Getting started - Purchasing a first gun

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Coach McGuirk

I have not, you may have to enlighten me for this discussion. In my SHTF or TEOTWAWKI, as you put it, it involves 5 related families totalling about 37 people. In senario 1, we head to the cabin in the mountain, given we have time. Once there, I think a rifle is crucial to the hunting that would subsidize the food storage that is in place. With a handgun you are almost certainly outgunned in every situation.

<Tin foil hat removed>

FERFAL

1. Any survival plan that relies on hunting is deeply flawed IMO. Think about the rate of food gathering that would be required to feed 37 people. Think about thousands or millions of people doing the same thing. We have game laws because even recreational hunters are capable of completely wiping out game populations. The experience of other countries during times of starvation (Great Leap Forward in China) is that there is no game, no animals, not even grass or leaves.

2. The isolation of your cabin is a two-edged sword. See FERFAL. If an attack comes, it will be brutal and relentless, and there will be no help, because of your isolation. The number of scenarios where fleeing to the hills is the best thing is relatively small. Pandemics and economic collapse don't mean it is best to head for the hills.

3. For those of us living our lives, interacting with other human beings, whether by shopping or bartering or otherwise communicating, a handgun is more useful. Because it is concealable.