Survivalists and preppers find themselves locked in an arms race that is prompting many to consider more powerful weaponry and more extreme levels of preparedness. The trend has turned survivalism into a billion dollar industry stoked by fear, envy and paranoia.
Assault rifles are virtually flying off the shelves of gun stores in the United States and sales at gun shows continue on at a record pace. Buyers, stoked by fears of future legislation banning the purchase of such weapons by civilians, have created a kind of mini arms race among survivalists, who must now consider they might face military grade threats in the hands of neighborhood gangs during the coming apocalypse and associated breakdown in social order.
Trying to keep up with the arms race among survivalists quickly dissolves into a blizzard of survival minutiae, firearms terminology and insider lingo. Having an assault-style rifle and a couple spare magazines are no longer enough, now there are recommendations for slings, sling plates, specifications for magazines (NATO aluminum mags seem to be a popular choice), scopes and sighting devices, some of which can cost hundreds of dollars. Do you have a stock grip on that assault rifle? Sorry, that just won’t do. Even something as simple as shovel now has a $140 high-tech counterpart complete with something called a Zombie spike.
Got enough food for a few days or a couple weeks? Not enough. The really prepared among us have campers, called “bug out trailers”, loaded with months worth of supplies. Even a bug out trailer may be a poor substitute for a secure bunker. All in an effort to be the last people standing during the apocalypse.
Gone are the days when you could grab your rifle and head out, these days you have to consider body armor and not just any old bulletproof vest will do. The type of body armor worn by most police officers, which can stop bullets from most handguns, may not be good enough if your neighbor is packing high-powered armor piercing ammunition. Today the well-equipped prepper has to consider a heavier, more expensive military grade bullet proof vests that can stop more powerful ammunition.
Survivalists are also not trusting company reviews and results from testing labs, many are doing their own tests that stress the products far beyond their rated capacities. This review video, made by a group calling themselves Spartanc81, shows ballistic panels that go in bulletproof vests being subject to punishment that far exceeds their rated capacities. And here’s a video of that $140 dollar shovel in action.
The popularity of reality TV shows like Doomsday Preppers and Doomsday Bunkers and a near constant stream of fear and paranoia from right-wing media has turned survivalism from a fringe movement with a few thousand followers to a mainstream industry that thrived even when the rest of the economy was struggling. The business of fear and impending conflict with our neighbors is booming.
The real fear of so many people making that big of an investment in survival gear is that, at some point, some fringe group is going to want to test out their level of preparedness with a live fire exercise involving some fraction of the civilian population. When you’ve sunk your personal treasure into a fortified bunker stocked with food and ammunition, what’s your motivation to engage with the rest of the world and try to find workable solutions to our common problems?
While the nation has suffered through times of division before but the survivalist arms race threatens to turn our country from a working democracy into a place where a sizable minority of the population is sinking their collective effort and treasure into a future vision that’s full of separation, violence and starvation. When you look at it that way, where’s the value in being the last one standing in an apocalyptic future?