Bury Your Guns?

I have a friend from my military days. He is retired Special Forces, and retired Diplomatic Security (yes, he’s double dipping his retirement!). He has worked for the government in security and combat roles for over 35 years! Needless to say, he doesn’t trust the government. I’ve teased him about being paranoid and he’s said “I’ve carried out so much covert stuff for the government I know what they are capable of!” So maybe his paranoia is justified. According to fed data nearly 2000,000 firearms are reported lost or stolen every year. This is problem for the gun owner. Keeping your firearms secure from theft and unauthorized use is a challenge. You want your guns close at hand if needed, but you want them to be secure and safe. There are many happy mediums in small, quick access safes. These will work but what if you need security from confiscation? I, like our founding Fathers, feel there are inalienable rights given us by God, not government. Defending myself and my family and country has been something I’ve done most of my adult life. So what would happen if things went crazy and my government turned on us as citizens? One thing about preparing is that you don’t really know what the future holds. I’ve been a firm believer in first aid kits and learning medical skills. I’ve guessed at what skills I would need and what I would need from a first aid kit. In real world situations I’ve come to know better what to learn and what to have. Sometimes that has been far from what I prepared for. Most times it’s been close. I’ve observed, sometimes first hand, what would happen in a total societal and governmental break down. Crazy things happen! So how do we prepare? The old saying is “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” And so we must assume that gun confiscation may come. We must prepare for it.
The first part of this is operations and communication security. Is it clear to everyone around you that you are pro-gun and possibly the owner of more than 3 guns? If you are a typical gun enthusiast, either for defense, sport, or hunting, then you probably have at least 5 to 8 guns. My estimate is more. By the standard of government and non-gun enthusiasts you have an arsenal. If someone owns 8 guns of 4 different calibers then you would most likely have a lot of ammunition too. I also have a storage of ammo because I shoot a lot. So I rotate my ammo. If people saw how much ammo I store they would think I’m starting a war! It’s not at all what it looks like. To shoot as much as I do and to always have a set amount I have to keep a lot of ammo. I’m not preparing for Armageddon, I’m just keeping up my skills. So let’s say you shoot 300 to 400 rounds of 9mm per month. I would need 4800 rounds to shoot for a year. And what if my goal was to keep 2000 rounds for that gun (or 2 guns) then at any given time I may have 6000 or 7000 rounds stored at a time. Most non-shooters would consider that excessive. Also, if I shoot 4800 rounds a year it would be economical to buy 5000 rounds in bulk at one time. So keep this information from others. It’s not secret, but don’t post your gun collection on Facebook. Keep these things private.

According to federal data, nearly 200,000 firearms are reported lost or stolen each year. Even if you take measures to secure your home against intruders, home invasion is still a possibility. You must make sure your guns are well hidden or secured.

Hiding guns during martial law is NOT the same as during real world times!
There is a lot of debate about what would happen during martial law. Some believe that the authorities would come with X-ray equipment and gun-sniffing dogs to find your guns. Others believe that confiscating guns wouldn’t be a possibility because there would be too much chaos to organize the authorities into a thorough cordon and search operation.
Anyone who tells you they know exactly what will happen during a grid down situation is full of baloney!
We don’t know what will happen, which is why we always prepare ourselves for the WORST CASE SCENARIO. While simultaneously praying that it won’t actually happen. Prepping for the worst means hiding your guns as best as you can.

The first thing about hiding guns during martial law is knowing where not to hide them. Remember, we are prepping for the worst. Which means armed soldiers with gun-sniffing dogs and ground-penetrating radar coming into your home.
Hiding your guns in the normal places, like a hidden compartment under your kitchen cabinets, isn’t going to work in these worst-case scenarios. Ideally you don’t hide your guns inside your home. If you must hide your guns inside, count on the fact that authorities during martial law probably won’t have a lot of time to do a thorough search (again, we don’t know what will happen. We can just weigh the likely possibilities).
Places like inside a hollow hot water tank or a watertight bag under the gravel in a fish tank could work. Ammo could go in a hollow curtain rod. Crazy places like that.
An off-site hiding place might also work. I’m not talking about your Uncle Jim’s house, because the authorities will go there to confiscate firearms too. By off-site, I mean a storage shed somewhere. Of course, the authorities could also search all storage sheds. It just might take longer for them to get to those so you may have time to grab your stored guns and GO before they are confiscated.

Most experts agree that the best place to hide your guns during martial law is underground. Yes, authorities do have ground-penetrating radar that would allow them to find buried guns. However, it is unlikely that there will be time to search every square inch of your property so underground is likely the best way to go.
Backwoods Home magazine has a great article on how to hide your guns underground. (http://www.backwoodshome.com/bury-a-gun-and-ammo-for-15-years/)

There are some advanced strategies there for hiding guns underground. Like digging a trench from your home to a shed or barn. The trench has a heavy metal cable or conduit in it. The firearm is at the end of the trench. If authorities detect metal and start digging, they find the cable first and don’t bother to dig anymore.
Burying a gun is very problematic:
You need to find an unobservable place that no one will bother
The place also needs to be accessible so you can get your guns when it goes grid down
You need to protect your gun against the elements
Rather than rehashing all of this info, I really recommend reading the Backwoods Home article. The author does a great job of explaining options for storage containers, locations, and other logistics of hiding guns underground.

In addition to hiding your guns underground or indoors, here are some other strategies which can help keep your guns safe when the grid goes down:
1. Have a Decoy Gun
Have a gun badly-hidden somewhere in your home. When the authorities come and find it, make a big deal about turning it over.
“How am I going to protect myself without a gun?”
“You are going to take my ONLY gun!!!!”
If the authorities come with a list of all of your registered guns, this probably isn’t going to work. But if the grid is down and they don’t have access to the registers (such as after a major EMP event), then this could work.
2. Build a Gun
It is actually easier to build a gun than you might think. You can find instructions online. There are also a lot of people who have made guns with 3D printers.
3. Report Your Gun as Stolen
If the authorities have a list of the guns you own, you could get thrown in jail for not turning them all over including those ones you’ve got hidden underground.
One way to get your guns off the register is to report them as stolen. This is illegal and I’m not condoning it in normal situations. However, if you see the situation getting really bad, you could report your gun as stolen and your name could get taken off the list.
*Disclaimer: I am not encouraging or promoting illegal activity. These strategies are only mentioned in context of Grid down situations where your survival is on the line.
4. Know When to Resist
I’ve heard a lot of preppers say that, “If it is time to bury your guns, then it is time to use them.” They argue that, if the authorities come to take your gun, it is your patriotic duty to start shooting That it is worth risking your life to stop even one of the soldiers.
I personally don’t agree with this logic. Getting yourself killed isn’t going to do society any good. It is just going to leave society with one less person to stand up against martial law.
And you most certainly will get killed if you start shooting at soldiers with superior technology who are lined up outside of your door or cordoned neighborhood.
Throughout history, the groups who have succeeding in resisting and overthrowing martial law have done so by organizing and planning and NOT randomly shooting at the first authority figure to show up.
Resistance involved organized cache and distribution systems, and planned attacks.
Remember, prepping means taking steps to prepare for the WORST POSSIBLE SITUATION. We don’t know what will happen in a grid down situation, so can only do our best (and what is within our means) to prepare.
Prepping for the worst means that you should assume they will find your guns and you will be left without a firearm for protection.
To prep for this situation, be ready to bug out, to build your own DIY weapons, or to group with others for survival. You always need a Plan B (and C, D, E)!
This is the extreme event. I’m not sure it will ever happen but it may happen in part. Being prepared is what we strive to be. Even in these “zombie-like” scenarios.

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn