Page 104 - The Lost Ways

After all, in the West, society was still being built, home by home and farm by farm. The
majority of the people were part of that effort. They were used to taking care of
themselves, growing their own food, digging wells for water, and resolving disputes like
adults.

Now imagine what it will be like when a developed society like ours, full of people that
think meat grows in shrink-wrapped packages, collapses. Suddenly all those people have
to fend for themselves—and unlike the old pioneers, they don’t have any idea how to do
it. It won’t be long before marauding gangs, desperate for basic necessities like food and
water, are trying to take them from anyone who looks like they’re managing to cope with
the situation.

Existing law enforcement probably won’t be able to help you much. either. What
elements of it haven’t collapsed will be completely overwhelmed because chaos will
spread far and fast. If you want to protect yourself, your family, and your property in this
scenario, you’re going to have to do it yourself.

Many people in the USA now realize this and aim to be prepared, but a lot of them are

going the wrong way about it. This is where the lessons of those old sheriffs come in.

To apply the same techniques as sheriffs in the West used, it helps to look at how your
own situation resembles theirs—and how it’s different.

Equipment

Guns

The USA’s high rate of gun ownership is what makes it possible to defend your community

if society breaks down—but it also increases the threat. You can bet that any group of
marauders will quickly pick up every gun they can get their hands on, while hungry
refugees could also be carrying to defend themselves. Having the right guns available is
going to make a huge difference to your efforts to preserve a little patch of law.

Colt still calls their Single Action Army revolver—the famous Peacemaker—“The gun that
won the West.” It wasn’t. In fact, the role of handguns in the Old West has been hugely
exaggerated, something else we can thank Hollywood for. Yes, many famous figures from

that time carried one, but they were nowhere near as common as the movies make out.

Almost every household on the frontier was armed, but guns were expensive—compared
to the average income, a lot more expensive than they are now—and few people could

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