Lessons from Ferguson: Prepping for Civil Unrest and Martial LawDaisy Luther If you ever had any doubts about that statement, you need look no further than Ferguson, Missouri. Today, Governor Jay Nixon called in the National Guard. Martial law has officially arrived in Ferguson. Of course, this only makes it official. The past week has shown a militarized police force driving around in tanks, wearing body armor, and brutally responding to citizens. Martial law was already there and the Constitution was already suspended. Nixon just made it official. This is just the icing on the chaos cupcake, however. It all started a week ago when a police officer shot a black suspect. Suddenly, amidst cries of racism an absolute breakdown of society occurred within 24 hours of the shooting. People no longer governed themselves according to laws and morals. Store owners were forced to arm themselves to protect their businesses from a mob that looted with all of the joyful abandon of a lottery winner on a shopping spree. Cops responded, but were vastly outnumbered. Whether these officers were originally vicious individuals or whether fear of the mob mentality made them brutal, their responses were harsh and ruthless. This article isnt a debate on right vs. wrong. It isnt about whether Michael Brown deserved to be shot or whether he was an innocent victim. It isnt about the race of the looters, the cops, or the residents of Ferguson. It isnt even about the Constitutional rights that are being ground under the heels of boots. Im not getting into any of that. Its about watching and learning from the events in Ferguson, because this type of chaoscould be coming to a city near you. When society breaks down, it nearly always follows a distinct path. The main variable is how quickly the situation devolves. Hundreds perhaps thousands of protesters roamed West Florissant Avenue. Looters prowled several blocks of the main thoroughfare, damaging businesses and shattering glass in the few storefronts that had yet remained intact. The list of businesses on West Florissant that were looted on Sunday night included a Dominos Pizza, a Papa Johns Pizza, an OReillys Auto Parts and a Public Storage facility. Just west, on Chambers Road, a large group of looters trashed a small store called Dellwood Market. The store ended up on fire,according to a Facebook page called Ferguson Scanner Updates. I know that people are upset, but is this the justice for Mike Brown? the distraught owner asked,according to local CBS affiliate KMOV. A handful of protesters suffered gunshot wounds and the crowds prevented an ambulance from arriving on the scene. A large group of people had overrun a McDonalds on the street. Employees of the McDonalds were forced to lock themselves in a storage room until police arrived.(source) Heres a synopsis of the threats during such an event and what you can doto prepare for them. Looting In this case, theres nothing like a good sports analogy. The best defense is a good offense. The take-home lesson here is this: If the situation has broken down to the point that looters are running around carrying TVs down the street, youd better make it very clear that you are NOT a victim and that you WILL fight back. There are plenty of people who have been brainwashed by the media to believe that guns are bad who will be far easier pickings for those who want to steal. Looters will select the easiest targets not those who are clearly determined to fight back. The best way to win a fight is to avoid getting into that fight in the first place. Secure your home and lay low, but be prepared if trouble comes to visit. Here are some tips to make your home less of a target. Keep all the doors and windows locked. Secure sliding doors with a metal bar. Consider installing decorative grid-work over a door with a large window so that it becomes difficult for someone to smash the glass and reach in to unlock the door. Keep the curtains closed. Theres no need for people walking past to be able to see what you have or to do reconnaissance on how many people are present. Dont answer the door. Many home invasions start with an innocent-seeming knock at the door to gain access to your house. Keep pets indoors. Sometimes criminals use an animal in distress to get a homeowner to open the door for them. Sometimes people are just mean and hurt animals for fun. Either way, its safer for your furry friends to be inside with you. If, despite your best efforts, your property draws the attention of people with ill intent, you must be ready to defend your family and your home. Dont rely on 911. If the disorder is widespread, dont depend on a call to 911 to save you you must be prepared to save yourself. First responders may be tied up, and in some cases, the cops are not always your friends. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some officers joined in the crime sprees, and others stomped all over the 2nd Amendment and confiscated peoples legal firearms at a time when they needed them the most. Be armed and know how to use your weapon of choice. When the door of your home is breached, you can be pretty sure the people coming in are not there to make friendly conversation over a nice cup of tea. Make a plan to greet them with a deterring amount of force. Whatever your choice of weapon, practice, practice, practice. A weapon you dont know how to use is more dangerous than having no weapon at all. Heres some advice from someone who knows a lot more about weapons than I do. Have a safe roomestablished for children or other vulnerable family members. If the worst happens and your home is breached, you need to have a room into which family members can escape. This room needs to have a heavy exterior door instead of a regular hollow core interior door. There should be communications devices in the room so that the person can call for help, as well as a reliable weapon to be used in the event that the safe room is breached. The family members should be instructed not to come out of that room FOR ANY REASON until you give them the all clear or help has arrived. Plan an escape route.If the odds are against you, devise a way to get your family to safety. Your property is not worth your life. Its very important to make a defense plan well before you need one. Not every criminal frolicking through a WROL zone is there to steal. Some people want to hurt people just for the rush of power it gives them. There is no pacifist answer to an encounter like this. If someone wants to do harm because they find it enjoyable, or because they are swept up in a mob mentality, you have to meet force with greater force. In these situations, firearms are the great equalizer. I cant repeat this enough: you must practice. Frequently. If you dont know how to use a firearm, you shouldnt have it. When you handle your weapon awkwardly, its veryobvious to a person who is trying to intimidate you. Likewise, ifyou are so comfortable with your weapon that it looks like a natural extension of your arm, that is also very clear. It sends a message that you mean businessand that you know what youre doing.No one wants to get shot.Most thugs will search for an easier target. Of course, its better still to avoid these encounters. When your city is under siege, its far safer to stay home. Dont go to work or send the kids to school. Wait until normalcy returns to go about your business. It isnt worth risking your life. Of enormous concern in these situations is the destruction of property. While this starts out as purely a property crime, the situation can quickly turn violent. If someone is outside bashing the headlights of your vehicle, it isnt a far stretch to think that theyll bash on you if you confront them. How to respond to this is a very individual decision, and depends to a great extent on your personal skill levels and confidence. If you are a person who is unaccustomed to physical confrontations, you may be better off staying inside and calling your insurance company after the fact. No possession is worth your life or the lives of your family. Alternatively, in some situations, it wont stop with the destruction of your property. You may have to defend your home. Fire is of enormous concern in these types of scenarios. Fire is a cowardly attack that doesnt require any interaction on the part of the arsonist. It flushes out the family inside, leaving you vulnerable to physical assaults. Be ready for the potential of fire. Be sure to test them frequently and maintain them properly. (Allstate has a page about fire extinguisher maintenance.) Have bug-out bags prepared that containall of your important documents in them in case you have to grab and go. The most preventable issue in the event of civil unrest is running out of supplies. If you have to run out to the store that makes it far more likely that you will become the victim of a crime. The best advice I can give in all of this is to STAY HOME. But if you have no food and water, its difficult to do so. Many residents of Ferguson are facing exactly this problem. They are stuck at home and have run out of groceries. Griffin, 37, said he grew up in the area and hes concerned about the welfare of local residents. Hes also putting together care packages to people who are stuck because of the protests and curfew, he said. (source: St. Louis Times) So, after only ONE WEEK, people are running out of food or discovering there is a necessity that they dont have on hand. ONE WEEK. I cant imagine not having enough supplies to withstand a siege of only a week. The way this is snowballing, the situation could easily last for a lot longer than just a week. Even if you think preppingis silly and paranoid, how could anyone watching this unfold not feel as though they need to be stocked up for at least a month? Ferguson is not a bad neighborhood in New York City. Its a little suburb of just over 20,000 people. If this can happen in Ferguson, Missouri, it can happen where you are, and it can happen without any warning at all. Here is a general list of supplies to have on hand. Rememberthat sometimes power supplies are lost during situations like this. Occasionally officials do this to gain more control over the populace and sometimes it happens as a side-effect of the wholesale destruction by the rioters. Keep the potential for a down-grid situation in mind when preparing. Martial Law It seems that right now in Ferguson, the US Constitution has been suspended. The National Guard has been called in to help police restore order. Like I said above, this is not an article about the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of what is going on down there, nor is it about police brutality or racial tensions. This article focuses on surviving the situation should such an event occur in your town. The reality is this: While many of the officers involved most likely just want to resolve the situation and go home to their families, the methods being used are not methods most of us wish to encounter. In a highly charged situation like this, police and military are trained to use the most efficient methods to speedily shut down a conflict.These methods can include tear gas, sound cannons, and outright physical assaults on citizens. Its important to note that fear can be a powerful motivator when deciding how much force is appropriate when addressing a threat. Cops are just as subject to fear as the rest of us. 20 cops with shields and batons would bequite reasonable to fear an angry mob of hundreds of shouting people. Your safety when interacting with officials during a martial law situation does not rely on theintentions of police officers and military. It really doesnt matter if they are trying to crush your rights under a jack-booted heel, or whether they are trying to benevolently keep people safe and re-establish peace and harmony. Here are some suggestions to help keep you safe when dealing with cops and soldiers. Be polite. If you have to interact with officers, be courteous. You wont restore the Constitution by arguing with them or threatening them. Its fine to assert your rights you dont have to allow them to search your house without cause, for example, but do so civilly. Belligerence will get you nothing but a beat-down. You dont get to explain. In a highly charged situation, the cops probably arent going to listen to you when you try to explain that youre just taking that baseball bat in your hand over to your nephews house so he can hit some balls in the backyard. No matter how innocent your intentions are, if youre walking like a duck, youre going to be treated like a duck. Training will kick in, and perceived threats will be immediately neutralized by whatever means the cops find necessary. Stay home.It really isnt worth risking your physical safety to go see whats going on. Underneath the uniform, cops are human. Im not justifying the brutality, the methods theyre using, or the assaults on journalists. Cops are just as likely to be swept up in a herd mentality as thugs are during a high stress situation. By understanding this, you can be better prepared. Just stay home. I really cant repeat that often enough. Its the number one way to keep yourself safe from every single threat mentioned in this article. If you find yourself in an area under siege, the odds will be further on your side for every interaction in which you avoid taking part. Every single time you leave the house, you increaseyour chances of an unpleasant encounter. Nothing will be accomplished by going out duringa chaotic situation. And for the love of all thats holy, dont go to a protest and take your children, even if its supposed to be peaceful. I cant even wrap my brain around thinking THAT was a good idea. Stay. Home. Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. 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