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Excerpt From: Home Invasion Prevention, by Frank Hilliard
[JWR's Introductory Note: I'm presenting this book excerpt as a guest post. His book is available at Lulu.com.]
The prospect looms of an economic collapse caused by the enormous sovereign debt of the United States and moves by China, Russia, Brazil and others to dump the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. If they succeed, America will be dethroned from its position as the middle-man in world financial affairs and the dollar will begin to reflect America’s true financial position. In short, America will become the new Zimbabwe.
This devaluation will create massive disruptions in domestic economic activity, banking, public services and food distribution. In turn, the lack of purchasing power will cause rioting, looting, arson and mob violence. After that, expect armed gangs and the end to the world as we know it. What we don’t know is how soon, how long, or how generalized, the disruption is likely to be.
A few years ago, I wrote a book about home invasion prevention, called just that: Home Invasion Prevention. It was based on more than two years of research and interviews with gun owners, police, and security experts. I was thinking about normal society in peaceful times, but a lot of the advice in the book still makes sense in the apocalyptic scenario I’ve just sketched.
So what I’m about to say is aimed at the period between the start of the economic crisis and the point you bug out of town in the middle of the night with a backpack and a 9mm.
Home security is really composed of two elements; symbolic protection and physical protection. It’s because Canadians and Americans don’t discriminate between these two concepts they’re continually surprised at burglaries, robberies and home invasions when they occur.
Symbolic protection is made up of objects and procedures that speak to the ownership of a piece of property, or a dwelling on that property, and which say or imply, that this ownership should be respected. Physical protection is made up of objects or procedures which prevent or deter entry onto that property or into that dwelling. Let’s look at some examples.
Remember the kind of low picket fence surrounding suburban front yards in movies from the 1950s? The fence would rise from a height of two feet to gate posts about three feet high on which a swinging gate would be latched. To enter a home, you would have to walk along the sidewalk until you reached the gate, then unlatch the gate and walk up to the front door. Once there you would use the bell and wait for the door to be answered.
This is an example of symbolic protection. The fence is not physically stopping you from stepping over and onto the lawn, but symbolically asking you not to do so. The gate doesn’t stop you from entering the yard, but symbolically reminds you that you are going onto private property. And the door bell is not just to call the resident inside, but also to force you to wait for the resident to open the door.
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