I have avoided posting anything political on the company website, but today I am making an exception. I doubt this will come as a surprise to anyone who has been involved with myself or Black Bag Resources, LLC.

For those of you interested in preserving your freedoms, this is a copy of the letter I am sending to my elected representatives. Please feel free to use this as a starting point for your own letters or as a form letter.

Dear (ELECTED OFFICIAL):
We have all been touched by the tragic loss of life in Connecticut, as well as the violence that occurs in this country on a daily basis at the hands of people bent on doing harm. These crimes, specifically those against children, are examples of the worst acts humans can inflict upon each other.
However, the legislation being proposed to ban, over regulate, or confiscate firearms of any type from law abiding citizens does not in any way represent the best interest of a free nation. The effort to ban or restrict semi-automatic firearms of any type or magazine capacities of any quantity for the purpose of public safety is a farce. Although tragic and grotesque, firearms related deaths are not the epidemic the media and certain politicians would have us believe.
In my home state of New Jersey, we already have tight restrictions on various types of firearms, limited magazine capacities, and no real access to concealed carry- we also have some of the highest crime rates in the country. I feel passing any sort of national ban will serve to spread crime, not deter it. Although it seems counter intuitive, fewer legally owned guns result in more crime and violence.
My belief is that the American people are overwhelmingly good, and removing access to firearms only serves to punish good people for crimes committed by the very few who are not. Americans have the right to own firearms as enumerated in the Second Amendment for the purpose of defending themselves from those evil few. Various sources show that a firearm is anywhere from two to ten times more likely to be used defensively to protect life and property than it is to be used in a crime.
As far as protecting school children from violence, I urge you to accept and support the National School Shield Emergency Response Program presented by the NRA as a comprehensive security, access control, and training program for our schools. It provides several options at no cost to anyone but the NRA and even facilitates improving school security without the presence of armed personnel in schools, if that is the preference of parents and faculty.
I further urge you to block any new legislation restricting the access of firearms of any type or magazines of any capacity to law abiding Americans, including the bans and regulations proposed by Sen. Feinstein. Her proposals would not only weaken citizens’ ability to defend themselves but would negatively impact the US economy by destroying one of the largest, most successful, and last US manufacturing industries.
I thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,

(YOUR NAME)

During a recent conversation with a gentleman I consider not just a client but also a friend, we turned to the topic of "prepping" or preparing for disasters. He's a smart guy, his family is on board with the process and he has a lot of his bases covered: a 3 month food supply, stored water, first aid and medical training, military experience, weapons and ammo and solid skills to use them, and more. I was surprised when he told me how worried he was about his family's situation and began describing what he felt were deficiencies in his preps and his plans. I'm going to paraphrase and elaborate on some of what I told him.
You must maintain a positive outlook. Do it now. Do it when things go bad. Understand that you can do it. Everyone involved in prepping does some war-gaming -a mental exercising of working your way through a disaster or other scenario- from time to time. If you do it often enough, you will eventually come up with a situation you are not ready for. (Let's see, I know if the power goes out for the night I have flashlights ready with fresh batteries I change every 6 months. If the power goes out for a week I have a plan to go stay with so-and-so because we've already discussed it. If the power goes out for a year and aliens invade with armies of radiation babies... What will I do?) It's the nature of the beast, you can't possibly be ready for every imaginable scenario. War-gaming is a good and fun exercise, but you need to focus on Threat Assessment- the reality of how likely you are to encounter a specific scenario- and prepare accordingly. (I know my area floods every few years and that knocks out power for up to a week. I'm going to set myself up for that. The flooding also has a habit of contaminating the water supply, so we'd better put back some stored water, too.) Don't get upset about the things you don't have or the skills you haven't learned. There are all kinds of cliche quotes that fit here: " Rome wasn't built in a day" or "The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." Here's my philosophy: Your preps should always make you feel better about your situation- not worse. If just today you came to the realization that you need to be better prepared for a situation, congratulations, you are doing better than you were yesterday. If you went out and bought a simple $1 first aid kit to keep handy, congratulations, you are doing better than you were yesterday. If you spent last Sunday learning how to make fire without matches, congratulations, you are doing better than you were and you should feel good about yourself! The process is continual. It's great to continue down that path and learn more and be ready for more situations. You'll also learn along the way that situations can and do overlap, and something you prepared for a year ago set you up pretty well for another scenario you're working on now.
What you'll need to avoid is the paranoia of writers trying to sell books and retailers pushing the latest gizmo. They use fear to motivate you to part with your money. (Now before anyone throws a penalty flag at me: Yes, Black Bag Resources, LLC does retail merchandise. However, I will never pressure anyone to buy anything. I simply tell you what works for me-  if you'd like to use the same item, I try to make it available to you.) You do need to re-examine your skills and preps from time to time. It's good to have someone else take a look, too. They may find something you missed. However, this is only good to the extent that it shows you what areas need improvement. When you identify them, work on them, but do not loose your positive attitude regarding your situation or your preps.
Remember:
Your preps should always make you feel better about your situation- not worse.

With more and more people doing gear reviews and tests, we’ve noticed a trend. There are several websites and YouTube channels dedicated to testing equipment to its breaking point. While this is useful in letting you know exactly how far an item will go before it breaks, you should know that there is a big difference between use and abuse. What these testers are doing is very clearly abuse, but many folks new to tactical gear/knives/tools seem to think that this is how these items are meant to be used.

Consider mileage on a vehicle. Two identical cars are purchased at the same time. The first is driven hard and over 30,000 miles a year and given little to no maintenance. The second is driven only 5,000 miles a year and treated cautiously, a strict maintenance schedule is kept, and the owner routinely washes and waxes the vehicle before storing it in a garage. In 5 years, which car do you want to buy? Which one would you trust to get you or a loved one to the hospital?

Let’s take another example: a large outdoor knife may be capable of tolerating the abuse of batoning to split wood, but this is beyond its intended purpose. A knife is primarily a cutting tool. Use it as a cutting tool. The sharp edge will be easily damaged when used as a chisel or splitting wedge. You may find yourself in a situation where this becomes necessary but it should not be a common practice. If you are in the habit of pounding on your knife you are shortening its lifespan and greatly increasing the risk of a catastrophic failure- most likely at a time when you need it most. Think about it this way- that knife will tolerate a finite number of abuses- let’s say 10 camping trips worth of beatings. There is no way to tell exactly when it’s going to quit. On your 11th trip to your favorite wilderness locale, you end up in a real life or death situation. Because you’ve abused your knife all this time, it now breaks and leaves you with nothing. It isn’t the knife’s fault, the manufacturer’s fault, or the You Tuber you’ve watched. You abused your equipment to the point of failure- equipment you’ve been counting on to save your life. Being conservative with your equipment is important in assuring it will be ready to serve you when you need it, especially if it is supposed to be your “survival” gear.

In my experience, Everything works better when it’s clean. This goes for firearms, knives, vehicle components, dive gear- you name it. You’ve probably spent a good deal of your hard earned money on this stuff. Take care of it. Why destroy it and have to replace it? Be conservative with your gear to make sure it will be ready and fully functional when you need to use it.

At Black Bag Resources, we've pooled the collective knowledge of various sources to provide you with honest insight on the topics and products we cover. Our goal is to present techniques everyone can utilize, from the seasoned veteran to the first time outdoorsman. Black Bag Resources will strive to bring new and clever techniques to solve issues you encounter. The products we offer are tried and tested, and only the best will be offered to you. Simply put, if we don't trust an item completely, we won't even offer it to you. Finally, Black Bag Resources will keep the material entertaining to ensure the learning process is also enjoyable.