Thanks, NoAcresNoMule (love the name).

So you suggest acquiring the firearm first? That's where I was leaning. I want a Mossberg 500 pump youth shotgun and a smaller handgun, I'll see what I like when I take the classes.

The problem is, I've gotten all the easy, cheap things. Everything from this point will be around a thousand dollars. Which means I need to space things out a bit. But my gut is telling me that I don't have that much time. If we're lucky, our currency will be strong until the end of the year. If we're not lucky, inflation will start hitting hard before the end of summer. Just my personal opinion... Since we live on the eastern seaboard, we have to consider possible hurricanes or tropical storms. We live about 30 miles from DC, which means that any biological attacks, dirty bombs, whatever, will also very likely affect us.

I share your feeling about keeping quiet about preparedness activity. I've tried to casually warn my immediate family (mom, sister) to just do what they can to prepare for hyperinflation and their response is always, "I can't think about that." So I know their preparations are exactly zero. We live 550 miles from family (both a blessing and a curse), and I've been very careful to hide my activities from our neighbors and friends. When the SHTF, I don't want the "have-nots" to know that we're the "haves". I very much doubt that they'd offer a handshake and a "Way to go, how smart are you?"

I was starting to feel a little lonely though, which is why I joined this forum. There's this whole (very important) area of my life that I can't talk about with anyone except my husband, who pretty much has the attitude "Do whatever you want, as long as it's in the budget."

Anyway, thanks for the response, and when I get a minute I'll read some more older posts, although they do make me realize that I have a ways to go yet.

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Waste not, want not, use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.

I wouldn't buy the gun until you have had some training. This way, you can learn what works for you before purchasing a gun.

You can buy a shotgun and a handgun for less than $1,000. Buy one at a time and slowly buy ammo for it.

I don't know how big you are, but if you are small, you may want to get the shot gun in 20 guage rather than 12. You would be able to handle it much easier. If you go with a Mossberg 500, you can usually find one new at a Wal Mart or similar store for around $300.

NoAcresNoMule Talked about using a 38 snubbie. When you take your training shoot one owned by the instructor. Again if you are small, you may have trouble controlling it. There are many options available that work for different people. Here is what I recommend for picking a hand gun.

Go to a range that rents hand guns and try as many as you can. Once you find one that feels comfortable in your hand and when shooting it, that's what you want to purchase. Most hand guns run in the $500 to $600 range, and there are some that are cheaper, as well as more expensive. Most of the expensive ones are specialty pieces that don't add any self protection value with the fluff added to it. SOme of the cheaper ones do give you what you pay for. You can ask questions here or at a gun forum and get opinions from people who own or have owned particular guns.

One of my favorite sources is an online auction site. http://www.gunbroker.com Some auctions can get expensive, but if you watch close enough, you can find a good used fire arm at a reasonable price. One of my favorite guns I own I bought used from there for about half of what it cost new, and it is one of the most reliable guns I have ever owned.

If you have any more questions, ask away.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Here is someone that agrees with you; besides me.

It’s Official – America Now Enforces Capital Controls
This is not something I say lightly after reviewing this information and reinforcing the commentary from the Rangel rule which restricted and penalized voluntary emigration and/or renunciation of one’s citizenship from the United States.

If you can, even if it means a 75% loss of your fortunes, get out now.

If you have a universal skill set (Programmer, trader, medical skills, security skills, etc.) and can relocate with little resources, get out now.

If you have real estate holdings in certain nations (not Canada or Mexico) get out now.

The precursor to most major shifts within western civilization have always been the restrictions placed on the flow of capital. Without going off into woo-woo land on you, all I can say is that this is a warning shot that something major is about to occur which further restricts the freedoms of the citizens of this once great nation. When I did my radio show, I warned that this one event, a key moment or marker in any nation’s history was something to be taken deadly seriously. In my opinion it means that a currency realignment or change or outright revocation of rights taken for granted was certain with a 90 day, maybe if we’re lucky, 180 day window.

One more time:

If you can escape, do it now.

Good luck to all and God Bless.

Taken from:

http://johngaltfla.com/blog3/2010/03/29 ... /#comments

One other thing I would like to add to your list of preps(yeah , I know, more $ , sorry) would be seeds.
Do you have enough seeds to start NEXT years garden if things really go bad and you can't get them?
Are they heirloom seeds as opposed to hybrid?
Do you know how to save and store your own seeds for next year?

Should you decide to venture into this area, I would start with this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tech ... 1882424581

Here are a few seed companies that deal in heirloom seeds.

http://www.landrethseeds.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23
This is the one I use because it's close to me.

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/index.html

http://www.arkinstitute.com/seed.html

http://rareseeds.com/cart/

http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/store ... ds&x=5&y=7
I used this one 2 years ago

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And To The Republic For Which It Used To Stand

you have a good start. I think you should keep doing what you are doing. Buy more of teh shelf stable food that you already eat. When soup goes on sale for half price - don't buy just what you need that week. Buy all you can afford, up to a year's supply. This way in incremental steps you will have a long term reserve.

I'm a big fan of firearms, but the big hole in defense in your case are the sliding glass doors. If anyone wants in they can literally walk through them. First put a bar behind them so that if someone jimmies the lock they can't just slide teh door open. Typically those locks are a joke, but something as simple as a cut to length piece of 2x4 will stop the door from sliding back.

If you already have that in place consider laminate coating on the glass. This goes on like a big sticker and holds the glass together so it doesn't shatter out of place. A brick will still break teh glass but it will not allow instant entry.

Thanks for the good advice, guys. I just signed up on the gunbroker.com site and have a bid on a Mossberg 500 Bantam 20 gauge. Good suggestion about going with the 20 gauge - I weigh about 115 so the smaller one is definitely going to be better for me. I've taken the Maryland Police Training Commission Firearms Safety online course but there is a lot more work I need to do before I qualify for a handgun. My dad recommend the Kel-Tec P-32. Again, I'll see what feels right when I take the classes.

I like the suggestion about next year's seeds - who knows what'll happen between now and then. I've ordered mostly heirloom seeds for this year's garden and I'll make sure to save some of the seeds but there are things like carrots, beets and chard that I'm not 100% sure how to harvest the seeds so I'll order them now.

I've looked for glass coatings and can't seem to find any that specify increased tensile strength - could you possibly post a link if you know of a company that offers this?

Thanks for the guidance, I really appreciate it.

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Waste not, want not, use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.

I don't know about the chard, but beets and carrots don't go to seed until the second year. I left a row of each in the ground last fall. We had a pretty harsh winter and the only thing that survived was 1 beet plant so I should get seed from it this year. When it happens, I'll let you know.

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And To The Republic For Which It Used To Stand