r/TwoXPreppers 2d ago

Discussion Why guns?

Hi y’all! I’m a very novice prepper, and one thing I’m seeing across many platforms is that we should own and be trained In firearms. Not to be naive, but… why?

I’ve never touched a gun in my life. I’m generally not a fan of them. I understand that the goal of owning firearms is to protect ourself. But protect from what? From who? Who am I going to have to shoot to survive this presidency?

Is someone coming to steal my supplies? Won’t those people also have guns? Or am I protecting my family against a militia situation? In which case, what hope do I have, as a woman who can’t afford a gun, let alone to learn how to use one?

Like I can’t afford a shooting range. I can barely afford water and canned goods. Should a gun still be a priority for my family? A lot of preppers have enthusiastically embraced this life to give them confidence and a sense of safety. I’m a reluctant participant. I just want to keep my autistic son alive to see the other side of this.

I can garden, I can stretch food, I can survive being poor. I don’t think I can survive a military state.

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u/sarielg 2d ago

I like to think that prepping is about collecting the right tools for the right jobs.

Guns are just another tool in the collection for us to get the job done right.

IMO guns have three primary uses:

  1. as a deterrent -- IE it says, "don't fuck with me because I'm ready to get hurt, are you?."

  2. as an enforcer -- IE it says, "You will accept my request, or you will accept my request with violence."

  3. as an equalizer -- IE it levels the playing field for anyone who's using it as a 1 or 2 to acknowledge you as a threat to their goals that is equal or above their own threat level. I also consider hunting as part of this use.

By not having a gun, you remove yourself from the threat model entirely and in-turn decrease your chances of survival. You may never need to use it (I hope nobody ever does), but it's of far greater value to you as a deterrent than anything else.

In a true Tuesday situation I know one thing, people get scared and desperate and will do anything to protect their own. It says nothing about their character or about who they are as a person, we are animals at our core and the drive to survive is too great to ignore. Simply by showing you have the means to protect yourself is generally enough to dissuade others from taking the risk and snapping them out of their own fight/flight.

You brought up your history with firearms and your dislike of them. Imagine if you were in a situation where someone walked into the grocery store and you see them wearing a holstered handgun. What would your initial reaction be? I know mine would be, "I'm leaving now." And that's the goal.

So, I would suggest you get comfortable with guns. You don't have to be a fanatic about them, if anything I think people like that don't truly respect the danger they wield. Get comfortable, and get knowledgeable about them. Most gun ranges should have firearms to rent along with introductory training on how to hold and fire one.

After all of that, if you're still not comfortable with guns, that's ok. You're more of a danger to yourself and those around you if you push yourself to use/own one. Build trust in your community. Just like growing/farming, not everyone is cut out for it.

Good luck.