In America, one of our foremost safety problems is building materials. I’m not referring to the fact that plywood is soon going to run you 100 dollars per square foot. The point I’d like to make is that we build our domiciles out of components which are woefully inadequate to repel small arms fire.
For instance, in East Asia modern homes are constructed with beams made from poured concrete reinforced with rebar. In between the beams are non-load bearing brick walls. Outside, they’re covered in tile. Inside, with plaster.
Since all countries must be plagued by wanton gunfire because there is no genetic component to this terror and to suggest otherwise would be racist, I suggest we draw some inspiration from the “Wisdom of the Orient” on how to prevent the ingestion of stray rounds.
We’re just sitting ducks, depending on brittle dry wall and flimsy vinyl siding to protect us from projectiles that hurtle through the landscape in broad daylight. Just ask Kansas City “social justice” journalist Aviva Okeson-Haberman, who was struck inside her apartment. Oh, wait. You’ll need a Ouija board for that one because she’s dead.
Aviva wasn’t the only Kansan to succumb to the same tragedy in April. Mark Winner was watching a soccer game in his home when a bullet from a confrontation that had nothing to do with him whatsoever ended his life. A cursory Google search into the matter reveals a protracted litany of senseless death across the nation, from toddlers to the elderly.
One takeaway from the crime scenes is that if you can’t count on the walls of your home to stop a bullet, don’t expect any household objects to do the trick, either. Your TV will slow it down about as much as a box of cereal.
The randomness of wherever these bullets are coming from is exceeded only by the inadequacy of our building codes. In fact, it’s better not to focus on the randomness because, by its very nature, it’s impossible to figure out. We need to demand regulatory accountability from our elected officials.
It’s insane that science advocates are squawking about how Uncle Sam should build a Large Hadron Collider in order to remain internationally competitive when we can’t even stop lead from colliding with our bodies while we sleep in bed.
Like I said, I’ve got no idea where this stuff is coming from and probably nobody ever will figure it out. Why does the sun rise and set? Maybe the stars are just bullet holes in the curtain of night. Some mysteries are meant to linger in perpetuity.
I’m proud to officially announce my candidacy for the office of Dogcatcher.
Systemic White racism strikes again. Time to demand steel-reinforced walls and ceilings in all Section 8 housing occupied by POCs.
This is an often overlooked thing and a great article. You’d think that we would have learned from the three little pigs.
Not just small arms fire! Those concrete homes that are the standard in most of the world are not so easy to torch and burn down. Even with the interior gutted by flames, you are left with the very durable shell.
Speaking of shelling, there’s a brand of lego-like hollow styrofoam “blocks” that fit together with rebar linking the interlocking columns and rows, such that when the structure is complete, you pour concrete to fill the central void. The plastic foam assures a very long cure time = making some extremely strong concrete. One test had two inch naval guns firing upon one of the structures. The plastic foam blew away, leaving the central concrete core unharmed. This is not the sort of home Janet Reno and that kind want you to have. Supposedly many jurisdictions have building codes that outlay concrete homes in America, land of the free!
As long as you remember that whatever you build will be occupied by your replacements in short order. Why build them sturdy homes from which to strike out at us from? Southerners should have always taken an attitude of orderly relocation instead of the debacle of white flight and every man for himself approach, leaving behind generations of childern to be tortured and corrupted by Yankees because they could not run. We can stick together across oceans and time, but then it seems around the 60’s we got stuck in some rut of moving (running and leaving half our people behind to die is more accurate) then building, then running, rinse and repeat.
We have no order or organization in our movements, nobody keeping us together as we move. As always, those who would can’t, those who can, don’t.
Don’t build nice things for the invaders to steal and hunker down in. It reminds me of the SCV picking up.trash on the highway so the yankees have a nice view as they come to steal our home. Making our temporary dwellings disposable, like shotgun houses and trailers is probably the smartest thing we have done since our “white flight” (see also; total disorganized route) cycle began. When falling back you burn your fortifications, you don’t leave them intact for the enemy to operate out of in comfort and safety.
Just my opinion though. Thanks for demonstrating to people who watch TV and think a wall offers cover how wrong they are, you may have saved a life. A tip for others reading this, hit the deck and return fire from a prone position, the smaller your profile, and the more debris breaking up your profile the better. If you have to stand, then use door frames, which are usually stacked 2x4s instead of walls, but seriously, only stand up….. never, even run at a crouch, stay low at all times.
Related to the excellent points here (and especially in tornado prone Dixie Alley), is that tornado and hurricane “proof” homes really are possible. Maybe not going to totally survive a direct E5 hit, but solid timber construction is remarkably sturdy, more energy efficient, and 100% will stop a round. Check it out.