Like a bad penny, I just keep turning up — but unlike a bad penny, what I bring you every Wednesday is actually worth something! Here’s another great group of articles to help you keep yourself and your loved ones safe from all sorts of bad things.
Pay attention to this before taking another shooting class
Claude Werner is fond of saying that gun owners could do a lot for their personal safety by taking a Dale Carnegie course. I agree with him, and it’s not just gun owners who would benefit — a whole lot of bad incidents could be avoided if everyone remembered just one thing. What is that one thing? Read this article to find out. Then spend as much time practicing it as you do your speed draw.
Securing your mobile data
It’s getting harder and harder to live a safe life, particularly where your personal information and data is concerned. It seems that every week brings a new story about a high-level data intrusion, but in reality those aren’t what you should be worried about — locking down your own accounts should be high on your list of safety and preparedness activities. This article from Krebs looks at one very common weak link and how to shore it up.
This is a great book. But don’t take my word for it…
RevolverGuy recently reviewed Protect Yourself With Your Snubnose Revolver and had some good things to say about it. I’m flattered!
Thar she blows!
I’ve never been through a hurricane (technically, at least — we had a hurricane-class storm in Oregon when I was very little, but I don’t remember it at all.) Thus preparing for one is a little out of my realm of expertise. Luckily there are lots of preparedness-minded folks who have been through one who can give the rest of us some guidance. Here is a very comprehensive list of things to do to prepare for a hurricane. Some of them I would never have thought of, such as limiting children’s exposure to television footage of the storm. I think it’s a great list; how about you?
Speaking of hurricanes…
Whenever a major storm of any kind hits a populated area in the U.S., people flood social media asking why officials didn’t “evacuate the city”. I’ve studied emergency management at the college level (though I didn’t complete the paperwork for my degree, I did finish all the coursework) and one of the first misconceptions that got shot down was the idea of evacuations. You have no idea how hard it is to evacuate a small town, let alone a major city. In essence, it really can’t be done without a LOT of time and a LOT of resources. Most cities don’t have the latter, and an incoming storm doesn’t allow much of the former. (And we haven’t even touched on the hospitals and nursing homes.) Here’s an article that explains just a few of the reasons why officials didn’t evacuate Houston in the face of Hurricane Harvey last year. Most of them are valid for most cities during an emergency. In case you missed the memo, you are truly on your own.
Gas blocks, setscrews, and malfunctions
AR-15 gas blocks that aren’t cross-pinned to the barrel can suffer a “walking” problem, especially when the screws haven’t been properly torqued and secured. This type of gas block is best installed with small indentations milled into the barrel where the screws can get a good grip, and finished with properly securing the screws themselves (LocTite is fine, but solidly staking the screws is final.) Here’s what happened to one guy when those little details weren’t attended to.
What do you do when your car is being tailed?
This article from Greg Ellifritz specifically addresses what you should do if you’re in your car and notice someone following you. This is a common setup for carjackings, and Greg has some good tips to follow to keep yourself from becoming their next victim.
Aging parents and their firearms
Many of us are facing our parent’s declining years. While some maintain their health, vigor and mental acuity to the day they pass, many others face declining faculties — and some of those folks own firearms. Keeping our loved ones safe should be our first task, and sometimes (like with driving) we need to face the fact that our parents might not be safe around the guns they’ve owned all their lives. The first step is recognizing the issue and accepting that it needs to be dealt with. Having been through this myself I know it’s not pleasant, but if we want to keep them and everyone around them safe it’s something we need to deal with.
– Grant
P.S.: With all the preparedness talk in today’s Reading List, perhaps you’re wondering how you prioritize or make sense of all of the things you need to do to face all the hazards in your life. If I may be so bold, that’s what my latest book Prepping for Life: The balanced approach to personal security and family safety is all about. It’s the key to getting past the overwhelm and making progress in your personal and family preparedness!
Opening photo by Backpacker – pixabay.com (CC0 public domain)
The post Your Hump Day Reading List for January 10, 2018 appeared first on www.GrantCunningham.com.
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