We live in a networked society 330 million in the US (of 370 million total in North America), sustained by a complex infrastructure with both private and public/governmental components that provide a means of exchange, deliver power, transport goods and services, enable communication, and maintain civil order. Kick out one leg of a three-legged stool, and it collapses; our civilization sits on a multi-legged stool, but is more fragile, not less. In 2022, our infrastructure has been weakened - its links, dependencies, specialization, and complexity are now as much weaknesses as they once were sources of synergy, leverage, and strength. This is not unprecedented in human history: it is a sign of civilizational decline. Stripped of the modern technological veneer, the trends we see today would be familiar to, for instance, Romans of the third or fourth century B.C.
When our system encounters sudden and abnormal stresses - such as natural disaster, supply chain disruption, power failure, and the civil disorder that either follows these events, or arises on its own from social and political conflict – the sanctuary of normalcy in which we live and thrive can be ripped open swiftly and brutally.
Community defense is a necessary topic, because governments have demonstrated a lack of will and capability to meet challenges of the scope, duration, and severity that are increasingly likely; nor will individuals or families in isolation fare well. Communities as large as a town or county, or as small as a subdivision or rural valley, can face these crises, given prior preparation and planning, or in the absence of all that, an unlikely degree of improvisational skill and good luck. We recommend the former approach, because, "once bullets start flying, we enter the realm of chance and luck… Chance, like hope, is not a reasonable or responsible course of action."
Because we have little directly applicable experience – there are few certainties and no tried-and-true methods for addressing the challenges of civilizational decline – this series of articles will seek to educate more than to train. Application and implementation must be a local effort.
"Training tends to prepare one for known problems, while education better prepares one for the unknown, the unpredictable, and the unexpected." (The Generals, Thomas E. Ricks, p. 419)
The social milieu: building in normal times for off-normal circumstances.
Consider the social and legal context within which a sustainable community defense project must grow.
Law and cultural norms related to self-reliance, self-defense, and the use of arms differ considerably across regions, states, and localities. It is critical that you consider these factors carefully in your Area Study and the other phases of Security Analysis already addressed on this site.
You first challenge will be how to build and sustain a network of defense and security within the bounds of law and public opinion both within and outside of your community.
Legality is important, because legal structures do not collapse overnight and many of the challenges we face will build slowly. For instance, Wyoming law prohibits the formation, training, and operation of private militias outside of state authority:
19-8-104. Other organizations parading with arms prohibited; penalty.
(a) No group or assembly of persons other than the regularly organized national guard or the troops of the United States shall associate themselves together as a military company or organization, or parade in public with arms without license of the governor. No city or town shall raise or appropriate monies for arming, equipping, uniforming or in any way supporting, sustaining or providing drill rooms or armories for such group or assembly of persons.
(b) Any person violating subsection (a) of this section or who belongs to or parades with any unauthorized group or assembly of persons with arms shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one (1) year, or both, for each offense." (Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 19-8-104, emphasis added)
This law does not prevent us from providing for our own security, because our right to bear arms and to defend ourselves and others is well established; and for collective security within the law, there is a perfect solution. Wyoming's Constitution and statutes (W.S. 19-10), like those of most other states, already provide for a volunteer state militia - the Wyoming State Guard - under the authority of the Governor of Wyoming. The National Guard can be federalized, i.e., mobilized and placed under federal command, but not this state militia. The federal law authorizing state guards (also known as state defense forces) was enacted in the World War I era in direct response to the establishment of federal authority over the National Guard.
As discussed elsewhere on this site, it is past time to exert pressure on the Governor's office and the legislature to implement that law. This would most likely take the form, at the grass roots level, of volunteer companies formed within their local area to assist other state authorities, fully accountable to and under the command of a designated state command structure. Concerns about private, self-declared "militias" operating outside the law would not apply.
This would provide an excellent structure for community defense statewide, while also knitting our dispersed and lightly populated communities together in a network of mutual support, much like the militias of colonial America, which themselves operated under the authority of colony (and later state) governments. Elsewhere we will discuss the remarkable level of training, organization and readiness of these colonial militias, the popular revolutionary fable of an uprising of doughty farmers with their squirrel rifles notwithstanding.
Another approach, where applicable, may be to seek reserve commissions or deputization from law enforcement that would allow you to function under their command as a component of legal, constituted authority.Legality
In the meantime, caution and discretion are called for.
We have a Constitutionally guaranteed natural right to self-defense, and to the tools and the training necessary to exercise that right. However, if you believe that right entitles you to organize and operate as a private, armed group in a public setting, in a domestic, peacetime environment, without the full knowledge and support of constituted legal authority, you are mistaken.
Private "activation" of the unorganized militia of the state is illegal in Wyoming and many other states. Governments by their nature jealously guard their monopoly on violence outside the narrow definition of immediate defense of self and others. And finally, even in the reddest of states there are many political enemies among us who are aware of the statutes cited above and would not hesitate to file criminal complaints against anything from unfriendly words to an organized display of arms, or group training. Government to the right of you, progressives to the left, and here we are, stuck in the middle.
We must work within the law and support the rule of law to provide enhanced protection and security for everyone in our community. Even in the best of times, law enforcement and the judiciary system that backs it has no legal obligation, and increasingly lacks the ability, to actually protect us when the wolf is at our door. Their presence, at best, deters the lawless by a promise of apprehension, trial, and incarceration, and we see increasingly in modern America how weak those promises are. Actual protection at the moment and point of contact is something you must provide yourself, or do without.
It is the "collective" piece that will be a challenge. To be armed for self-defense within the boundaries of your property is an unquestioned right. To carry a firearm in public, openly or concealed, is a right in Wyoming and in most of America (with varying qualification and permitting requirements). However, an armed response in a public (vs. private) setting can still be legally problematic; an armed group of citizens under even the most justifiable circumstances would be skirting the limits of lawful behavior at best.
In this series, we will outline a plan for establishing protected locales, conducting community patrols, and developing a system of observation, notification, alert, coordination, and response within your community. All these things, coupled with your individual rights to self-defense and to keep and bear arms, are well within the law.
The Politics of Community Defense
Addressing a need for community defense lands us firmly in the realm of politics. We must engage, from the beginning of our project, with local law enforcement, government entities, businesses, social organizations, and factions within our community who may not, in the beginning, agree with our goals or proposed methods. Politics is the art of persuasion, and public relations is a necessary tool.
Whether in your local Sheriff's office, or on the floor of a neighborhood association meeting, you will need spokesmen who can promote your program and earn the trust and support of skeptics.
In order to build a viable plan and organization for community defense, you must establish and maintain credibility, and build a broad consensus in your community – breaking down barriers of culture, ethnicity, ideology, political affiliation, and the prejudice some citizens have against core concepts of self-reliance. You must be seen to pursue a clear legal basis for the security postures and actions that you believe necessary. When dealing with others who are not already persuaded of the need for self-defense and self-reliance, patience and compromise constitute an indirect approach that is sometimes useful in dealing with hostility, skepticism, or complacency.
It's also important to remember that defense against violent threats is only one aspect of community security. There are other challenges to the safety and well-being of our neighbors, which we can address by simple good neighborliness, and whatever degree of organization and coordination we can achieve. When blizzards close the roads or wildfires threaten, there is often more need than government agencies have the capacity to meet. If conditions worsen, for instance through prohibitive fuel costs or unavailability of critical goods and services, we can pull together to take care of each other.
SUSTAINABLE SECURITY
Sustainability implies a long perspective, versus anticipating and responding to a short-term crisis. Many communities could, under pressure and with minimal preparations, take extraordinary measures to react to disasters or anticipate imminent, short-term threats. Sustaining that response over the long term, when conditions beyond our control do not improve, is a challenge of a different order.
The potential for a major, long-lasting disruption caused by natural disaster, political upheaval, economic instability, war, or terrorism – or a cascading, mutually reinforcing combination of these - requires us to contemplate a crisis situation that could continue for days, weeks, or months. Return to pre-crisis conditions may be slow.
As with other threats to our well-being, we believe that preparation against more immediate and more likely threats provides a solid basis on which to build security against larger, longer-term, and more dangerous eventualities.
Keeping our sights on the predictable and the achievable, in our next installment we will set the stage with a discussion of several historical and hypothetical examples of the sorts of threats communities may face. From there, we'll define the specific challenges and possible solutions for sustaining a community's security over the long haul, in a situation where existing authority may be stretched thin or unresponsive, and where even access to basics like information, communications, power, food, water, and sanitation may be uncertain.