Author of The Blackout Book and the online course Bloom Where You’re Planted
While most people are hoping for a peaceful and pleasant Fourth of July weekend, it’s not guaranteed this year. The United States has been ripped apart with racial unrest, a deadly pandemic, and peaceful protests that have been hijacked and turned into riots.
It wouldn’t be surprising if things came to a head this weekend
According to AlertsUSA, the Department of Homeland Security has issued the following advisory:
1. Lawful protests related to law enforcement actions and perceived government overreach are likely to persist through Independence Day and have the potential to become flashpoints for violence during upcoming celebratory events.
2. Heightened domestic tensions and the symbolism of the holiday for some ideologically-motivated extremists could mobilize a range of actors to conduct attacks with little-to-no warning.
3. Increased security around federal, state, and local buildings and monuments in preparation for holiday events also could lead to violent opportunist clashes with law enforcement.
As well, the NYPD is planning to go on strike on the fourth to “give the city its independence,” and a group claiming to be sponsored by Antifa has planned a flag-burning to take place at Gettysburg National Cemetery.
It’s extremely likely that many Americans will see an Independence Day like nothing we’ve ever experienced.
As preppers are fond of saying, let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Below, find a list of resources to help you get prepared for the potential of civil unrest and riots. Please don’t scoff and think that it can’t happen near you. Even small towns have experienced protests recently and it would be awful to be taken by surprise if a protest turned into a riot.
If you’re going to any events
The safest event is one held in the backyard at your place or the home of family members or friends. Small, close-knit groups are far less likely to see problems during their get-together.
At the same time, lots of folks are of the mind that they aren’t going to let protesters stop them from celebrating our nation. If you’re going to attend any events, please keep the following guidelines in mind.
- Stick to the outside of the crowd so that you can get away quickly and easily, as opposed to being trapped in the middle of the crowd.
- Keep children within arm’s reach.
- Know where the exits are – always have a plan B for getting away from the situation if plan A isn’t safe.
- If you have older kids who aren’t going to stay within reach of Mom and Dad, organize a meeting point to get to if things become dangerous. It can be hard to find one another in a crowd.
- Park further away and walk to the event as opposed to being stuck in traffic when you’re trying to leave.
- Find a place with a good view of the fireworks that isn’t necessarily right in the middle of the crowd. We always go to a hilltop parking lot far from where the fireworks are taking place.
Pay attention to baseline. Baseline is the general atmosphere of a place. If everyone is calm and singing, and then suddenly you begin to hear a lot of shouting, that’s a shift in baseline. If the mood goes from celebratory to angry, that’s also a shift in baseline. When baseline changes, that is your early warning to leave immediately. Trust your instincts and don’t talk yourself out of taking action.
Resources to help you prepare for the weekend
The following resources will help you be read if the weekend becomes “eventful.”
Selco’s On-Demand Webinar: How to Survive Civil Unrest and Riots – Get this two-hour webinar with Selco and learn how to be prepared for violence, and what to do if it occurs. This webinar comes complete with a transcript and a chapter from my book, Be Ready for Anything, that’s loaded with handy checklists.
Our coverage of civil unrest, riots, and mob violence:
- How to Survive Civil Unrest
- RIOTS Are Coming to a City Near You: What You Need to Do RIGHT NOW
- As Minneapolis Burns, Armed Citizens Deter Rioters and Looters Without Firing a Shot
- An Eye-Witness’s Shocking Account of What’s REALLY Happening During the Seattle Riots
- SELCO: Mob Mentality and the TRUTH About Protests
- 6 Warning Signs That Civil Unrest Is IMMINENT
All of us at TheOrganicPrepper.com are wishing all of you who read this website a safe and uneventful 4th of July weekend.
Let’s use this site as a place to remain in contact and share information. Please keep us updated in the comments on what’s going on in your part of the country.
Okay, the following has nothing to do with preparedness:
Sure, fireworks are fun.
But please do think about some animals (dogs) do not do well with them. For that matter, they spend the entire night in the deepest, darkest, closet they can find, shaking in fear.
Otherwise, be mindful of your surroundings (preferable in the company of trusted others), and that things can change very quickly, without notice.
Fly the Stars and Stripes with pride and everyone have a safe and happy 4th of July.
Well said, Marine! I used to love fireworks as a kid. But where I live now, fireworks are illegal. And for the last forty years, my wife and I have rescued abandoned dogs. Many of our beloved rescue dogs are terribly afraid of explosions, and I hate to see them in such fear. Also, we live in a neighborhood with MANY active duty and former service personnel. Several of us have been down-range and some have PTSD. We also don’t react well to explosions, shrieking rockets and bright flashes.
Give’em a Benadryl
I love the attitude of “Prep Club,” Daisy’s, Selco’s, and the occasional guest articles that appear. Common sense in an uncommon world.
There is a saying that “Common sense is so rare, it’s like a super power.”
There is also this “parable”. I can’t claim it. I found it on the interwebs some time ago.
THE DEATH OF COMMON SENSE
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
– Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
– Why the early bird gets the worm;
– Life isn’t always fair;
– And maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student, but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death:
– by his parents, Truth and Trust,
– by his wife, Discretion,
– by his daughter, Responsibility,
– and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers:
– I Know My Rights
– I Want It Now
– Someone Else Is To Blame
– I’m A Victim
– Pay me for Doing Nothing
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
See founder John Adams’ letter to his wife Abigail when he still thought the 2nd of July was to be America’s biggest day ever:
From:
https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2014/07/02/john-adams-vision-of-july-4-was-july-2/
“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
–Lewis
There are no stories on the NYPD web site that mention an NYPD strike tomorrow, nor is there any warning posted on the DHS web site about expected violence. I’m not saying that there won’t be violent demonstrations. But such a warning is not found on either the NYPD or DHS web site.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Marxist revolutionary group dedicated to the overthrow of the United States Constitution and US Government. BLM wants to radically change America into a Marxist Socialist dictatorship with “radical redistribution of wealth”. BLM is hijacking the national civil rights movement resulting from the recent deaths of several African-American people at the hands of the police and trying to misuse that movement to advance a radical neo-Communist agenda.
Antifa and BLM are just new versions of Nazi Germany’s brown shirts.
All’s quiet in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
I couldn’t resist trying to track down the original author and version of The Death of Common Sense, having seen it so many times over the years without any attribution. I got lucky:
The Death of Common Sense, March 15, 1998 by Lori Borgman
on her website at:
https://www.loriborgman.com/1998/03/15/the-death-of-common-sense/
Further expanded in her 50-page 2012 book on Amazon:
The Death of Common Sense and Profiles of Those Who Knew Him Paperback – August 1, 2012, by Lori Borgman (Author, Editor), Tim Campbell & Daniel Jeffery Jewett (Illustrator)
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Common-Sense-Profiles-Those/dp/1467537861/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Lori+Borgman+books&qid=1593820102&s=books&sr=1-3
–Lewis
Locally (here in Southern Colorado), it’s been fairly calm since this all began. Pueblo is weird like that. In spite of it being a Democrat Blue Collar Union town, it’s really more moderate than you’d think (Democrats that recalled their State Rep over Gun Control legislation she backed). The “Protest” was a No Show (1,000 people out of a town of 130,000), and it was uneventful according to my LEO friends. I can’t speak for elsewhere, but here I don’t think there’s going to be any problems. I may be wrong, but I just don’t feel the tension here, that I see on TV. If ANTIFA and/or BLM are here, they’re keeping a low profile.
I forgot to add, we’ve been Red Flag weather wise, so they’ve got a Firework Ban for the city/county. It’s been real dry this year.
You have a good list of precautions we should take in crowds and events, but I do not agree with one of them. If you are parked far away from the crowd that means you will have a long walk, perhaps in the dark, without police presence. I have seen too many videos of people attacked by gangs of criminals to want to be isolated from the group. I would not be anywhere where I did not feel that most of the people were decent people.
Awww the poor babies couldn’t stop the Freedom Fest! Nothing happened all clear. No virus, terrorist, liberals, chinese or anything else.
Things went boom, we went swimming, grandkids discovered crickets and my belly was full. I tested a smoke grenade from Infidel Body Armor.
Then we stopped on the way home and watched the works at a local town, one of the few, that allows in city limits fireworks. That terrible copper filled smoke the reporters were trying to scare us with on the Friday evening news smelled of glorious freedom. Visibility was less than 1/4 mile because it was so off the chain. We just sat in the truck in the AC and watched millions go up in smoke cause America.
Yeah Patriotism, burning through money, noise and fun all shared in commonality. Things things they can’t stand. AMERICA WINNING
July 4th turned out to be a big nothing burger.