I’ve recently run some commentary on women’s self-defense in America, so let’s begin March in this space with a link to an excellent article published by our host Backwoods Home Magazine, written by a lady with experience in exactly that. The article appeared a decade ago, but is still absolutely relevant. Some human dynamics are timeless.
The more remote you are from the population centers, the more remote you are from government-provided police service, fire service, and emergency medical service…and therefore, the more you are self-dependent. Self-reliance is the name of the game, and indeed, the very title of Backwoods Home’s sister magazine Self-Reliance, available to you at www.self-reliance.com.
The lady who wrote the article in question pretty much nailed it, including from the gun side. Before anyone writes in and asks why the kid in the protective ear muffs with the Winchester Model 94 .22 in one picture wasn’t wearing eye protection too, I strongly suspect the photo was simply taken dry-fire to illustrate the point of the importance of young people being familiar and safe with firearms kept in the home.
I’ll admit up front my computer skills aren’t real great, but I can’t find a link to the listed article. Or the link doesn’t work, if there’s a difference. Checking the previous issues list shows a gap from issue 158-99 so that’s not an option. Maybe it I had one of the grandkids around?
Living at the far end of the county I can add a few things off the top of my head. While LLEA in rural areas do their best, due to distance, numbers on duty and what else might be going on, response time may be best measured with a sun dial. In addition to what the lady may say about active defense, make time to attend a Stop the Bleed class and have the necessary stuff-or suitable alternatives-handy.
Click the title “Homestead Security for Women”. As with most browsers, move the mouse icon around the page until it changes. Mine turns to a hand with index finger extended. YMMV.
Just click where it says “continue reading”. That opens up the rest of the article.
Overall, a very good article. I think she overplayed the “thousands of rounds and daily practice with a handgun” thing. That could discourage some people. In the last 10 years we have also seen the introduction of many handgun models that provide sufficient capabilities without much weight penalty.
For Mas… not necessarily as reply and for posting back to this BH post. Mas…please check your email for an item from me concerning possible hacking of your email account. I received a suspicious email from @massadayoob.com that contained an MS Excel spreadsheet concerning an ACH payment. I sent a reply to you at the @massadayoob.com email address, but I’m sure that it got through. Thanks!
Yep, I got hacked by some scumbucket.
Mas,
I also was looking into that suspicious MS Excel attachment. Before I even looked into the attachment that I was not expecting, I sent a reply to the email asking about it. Someone responded to my email. But it didn’t answer my questions, so I continued investigating that attachment. Virus Total sandboxes report that the attachment may have an exploit to do monitor keyboard input.
DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT.
Steve
Hoping you got some authority to hack the hacker back. Please lock the hacker up every way possible!
Great article. Thanks for sharing Mas.
One family I knew out by Paradise, California kept two or three Rhodesian Ridgebacks, originally bred for hunting African Lion, for mountain lion deterrent. The dogs seemed very alert, without a Pitbull attitude. At least one lady in Arizona has a pet African Lion, although she needs a friend who lets the big cat roam in a large fenced area at her ranch. I only know this from the lady who owns the ranch. Makes you wonder how low the top of the fence can be, though. One desert hermit has targets placed a mile or so away from his cabin that he shoots at with a .50 caliber rifle whenever anybody appears who looks questionable, which includes just about everybody out there. Good attention-getter.
“…has targets placed a mile or so away from his cabin that he shoots at with a .50 caliber rifle…”
If you think about it, the targets selected by the firearms-prohibitionists are very revealing. What are their favorite targets?
1) Modern semi-automatic sporting rifles which they slander as “military-style assault weapons that serve no purpose but killing people”. Contrast this with the reality that (a) these are some of the most popular hunting, home defense, and target rifles in America and (b) despite their being linked (whether used or not) with every mass murder event by a biased media, they are rarely actually used to commit murders. Crime statistics show that knives and plain-old fists and feet are used in more murders than rifles.
2) Large capacity magazines. These are, again, maliciously linked to every mass murder event (whether actually used or not) by biased media reports.
3) These laws also, routinely, target 50 caliber rifles. These rifles are almost exclusively used, by civilians, for long-range target shooting. See this news report:
https://www.njsendems.org/ban-on-high-powered-50-caliber-weapons-approved/
I, personally, have never seen a reported case of a 50 caliber weapon being used to commit a murder. Yet, as the above report illustrates, they are routinely demonized as military weapons by media sources.
The narrative, by the firearms-prohibitionists, is that they want to increase public safety, reduce crime, and end so-called “Gun Violence”. Yet, it is apparent that, from their relatively low used in criminal activity, bans on all three of the above types of arms would do little to achieve these stated goals.
So, the firearms-prohibitionists spin a narrative about crime and “Gun Violence” yet offer no proposals that would actually accomplish these stated goals. Isn’t that special?
Logically, one can ONLY conclude that their narratives are nothing but deception and disinformation. Clearly, their goals ARE NOT to reduce crime and “Gun Violence”.
So, what is they true purpose of this campaign of disinformation? Why do the firearms-prohibitionists pick these particular targets?
In my view, these targets are selected because these types of arms are particularly useful for militia service by private citizens. Military style semi-automatic rifles, equipped with standard capacity magazines, would make ideal militia weapons. These 50 caliber target rifles could, clearly, be put to militia use as long-range sniper and anti-material weapons.
Which reinforces the points that I have made in previous comments. The purpose of the firearms-prohibition movement is to disarm the American People. Disarm them to the point where effect militia units, to defend American freedom, could no longer be formed and adequately armed.
This is why the prohibitionists no longer focus very much on handguns (like they did years ago). They want to disarm the American People by targeting the most effective firearms, for militia use, first. Handguns are great for personal defense but do not make great militia arms. So, the gun-grabbers are going for the most effective “militia” weapons first. Shotguns and handguns can then be targeted in a second wave of confiscation with each wave of banning creating a more and more helpless population.
Conclusion: The Anti-gun movement cares nothing about ending crime or violence. Such claims are pure narrative and propaganda. The real goal is to disarm the American People. The legislative targets, that they select, prove that beyond doubt. Anyone who thinks that firearms-prohibition is about saving lives is a fool that has been deceived by the Left’s propaganda. This is about POWER and CONTROL over the American People. Don’t fall for the Left’s lies, folks!
Isn’t the best advice from our dementia ridden, kid addicted Ol’ Uncle Sniffy! Just fire off two rounds of 12ga in the air…problem solved!?
Great article. I couldn’t help wondering if this “woman alone in the woods thing” is an exclusively American problem. I know we like independence and self-reliance, but I doubt it would even be good for Rambo to live alone in the woods, or anywhere. Remember the Waltons, and multi-generational living? If the husband dies, you still have grandpa, and everyone else. What about The Golden Girls? Single women, (I mean women who find themselves alone, not necessarily single) could live together. Of course, that won’t work in America, where we are all so selfish, that we can’t get along with others.
So, I loved the article, and thought it great advice. But, I can’t help but think about how much strength there is in numbers.
I’ve made bad career decisions in my life, and I can’t make it on my own. Luckily, I get along very well with others, and have wonderful family members and friends. As inflation continues to eat up incomes, many more Americans are going to need help financially. We make money in groups of people, like corporations. We could spend money in groups, and pool our resources.
I know, Rambo is fine on his own. Fine until he gets ill. Oh, of course Rambo can perform surgery on himself. Yeah, right. We better learn how to get along with each other, and form effective teams.
You can be independent as long as you have health and wealth. If you lose either, you will need someone to help you.
U R perfectly correct, RW. Old Crazy Pierre had it right, too: “if you have too much pride, you won’t survive.” Unfortunately he did not live too long, either. Serious bad habits caught up with him. Also, I look at how our political results line up with our economic policies. Our strategic oil reserve is suddenly down to nothing, we have thoroughly armed and enabled the Taliban, Iran is going radioactive, public security is insecure, Social Security is falling behind inflation, the justice system is unbalanced, our sky, coasts, and borders are wide open, Covid-19 fanatics have gutted our military staffing, our Sky Marshals have been diverted, the presstitute Mob Media acts like it was originally funded by the surviving billionaire Nazi-Soviet Hitler secretary and multiple-agent Martin Bormann, the 2A is under continual counterattacks, etc. Pogo had it right: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” So many of our leaders are obviously compromised, and working for our adversaries, including the Devil himself. We can still look for the silver lining in every cloud, though, and do what we can, the willing working to work together., like RW. My motto is that God is the good, strongly supporting optimism.
see, this is why i’m reluctant to click on links. i don’t want my pooter to get coofid…
Thank you John and Linda, I’ll slap myself on the head.
Having read through the article I have a few comments about her firearms message. Depending upon the handgun skill level you want to reach/maintain, the “thousands of rounds” thing can be a gross exaggeration. Long ago, the South African Army discovered that doing all service pistol training dryfire and only issuing live ammo for qualification produced the same results as all live fire training. Dryfire is your friend. You do lose about 20% of your current skill level each month you don’t practice. Sight picture & trigger press are (supposed to be) the same regardless of whether or not the firearm is loaded.
Despite my personal history with short barreled self loading shotguns in my younger days, I don’t regard them in the same warm & fuzzy manner as many others do. This is particularly true on the farm. Particularly if you’ve got predatory critters chasing your (expensive) livestock out in a pasture. You’ve no clue where those pellets are gonna go and what ever critters you’re trying to scare might not have gotten the memo about running from a gunshot. In fact, they might realize that humans don’t run as fast as whatever they’re currently chasing and decide to go for the easy prey. Particularly true for feral/semi-feral dogs. We once had a pack who thought it was great fun to chase the mares & foals (it didn’t get beyond the initial chase). Most ran at the warning shot (into a large tree).
Yes, a shotgun is versatile and you can use rifled slugs to improve both range and accuracy, but it’s gonna take practice ($) to develop the skill and still might not be the best fit for your particular situation. Yes, you could always use a .22 rimfire, but quickly stopping an aggressive critter might asking too much. Some form of center fire rifle would be a better choice if you have pasture measured in acres.
I also didn’t see anything about getting some first aid training and having basic supplies on hand. Better yet, getting some training/gear beyond the wash/disinfect/band-aid level. LLEA response isn’t the only public service impacted by weather, distance and current events.
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