Guns, Guns, Gun.... and more guns

Watching the news you would think the world was on fire, and the only answer was a large pile of semi automatic weapons.  When I look around at what takes center stage when you talk about prepping, its guns. Or at least thats is how it is in the U.S.  The media, seems to ignore most of the other stuff, because it isn't sexy.  Well, I kind of purposefully avoid the subject for that very reason.  I don't want people to think I'm the lonely nut with an basement full of guns and MREs.  But I did want to share my strategy and philosophy on guns for what its worth.

First, I approach my guns with the same view I do all my other prepper topics, thats practicality and efficient implementation.  I believe in practice, practice, practice and practice some more, and I believe in training.  And not just for me, thats me and my daughter at the gun range, and I regularly drag her and her 13 year old brother to both the archery and gun range with me.  I make them shoot, and as much as they hate it, I also make them come home and perform their own gun cleaning and maintenance. Lets be honest, NOBODY likes gun cleaning, but they do it and they know fully how the guns function.   People "learn by doing", and they learn better by doing repetitively.

I take my wife on "shooting dates" where we go to the range, and then out to dinner.  I often wonder what the people at the next table in the little bistro would think if they knew were were running jam weapon clearing and administrative reload drills an hour before and we just blew through a couple hundred rounds of ammo. The key is guns and training integrates into our lives.  They aren't in a dusty box on the top shelf of the closet.

The second point is as far as prepping is concerned,  I look at the gun as a tool.  And just as with any other tool I considered maintenance and training in my selection.  I have friends who have a wide variety of sizes and calibers, and yes I have a few "fun guns", but these "Prepping guns" are simply for business.  I want reliability, I want familiarity, and I want to be able to maintain them deep into a crisis situation.

With that in mind, my tool of choice is the Glock 17.  But not just one, I have several identical guns.  They are not sexy, or exotic.  They are just a bunch of plain old Glocks.  Yes my buddies give me "the look" at the range, but it limits my spare parts inventory, all my holsters and mags are interchangeable, and we all can operate any one of the weapons we pick up.  There is no learning curve for anyone in the family, Its just automatic.  They know these just like they know their sleeping bags, or any of the other gear.

Having a bunch of the same gun simplifies a lot of things.  Its that same philosophy I use with cooking kits, or flash lights, walkie talkies, lanterns, and any number of items I have.  Find one that works well, train to get the absolute maximum out of it, and them stick with it.  Its boring, but efficient.

Now, i'm sure a few of you are thinking "seriously Ray, a 9mm?"...   Well, everybody can handle it effectively, and its light weight enough to carry a lot of rounds, its cheap enough to train with a lot.  And its common enough round, that there will be quantities even during a crisis.  Of course, I have an AR, and we all train with it too, but when you compare all the aspects the 9mm is the best bang for the buck IMHO.  In a crisis, there will be more then enough to worry about without thinking about what round you need, how many mags, did we get the right box of ammo for that.    Just like other prepping items, i'm planning now, so I don't get caught up in the confusion of the moment.