Although there's nothing wrong with that if it's what you prefer.
I'm no expert, but I'm willing to share what I know and hope you'll do the same.
Everything is a weapon but purpose-made weapons are better.
If you are in a situation where an actual weapon isn't available, stay aware of what is around you and how it could be used as a weapon. Not from a sense of paranoia, but out of awareness of your surroundings and the situation.
If you make this a game until it becomes a habit, you'll never be as vulnerable to bad people as those who are not as aware.
You might even make sure to have a machete, big knives or (real, tempered) swords, slingshots, hatchets or tomahawks, or other tools which could be used as weapons.
However, when faced with a bad guy, would you rather depend on using a chair for defense, or using something made specifically to give you at least an even chance against anyone who wants to violate you? Something that bridges the distance between you so you don't have to wait for him to get closer?
To this end, get a firearm and learn its proper handling and use, and practice with it.
Then get ammunition. Just as there is no such thing as "too much stored water", there is no such thing as "too much ammo". These days, stocking up on ammo is a pricey proposition, but you still need to do it.
Then, get a second gun and repeat the process. Repeat the process until you have a firearm and ammunition for each member of your family-- at a minimum.
Yes, I realize some governments say you aren't allowed to have a gun. Do with that information what you will.
Remember that anything-- including a firearm-- is only a tool until you use it against a threat, then it becomes a weapon. Practice with your tools so that if they ever have to become weapons, they do the job right.
The "officials" kept spinning dire warnings about the water situation, so I took it upon myself to do a daily visual check of the water levels in the water tanks I could check. Three out of four have a gauge on the outside. The fourth is a water sphere that, as far as I can tell, has no way for a member of the public to check the water levels. This is disturbing.
What my visual check showed me was that we're in better shape than the "officials" wanted us to believe.
I've been posting photos of the gauges every day on social media, and suddenly, at least the newspaper editor, who is very much in the pockets of the local politicians, admitted that the tanks are nearly full.
I'm not sure he would have admitted this without my intervention, but perhaps.
I also wrote a letter to the editor, which got a lot of pre-publication pushback from the editor. He has his preferred solution, which just so happens to align with the local politicians. He didn't like what I said and tried to make me feel ...
My local town (population ~1400) is in a water crisis. It's always having a low-grade water crisis, but this time, government incompetence brought it to a head.
The guy who visually checks the water levels daily was on vacation. The sensor that keeps the water towers full stopped working. One tower was empty, and the other was half empty before anyone noticed. Now it's everyone's problem.
Consequently, we're under some pretty harsh water restrictions- and they've been getting more severe each day for the past 3 days.
Fortunately, I have quite a bit of water stored. As much as I can fit in the nooks and crannies of my house, anyway. Just last week I got fussed at for doing this. That tune changed quickly.
I've also stocked up on bottled water.
I would catch rainwater, but a lack thereof is the root of the problem.
I wish I lived near a water source, but there are none in this region. I wish I had a well, but of course that would be "illegal" in town. I wish I had a long-term ...
I know it's probably shocking, but it's true.
In all my years of doing things in the woods, I never needed a feather stick. I never needed a 90° spine on the back of my knife. I never batoned a stick the way I see people do it in bushcraft videos, by beating my knife with a small log.
Most bushcraft seems to me to be doing unnecessary things that make life more complicated so that you look like an expert to people who haven't been there.
You don't need to waste time making the perfect feather stick if you understand kindling.
You don't need a 90° spine on your knife if you know that a ferro rod can be scraped with a sharp rock (or the bit of steel that often comes with them) to make sparks.
And, why risk your good camp knife by beating it with a log to split wood? I will use my Bowie knife for that (using the weight of the knife, not a club) to split big sticks. You can also hit the stick on a rock to split it along its natural cracks. If I need to split them at all.
You don't ...
