Some other thoughts from the author on shooting from the vehicle:

When mounted you will have to fire out of the vehicle in most stages except defensive close range situations. Those that are able to fire will fire. Those that arent will disembark. Now there is a lot of talk on bullet deflection shifting your hits. Yes there is bullet deflection, but what is your first reaction when getting ambushed from the front? Opening the door, leaning out of the car and getting the perfect shooting position? I dont think so. You will either return a volley of fire through the window or just dive and disembark. Also a good volley of bullets, fired right after contact at longer ranges will propably suppress your enemy and absolutely punch a hole into the window that allows for precise shots. So your mounted shooting shouldnt be focused on range ballistics, you are simply losing time bylistening to some semi-autistic breakdown. “Your first shots will propably not hit, so suppress and shoot through the hole you just created” will do more for you than an one hour refferate on ballistics. Opening the door and firing through the gap? May work in some situations, I rather move or even drop out fast and move behind the vehicle, even shooting from prone supported is at the side of the vehicle is an better option as the enemy will propably concentrate fire on the car.

Rich Nable, in his article "Shooting From Vehicles: Basic Techniques" at Personal Defense Network, also provides a good introduction from shooting from inside a vehicle in response to a threat outside the vehicle. 

    While we mostly think of shooting from a vehicle in response to an attack or some kind, what about under other circumstances? Although I can't vouch for the writer's experience, this comment seems to offer some sound tips on the subject: 

    The difficulty isn’t shooting, it’s hitting the target.

    Here’s the thing, the point of shooting from a vehicle is that the vehicle moves in ways that cause the targets to become exposed. A shooter in a vehicle can rapidly threaten to obviate the cover of a potential target, forcing the target to try and dash to a different position or stay in a compromised or exposed one. The more often this happens, the more chances for a good shot at the target while it is out of cover.

    Dashing from cover to cover uses movement to lower the chances of getting hit, but if the shooter is already moving, the movement of the target is relatively less significant a factor.

    What this means is that, while you’ll have significantly more difficulty taking aimed shots at long ranges from a moving vehicle, you’ll get a lot more ‘easy’ shots at closer ranges.

This comment, of course, is more for combat applications and doesn't address the question of whether you should shoot from a moving vehicle. In his article "Tactical considerations for shooting while driving," at Police One, Mike Wood discusses some of the downsides and potential problems to shooting from a moving vehicle. While his article is intended for police officers, his points apply to anyone who, for some reason, may be attempting to stop a fleeing vehicle. Risks he addresses include losing control of the vehicle or unintentionally striking someone because you don't have full control of the vehicle, the possibility of injuring someone from stray rounds or ricochets, or injury or death that could result if the suspect loses control of his/her vehicle. He also addresses tactical considerations that might militate against shooting from your moving vehicle.

    There are quite a number of articles out there on shooting around, from, into, or at vehicles. A selection:

• "Self Defense with a Firearm Inside Your Car" by Sara Ahrens at Range365.  This article provides a good overview of the whole topic including ways to avoid having to use your firearm, methods of carrying your concealed carry weapon, and using the vehicle for cover and concealment, with a few videos included to better flesh out some of the topics.
• "Tactical Shooting: Firing From a Vehicle." This Guns & Ammo video is hosted by Kyle Lamb and Richard Nance. This video demonstrates some techniques for shooting a carbine from inside a vehicle at a contact to one side (the passenger side in the video) and then shooting from outside the vehicle while using the vehicle as cover or concealment.
• If you prefer reading to watching, Kyle Lamb's article "Rifle Tips for Fighting Around a Car" at Firearm News covers the same ground.
• "The Truth About Shooting a Short Barreled Rifle From Inside A Vehicle?" This video from Mike Seeklander is also about using a carbine from inside a vehicle and adds quite a bit information to the prior article and video.
• Another video on using carbines around a vehicle: "How to Survive a Gunfight in a Car" (Part 1) (Part 2)--Tactical Rifleman.
• Another video from Tactical Rifleman: "Combat Shooting around Vehicle | Cover points & Shooting Techniques | Tactical Rifleman." 
• "Shield From Shooters: Using Cars As Cover" from American Outdoor Guide discusses using a vehicle as cover and is illustrated with a few videos, including a couple from Paul Harrell on the subject. 
• "Using A Vehicle For Cover In A Gunfight." This article from The Armory Life delves a little deeper into the topic.
• "Self-Defense Behind the Wheel of Your Car" by W.H. "Chip" Gross, NRA Family. Although the title suggests it is an overview of the subject, it actually focuses on shooting through glass and the deflection you can expect shooting through the windshield.
• "Shooting at Moving Vehicles." The narrator of this video discusses when a police officer might want to take a shot or refrain from taking a shot at a moving vehicle.
• "15-14 - Shooting at Vehicle Tires." This is a guidance from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department which outlines why shooting at the tires of a suspect's vehicle is generally a bad idea and probably won't stop the vehicle.
• "Mythbusting: Shooting A Tire." However, if you do decide to shoot out a tire, this article reports the results of tests using 9mm, .223, and 00 Buckshot on tires. All three will effectively deflate a passenger car tire with a shot through the tread. However, when shooting through the sidewall, the 9 mm took much longer to deflate the tire than the other two options.
• Finally, a few articles on carrying or keeping firearms inside your vehicle:
• "Handbook: Carrying a Firearm in your Vehicle"--Shooting Illustrated.
• "Driving With Guns: How To"--NRA Family.
• "Storing Firearms In Your Vehicle Responsibly"--NSSF.  An overview of a few lockbox options.

Mississippi Man Who Twice Set Fire To LDS Church Sentenced To 30 Years

 From WLOX: "Wiggins man sentenced to 30 years in prison for setting church on fire." 

    On Tuesday, 37-year-old Stefan Day Rowold was sentenced to 30 years in prison after vandalizing and setting fire to a church in Wiggins.

    Rowold’s sentence comes after a jury found him guilty of six counts of federal arson and civil rights charges following a trial in September 2025.

[snip]

    On July 5 and July 7 of 2024, Rowold vandalized and set fire to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Hall Street in Wiggins. Evidence shown during the trial proved that Rowold did it because he disagreed with what he believed were the church’s religious views.

    Rowold confessed to police that he broke into the church building and graffitied hateful messages on the walls before starting a fire in the middle of a multipurpose room. To kindle the flames, he used paintings, hymnals, and more. Rowold also confessed that after he learned his first fire failed to burn the building down, he broke in two days later to finish the job, setting a second fire against a wall inside the church. 

Weekend Reading #42

 Longer and more involved reading:

• Be sure to check out Jon Low's most recent newsletter at Defensive Pistolcraft. There is a lot of good stuff to check out, but I think this is a good lesson for everyone:

     Do not be overly concerned with your pistol.  The surgeon is not known by his scalpel.  He has no favorite scalpel.  He has a skill; any scalpel will do.  (I have seen a tracheotomy performed with a steak knife grabbed off a dinner table.)  Similarly, you should concentrate on honing your skill, any pistol will do.  A person will become comfortable with anything he practices.  Sentimental or personal preferences have no place in combat.  

     You may not have a pistol; any knife will do.  What is the best way to hold a knife?  The way you are holding it in the fight.  Don’t change grips.  Don’t throw your knife.  Lead with the knife, as a fencer, with your other hand covering your carotid arteries in your neck (thanks to Sensei Cat Fitzgerald).  

     You may not have a knife; a pen will do.  

     You may not have any weapon; your hands will do.  Concentrate the strength of two of your hands against one of his hands or one of his fingers and continue to twist; don’t stop when something breaks.  Stomp on his foot over the arch, the small bones in the foot are easily broken (and he may be wearing steel toed shoes).  Gouge his eyes, if the enemy is wearing glasses or goggles, gouge up and under the glasses.  A blood choke will incapacitate a person in 8 seconds (often much less than 8 seconds).  (An air choke is ineffective because a person can hold his breath for a minute or more.)  Bite!  Bite hard, break the bone, and get to the marrow.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, ASK!  Keep fighting.  If you maintain a combat mindset, you can win.   

Also, be sure to check out the infographic on how to tell someone is carrying concealed (using the tips in it aren't just for spotting someone else carrying, but to also correcting deficiencies in how you carry); the training tips for those that use glasses, both with and without your prescription lenses; the links to In Extremis Communications; and the explanation on why you should strike to perform certain actions and wear certain equipment at the same location all the time--when a confrontation goes down, you don't want to have to be trying to remember where your concealed gun is located or how to draw and present it. 

• Greg Elifritz has a new weekend knowledge dump at Active Response Training.  A really good selection of links this week (and I'm not just saying that because he linked to a post of mine--BTW, Thanks! to Greg). I haven't had time to listen to it yet, but his first link is to a podcast by Michael Bane discussing contacts with insurrectionists--something that will probably become more common as the year wears on. Other notable links: "I've Got Two Guns" discussing why you should have a copy of your main concealed carry pistol to use for training and practice (meaning that your carry pistol should not be shot a lot)--I haven't done this for pistols, but I've said the same thing about magazines, that you shouldn't be using your training magazines that you dump on the ground or floor as your carry mags; a review of polling data about support (or lack thereof) for gun control; an article on "The Decision Cycle"; and an article debunking the meme that murder rates are declining because of better trauma care. There's more, so check out the whole thing. 
• "How to Prepare for Civil Unrest?"--Armormax. The author summarizes: "This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about preparing for civil unrest, covering risk assessment, home fortification, emergency supplies, self-defense, evacuation planning, communication, legal considerations, mental preparedness, and long-term resilience. Use the following sections to ensure you and your family stay safe no matter what happens."
• "Inside Minneapolis’s ICE Watch Network"--City Journal. Again, a summary from the author:

    In Minneapolis, one key organizer of these activities is “Defend the 612.” The group, the membership of which apparently included Renee Good, oversees a massive network of Signal chats dedicated to monitoring and protesting ICE activity. It has become the beating heart of the city’s resistance to federal immigration enforcement. (The group’s name refers to the Minneapolis area code.)

    City Journal reviewed Defend the 612’s trainings, entered its Signal network, and traced its organizational support. Our reporting reveals that members and related officials have encouraged protesters to impede law enforcement; pushed civilians toward legally and physically risky confrontations; and helped mobilize a counterprotest that turned violent.

    The group’s growth threatens to stoke the city’s already-raging fire. 

Filling the Holes In Your Preparedness Plan

In "Are There Holes In Your Preparedness Plan?" Jackie Clay-Atkinson writes about common mistakes or things that preppers can easily overlook, like not storing foods that your family will eat, forgetting to stock up on foods for pets or livestock, and that you need to be self-reliant once you eat through your food stocks.

 

The bare fact remains: Once you eat up your food in your 36-hour pack, then from your storage pantry, you must have some way to replenish it or you’ll starve. Period. Any steps you take toward family preparedness are great but the more steps you take, the easier hard times will be for you and your family. The more self-reliant you can become, the less outside upheavals will disturb you. If you are ready for one type of emergency, you’re pretty much ready for whatever comes along.

She also discusses preps to keep on your person, a bug out kit, prepping your vehicle for bugging out, and self-reliance tips. I liked her comments about how she and her family made use of an evacuation trailer:

    In Montana, a forest fire would have been our biggest emergency requiring evacuation. I had a big pantry full of food, but I knew I couldn’t possibly take it all if we needed to flee a roaring fire. So we bought a mid-sized fixer-upper travel trailer for $500 and spent a month tearing out rotted flooring, replacing cupboards, and fixing it up so it was ready to roll. We invested many hours of labor, but only spent about $100 in materials. When retrofitted, there were shelves to hold tins of bulk food supplies, which I filled from the pantry in the house. These were the basics: flours, cornmeal, beans, rice, baking powder, salt, masa harina, and dehydrated foods. The little pantry only took up floor space of 1×4 feet, floor to ceiling, but held a lot of food. I stocked up on tins of dehydrated foods along with some canned food that I kept in the cupboards.

    We also stocked the closets with extra clothes, bedding, a hatchet, water buckets, propane bottles, hand saws, hammers, crescent wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, rechargeable flashlights and batteries, a weather radio, rope, firestarters, candles, and more. Everything that could be of interest to mice was stored in tins or in other mouse-proof containers.

    The trailer came with a propane fridge and a small propane stove (which had an oven), so we could keep food cold and cook tasty meals with ease. The trailer had a double bed as well as a futon so it easily could sleep three.

    In the summer, we filled the water tank and had 75 gallons of fresh water at all times. This had to be drained in the fall so it wouldn’t freeze. In place of the toilet that came with the trailer, we used a bucket with a toilet seat on it filled with cedar chips to absorb dampness and kill odors. The bucket was lined with a plastic bag for ease of cleaning.

    This trailer could be hooked to our truck at a moment’s notice and we were off to safety. We could live out of our trailer for months! (We also had a stock trailer so we could evacuate our livestock as well, in case you were wondering).

    Fortunately, this trailer was never needed as an evacuation home. But it sure did come in handy when we moved to Minnesota. We camped in it for the first winter, spring, and summer we lived on our new raw-land homestead.

Those comments reminded me of the book, Locusts on the Horizon, which posits a prepper strategy of living in trailers or RVs over being anchored in place by a home. The idea was that in an economic collapse, you could easily move around to where you could find work; or pull up stakes and get out of Dodge in the event of social unrest or a disaster. 

    In any event, the article (more a booklet) has a lot of information--to much for me to summarize--so be sure to check it out. 

"Fry The Brain" Available In PDF

 Fry The Brain is a book on guerilla urban sniping. Or rather, it is THE book on guerilla urban sniping. Not just about where to set up or how to take a shot, but how to avoid getting caught. And it examines some case studies, including sniping undertaken by the IRA and similar groups in Northern Ireland. In any event, the book is now available to download as a PDF at Wyoming Survival. It is also available from Amazon, although strangely the hardcover edition is much less expensive than the soft-cover version. 

    The article "On Urban Snipers And Their Reach In Modern Conflicts" also discusses urban sniping in Northern Ireland. A selection from the article:

    The PIRA (Provisional Irish Republican Army), a group labeled as a terrorist organization by numerous governments, ran a tight urban-clandestine sniping campaign for decades until the fighting was called off, (and Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams became legitimate in the late 1990s). PIRA, frankly was an innovator in modern terrorism tactics, and its urban sniping was considered paramount; it is not without reason why many terrorist groups imitate the tactics of PIRA. And this is not just limited to urban guerrilla sniping. They are responsible for the TTPs (tactics, techniques, procedures) of hijackings, bomb making, and other such violent acts in a modern context. In 1993, in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, British soldiers simply stopped doing their jobs after a PIRA sniper crew completed a string of successful attacks in the area. One Royal Scots platoon was reprimanded because they falsified information about vehicles passing through their assigned checkpoint; the soldiers matter-of-factly did not want to man their checkpoint since it was likely PIRA snipers would engage them. Checkpoints, with their highly visible and predictable nature tend to become a given target for guerrilla sniper attacks—enemy soldiers are often exposed and display the same patterns day after day.

    A notable way that PIRA cashed in on sniping-fear in Northern Ireland was to place [signs] that read “Sniper at Work” depicting the silhouette of a man with a rifle. According to a 2006 British military report, these signs along with media hype, aggrandized sniper fears and inherently affected British troops’ morale and performance — like in 1993 in South Armagh. Similarly, some insurgent factions in Iraq record their actual urban sniping operations and disseminate them through various media for propaganda purposes. They believe that broadcasting their footage generates fear and demoralizes Americans and other occupying Westerners.

And some other related articles: 

• "The Employment of Sniper in Modern Battlefield" (PDF) by Erdem Barışık and Gökhan Baltacıoğlu, Journal of Military and Information Science (2014).
• "Russian Urban Tactics: Lessons from the Battle for Grozny" (PDF) by Lester W. Grau, Institute for National Strategic Studies. Pay particular attention to the section on smoke and white phosphorus. 

Could You Abort A Trigger Pull?

In "Can You Stop a Trigger Pull?" Sensible Self Defense did some experiments to determine how fast people actually pull a trigger once they start the pull. The answer is about 0.02 to 0.03 seconds if the trigger is all of the way forward, but only .015 if the trigger was staged with a slight pressure on it. This was fairly consistent among all participants no matter their skill level. Why this matters, the article explains, is because "[r]esearch has shown that most people can stop an action that they had just started but have not completed in 200 – 250 milliseconds," and any shorter than that probably cannot be stopped once initiated. Looking at the times above, that means that it is unlikely that you would physically be able to stop a trigger pull even if the trigger was all of the way forward, and impossible if the trigger was staged. 

 

    What is the implication for the armed citizen? If you are committed to firing a shot and have started to pull the trigger, the speed with which you can pull the trigger likely precludes stopping that action. In 2000 and again in 2009, Bill Lewinski and others studied how fast someone can turn and how fast someone can stop shooting (reference 2 & 3). In the 2000 study they found that the average time for someone to turn in scenarios where the threat was firing at a fictional “police officer” was 0.0300 seconds from one starting position and 0.0900 seconds from another. If the threat turns in the instant you pull the trigger, the trigger pull speed when combined with turning speed (particularly the speed of a young, athletic person) could easily result in shooting the threat in the back.

    Given that at any given moment in our lives today we are probably being video recorded, that video recording may show the threat turning away as you fire making it look like you are intentionally shooting them in the back when they are no longer a threat. Knowing trigger pull speeds and the speed in which someone can turn could be very useful information for the defense in case of criminal charges.

Being A Useful Idiot Is Not Christ-Like

 In "Stop Falling for Weaponized Empathy" Michael Clary, the author warns: "For all the gullible Christians angrily venting about ICE, your Christian love is not pure. You're functioning as agents of chaos. Stop it." He explains:

    False teaching almost always bypasses the mind and works directly on the emotions. That’s why scripture warns us to watch out for it. Paul says false teachers “cause divisions and create obstacles” by using “smooth talk and flattery” to “deceive the hearts of the naive” (Rom 16:17-18). That’s exactly what Benjamin Cremer was doing in his post.

    He was using emotional manipulation to make error feel like love. It works like a charm on naive people.

    That’s a big problem in the modern church. Too many people are gullible, and gullible Christians are causing a lot of harm in the church. These people aren’t blue-haired radical leftists we see at ICE protests in Minneapolis. No, they are ordinary Christians who sit next to you in church on Sunday but are led by their emotions. They are the nicest people you’d ever meet. They just don’t have the stomach to face hard realities. They think being “Christlike” is whatever seems “nice” or makes them feel good. 

    But here’s the truth: it isn’t Christlike to be gullible. It isn’t Christlike to believe and share debunked propaganda. It isn’t Christlike to be led by your emotions. It isn’t Christlike to outsource your critical thinking skills to the left-wing activists in the media.

These gullible Christians don't actually believe in Christ, anyway. They believe in what I've heard referred to as "Teddy Bear Jesus" who is always warm, loving, and, most significantly, accepting no matter what. Or, as the host of the Cwic Show describes it: "A 'teddy bear Jesus' is a concept of Jesus as only comfort and no consequences, where 'all is well in Zion'."

    But this goes beyond merely believing that Christ's mission was to make us feel warm and fuzzy. These people are foot soldiers in one of the greatest evils of all time: the genocide of white Europeans and their descendants. Because even if that is not what they intend, that is what they are advocating for when they support mass immigration, welcome refugees from across the word in the tens and hundreds of thousands, or speak out against deportation.  

Another Secret Chinese Bio-Lab Discovered--This Time In Las Vegas

The CBS affiliate in Las Vegas reports: "Las Vegas bio lab raid possibly tied to California case, federal Chinese investigation." From the article:

    A suspected biological laboratory raided by Metro police and the FBI may be connected to a similar incident in California, where officials found infectious agents such as HIV and malaria, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.

    Police and the FBI searched the home on Saturday, Jan. 31, finding a “possible biological laboratory,” including “refrigerators with vials containing unknown liquids,” police said.

    Shortly before 6 a.m., a Metro SWAT team served a search warrant at the home on Sugar Springs Drive near Washington Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard to search for a possible “biological laboratory” inside the home. A second location was also searched, but no lab was located.   

Although the article has no information on the materials discovered in the Vegas laboratory, the article notes that the lab in California had containers "with labels such as 'dengue fever,' 'HIV,' and 'malaria,' the report said, along with 1,000 mice."

Here are some posts and articles about the California biolab:

• "Immigration is a Strength: Secret Chinese Biolab"--Practical Eschatology.
• "More On The Chinese Biolab Found In California"--Practical Eschatology. 
• "House of Horrors: An exclusive in-depth exposé of the illegal California biolab"--Sovereign Mind.

Gangs Post-SHTF

In "How Gangs Operate Post-Collapse." J.G. Martinez D, writing at Organic Prepper, describes how gangs in Venezuela, focusing on carjackings, kidnapping, petty crimes, and even forcing property owners to sell their businesses or farms. On the latter point, Martinez writes:

    Haciendas usually hold big loads of cash for the laborers. However, this has been changing a little bit for this very same reason. Nevertheless, the luxury SUVs the owners and their families usually ride, the isolation, and ease of access to the main house without being noticed are points of interest. Add the usual lack of guns for self-defense, and all that makes them confident that a specific hacienda is an easy target.

    Unfortunately, any hacienda owner knows that laborers could talk about the security aspects of their home. It is a weak link in the chain, and the capabilities of the gangs to collect intel should not be minimized. This applies to all countries! They will ask about dogs, weapons, how many people there are, how many cars there are, and everything a criminal needs to know to take control of the hacienda and do as they please. Killing the owners and laborers to avoid later identification is not uncommon.

And some ideas he suggests:

    A way to deal with this would be establishing a security ring around the main house forbidding access to anyone not family-related. First, fencing the mandatory fruits and vegetable garden is necessary. Inside this fencing, two more parallel fences surround the house, with a gravel space between them, like 6 or 7 meters wide.

    Some dogs of the same race, same size, and color kept sleeping and happy inside a cool doghouse during the day. Maybe just one, or even 4, but no one from the farming staff should see them during the day or know their names or even how many dogs are, much less male or female. These are to guard ONLY family and obey JUST them.

    The fence gate should be opened remotely from inside the panic room (a hacienda without a panic room nearby the main room is vulnerable) to allow the dog(s) to get out and face the threats. Anyone working inside the main house (whether maiden, cook, handyman, anyone) should be a very trusted person. Some basic safety precautions like these could make bad guys lose interest, thinking that the job is not worth it at the end of the day due to the difficulties.

The Best Gun For Self-Defense

"About This Whole Defensive Firearms Thing..." Massad Ayoob on why the best gun for a gun fight is the one you have with you. An excerpt:

 

It is not so much about what gun or ammo you had as it’s about, “Did you have a gun when the crap hit the fan?” Do a Google search for the Clutter Family Murders. The farmhouse where the massacre went down had guns but none of the family members could reach them when the two armed home invaders made entry and the slaughter went down unimpeded.