Firearms and BOBs

\”Are YOU Ready?\”

Hey everyone! For today’s article, I was hoping some of you could help share some ideas on the concept of weaponizing Bug-Out-Bags. I have a system of doing this (which I will share) but it’s kind of klunky, and some thoughts to streamline it would be appreciated. Maybe some of you will see my system as well, as possibly draw a few ideas from it.

First and foremost, though, for the time being BEFORE the SHTF, we do need to pay attention to laws. I’m sure once chaos reigns, where we carry our firearms will be of little concern, but for now, we can’t have them near any federal buildings, courts, schools, or anywhere it is posted they are not welcome. (Your state/municipality may actually expound on this, and have a further list of where they cannot go.) Here in Maine, if you have a Concealed Weapons Permit (an item any prepper should have if possible), you can keep a firearm concealed on your person, or in a backpack, purse, glovebox, etc, and it can stay in there even while you are at work. If you do NOT have one, then it must be locked up in the trunk or other unaccessible area, with ammunition stored seperately. This kind of puts a hitch in BOB plans if you wanted a gun in there. If you DO decide to keep a firearm in your bag and you do not have a CWP, be damn sure it is locked up and disassembled if possible, and keep the ammo in the glovebox. This meets Maine criteria; be sure to do research in your locality to ascertain firearms transport laws.

My Setup

As said before, I think my system is kind of awkward, but it works OK for me. My philosophy is for my BOB to be a 72-hour get-me-home bag, as 90% of the time I am within the same 30-mile radius of home, and that is where (probably) I should be when things so sour. This 30-mile radius includes lots of (very) lower-class suburbia between work and home, which I may have to schlep through or get out of in order to get home. Therefore, I really carry a firearm for self-defense, not foraging. For this task, I carry my stainless steel (lower maintenance) .45ACP SIG P220ST in a Home Depot Husky tool bag ( http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-18-in-Tool-Bag-82003N11/203224309?N=c2g6#.UZM_orUp-So ) that was less than 18 bucks. I opted for this, as it is incredibly heavy duty, being meant to carry lots of tools and be dragged around construction jobsites, and it has a shoulder strap for ease of carrying. All the tool pockets just happen to hold pistol magazines beautifully, out of the way of the main storage compartment, where a couple boxes of ammo in doubled-up zip-lock bags reside, as well as a holster, water bottle, a couple USCG-approved ration bars, paracord, lanyard, gloves, socks, basic firearms maintenance gear, a compass, and fire-starting materials reside. Also included is a 5″ Smith & Wesson first responder knife that is a BAD-ASS piece of gear.

Yes, I have a separate weapons bag (that admittedly weighs 20+ lbs) in addition to my BOB, and all this takes up a lot of room in the back of my little Tacoma. My line of thinking was that if I absolutely needed to, I could leave the gun bag behind and run with the BOB, as all the items in the gun bag are redundant to my BOB. If I HAD to, I could carry both for a pretty good distance, or, if someone is with me, (like my 13-year-old son) we can take turns carrying it. However, these days I have my previously-reviewed Smith and Wesson M&P 40C with me pretty much at all times, which makes having a whole bag for firearms kind of redundant, but it still provides a peace of mind knowing it’s there when needed.

So, my question to youse guys: How do you go about accomplishing the same mission? I’m hoping that myself and others who read here can draw on the immense knowledge we have together as a blog family, and learn a thing or two. Because these days, having a firearm in a BOB (when legal) just really seems to make a hell of a lot of sense.

Let us know what you think!!

-TRW