Please bear with my soapbox for a moment.
With all of the talk about the small arms treaty and the comments from the President on guns after the recent tragic shootings, I decided it’s time to write this article while there is still time for you to legally build your defensive battery.
Does this mean that I think the UN small arms treaty will pass or that the President will come after arms if he gets reelected? The truth is, I don’t know. What I do know is that our liberties have slowly been stripped away for decades, much more rapidly in the last four years. I also know that the left hates private gun ownership. Enough soapbox, on to the main article.
What is a defensive battery?
That is a subjective question. It’s subjective because it depends on what you think you’ll need the firearms in your battery for. Since I can’t answer that question for you, I’ll just cover some popular types of firearms to have in a defensive battery. This article might sound a bit similar to Finding the Best Home Defense Gun to Meet Your Needs
Finding the Best Home Defense Gun to Meet Your Needs but a defensive battery isn’t just for home defense. It could and possibly should include firearms that you would never use for home defense.
Handguns
I covered some things to look for in a handgun in Buying Your First or Next Handgun , so I’ll not go into detail here. If you’re in range to use your handgun, your training is more important than your caliber, so to me that argument is mute. I have consistently seen three brands that are always highly recommended. They are (in no specific order), Glock Smith & Wesson and Sig Saur. I’m not saying other brands aren’t as good. I’m just saying that I see these three rated higher more often than others. Do your research and shoot it before you buy it. I’ll leave it at that.
10-22 Rifle
In a defensive battery? Yep. Remember, a defensive battery isn’t just for protecting the homestead. It could be used in providing for the homestead as well. There have been many pots filled with a 10-22. These are usually $150-$200 new. I got two for the family to learn to shoot with. Ammo is cheap enough that you could shoot all day for very little. I wish I would have purchased Ruger 10-22’s as they have set the standard, so-to-speak. I have heard many survival experts, when asked the “If you could only bring one gun, what would it be?” questions, say they would bring their 10-22. It can take small and large game with a carefully placed shot. It can help you stay in practice. For these and other reasons, this one is a must in my opinion.
Shotgun
I covered shotguns in some detail in Finding the Best Home Defense Gun to Meet Your Needs, so I’ll just glaze over it here. For sheer versatility, this is a must. You can take small game and birds with birdshot or larger game with buckshot and slugs. I mentioned this in the other article, but it needs to be said again. If you only buy one shotgun, the smallest framed person in the home that might be called upon to use it, has to be able to handle it. That might mean you need to go with a youth model 20 gauge, but it will still do the job.
As for brands, I have heard good things about Benelli but don’t know much about them. I have also heard good things about and have fired a Mossberg 500. My favorite thing about this gun was the safety placement in the top, which is very easy to reach with your thumb. The shotgun that I have seen the most praise for and my personal choice is the Remington 870. It’s not as easy to find a range that will let you rent a shotgun, so if you don’t have one, see if you can find a friend that hunts.
Rifles
I’m going to break this up into two separate classes; hunting guns and long guns. The reason I am separating the two is because, to me, they have different jobs and also because one of them is going to be in more danger of being regulated than the other.
Hunting Rifles
Hunting is a skill set I don’t have. My dad wasn’t a hunter and I didn’t have anyone else to teach me. Even if you’re not a hunter, it might still be a good idea to have a rifle capable of taking game in the state you live. From Semi-auto, bolt action, lever action and more calibers than I can name off the top of my head, there are many options. What might be good in one state, where average ranges are a mere thirty to one hundred yards, is nothing to states where ranges could go a few hundred yards. If you’re not a hunter, this information can be quickly gathered in an internet search.
Long Guns
You may have heard these called “black guns”, “assault rifles”, “machine guns” or other silly names. These are the guns that fell under the Assault Weapons Ban and are in danger of it again. These are semi-automatic rifles that can have high capacity magazines. I have said that, to me, long guns have a different job than hunting rifles. While some are very capable and often used to hunt with, let’s call a spade a spade. These are the firearms used to fight wars.
I’m not saying that as detraction, so why then would I say this is a viable option for one’s defensive battery? There are a few reasons. The first is that the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says I have the God given right to. Now, some might say “the Founders never meant for the average citizen to own an AR-15 or AK-47” but I disagree wholeheartedly! If those platforms would have been around then, you can bet the revolutionary war would have been fought with them.
My second reason is that there is no better weapon to defend yourself. They have the range, stopping power and capacity to stop an enemy and keep him at a distance. Hence the reason they are the firearms used to fight wars with.
My third reason is, look at places like Mumbai or even the bank robbery in Los Angeles County in 1997. In Both cases the criminals had far superior firepower then the police. Or in the case of Mumbai, any nearby gun store or civilian.
There are, again, many platforms and calibers, too many to list. I will just touch on two popular choices that I am semi familiar with. They are the AR-15 and the AK-47. Again, let me say that I started out as a prepper with no firearms experience. I was in the Navy but we were not required to shoot a firearm to be enlisted. I fired both an AK-47 and an AR-15 without having a clue how either worked, and got no training on them before using them. I was easily able to figure the AK-47 out. It was designed that way, to be reliable and easy enough to teach “peasants” quickly. I am embarrassed to say that when I tried to “rack the chamber” of the AR-15, I ejected the magazine. That was entirely my fault, not the guns. It does take more training than the AK-47. I’m not saying one is better, then the other, that might be for another article.
Long guns will be the first gun to be regulated. If you want one, now is probably the time to act. If you want more high capacity magazines, the same holds true. The President’s comments that “I think a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals,”
Oops, I keep bumping into this dang soapbox. Yes he was wrong on the type of gun our soldiers are issued, but he means all long guns, not just AK-47’s. I have read reports that every household in Iraq is allowed to have one fully automatic AK-47 for home defense. I have also read that as part of conscription, every Swedish adult serves in their Army and is allowed to bring their fully automatic rifle home. American’s are required to have a special permit to own a fully Auto rifle. But I would happen to agree with the Swedish and Iraqi Governments, that yes, they in fact do belong in the hands of the citizenry.
Ammo
You may have heard the saying that “without ammo you just have an expensive club”. How much you store is up to you and what you can afford. I have seen many recommendations that you should have 500-1000 rounds for each firearm you own. I guess the thinking here is that if it did hit the fan, you might find it difficult to restock easily. I have also seen plenty of stories where someone was arrested for something illegal, and it mentioned that he has “thousands of rounds of ammunition.” I also just read that there is a bill being proposed now that would require any purchase of 1000 rounds be reported to Homeland Security. Depending on where you live, it may be easy to purchase ammo, though for some, purchasing any volume online might be the only option.
If you belong to a shooting league, you can go through a thousand rounds in a weekend. This would really hamper them. If you’re someone that just likes to enjoy range time with friends, you can go through rounds fast as well.
In both the case of the shooting at the screening of the Batman movie and the shooting at the Sikh reports have come out that suspects were on law enforcements radar. Adding new legislation isn’t the answer, using what is already there is.
