Ten Thoughts on What to Do if a BLM Riot Occurs Near Your Home

 

20200927 Shep Et al. as author

Have the BLM Riots happened near your home or business?  

The riot organizers have a plan.  The many cohesive violent small groups that make up the rioters each have a plan.  The criminals that BLM encourages to participate surely have a plan.  Each organized political subset, be they Communist, ANTIFA, Anarchist, or any other participating group, has a plan.

These criminals want to surprise you, hoping that you will not have time to make your own plan.  Consequences of not being prepared when these violent thugs come to your home will be life changing.  You must have a plan of your own, and it must be in force prior to your first contact with the rioters.  Because my family lives in an area affected by BLM rioters we have given this a lot of thought.  I'm sharing these thoughts here.

1.)  DON'T BE THERE. --  ANTIFA rarely files permits for demonstrations, but their PR group, BLM does.  Most municipalities have some amount of lead time required for the issuance of a demonstration or march permit.  The route will be published on that municipalities website.  This is an imperfect system.  In Oklahoma City the protestors have followed the permit route and locations generally, but at the end of the demonstration the leaders listed on the permits step back and the leaders of the subsequent planned riot step forward right on cue.

If your home or business is on the planned route, or between the planned route and the jail, municipal building, or capital building, your best first plan is to be somewhere else while the protestor-rioters are active.  Avoid the published route and major streets during your exit.  Your home is insured, and even if it isn't, nothing there is worth your life or the life of a loved one.  This is not the movies.  Good guys are often hurt, horribly disfigured, paralyzed, brain damaged for life, and even murdered by these BLM idiots.  

Tips 2 through 10 pertain to what you should consider if you are caught by surprise or must remain in your home even though you know a riot is likely to happen in your neighborhood.

2,)  Plan for a scenario in which the BLM/ANTIFA rioters wake you up in the middle of the night.  --  The Communists among these thugs are fascinated with the violence of the French Revolution.  They often write feverish fantasies about visiting La Terreur on suburban America.  

You have to be ready to respond to these terrorists in the middle of the night.  If your plan involves firearms, they have to be limbered and ready to use.  Real training from a gunfighting school will dramatically increase your family's odds of being on the prevailing, and hopefully unharmed side.  On ANTIFA/BLM nights sleep in cargo pants and an appropriate shirt.  If you must have socks wear them to bed.  Do not rely on sandals and flip flops.  You are likely to encounter fire and broken glass in many of these scenarios.  If you are forced into fighting, particularly ground fighting, having closed toed shoes is indescribably better than open-toed shoes.  Sneakers are the minimum acceptable. Boots are better than sneakers.  If choosing a boot, consider the trade offs between pull-ons and laced boots.  One is much faster.  The other is better when running.  If you are awakened in the middle of the night you will want a light and a smallish knife.  You will need a small flashlight.  I recommend one that can be attached to the bill of a baseball cap.  If you have never worked in remote situations under dark conditions, having a light on your hat is like having a third hand.  You then have two free hands to run a gun, carry children, help people up, operate doors, manipulate bad guys, find your keys, open a door, and anything else the situation requires.  

Keep in mind that the police in many cities are not responding to individual complaints until the next day.  In some cases they haven't responded for weeks.  You must plan as if you will be on your own.

3.)  Plan for a fire.  --  Even if you have fire extinguishers on every level of your home, your family is probably blind to them.  Ask at dinner if anyone knows where the fire extinguisher is in the kitchen, upstairs, in the basement, in the garage etc.  

For added safety make sure you can screw your shower head off by hand.  It may be corroded onto the pipe where it comes from the wall.  Most shower heads have the same threads as a garden hose.  On ANTIFA/BLM activity nights store your garden hose in your shower.  If you have a day’s notice, you might remove your shower head around dusk and place quick connects on the pipe and the hose.  This quick connect will be helpful if you are operating in a burning home with violent thugs chanting about killing you on the lawn.  Give consideration as to how long of a hose you need.  Having an adjustable nozzle that can be closed offers the advantage of extending the range of the hose as well as being able to stop the flow of water from the business end.  Keep in mind that if you use water to suppress a fire in your home you will very likely trip breakers.  That little flashlight we discussed earlier will suddenly become critical equipment.  Even better if it can be attached to your body for hands free operation.

4.)  Be aware of local law enforcement patterns. --  We have a lot of helicopter traffic over downtown Oklahoma City.  Air ambulances coming and going from the hospitals do not sound like the Chinooks and Blackhawks that fly over during Guard Manouvers.  None of them sound like the little Fennec looking jobs that OKC Police operates.  

These police helicopters have distinct paint jobs to go with their distinct sound.  If a group of rioters begins to form up at an intersection or a parking lot we can count on those helicopters, along with our gaudily painted news helicopters, circling the area.  Often it is our first indication that the night will be a problem.  Our local news will tell us to within about 50 meters the location of every tornado and cloud rotation in Oklahoma County.  These same newsrooms are nearly worthless for describing the location and activity of a destructive mob, even when their helicopters are overhead and their reporters are embedded with the thugs.  

5.)  Lights and televisions visible from the street need to be turned off.  --  ANTIFA/BLM thugs are sight predators.  There should be no indication of activity within your home to attract them.  If there is a television station in your area that reliably reports the movement and actions of these mobs, have a plan to have a family member monitor that channel in such a way that the blue light of the typical television is not visible around your blinds on the street.  

At night test the plan to see if any of the tell-tale blue light is visible from outside of your home.  Using a single earbud to monitor a reliable radio station will allow you to receive broadcast information while permitting reasonable auditory situational awareness of what is happening in your home and immediately outside. 

6.)  Don't make your house a target by with political statements.  --  Unfortunately this means you need to keep your Gadsen flags, POW/MIA flags, American Flags, and ANY sort of political signs concealed.

BLM/ANTIFA have a history of attacking anything connected with American political culture.  Keep in mind that BLM is a Marxian Communist movement invested in the violent deconstruction of all things American.  Even the Democrat party which turns a blind eye to their violence is a regular target.  It doesn’t matter what party you are in, or even if you foolishly support the BLM movement.  Anything and anyone connected to the American political system is at risk from these wannabe revolutionaries..

7.)  Don't assume you are safe because you are black or Democrat.  --  The rioters in Oklahoma City looted a native owned business.  In many cities BLM marchers looted what are obviously black owned businesses.  In Oklahoma City they firebombed a women’s charity in a stand alone building. In Seattle and Minneapolis they firebombed businesses owned by older black ladies.  BLM cares nothing about real black people.  

They are focused on destroying our country.  Civil rights to them is just the sheep's clothing used to conceal their wolves.

8.)  Direct confrontation comes with costs.  --  ANTIFA prides itself on their ability to harass people by obtaining their online information.  If you work for a large corporation, ANTIFA’s more socially acceptable public face, BLM will do everything possible to have you fired and “de-personed”.  Your family will be threatened.  If you own a small business, count on the thugs to send an arsonist to burn down the physical structure and to relentlessly lie and otherwise defame your work. You can also expect for your customers to be blackmailed and otherwise harrassed.  Your vendors will be harassed until they stop doing business with you.

One business owner who successfully defended himself and his property against violent BLM thugs recently was driven to suicide.  ANTIFA/BLM will bring this same level of pressure to bear on you if you directly confront them.

Even if you survive an ANTIFA/BLM confrontation, and you are somehow able to keep your job or business going, count on spending $100,000 at a minimum for a successful “self-defense” argument in the legal system.  There is no guarantee that your defense will be successful even after that kind of cash outlay.

Best to just NOT HAVE INTERACTION WITH BLM/ANTIFA THUGS.  Their time will quickly pass, hopefully with many of them doing time, and you will be able to return to your normal, productive, life.  

9.)  Know the signs that a demonstration is about to become a riot.  --  If you are between a BLM mob and a government building, you are in a likely riot zone.  If you live near a retail district particularly one with large glass windows and there are BLM “protesters” operating in the area, you are in a likely riot zone.  Regardless of your location, if it is after dark and BLM “protesters” are in your area, you are in a likely riot zone.  If you are watching a newscast, and a many of the “protestors” start running at the same time, THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A RIOT.  

At least as far back as the Sixties, Communists and Anarchists would hide themselves just behind a front line of naive  kids.  From this space they would toss Molotov cocktails, bricks, feces, and any other provocative object at the police.  When the police surged forward the gullible kids would get their heads cracked.  This makes for really great photo and video propaganda against the police.  Of course the Communists and their fellow travelers would have retreated to the relative safety of the back of the crowd, leaving non provacateurs to face the music. 

10.)  Have your stuff together BEFORE BLM/ANTIFA arrive at your home.  --  I recommend a tactical vest such as those offered by SIG.  Mine is XXL which allows me to wear it over a heavy coat.  My phone charges in it at night, along with the earbuds.  An M9 pistol is in the purpose built left interior breast pocket.  The tiny light which also clips to my hat lives in its own dedicated compartment.  A 3 1/2" spring assist knife has a its own spot.  The vest is also loaded with six extra pistol mags along with four more for the rifle.  

This rifle has a sling and will be slung for the entire duration of the trouble. It is very difficult for an untrained rioter to wrestle a properly slung rifle away from a good guy.  If you haven't trained on how to fire with a slung rifle, take a moment to watch some videos and GET REAL TRAINING FROM A REAL INSTRUCTOR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

I hope this helps.  Once again, the best advice is to not be at a riot if you know a riot is likely to break out.  Any BLM protest is likely to become a riot.

This article was written both to teach and to learn.  Several friends offered ways of looking at things which our family had not previously considered during the writing process.  Any contributions to the topic of what to do if a riot breaks out around your home are welcome.