Prepping in the U.K.

Prepping in the U.K. – Interview

This week we have Ian on with us to talk about the differences, and the similarity’s when it comes to prepping in the U.K. and prepping here in the United States. This is pretty interesting to me because all we know is the U.S. and sometimes we forget that our view of the world is different than the view from another country.

We went over quite a few subjects in the show and we didn’t quite get a chance to cover everything we wanted too, so Ian put together a more detailed list of responses to all the questions asked.

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Some Questions We Talked About…

IN THIS ARTICLE (Jump to a Topic)

What are your priorities as far as prepping goes?

Same as anyone around the world I guess;

Food – Anywhere from 30 days to twelve month and beyond
Water – As much as possible and increasing
Energy – Back up energy – looking at a Battery bank project (reference Steve Harris)
Security – Having the right equipment, having procedures in place and emergency protocols
Shelter – Primarily my house, but if that fails then backups other properties, hotels, friends – dependent upon the disaster.
Health and Sanitation – Equipment, medicines, alternative medicines

For me personally – I prep for my every day journey into work around the country, I drive around 40,000 miles a year; so for this

Make sure the Car is maintained, full of fuel
Carry my Car kit and GHB plus tools – you discuss this a few weeks back talking about the Urban survival kit
EDC
Spare clothing and boots – I wear a Shirt, trousers, shoes – crap for changing a tyre let alone trekking for miles through Urban and Rural areas – especially in winter.

Generally though, I could prep anywhere from planning for retirement to a Zombie apocalypse!

I think it’s an assessment of the likelihood of something happening and the potential Scale of the disaster and in most cases you prep for one thing and it covers you for a multitude of other disasters.

Level 1 (Likely)

Bad Winters Blizzards Ice Storms
Flooding
Localised Water or Air Contamination
Riots
recession
stock market crash
Housing market crash
Interest Rate increase

Level 2 (what’s possible)

global pandemic
EMP
Meteor or comet strike
Total collapse of the economy
Invasion or war

Disaster Levels

Personal – So it affects me or my family, could be a Job loss, a house fire, death or emergency
Immediate area – Gas leak, flooding, power cut.
Town – Riots, mass blackout, or civil unrest, chemical spill, water pollution
County – wider spread issue of above, Weather issues, power plant explosions.
Country – Weather & climatic issues, economic collapse, pandemics or civil unrest.
Global – Global economic collapse, pandemics, meteor strike, or volcano eruption.

So if you can protect yourself in the first instance on a personal level as much as possible, so food, water, insurance, maintain good health, stay legal, etc. – then the remaining is really out of your hands and you try to build your preps accordingly to the level that may affect you and your family.

Owen’s Question about self-defense options without firearms.

I think he would have a different mind-set totally from some of us that grew up with firearms and easy access.

Ok, with regards to Self-defense options, the big difference here is that there isn’t the amount of firearms and ammunition, so general day to day self-defense isn’t to a firearms level, In my years I have never seen anyone other than the police, military and the odd farmer with a firearm, it’s just not the same threat as I read in the US. Legal weapons include Bows, crossbows, knives, etc. Day to Day you couldn’t legally use these as self-defense however in a SHTF scenario it’s different.

But in a SHTF situation you can bet some (but not the majority) of the bad guys suddenly turn up with firearms.

In the UK there are 2 types of rifle available

Bolt Action Centre fire rifles
Semi-automatic or bolt action Rim fire rifles.

Calibers

Bolt action Rifles (ANY Calibre), any magazine capacity.

Small-bore target disciplines are usually .22LR rimfire,

Full-bore 7.62/.308, .223/5.56

Carbines .357/.38 special, .44 magnum, .45 colt .303

With a black-powder license you can also use muzzle-loader firearms without restriction.

You can also get a semi-auto shot gun on a section one ticket. Pistols must be over 24ins in total length, so they either have a massive barrel or say a 12ins barrel with a wire frame stock at the rear to make up the length.

What are the challenges to obtaining a firearm?

Join a local Gun Club, 3 to 6 months’ probation so long as you don’t have any previous arrests etc. you must have been a regular attendee of the club during probation.

You also need to buy and install a Police/Home Office approved gun safe in your home before you are approved by the police; this is checked as a part of the application.

On your application you can only request the types of guns / calibres that your club allows you to shoot.

Jenny’s Question: Would there be any different problems with bugging in than what we would have in US?

Water, Food, energy & Security and sanitation would be my initial main concerns, I think that so long as you have taken care of Food and water, and have methods of cooking and keeping warm; Security is the big one, most people won’t have guns; our houses are brick so fortressing a home is very feasible. I have considered metal shutters or inserts that could be used in SHTF situation for the front of the house and lower rear.

Would people react the same as we feel like they would here?

I think so; human nature is what it is. I think we would see a breakdown of law and order within 24 hours as we witnessed a few years ago with the riots and has been proven so many times before. The theory of 2 to 3 days is incorrect, in the beginning of the problem every minute counts!

Heathers Question: Is the fear of the US economic collapse as high there as it is here? If so, do they fear the US collapse deeply affecting them (pulling England under)? Also, how is the general feeling about your economy?

I can’t speak on behalf of the British people and I haven’t got any polled data to back it up,

But I think it’s safe to say we all are aware that the US dollar is used in most international transactions, so it stands to reason that anything that happens with the US economy will affect international finances in a substantial way, and with worldwide economies becoming more and more entwined, the chance of knock on effects becomes even greater – I guess this is something which we are all seeing more and more of.

Do people fear it as you do in the US? Probably not,

Do people realise how closely linked our economies are? Again probably not

Should they? Most certainly!

Our exports are quite similar to the US and from what I’ve read that our economic cycle is actually correlated closer to the US than the Eurozone.

Britain is still one of the most prosperous of the big economies in the European Union.

Academy Update

I mentioned in the podcast that I have been slacking a little bit on updating the Academy members about what we are adding. Here are some of the things we have planned for this month…

Working on the First Aid Course (hopefully completing it)
Threats Assessment Members content.
And a contest for members only before Christmas.
Restructuring of the Prepping 101 course.

Anyone who is interested can join the Academy here.

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