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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

A succession of violent events

These last few days, crime and violence was the main topic on the news.

Not that people didn’t get killed almost on daily basis here in Buenos Aires city before, but the amount and more noticeably, the needless violence involved in these robberies is something to worry about.

The mayor of the city of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Marci, publicly admitted that there’s no safe place in Bs. As. City.

Some of the incidents aren’t well covered by the media, and I don’t want to go into every single detail, don’t have the time right now for that, but some of the things we can learn from them:

1) Anyone is a potential victim. A noticeable higher economical level makes you even more desirable in the eyes of the bad guys, but don’t think for one second that you will be spared because you aren’t rich, or just because you are poor. Poor people are getting robbed and killed for whatever can be found in their pockets.

2) There’s no “safe” time of the day. You can get killed at 12 AM, 6 AM or 9PM just the same. Nights are a bit worse because some bad guys prefer to operate in the dark, but the worst kind, the most brutal ones don’t care at all.


3) Surrendering does not ensure that you wont get killed. One of the persons killed these last few days cooperated with the bad guys when they robbed his small library, and when they were leaving one of them turned and shot him three times in the chest and one in the head with a .32 S&W long.

4) Meanwhile, a man fought back when he saw his wife and son being attacked in front of his house.
One of the bad guys had a gun to the teenage son’s head, while the other two hit the mother in the face with their guns and kicked her on the ground.
The husband acted out of desperation and started shooting with a 22LR, fatally wounding one of the criminals in the chest with a single shot.
The 3 bad guys managed to get into the car but the corpse of the one that got shot in the chest was dropped later in front of a hospital.

One guy armed with a 22LR vs. three armed criminals that already have the drop on you are not chances I’d like to take, but sometimes an aggressive reaction like this one sends vicious criminals running, tough you should never count on that happening, and even thought the 22LR killed the BG in question, you should really arm yourself with something better.

The woman’s face was disfigured because of the beating and she’s in the hospital, but the son and husband weren’t harmed.

5) Many of the persons killed these last few days got killed inside their cars.
Cars offer NO protection of any kind against any caliber. You’d do well to remember that.
If you ever end up using your car as a weapon, better go as low as you can in your seat, trying to use the engine a protection, since car doors and windows offer none, even against 22LR.

6)22LR, 32 S&W Long aren’t much to brag about but they can still kill you very much dead. Still, you should go for something more respectable for self defense in case they shoot back instead of running.

6) Most of these cases occurred when the person was either entering or exiting the house. This is, by far, the most dangerous moment, when you are more vulnerable.

7) Personal note here.

Guns are what you end up using when you fucked up and failed in your awareness.
I’ve been coming back home late at night again everyday at the same time.
Yesterday some guys tried to cut me off but when they saw that I was a) armed and b) not slowing down, but rather accelerating, they moved away fast enough.
Today I took a different route, and I’ll be using different ways back home so as to avoid being ambushed like that.
These things happen often, and being armed and not stopping or the combination of both always got me trough. But when they target you they may use other resources like setting traps like stones on the street or throwing bricks at your windshield to force you to stop.

Better to avoid these things and make sure they can’t figure out your route and schedule.

It may seem that for a blog intended on urban survival, I concentrate a lot on self defense.
Believe me, there’s a reason for it.
If things in USA keep on going down hill, expect crime to get worse even in small town America, and be ready to change your everyday habits

FerFAL

10 comments:

Ryan said...

You are doing great. Not getting killed in a robbery is a big part of urban survivalism.

GunGeek said...

Car rear and front windows do offer some protection, and it gets better as the caliber gets smaller.

They did some good work over at The Box O' Truth http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/buickot2.htm showing this. Short version- bullets hit higher after passing through a windshield, with smaller/lighter bullets going up the most. I've read elsewhere that rear windows deflect significantly, especially if the vehicle is moving away. Something to the effect that it's almost impossible to get many rounds, especially the smaller/lighter ones, to penetrate a well sloped rear window at all.

I wish you the best and pray for your safety.

FerFAL said...

Hi Gungeek,
Deflection isn’t protection, and according to what I’ve seen a windshield offers no protection from a criminal shooting at close range. This week alone 1 or 2 persons got shot and killed through the car window, and it happens rather often.

Even if he shoots for the head and deflection sends that round to your chest instead, you are still pretty screwed.

My mother in law’s neighbor got killed while inside his BMW, the killer shot him with a 22 LR through the window.

Do your best to get out of there and try to go as low as possible, but don’t expect your car, and specially the windows, to offer any kind of protection.

FerFAL

Anonymous said...

I truely thank you for all your insight. I wish you blogged more but dodging bullets and watching your ass I am sure takes up alot of time. It does look like the USA could end up the same way. Too bad our new presidential choices suck. Keep your head Bro and prays to you and your family

Anonymous said...

It was supposed to say keep your head low bro and prayers to you and your family.

FerFAL said...

Thanks Rushman.
Hey, I like my head were it is so keeping my head is also good advice
;^)

FerFAL

Anonymous said...

Don't count on bullet deflection through auto glass to save your butt. I've witnessed many rounds go through windows and doors killing the occupants (I work security in Iraq). Cars are good concealment but not cover from firearms. The Box O' Truth is good entertainment but hardly a scientific analysis or real world laboratory of external ballistics.

FerFal, What kind of success has been seen by the use of guard dogs in protecting property there in Argentina? I have 2 100lbs+ dogs and live in an area with an active criminal element and have yet to be burglarized. Is this still the case under the circumstances seen in Argentina today and during the earlier stages of economic collapse?

Thanks for your response and the log I am learning alot from your experiences.

Stay safe and dangerous!

FerFAL said...

Dogs must be looked after. I have a friend that lost all his dogs in his farm, poisoned by the people that often trespassed.

It’s important to train them so that they always eat from their plate, and check what they eat.

Having said that, yes, dogs are an important part of your security system, along with tall fences or perimeter walls, metal gratings, bars on windows, reinforced doors and locks and a good alarm system.

A lot of people rely on dogs and they do work as a deterrent against some criminals.

The most common dogs for security around here are Rotweilers, German shepherds and Dogo Argentino.

Of the ones mentioned, I’ve owned GS and Dogo.

I loved my GS but the Dogo is something else. With a Dogo, bravery, courage and raw fierceness when provoked are guaranteed.

There’s been several cases of Dogos Argentino going after the attackers, even if they shoot him.

I remember one case of a Dogo that took a 45 slug to the mouth ( got caught in the jaw) and another one in the chest, still the Dogo chases the criminals away.

Another Dogo (prize winner) defended his owner from kidnapers and got shot to death by several attackers, still managed to save it’s owner.

Around here there’s a saying: “With a guardian dog you know someone broke in because you hear the dog bark.
When you have a Dogo you know someone broke in because you hear them scream…”
It’s true, the Dogo will rarely bark. It’s a hunter, and it will silently wait until the person is inside and then attack fiercely.

Now this is both a blessing and a curse. The animal has been so well genetically engineered, it feels no pain and it will not be intimidated.
Once it attacks it either kills or gets killed.
This can lead to a true disaster if the animal isn’t well trained, or is induced to violent behavior, and ends up attacking family members.

Anonymous said...

Ive hunted with dogos here in Texas on wild hogs and I can attest to the capabilities of those dogs..simply amazing. An intruder knowing those dogs were there would be some serious bad*ss people to go through with an attempted break in.

Hope you are well.

Stay safe and dangerous.

Anonymous said...

www.argentinacrisis.com

check it out!