A previous article “Check Your Firearms” talked about what happens if you are quarantined or even isolated, because of possible contact with a person infected or suspected of being infected with Ebola. The question posed was, what might happen to your supplies and in particular, your firearms if this were to happen. Government officials obviously are defining the rules as to how to handle the Ebola virus as they go along. Apparently, there are no rules or laws in place as to how to handle certain situations, because it has never been an issue until now.
You need to get ahead of the situation, and not wait for the bureaucrats to start defining what you can and cannot do with your supplies and weapons if you are isolated or removed from the home.
This is not to say a pandemic is likely or even possible at this point. All it takes however is a few cases in any community to create chaos and ultimately new rules/laws that may directly affect you as a Prepper.
Obviously, some of you already understand the dangers of having all of your emergency supplies in one place. Supplies gathered in the garage, basement or even scattered about the home means if there is a break in, fire, biological or even chemical contamination or confiscation then all of your supplies can be damaged, stolen, taken or otherwise rendered useless, leaving you with little or nothing at all to survive with.
Things You Can Do
Something as simple as burying some of your supplies in the backyard can protect them and protect you. Firearms in particular need to be secured from children, criminals, government officials and protected from moisture as well. Food grade plastic buckets with lids that can be sealed are ideal for firearms, ammunition, medical supplies, food and water.
Fifty-gallon water barrels can be buried in the ground, but this would take a considerable amount of work to bury a 50-gallon barrel up right, but the ones with removable lids can hold a considerable amount of supplies, so it may well be worth the effort. Keep all firearms and ammunition separate from food, water and medical supplies.
Once in the ground, there is little or no chance of contamination and being buried means your supplies are away from the prying eyes of government officials. Health officials and law enforcement inspecting the home would not likely look for or stumble upon any caches if you do not make them obvious. Your supplies would also be safe if you were ordered to move from your home during decontamination, or if you were to be relocated during the incubation process.
Offsite storage facilities are an option but a poor one. Once your emergency supplies are in the unit you really have no idea how well protected the units are from break-ins. Additionally there is a paper trail and any government agency can find out if you have one if they decide to check for whatever reason. No one knows what may happen but you can speculate based on other events and from what has happened thus far. In other words, anything is possible. Take nothing for granted as the crisis unfolds.
Bug-out-locations are another option if you own the land, but if you cache items on land you do not own then you essentially do not own anything you have cached on said land. Do you have a plan to get to your supplies if your community or even home is quarantined? Your plans have to be a living, breathing entity so they can be easily adapted as things change on the ground, because you do not know what you do not know until something happens.
You can move your supplies to friends and relatives homes but this takes careful planning. You have to know regardless of the situation that you would be able to get to your supplies, and you would not have this certainty, if you allow someone else to look after your essentials.
The best recommendation based on current information is to bury your supply close to your home, so if needed you can retrieve them as you evacuate, and if you are able to carry them with you. Much depends on whether you are bugging-out before something happens or if you are forcibly relocated because of possible contact with the Ebola virus. Plan for all scenarios however.
There are simply no easy answers and much of your planning cannot be done until further information is available. One of the problems that can be foreseen is the ability to quarantine a large number of people.
How will the laws be enforced, because you can imagine patrol officers and others would not physically restrain anyone they suspected of having the virus if they are unprotected and who here believes police will be roaming around in hazmat suits enforcing quarantines? This means that others may put you in danger, because they refused to stay put, so even more reason to make sure your emergency essentials are protected, and accessible if you have to leave ahead of the crisis.
The post Protecting Your Supplies and Firearms during a Pandemic appeared first on Preparing for shtf.
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