We had all hoped there would be no “Katrina hits New Orleans” looting in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.  Those hopes may have been optimistic, as seen here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/hurricane-sandy-looting-brooklyn-coney-island_n_2047183.html?1351655228&icid=m

At least one reader of my last blog entry thought I was overreacting to the Twitter warnings of looting.  I dunno about that.  “Those who ignore history,” Santayana said, “are doomed to repeat it.

When I was born, the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was fresher in their memories than the attack of September 11, 2001 is in our memories now.  My generation was taught by their generation NOT to ignore blips on the radar screen.  That seems to still be pretty good advice.

I’m told that Halloween has been postponed to November 3 in New Jersey due to Sandy’s devastation there.  For all who are celebrating Halloween tonight, have a great time with the kids!

Our thoughts are still with those who’ve suffered from the storm, and still are feeling its effects.

1 COMMENT

  1. Hi Mas,

    Glad we’ve move on from politics. Your previous blog post had me wondering about the threat for civil unrest? Still fuzzy on that one. Would the Republicans be pulling Democrats from their cars and shooting them in the head if Obama won? Or the other way around if Romney won? Would LEOs be the first targets of the hard right? I guess that would add credibility to the conspiracy theorists and 2016ers who fear the government will come after their guns even if they act out armed anarchistic tendencies.

    But I digress.

    My fear post-Sandy is more the looting by business and government. Natural disasters are always a immediate but superficial boost to the economy, and there’s no shortage of folks looking for ways to cash in since they’re a natural target for price gouging, fraudulent charities, and of course government porkbarrelling.

    As of yet, I still have not heard of a single shot fired? Got any news on that front, or was it because Sandy came ashore in some of the most gun-restictive land in this country?

  2. Not surprised at all… Criminals WILL take advantage of any situation they can. Sadly, in those areas, self defense is NOT allowed, unlike NOLA (at least before they confiscated the guns).

  3. This ALREADY is “Obama’s Katrina” – no matter how little looting occurs. Give a city like New York City a week without refrigeration, supermarkets able to open (need refrigerators), traffic lights, subways, home heating (needs electricity for thermostat and fan), etc. – and you have an instant social collapse into a non-modern city.

  4. This is disappointing, but not surprising.

    As we saw during the ’92 LA riots, Katrina, and other disasters/disturbances in urban areas, the police are likely to be overwhelmed with important stuff like fighting fires, getting power lines turned off, and rescuing victims. As M. Emmet Walsh said in the prologue to Blood Simple: “You’re on your own.”

    Someone who reads this blog and Mas’ articles and books would probably have taken steps to deal with this stuff — if they are present after the disaster, not 50 miles inland. While we often hear that it’s better to not try to defend possessions, a shop often represents the bulk a family’s life savings and future livelihood. There’s also the moral question in some cases, if the goods are pharmaceuticals or the contents of a gun store, for example.

    Stay safe, and prayers for those who were in the path of Sandy,
    Bob

  5. There is always the danger of looting after natural or “man-made” disasters because there are always those who believe in their hearts that they “deserve” to take someone else’s stuff. Anyone surprised by this hasn’t been paying attention.

    I would be interested in hearing how much looting takes place in the affected areas with restrictive gun laws versus in the affected areas without restrictive gun laws.

    ECS

  6. So far, my relatives stuck on the 11th floor in a high rise in lower Manhattan have not been assaulted and have not found any profiteering by restaurants who would be able to.

    I’m as cautious as anyone who reads this blog but, in the absence of a preponderance of nasty events, I wait to be convinced.

  7. After all the mainstream media rhapsodizing about how the Arab Spring was enabled by social media, someone doubts local thugs aren’t going to use the same methods for their purposes?

    Those persons have a crippling lack of critical thinking capability or a far more generous view of human motivation and behavior than history demonstrates is the usual case.

  8. Mas, the preparing for survival after a major disaster should be done as you explained in your previous post on this subject long before it occurs. Part of that planning should be for post criminal activity which almost always seems to follow these type of events. This includes a battery of firearms and plenty of ammunition on hand. As a retired police officer I like yourself saw the ugly side of society and appreciate you informing your readers to stay ready and always be prepared to have to use deadly force.

  9. Every time someone asks me if I’ve “started preparing for the storm” I look them squarely in the eye and say “Started? I’ve been ready”.

    The old military saying is that we’re “always fighting the last war” and the same holds true for storms. Just like with warfare, the guard is let down and people fall back to sleep until the next storm (or war…) is looming.

    Coming from a farming family I’ve actually seen chickens with their heads cut off; most people’s “preparations” are exactly like that old adage.

    Buy more ammo, but only with cash.

  10. It is better to prepare for a disaster than be a victim of one. When an opportunity presents itself people will take it no matter how wrong it may be.

    What can we learn from history? Unguarded property is at the mercy of the criminals. Whose stores safely made it through the Rodney King riots? The Korean ones whose owners were sitting on top defending them with their AR15s.

    Contrast any of our disasters against the tsunami in Japan. People caught in stores there when the disaster hit kindly put their goods back on the shelves and left peaceably. We may be the greatest society on this planet but we have much to relearn from our ancestors.

    My heart and prayers go out to all those affected by this storm.

  11. A good top-of-the-list step for disaster protection is to NOT be in a really large city, if at all possible! Lots of people like the bright lights and available activities that they offer, but don’t think about the fact that those same cities are only a few days from anarchy even in the best of times.

  12. My Brother in law in Hackettestown has not gas for miles, they are going across the border into Chester PA, No gas. The generators at the town grocery store and a few restauraunts will eventually run dry. Don’t know how they are going to re-fuel those generators and it’s only day 3. Who doesn’t foresee looting and stealing food in the next 48 hours? It’s a given.

  14. Steve, your relative(s) on that upper floor have another severe problem from that: most tall NYC buildings depend for water on electric pumps filling rooftop tanks – and now cannot.

  15. I was actually in NYC (Brooklyn) for a mock trial tournament when Sandy hit. The only reason that I didn’t absolutely freak out when our flights couldn’t leave was because I heard that FEMA was headquartered in our hotel, and if there’s one thing I know about FEMA, it’s that they look after themselves very well. I was really, really wishing I had my dad’s little bitty 9mm that I’ve made fun of so many times. As it was, I didn’t have so much as a baseball bat, and I felt very vulnerable.

    Fortunately, we were able to get back yesterday by bus (long story), and our section of Brooklyn wasn’t hit nearly as hard as other areas – when we left, I could see dozens of little blue flashing lights at various points, so we had our little bubble. I’d hate to think what would have happened if we’d been anywhere else, as helpless as we were.

  16. My brother and I had a little episode at the range the other day that reminds me of something else. He was shooting his modified former New Mexico State Police Colt HBAR with magazines he had preloaded with 55 grain ammunition and the usually reliable HBAR acted like a self-ejecting straight pull bolt action rifle! The rounds were accurate enough, but failed to function properly in his rifle which is a tack driver at 300 yards with 63 grain penetrator ammo. In disgust, he unloaded the next magazine and told me to see if it would shoot in my Ruger Mini-14. My Ruger ate ’em all and begged for more!

    To be fair about my brothers HBAR, none of the modifications were to the fire control or gas systems, and he has other 55 grain ammo that works just fine.

    The lesson here is to try your ammo in the gun you’ll be using before you load up a bunch of magazines! I’ll be spending the week unloading that ammo from my brother’s AR mags and transferring it to my Mini-14 magazines.

    ECS

  17. Just about everybody knew it was going to happen, always does. Why would this time be any different? Anyone didn’t / doesn’t hasn’t been paying attention.

  20. Larry Arnold, there’s some pretty chilling race hatred in the comments on the news cite you provided…there’s a lesson for us all right there.

  21. It is my understanding that there is what may be extensive looting, home (what is left of them) invasion and general felonious activity on the part of gangs of youth in the Staten- and Coney- Island sections of New York.

  22. Brother Mas…we are all brothers in the storm…got the lights back last nite. Internet today at the starbucks. One interesting point. Listening to the police scanner. Good intel. Seems like the folks who prepared with generators are now the target of gangs stealing them. Noisy and your lights blazing in the dark neighborhood make you stand out.