From Looters to Rulers: The Evolution of SHTF Gangs

[00:00:00] Planning a fishing trip shouldn't feel like a full-time job. With FishingBooker.com, you can find and book the perfect fishing trip within minutes. FishingBooker.com connects you with trusted fishing captains around the world. Booking is fast, easy and secure, with access to verified customer reviews, loyalty rewards, and around-the-clock customer support. Everything you need to book with confidence is in one place. So head to FishingBooker.com and start planning your next fishing adventure today.

[00:00:41] Have you ever wondered where if people, you know, you hear about preppers that say, well, I have guns so you can stock all the food and all the everything you want, but I'm just going to come take it from you. I just watch who's prepping and I just make sure I'm going to go steal their stuff, right? That's always the plan, right? You always hear that guy. Is that you have that guy in your neighborhood, Kevin?

[00:01:09] Yeah. No, and that guy's at every gun show. That guy's at every prepper meeting. That guy's always around. And that's his big plan. He ain't going to do nothing until, you know, things go wrong. And then he's just going to kill all his neighbors. Kill all his neighbors. Good to have friends like that, right? That's their plan. And honestly, it's not really a solid plan. No. That doesn't mean people aren't going to do it. Right. It is some people's plans. So that's, that's one of the thing we always.

[00:01:37] Now a mutual assistance group is a great idea and is absolutely a good, honorable, realistic, practical way to have your guys survive the apocalypse. And that's what you want. We're not really talking about mutual assistance groups in this episode.

[00:01:58] This is more the brutality and the, you know, you hear like clans or, you know, gangs forming after, you know, people want to be warlords in their region. They want to control and it always gets bad. And the people who survive in a, in an environment like that. Well, one, it's going to take something on your part because brutality is a hard thing to overcome.

[00:02:28] That's like you dealing with a serial killer. You know, you're just like, it's unexpected. It's unpredictable and it's ruthless. You know, you always, you know, the guy who's going to stick his thumb in your eye in a fight. You don't want to fight that guy. Cause it's not going to be fun. Um, you know, the guy who, you know, you always watch like, uh, I had to watch the Sopranos and there was an episode.

[00:02:54] I think like Chrissy sitting around with a bunch of union guys and, and they're out like construction or something. And they're sitting under a bridge and they're all talking and whatever. And the guy says something stupid about somebody's wife or something like that. And he's like, Oh, Oh, it's good. Don't worry about it. I know we're just joking around here. Oh, okay. And then a second later, you know, the beer bottle crashed across his face. You don't see that coming.

[00:03:21] Right. And that's the thing with the level of brutality. You don't see it coming. Cause it's so far out of our norm and our reality. But we're going to talk about where these people would hide what these people who, who are these people? What kind of, you know, stuff they're going to have, how they're going to do it, how they're going to convince people to stay with them until they're big enough to force people to stay with them.

[00:03:50] Or, you know, it becomes the only option. You know, there are some places where, you know, might makes right. And it's not a good thing and it's not a good way to be. So morally, absolutely. It's going to be a bad thing. And I hate to say the people who rise to power like this are going to be people who are willing to take advantage right away. Right.

[00:04:16] You know, you could maybe take over like a local armory, you know, usually their staff by probably like 10 people or something, you know, at any given time, like in a normal day. Right. When some event isn't going on some something, but you might be able to run in and, and kind of shake things up and catch people off guard in the first six hours of something going bad. Yeah.

[00:04:42] But if you wait a week, you wait even two days, all of a sudden they're going to be ready to protect this place. And you're not just rolling in without something serious. Um, so that's something to think about. Uh, Kevin, has this ever happened before? Do we have examples in history? Well, I mean, that was, uh, that was a big thing during the great depression, right?

[00:05:04] Um, Bonnie and Clyde, they were at, they outgunned all the police officers cause they raided an armory and they all had a Browning automatic rifles. You know, the AR. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That'll do it. That'll give you a leg up, you know? Mm hmm. Right. And pistols got a, uh, uh, or the police have a six gun, you know, a six, six, uh, barrel revolver.

[00:05:28] And it's not really, uh, not really, uh, you know, you can't compete with an automatic machine gun. They didn't all, the police didn't all have full auto machine guns like they do today, Kevin. Right. That's right. It wasn't, they weren't the military back then. Now the police are. They are. They are the squad teams and apparently justified is what they would tell you because obviously you might have somebody like Bonnie and Clyde show up. Right. Right.

[00:05:55] So, um, yeah, so there are a lot of been a lot of examples of this sort of stuff when things go bad. Uh, there's always somebody that, you know, is vicious enough and nasty enough and can survive long enough to, uh, you know, to start running things. And that's, uh, that's kind of what happened in Haiti. Um, gangs control, uh, 85% of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Okay.

[00:06:23] And the main gang that's, that's in control is the revelation revolutionary forces of the G9 Family and allies. Okay. That's a, it's a federation of 12 armed groups led by a former police officer named Jimmy Barbecue. Share is it. So he's really good at barbecue. So what you're saying? Like he used to be the go-to guy for parties at the, uh, the police, you know? Yeah.

[00:06:50] Well, he actually, um, he says he got his name because his, his mother used to sell fried chicken on the street. Okay. And that he says that's where he got a chicken. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Who does it really? Everybody else says though, he got that name because, uh, he likes to light people on fire. So, um, he was involved. He says he wasn't, but he was involved in multiple massacres, you know, nine people here, eight people over here.

[00:07:18] And, uh, basically now, um, controls the entire city. And if you want to eat, you got to go to, to Jimmy barbecue. I mean, that's what it always was though. His mom started out with the chicken and now he wants to control the chicken. You know, it's like a chicken empire. I see, you know, where they're going with this. I mean, that's how I imagine that show, uh, breaking bad, right?

[00:07:46] They got the chicken franchise and he's selling the meth. Maybe it's really just because he really loved chicken, wanted a lot of chicken places. And it's hard to keep them in business. You know, small business is not easy, Kevin. No, no. Especially restaurants. They go out a little bit, right? You're in a tough neighborhood or something. You got to have a little something, a little meth kick back, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:11] There's a chicken place, uh, you know, in, in the city that I live near that, that chicken is addictive, man. I wouldn't be shocked if there's some meth in that, you know? Yeah. Kennedy, Kennedy fried chicken. It's KFC. It's just not really Kentucky. You know, it's different. Kentucky. All right. So I guess let's talk about what kind of guys, like who are going to be the ones that can successfully rise to power.

[00:08:40] Now, again, you're definitely going to have psychos who just with brutality are going to end up killing a bunch of people and kind of, you know, can kind of dominate something. But again, your average good guy, there's a lot of guys in a lot of states that have guns all the time. Mm-hmm . You know, there's other states like New York where good people aren't allowed to have guns. Right. It's only criminals. We like to keep it that way. Yeah.

[00:09:09] And the police. But I mean, in New York, that's kind of like the same thing. You guys are a good guy, Kevin? Yeah, exactly. Now you're, now you're seeing what I'm putting. Yeah. If you want to buy steroids in, in my area, you have to go to the police department to get them. Yeah. You just knock on the door. I don't know. So yeah, let's talk about who these guys are and what they do. So it's going to be like former law enforcement.

[00:09:36] You know, you just gave an example of, you know, the type of people. It could be like the SWAT team, right? You know, we all saw the shield, right? These guys, you know, were the kind of shady characters. Organized crime, right? You have established gangs that have been, you know, warlords and that kind of thing. Mm hmm. Uh, it there's a lot of bad people, Kevin. Um, yeah, that's right.

[00:10:05] And I think a lot of, uh, a lot of these, these gangs that are lower level, um, you know, an organized crime too, they start as a way to like help their community, you know, protect their neighborhood. The grandma down the street, make sure she's got her bills paid and things like that. And they escalate, you know, and they escalate and get worse. And they may see themselves as like helping everybody, helping their neighborhood in an emergency.

[00:10:32] And if you're not the, one of the people that are helping in the neighborhood, you might get lit on fire, you know? Well, Kevin, cause those people are part of the problem. They're not part of the solution. Right. You need to share your resources. That's, you know, there, and they'll make you do that. Yeah, no, exactly. The, uh, so I do have kind of a list, right? Uh, some guys here. Now you have like corrupt breakaway law enforcement, right?

[00:11:01] They have an existing authority mindset. You probably didn't know this, but a lot of cops like to kind of be in control. You, you probably never saw that happen or play out. Um, they also, I think have a imagined, uh, authority presumed, you know, they should be in charge. They're cops, right? That makes sense. Um, former military. Now these guys, they know what they're doing.

[00:11:29] Now you also have like private security contractors, the guys who are like the hard course, you know, the right. The former seals, the, the, you know, tough guys, all the ones I know we're all just have. I mean, I wasn't one of the cool tough guys. I'm just saying we all just have bad knees. I'm just thinking veterans in general, bad backs, bad knees. Yeah. Everything's been kind of hit hard pretty early on. Yeah. My shoulder doesn't move like that anymore. Yeah, exactly. You know, it's like, oh yeah, tough guy.

[00:11:59] And it just, and now I like sit in a chair, you know, maybe a cigar and a beer, you know, that, that guy's sleeping. I'm just resting my eyes. Right. Exactly. Um, there was that show Titus and, uh, yeah, he was, he, one of his jokes. He's like, yeah, I thought I could beat my dad. All he does is sit around and, and smoke cigars or cigarettes and drink beer. And I was like, yeah, I got him. And he's like, turns out he was just resting.

[00:12:28] You end up, you know, you beat some ass, uh, but, and that's the thing. There is some brutality. They also former military. They understand logistics. They understand, especially guys like Rangers and things like that, who spent time looking how to set up and organize groups, how to train groups, how to control a region. Those guys are going to be amazing at this kind of, you know, thing if they have that bad guy mindset.

[00:12:56] Now, obviously every military person is a good person. So, you know, I, as a veteran myself, Kevin, I'm sure you can attest. You've never met a bad military member. I've never met anybody that got drunk and. Right. Out a random person at a bar. And they're, they're always have a strict adherence to the rules. Um, another thing would be like organized crime, that kind of stuff. Guys like that. Uh, they already operate outside the laws.

[00:13:26] So this isn't going to be. You know, something new to them. They have a built in hierarchy used to enforcement revenue models, comfortable with violence and intimidation. However. They kind of usually are in the mindset of short term thinking. I know, you know, you might say, well, MS-13 like taking over the whole country. That's not short term. All right. I hear you, but I'm just saying in general. Right. Right.

[00:13:54] Outlaw clubs like a biker gang, Kevin, that kind of thing. Or. Just in line with biker gangs, survivalist militia types. Practically the same thing. Yeah. Practically the same thing. Yeah. Now, I, I think that, uh, one of the things that I think is interesting about, uh, the MS 13. Yeah. Is they actually started as a neighborhood watch to help, you know, underprivileged their underprivileged community.

[00:14:24] And now they're one of the most violent, you know, groups in, in the United States today. Exactly. Um, the, uh, the hell's angels and, and other motorcycle clubs. Uh, those guys are, you know, they live outside of the law and that's, that's true. And the police don't really go after those guys anymore. It's too hard to get, you know, in with those gangs and they're running guns. You know, that's, it's not the type of people that, you know, that play around.

[00:14:53] And so a lot of these, uh, a lot of these groups are, you know, living outside of the law. And when the law collapses, um, you know, they're going to be the ones that are in charge. Like I said, it's that initial quick grab of resources, right?

[00:15:12] Like think about when you're going down the street and an EMP happens and you, your car dies, you look at your cell phone, you have several things, a laptop that you had charged up on the back. See, you power that up or you try to, and you know, it's not working. And you see every vehicle just died.

[00:15:36] You see every light going out is your first thought, Kevin, you're a seasoned prepper. Are you going to immediately be like, Oh, I need to get into that seven 11 and just grab everything and run out. Right. I'm going to, I'm going to smash that old lady clerk. That's working the cat, hot dogs, slurpees. Everything's coming home with me. So some people you have that, like, I'm a thug. I'm going to just take advantage of any opportunity.

[00:16:06] However, I imagine they don't, a lot of them don't have the forethought of like being aware, Hey, this is an EMP. This is going to be a long-term bigger thing. I assume they're not in this game that it's not that general knowledge, but maybe it is. And. Cause they also worry about, you know, Hey, I don't want to go to jail.

[00:16:31] I don't want to get shot, but I don't think it's going to take that long either for some people to, you know, you get one or two to test the boundaries and then other people start following in. And I remember when I was, yeah, I was a young man. I lived in, in San Diego in an apartment complex and the power went out.

[00:16:53] And, um, you know, I was sitting on the, on the steps with my neighbor bullshitting and we saw this guy walk past and the neighbor jumped up, said, Hey, who are you? And, uh, what are you doing here? And fucking ran and chased them off. And I was like, what the hell is going on? He said, people do that, man. The power goes out and they start looking around houses, looking for shit to rob immediately. You know, people that are opportunists like that will see chaos as a advantage, something to be taken advantage of. Absolutely.

[00:17:23] And they're going to get an immediate foothold, but then can they hold it and maintain it? And, and let's kind of, you know, go down that, that road a little bit. What, uh, what type of things. Uh, it's going to say, uh, other things on my thing where, uh, on my list were like skilled trades, you know, like an organization or group work. Just people are used to working together and have a structure.

[00:17:50] Um, but again, the guy who's good at being a manager at the factory might not be the guy who's best in charge of your tactical command, you know? So that is something that, you know, think about, but there is that whole corporate thing. Religious groups are good at having a bunch of people together, but the odds that they're all tactical and, and ready to go. That's another story. So let's, how, how do you take control?

[00:18:21] Right. What, what's going to make a gang actually survive and thrive is going to be how they control things. So they're going to want to control like choke points, like highways, bridges, fuel depot. Right. So we were thinking, I was trying to kind of brainstorm what kind of like building would they take over? You know, everybody in their mind always wants to go take over the Walmart. Cause it's got the right sources.

[00:18:49] I'm going to talk about that in a minute, but maybe the fuel depot is the place to go. Right. If you have an endless supply, you know, I, I know where Kevin lives. There's a giant tank down on the river where one, you can be right on the river. And two, you can have, it's gotta be like, I don't know, like 10,000 gallons or more. It's gotta be more than that. 100,000 gallons at least. Yeah. It's crazy.

[00:19:17] And you're kind of limitless control. You control something like that. Um, but that's, you know, that that's where you take charge. So even just taking over a gas station, if you nipped it in the bud, you know, you'd have a lot of gas there. However, usually in a crisis, first thing people do is go get gas. And I imagine they'd already be kind of depleted or whatever at the local, you know, right at the local gas station store.

[00:19:45] Not the, you know, not the big center. Um, water having access to clean water is going to be a huge resource. And if you can control it and say, Hey, I have clean water, but you're going to have to trade me something, you know, bring me something good. And you can get some water that's clean and ready to go. Uh, obviously medical resources, you know, you take over that CBS. Although I use Walgreens and they never seem to have anything in stock when I need it.

[00:20:15] So I don't really know if they actually have what you need, but, uh, and they always say like the pharmacies are the first thing, then the vets and the things like that. Cause they have, right. They have similar drugs, but it's an afterthought, you know, that people think of the vet and the local, you know, animal thing, um, controlling farms and food production.

[00:20:38] To me, that's not going to be the first thing people go to, but that's something long-term logistically that they'd want to think about. Um, obviously warehouses and distribution centers. Um, I, I didn't watch it, but I know the walking dead. I think they had some kind of big distribution system. Yeah. I think that that's, there's a lot of them. And, and, and, you know, honestly, uh, truck drivers know most of those areas, you know, I, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would, I would,

[00:21:08] I would want to have a friend that was a truck driver that knew where the distribution centers are. And I know where one is that only because it's by my house, you know, I know I see it, but there's a lot that are, you know, kind of off the road and set back a little bit, not necessarily easily identifiable. And, uh, you know, some of these guys, you know, and a lot of these truck drivers are, you know, they're, they're coordinating with each other.

[00:21:33] They're talking to each other, letting you know where the speed trap, letting each other know where the speed traps are, you know? Right. So that might be a, uh, a group that, you know, would have access to resources and, and have a bit of a coordination. Right. So let's, let's go down that road for a minute. Like what type of places would be the best? So one comes to mind is industrial sites, right?

[00:22:00] So factories, like I said, distribution centers, shipping hubs, they usually have fencing controlled entry points, heavy equipment, like forklifts and stuff like that. I know the factory I work at any given time, you could probably have 20 or 30 completely charged up, uh, fork trucks available to you.

[00:22:23] And if you're reasonable with your efforts, a fully charged fork truck, you're getting a full day of moving stuff out of each one, you know? Yeah. A very full day. But again, if I remember correctly, I, there was an a team episode where BA Baracus welded steel plate to a forklift and they defeated the enemies with machine guns because they had the armor plated forklift. So just throwing it out there.

[00:22:51] And you got some weight, some pushing force. You got some good stuff there. All right. Uh, another one that people wouldn't maybe think of firsthand, but that would be great would be like shipping ports or like a container depot or train yard. So you have big stockpiles, right? With the containers, you know, unknown goods. You don't know what you get, but it's like playing the lottery. Right. Right. Right.

[00:23:16] Built in choke points and access control, uh, transportation, maybe depending on the, you know, the event that happens, right? How bad it is. But that's more about like a economic control center. Like, cause you could have all these resources right there. That's what I always wonder about the, the, uh, the distribution centers kind of know what it is.

[00:23:44] Like, I know there's a big Pepsi distribution center, not that far away from Kevin and there's some other ones, but some might be like gap furniture, gap clothes and furniture and whatever. You don't know, unless like Kevin said, you know, the truckers and stuff have the inside scoop, you know, uh, what's going where. So understand what that distribution center is, but also a big buildings kind of cool.

[00:24:10] Um, the next thing, how about schools and like college campuses? Uh, yeah. Some of the negatives are going to be all the entrances usually into these buildings. So it might be tough to fortify, but if you have the right crew and a lot of it is like all windows and all glass doors. Yeah. But they've been planning for, for school shootings for so many years now that probably easy to lock it, lock everything down. Yeah. There you go. So it's kind of to your advantage.

[00:24:40] Cause the kids are going to go home, right? When there's an emergency, I mean, at least by the end of the day. Right. Right. That's your chance to move in. You don't want to be babysitting a bunch of kids. That's not really a fun thing. Um, all right, I'm in charge kids. It's not everyone sit down, quiet down. No, they're not going to listen to you anyway. And they have a lot of SAS kids talk back. It's not a good, um, multiple buildings.

[00:25:08] There is one of the things people don't think about is usually schools have a cafeteria and they have a stockpile of food for all these kids. So that is something to think about. Like usually the big 50 pound bags of flowers, stuff like that, that they can do volume. So that could be a resource.

[00:25:29] Now, again, how long, if you have a, uh, you build yourself a little army of 20 guys, how long is 50, a couple of 50 pound bags of flower going to really go? Not that far. That's not going to be your end all, but it's a nice bonus, right? It's a happy. Um, there's also like office complexes, like tech campuses, business parks, that kind of thing. So a lot of times they have parking garages, which are kind of cool.

[00:25:59] Um, it's defensive. You can kind of be protected. Uh, if you still had power, they usually have surveillance, that kind of stuff. Usually again, back to the cafeteria, some at backup generators, um, national guard, right? We talked about the, you know, or police training facilities. Uh, these are big targets, uh, decommissioned bases might be something to think about this.

[00:26:27] Cause even if like, say the army packs up and goes out of there, cause they're trying to consolidate a bigger basis. These buildings are still designed to be defensive, right? They're set up. They have strategic. They're, they're pretty cool. Um, another one people think about is, uh, hospitals, hospitals. Yeah. You have the medical supplies. I talked about, you have the power backup, but you also have a lot of sick dead people.

[00:26:55] And I imagine they didn't all get out of there right away. Right. Right. It just sounds like a mess. Um, that doesn't, and there's different levels of, I'd want to go of hospitals that my local hospital here in town is it's really, you just go there to die. You know what I mean? Like they don't, they don't cure anybody. You gotta go, you gotta go. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay. So it's not like you really want to be taking care of a bunch of, uh, but I mean, you know,

[00:27:23] if you're an asshole, you don't really have to take care of them. Just roll them, roll them out the window. Kevin, that sounds horrible. Um, campgrounds, something like that, especially more remote. Uh, you know, usually that unexpected, unsuspecting boy scout camp. Something like that. But again, but you have a big perimeter that it's going to be tough.

[00:27:46] Uh, I feel like you'd have to have some numbers to really defend a campground or a camp, something like that. I mean, how cool would it be if there was a fence around it, but good luck finding that, you know, um, construction sites, quarries. Uh, think of, imagine if you had a couple of front end loaders and maybe a dump truck and usually places like that have fuel tanks on site.

[00:28:16] Um, again, you're not going to have limitless, but I bet you, you could run that equipment to set up all your, you know, gravel piles and things like that. I bet you'd be able to do that. No problem. You're probably not driving to the grocery store and back in the loader a couple of times, but you know, you could probably get work, some things out. So there's some cool, you know, defensive advantages that, you know, are kind of cool there.

[00:28:45] But again, you want to think a location. You do want to think about what you can control that kind of stuff. So these, hopefully these tactics will give you some kind of idea what people are thinking. Um, what I mentioned the Walmart and I think it's not really the go-to that you're thinking of wine. I think you are going to have a manager and a couple of people who are going to be like,

[00:29:15] Hey, we're not letting you in here. Who are going to give you a little resistance to you're thinking, well, I bet that manager doesn't have a gun. It's probably against Walmart policy, but you know, they have a gun section, right? Right, right. They do actually have guns and ammo, um, to maybe, and I feel like you might not be the only person heading to Walmart. That's my next point. Yeah, exactly.

[00:29:41] Um, I considered stadiums, but I feel like you'd need a huge group. You know what I'm saying? They're not, they're bigger than you think. And to be able to control that, that's a lot of perimeter to try and protect and, you know, keep a hold of. So maybe not the go-to, but something to think about now. All right.

[00:30:05] Why, how is this guy going to build an army is kind of my next thought is so one, if you go in and you take over some resources, right? You're like, Hey, I control the water. Hey, I control the fuel. Well, I bet you, you could find 10 tactical guys. If you had the fuel depot who, as long as they didn't want to just take it from you,

[00:30:33] you know, you kind of, especially if it's a group, you know, your gun club or whatever, and you go take over this fuel depot, you know, and obviously if the power comes back on and things go back to normal, you tell the police, you were just securing it for them. Right. You're just making sure the town had the resources. You knew this was a vital infrastructure. You thought this was a terrorist attack and you were looking, uh, you know, help out. Yeah.

[00:31:01] And then the police that show up are the banditos, which is a huge gang in California of police officers. So, you know, who knows? Yeah. That's the thing. We need it for us. You know, I have the kid at home who, uh, you know, has MS or something and I need resources that I can be, you know, I have to have access to the hospital stuff and the, you know, you get the idea, uh, old malls.

[00:31:31] That's another thing people could, uh, think about, you know, now how cool would it be if that mall was actually stocked? Yeah. Which isn't the case anymore. Back in the day. But now you just have like, what is it? Uh, what Spencer's gifts or something? They're out of business too. They're out of business. Okay. It's nothing. I haven't even seen a mall in forever, but if they existed, that'd be one more thing. But so how do you get people to join?

[00:31:59] So you can offer the resources. Hey, I have water come trade and we have cool stuff. Oh, you have a special skill. Maybe you'd like to join us. Um, things sound good. Uh, but as things go on, it's kind of like by force. Think of, uh, you know who the best example, if you were serious about, you wanted to be the bad guy Raider, you might want to study Genghis Khan.

[00:32:28] You might want to go back. We did an episode on Genghis Khan and his tactics. He basically would roll in with such intense force that everybody just like, well, we surrender. We good. And he's like, join us or die. And they were all like, join you. Sounds pretty good. Now, obviously you have to have a big enough force that that makes sense.

[00:32:54] And you got to kind of weed out of how do you know they're not going to say, yeah, I'm on your team. And then wait till you go to sleep and then go knife you in the back. That's where the lessons from the Stassi and everybody, you just need snitches everywhere. Lots of snitches. They're the key to surviving long-term. Now, again, you're like, Chuck, that sounds horrible.

[00:33:22] That's absolutely the worst world that I would ever want to be in. And that's part of why, you know, when you deal with dirtbags, you end up with dirtbags. Like somebody who will do the brutal, cruel things. That guy is not exactly somebody you want to be your friend. Right. And that's where the version of a mutual assistance group, somebody who, you know, actually plans

[00:33:52] and stores stuff. You guys get together. Maybe you have the hunting property that you have. Maybe you're all same, you know, members of a hunting lodge or a shooting range. I know out by Kevin, those things are kind of popular because, you know, there's nowhere else to do it. Whereas in the Southland, it's kind of like, yeah, why would we have a gun club? Because my backyard is a gun club. Right. Everybody. We just, we do what we want.

[00:34:20] And you're like, oh, well, what about the cities in the South? Yeah. Have you seen Rocky Mount? It's like a gun club down there. You know, they're, they go down and they don't call it murder mount for nothing. That's all. But that's the idea. These people are not going to be the people you want to align yourself with.

[00:34:45] However, all that said, there is some question of how do you look at the morality of, you know, I know that that store is going to be looted. Do I go get mine to protect my family and, you know, get my fair share and, and go take it? That's where it always kind of, you know, kind of comes where what, what's the right answer.

[00:35:15] But the answer is you stockpile stuff and you have it and you find a way to protect it for yourself beforehand. So you're not in a desperate emergency. The honest answer is you're not going to be able to get enough good stuff running in and grabbing the 7-Eleven, you know, emptying out the candy bars or whatever.

[00:35:37] That you couldn't really do a lot better with 200 bucks at Sam's Club prior to buying big bags of rice and flour. You know, you can feed as many bellies off the one as you can off of the other. Now, I know it, it seems like you could go to, you know, well, yeah, but Chuck, I'm not going to 7-Eleven. I'm going to the grocery store. And yeah, but what can you carry away?

[00:36:02] Anyway, Kevin talked to me in reading a novel the other day that they basically kept running into the grocery store and they hid little stash piles all around. So that way they didn't have to take the stuff home. Now, I feel like people would be watching you and just go dig it up as you're burying it. You know, he just brought out stuff. He went into the danger and now I can walk away and take more.

[00:36:29] And this guy buried it in the snow to keep it hidden. Cool. But I feel like people are going to notice you running in and out of the store. Right. Is all I'm saying. So keep that in mind. Yeah. And there's a thin line between looting and scavenging. You know what I mean? If, is it really looting if you're, you know, grabbing food for your, for your family and there's nobody around? Yeah.

[00:36:55] It's still looting, but you know, not as much as stealing a bunch of TVs that, you know, but, uh, you know, you see, you see these things in, um, I remember, uh, was it hurricane, uh, Katrina down in, uh, New Orleans. Yeah. And they had different pictures and different newspapers of the same people in the same place. And one headline says people looting and one headline says people scavenging water to drink, you know?

[00:37:23] And, you know, if, if it's survival, you should take that water, you know, but, uh, you know, there's a thin line there. Yep. No, exactly. Well, the thing is I I've actually had this discussion with my kids and it wasn't really about the apocalypse and, and surviving like that, but a discussion of decide your morality, um, decide what's right and wrong now.

[00:37:51] And then anytime something changes in the world and you're ready to change your opinion, it's okay to change your mind. Right. But make sure you understand why that, but decide what you're willing to do, you know, beforehand and know your moral code and then go from there.

[00:38:12] But I also know by planning ahead, by being the prepper guy, you can actually avoid having to make these hard decisions. You know, you don't have to go put your life in danger, going to the grocery store when people are shooting each other. You could go to the grocery store today and bring that stuff home, put it away securely. And then when bad things come, you'd be like, Oh, I'm good. I don't need to go out.

[00:38:41] We always in our mind though, and in the prepper novels. And I, I feel like reality we would be like, well, yeah, but I could go get a little bit more, even if it's, I can go out and buy five more things. I don't think we're really thinking, Oh, I can go loot some stuff. I think we're thinking, Oh, you know, if I went and bought, you know, whatever's on the shelf, it might be better. Or it always seems like, Oh, my gas cans are empty now when things go bad, you know? Right.

[00:39:09] Like that kind of stuff, like it, ah, crap. You know, it's right. It caught me at the one bad time, but there's always something more we could be doing, but that's why it's so important to like take an inventory as a prepper to kind of, you know, check your, your supplies. Make sure the mice aren't getting in, make sure things are working and, you know, operating the way you should. So that way you'll be able to, you know, to enjoy life a little bit longer.

[00:39:39] Like you get an extra two days before your kids are hungry because you're a prepper, you know, that kind of thing. Um, maybe go to prepper camp. Uh, I am told if they're going to ask you how you heard about prepper camp. If you put Chuck Yeager as your, where you heard about it, when you go to buy your tickets, I think I get like 20 bucks or something.

[00:40:04] So it'll be like a little benefit for you, but I get something out of it. You know, so maybe think about that one and be like Chuck Yeager. How do I remember that name? Oh, he's that awesome guy who broke the sound barrier. Put that one in and yeah, that'll help. So anyway, maybe that'll help, but, uh, that's what I got. Kevin, are you going to be a warlord or are you just going to like hunker down?

[00:40:33] Or are you just going to head off to the woods, man? Maybe you're going to be the, I'm going to go to the woods. I'm going to, I'm going to start a little hippie commune there. It's going to turn into a cult. I'm going to be sleeping with everybody's wives. Smart. Kevin, I like your play. It's long-term planning. All right. I like it. So with that, I appreciate you guys. Stay safe and we'll talk to you guys next week.