The world has gone completely mad. Seriously… Have you tried to buy toilet paper and bullets lately? The pictures of people in improvised hazmat suits are all over the internet. You cant even look at the outside through your window without your neighbors getting their tape measure in preparation to make sure you’re properly social distancing.

Can this world get any more crazy? Yes, Yes it can. That to me is the scariest part about this whole thing. The new norm. That scares the absolute living crap out of. No one wants to live like this and being forced to do so is a huge violation of our rights. The fact people are okay with that or are even demanding it is even more scary. Its insanity.

Lessons…

So when this stuff went down, what was the first things to happen? First the toilet paper disappeared off the store shelves along with any other paper products and most of the food. After that people started hearing crazy news stories like the police wouldn’t respond to certain calls. What happened next was the gun apocalypse where every scared person ran out and bought guns and ammo.

I’m not trying to be negative about the people buying all the guns and ammo. Good on those people for waking up and realizing that even in rule of law, the only one who is going to effectively defend you and yours is you. When the police are 5 minutes away and there’s a bad dude in your living room. Seconds matter. So to those people who are new gun owners, it is awesome that you took the first steps.

With that said, I think a lot of people are learning a lot of new lessons with all this craziness. Like you are responsible for your own safety. Many people learned the hard way that the media has been lying for decades about how “easy” it is to buy a gun. In fact, I’m willing to bet a lot of people couldn’t buy guns due to gun legislation that they actually voted for and are now left defenseless.

Some people have probably learned that they are very unprepared for a situation where they might not be able to run to the store or grocery shop. It’s caused many people to panic buy everything. Hell, its caused many people to panic period. While things might seem really scary and you might be worried, they key is to not panic. Its time to evaluate the situation.

Politics…

I hate politics. I’m sure we all do, especially since politics tend to drive people apart so much. Despite all this, now is not the time to ignore politics and spend your every waking hour focusing on your Netflix. You should at least know what is going on politically in your state because it will directly affect you. In fact, your state and local level politics will directly affect you long before anything on a federal level.

So many municipalities and states are pushing legislation at the moment to combat the spread of COVID-19. Some of the stuff being pushed is horrible though and there is one scary thing to consider. Once you give up your rights, even if its supposed to be temporary, you often wont ever get them back. The government does not like to give you things back. This is a lesson many of us gun owners know first hand and something many new gun owners need to learn if they wish to hold on to what they’ve got.

The scary thing about this is that its not just gun rights. Its about them limiting what you can say, where you can go, eliminating your right to assemble, taking away your right to practice your religion, and even more. There are places wanting to fine or jail people for deciding to go on a walk. What happens when you’re sick of being cooped up in your house and you want to walk your dog by yourself? Whats scarier is that some places want you call and rat your neighbors out if they break their stay at home orders.

Like I said, there’s a lot of this being pushed on the state and local level. You can absolutely do something about it though. If you see something being pushed in your state that is bad, then call your representative. Don’t stop there though, write them and e-mail them. Don’t be mean. If you write an articulate, polite, and professional sounding letter or e-mail, then they are far more likely to read what you have to say. If they’re a politician that is worth a damn (I know that’s laughable), then they know that they are a public servant and their job is to serve their constituents.

This damn virus…

It is the elephant in the room. I could go on and on about politics and I’m half tempted to because I feel like I barely scratched the surface of that conversation, but I only have so much time to cover a lot of ground. I guess the best way to describe this virus is that it is hard to pin down. Its hard to get good information. I’ve seen media change their minds numerous times on what they said were facts.

I’m not a medical professional, but there are good guide lines out there to follow. Those should be guide lines though, not state mandated under some form of penalty. We should be following those guide lines for the most part and using some common sense. Why? Because its not all about us, but its also about the others around us. I bet you know some one who’s old or who has a compromised immune system. Think about them. A friend of mine has a daughter with a compromised immune system, my girlfriend is susceptible to getting things like pneumonia, and my parents are old. Hell, we all have parents and grandparents who are probably at risk. The thing is, we all know some one at risk, so stop being selfish and do your part to help keep them safe.

So we should be thinking about all these other people, not just ourselves. We need to be doing these things to protect other people. Social distance where possibly and minimize your exposure. If you can work from home do it. Wash your hands. You should be doing that any way. Take charge of your health. Eat right and stay active. Social distancing doesn’t mean you cant go for a walk. It means you cant get together with 8 of your friends and go for a walk. So go for a walk by yourself or with some one you live with. And for god sakes… stop panic buying everything at the store. Other people need toilet paper and food too. There is only a shortage because assholes have irrationally panic bought a bunch of stuff that they didn’t need. Seek out the guidelines, use common sense, and do the right thing.

Fear and a sick sense of humor…

I get that people are afraid of all this virus stuff. I’m hear to say that if you’re irrationally buying up toilet paper because you’re afraid, then you need to chill out. You cant live your life afraid. It will do you no good. These days a lot of people lead a pretty sheltered life. They don’t experience perceived danger on a regular basis. I’m not talking danger like some one actively trying to kill you, but just hazards in general.

Some of us have worked jobs where the hazards are real and our line of work has required us to adopt a different mind set to survive. It sounds dramatic, but a defensive mindset is key. Having a plan to mitigate risks is part of my life now and it was beat into my head from work. Trust me, when you’re working over 120 feet in the air on red iron, you take your safety seriously. Exposing yourself all the time to things that will hurt you will change you.

I don’t think a lot of people are exposed to things like this. If you aren’t, then you might not have the same mind set and approach to dealing with life. For instance, with this virus, I immediately looked up the guidelines and I started making life changes to mitigate risk. The thing is, you can never eliminate all risk. All you can do is mitigate risk to the best of your ability and accept the things that you have no control over.

My best advice for people is to adopt a defensive mindset now. Its never too late. That doesn’t mean war game everything to death. It means use your brain to come up with common sense solutions to eliminate risks that you might encounter in your day to day life. Evaluate your near misses, close calls, and pay attention to what other people are doing to stay safe. Its okay if you’re still afraid. We all get scared, but if you have a plan and you can function, then you can deal with a situation.

If you’re really scared, then find some humor in whats going on no matter how morbid it is. If you cant do that, then you’re screwed. I found myself high up in the air on some not so legal scaffolding that was down right dangerous and I was terrified. Do you know what the first thing to pop into my head was…? ” I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend” Yup… That Third Eye blind song that no ones heard in like 10 years. I laughed, got my sh*t together, and did my job to the best of my ability. Some times you just need to laugh.

Make use of this time.

There are probably a lot of people wondering what they could do to make these times easier. I could ramble on about skills. Hell, the point of this blog is to show people that they can learn skills, better themselves, and take responsibility for their own safety. This might be the time to learn skills. Being more prepared will definitely help with the fear aspect of this situation and might be a bit of a confidence booster for some people. Like I said, its never too late to get prepared.

If you’re that first time gun owner, then its time to learn about how to use that gun. Many knowledgeable people have gone out of their way to make content for you guys who are new to our community. Might I recommend KitBadger.com‘s series of videos on Firearms Basics. Its really good stuff. Firearms are a great tool and a good skill set to have, but aren’t the only means of being responsible for your own safety. Did you know your gun should probably be your last line of Defense? You can do things to your home to and make changes to your life style that make yourself and your home a less appealing target to people. Haley Strategic has done some good videos on such topics recently via YouTube.

Perhaps you’re wondering what you can do to be more politically on top of things. If you want some non-partisan politics relevant to your rights, check out Stilettos and Shotguns. Kerry is awesome, she knows her history, and shes on top of things. She tells it like it is and is full of great advice when it comes to many things in the political arena, especially when it comes to being politically active.

What I’m getting at is if you don’t know how to approach getting by and escaping some of the pit falls of these current times, then there are a ton of resources out there. Don’t rely on the main stream media to tell you how to deal with things. Get out there and find people who are experts and who are active in the things that you wish to participate in. Those are often times the people to listen to. The internet is a great place full of good information. It just takes a little digging to find some of it.

So whats the point of all this?

I wasn’t going to write this. I went for a 6.5 mile hike the other day since the gym is closed and that fresh air got me thinking. After talking to a lot of people (not face to face) and doing a lot of observing, I’ve come to realize that not every one sees the big picture as far as whats going on. You don’t have to, but you need to be aware of what your threats actually are. I thought to myself, “if a couple people read what I have to say and it opens their eyes, then its worth doing.” I’ve talked about a lot of stuff very broadly. Most of the things I’ve talked about could be vastly elaborated on. I don’t have that kind of time right now. The point of this is to give people some direction. Something to think about…

Keep your eyes open during these times. Watch the things that are happening politically around you and don’t let yesterday become the good old days and today become the new norm. It doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, we can turn this around and this could be a huge opportunity to make life better than it was. It is an opportunity if we make it one and the only way this becomes the new norm is if we let it. So its not time to hide in our caves, its time to pay attention and make things happen.

With that said, if we want things to get better, then we need to take care of each other and do the right things. We shouldn’t have to be mandated to do the right things. If your neighbors don’t have TP and you’re at the store, get them some. Help protect vulnerable people. Learn what you can do to mitigate your risk of contracting this virus and don’t let the fear of it rule your life.

The point is, don’t sit idle and hide in fear. Use this as an opportunity, be responsible, stay safe, and don’t let tyrants take advantage.