February 2014. Ice storm hit our area hard.
I watched from my window as local authorities went door-to-door on our street.
They weren’t checking on people’s safety.
They were cataloging generators.
“Emergency management purposes,” they said.
Three houses on my block had their generators requisitioned for “critical infrastructure needs.”
The owners got receipts. Official-looking paperwork promising eventual return or compensation.
None of them ever got their generators back.
That’s when I learned the hardest lesson of my twelve years prepping: having supplies doesn’t mean keeping supplies.
When crisis hits, everything you’ve stockpiled becomes a target.
Your unprepared neighbors know you’re prepared.
Organized groups, criminal or otherwise, have been watching what you buy.
And authorities operating under emergency powers have legal mechanisms to take what they deem necessary for “the greater good.”
This isn’t conspiracy theory. This is documented pattern from every major crisis in modern history.
After Hurricane Katrina, police went door-to-door confiscating firearms from legal gun owners.
During Venezuela’s collapse, government forces systematically raided homes for specific items using lists they’d compiled beforehand.
In Argentina’s economic crisis, proposals to confiscate private food storage were seriously discussed at government levels.
The pattern repeats: crisis, desperation, systematic collection of resources by those with organization and firepower to take them.
Here’s what most preppers miss:
the items they come for first aren’t random.
There’s a priority list based on immediate survival value, ease of transport, and potential for control.
Understanding this list is the difference between keeping what you’ve built and watching it disappear when you need it most.
I’m going to walk you through the seven categories that will be targeted first, why they’re prioritized, and, most importantly, how to protect them using methods that have worked in actual crisis situations worldwide.
No fear-mongering. Just reality-based preparation from someone who’s watched this play out locally and studied it globally.
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Category One: Firearms and Ammunition
Let me share something that happened in New Orleans after Katrina that changed how I think about gun ownership.
The police chief at the time said, and I quote: “Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons.”
Door-to-door confiscations followed immediately.
Legal gun owners who’d done nothing wrong had their constitutional rights suspended and their means of protection seized.
This happened in America. In our lifetime. It’s documented on video.
Most people complied when faced with armed law enforcement.
The few who resisted were arrested and their weapons taken anyway.
Why are firearms always first on the list?
Simple. They represent power. In a collapse scenario, whoever controls the weapons controls everything else.
Criminal groups want them for obvious reasons.
But government entities frame it as public safety.
They say it’s temporary. They promise to return them when order is restored.
History shows that rarely happens.
During the LA riots, Korean store owners who’d registered their weapons had them confiscated preemptively.
Meanwhile, those with unregistered weapons were able to defend their businesses successfully.
I’m not telling you what to do regarding registration, that’s your decision based on your situation and local laws.
But I am telling you that paperwork creates lists, and lists enable confiscation.
Protection strategy: Decentralization
I learned this from a Serbian friend who survived the Balkan conflicts.
They kept one obvious gun in the house, usually an old hunting rifle, something to satisfy a casual search.
The real defensive weapons were cached elsewhere: behind false walls, buried in waterproof containers, stored with trusted friends who weren’t on any lists.
Before you dismiss this as paranoid, consider that during Argentina’s economic collapse, criminals would torture homeowners to reveal where guns were hidden.
But they could only take what they could find.
Those who prepared multiple caches kept their ability to defend themselves even after being robbed.
Operational security matters more than gear
Every photo you post showing off your arsenal. Every time you talk about your guns at work. Every gun-related sticker on your vehicle.
You’re advertising. You’re creating a target list for anyone paying attention.
I learned this the expensive way in 2015.
Posted a photo of a new rifle on social media.
Two weeks later, my garage was broken into. They knew exactly what they were looking for.
The lesson: quiet capability beats loud advertising every single time.
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Category Two: Medications and Medical Supplies
This category hits different because we’re not talking about comfort or security.
We’re talking about literal life and death.
During Puerto Rico’s hurricane crisis, insulin became more valuable than gold.
People traded generators for a month’s supply.
Antibiotics sold for fifty times normal price.
Pain medications became underground currency overnight.
But here’s what mainstream media didn’t report: it wasn’t just criminals stealing medical supplies.
Hospital workers, EMTs, even some doctors were hoarding medications for their own families or for trade.
Think about it from their perspective. If you’re diabetic and insulin supply chains are cut, you have maybe a month before you’re in serious trouble.
If you have a heart condition and can’t get medication, you’re looking at weeks.
If your child needs antibiotics for what would have been a simple infection yesterday but there are no antibiotics today, what would you do?
This is why medical supplies will be among the first things people come looking for.
Unlike firearms, which some people might hesitate to steal because of danger involved, medications are seen as fair game.
After all, you’re just trying to save your family, right?
Protection strategies for medical supplies are different from firearms because most medications have shelf lives.
Long-term burial storage isn’t always practical.
The three-part strategy: Misdirection, Distribution, Discrete Acquisition
Misdirection means keeping decoy medical supplies visible.
A small medicine cabinet with common over-the-counter medications, maybe some expired antibiotics.
Things that look valuable but aren’t your critical supplies.
When someone’s searching for medications, finding something often stops them from looking deeper.
Distribution is critical. Never keep all medical supplies in one location.
I keep a three-day supply in my daily bag. A week’s worth hidden in my vehicle.
A month’s worth in a cache only my wife knows about.
My main supply distributed between three hidden locations in my home.
Why? Because if someone finds one stash, I don’t lose everything.
Discrete acquisition is about building medical supplies without creating attention.
Filling all prescriptions at once or buying cases of certain medications gets noticed.
Instead, rotate pharmacies. Build slowly over time.
Here’s something perfectly legal most people don’t know: many prescription medications are available for veterinary use without prescriptions.
Fish antibiotics are molecularly identical to human antibiotics.
I’m not giving medical advice, just stating a fact that could be relevant in a true collapse scenario.
Do your own research and make your own decisions.
One resource I’ve found helpful for understanding medication storage and alternative options is included in comprehensive preparedness guides like this one (Click Here To View), which covers medical preparation in ways most mainstream sources won’t touch.
But whether you use that or other resources, the key is having a plan beyond “hope the pharmacy is open.”
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Category Three: Food and Water Supplies
You’d think these would be number one, right?
But here’s the thing: in the first days of crisis, most people still have some food in their pantries.
It’s not until about 72 hours in that food becomes the primary target.
But when that switch flips, it flips hard.
During the siege of Sarajevo, people burned their furniture, their books, even family photos to cook what little food they had.
A can of soup that costs a dollar today was trading for the equivalent of a hundred dollars.
And people weren’t just stealing food, they were killing for it.
Here in America, we like to think we’re more civilized.
But look what happened during COVID, not even a true collapse, just supply chain disruption, and people were fighting over toilet paper.
Imagine what happens when it’s actual food on the line.
When it’s your children who are hungry.
Government response to food shortages follows the same pattern every time.
First, they implement rationing.
Then they start requisitioning “excess” supplies for redistribution.
They justify it by saying hoarders are the problem.
During World War II, having more than a week’s worth of certain foods was actually illegal.
People went to jail for having too much sugar or coffee.
In Venezuela, they created special ID cards tracking what food you bought and when. Buy too much and you’d get a visit.
They’d confiscate your excess and sometimes arrest you for hoarding.
Greece during their economic crisis proposed a law allowing confiscation of privately held food supplies during emergencies.
This isn’t ancient history or foreign problems. This is the playbook, and it repeats.
The Iceberg Strategy
Like an iceberg, ninety percent of your supplies should be invisible, below the surface.
Keep a visible pantry with maybe two weeks of normal food.
This is what you show people if they ask.
This is what you eat from daily so it looks active and real.
But your real supplies need to be hidden with the same creativity you’d use to hide gold bars. Because in a collapse, that’s essentially what they are.
I learned a technique from a couple who survived the Bosnia conflict.
They created false walls in their basement using cheap paneling.
Behind those walls, they stored food supplies.
When soldiers searched their house, they found the regular pantry, took what they wanted, and left.
They never found the three months of food hidden ten feet away.
Distributed storage method
Instead of one big stockpile that screams “prepper,” have dozens of small caches.
A bucket of rice hidden in attic insulation.
Canned goods behind books on a bookshelf. Mylar bags of beans inside old paint cans in the garage.
Even if someone searches thoroughly, they’re unlikely to find everything.
But here’s the real key to protecting food supplies: nobody can steal what they don’t know exists.
The biggest threat to your food storage isn’t thieves or government agents. It’s your own mouth.
Every time you mention your preparedness.
Every time you post about your latest Costco run.
Every time you tell someone you’re not worried about shortages because you’re prepared.
You’re creating future problems.
I made this mistake in 2016. Was proud of my preparedness and talked about it at work.
Fast forward to COVID shortages and guess who had multiple coworkers show up at his door asking to “borrow” supplies?
When you say no to desperate people who know you have what they need, you’ve made an enemy who knows exactly where to come when things get worse.
The lesson: preparedness is a secret you keep, not an accomplishment you advertise.
Category Four: Fuel and Power Generation
Generators. Solar panels. Battery banks. Stored gasoline. Propane tanks.
These become incredibly valuable because they represent something even more precious than the power they provide: they represent normalcy.
During the northeast blackout of 2003, people paid hundreds of dollars to charge cell phones.
During Hurricane Sandy, gasoline sold for forty dollars a gallon on the black market. In Puerto Rico, people were murdered for generators.
But here’s what’s really interesting: fuel and power equipment are usually the first things that get regulated by authorities during crisis.
Within hours of a major disaster, you’ll see emergency orders limiting fuel purchases.
Then come regulations about generator use. Then comes requisitioning of fuel supplies for “essential services.”
I witnessed this during the 2017 Florida fuel shortage.
Even though there was no actual disaster, just threat of a hurricane, panic buying caused the governor to implement fuel rationing within twelve hours.
The challenge with protecting fuel and power equipment: they’re hard to hide.
A running generator makes noise heard blocks away.
Solar panels are visible from the air.
The smell of gasoline is distinctive and travels.
Traditional hiding methods don’t work.
Instead, focus on camouflage and misdirection.
The two-generator strategy
Have a small, loud, cheap generator you run during the day when everyone else is running theirs. This is your decoy.
Then have your real generator, a quality inverter model that runs quiet, which you only run at night or when absolutely necessary.
Couple this with sound dampening: build an enclosure, use automotive mufflers, position it to direct sound away from populated areas.
Solar panels present a different challenge. Traditional roof-mounted panels are basically a billboard announcing you have power when nobody else does.
Consider portable panels that can be deployed when needed and hidden when not.
Or install ground-mount systems in your backyard where they can be camouflaged with tarps or camo netting when necessary.
But here’s the counterintuitive strategy that actually works: strategic sharing.
During the Balkan conflicts, families that survived best were those that created mutual aid networks with immediate neighbors.
They’d share power for essential needs, charging phones, running medical equipment, preserving critical foods.
This created a group invested in protecting the resource rather than stealing it.
I’m not saying give away your supplies.
I’m saying create a small circle of trusted neighbors who benefit from helping you protect what you have.
One person defending a generator is vulnerable.
Five families invested in that generator’s protection? That’s security.
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Category Five: Communication Equipment
Radios. Satellite phones. Mesh network devices. Even your internet router.
In a crisis, information becomes as valuable as food or water.
Those who control communication control the narrative.
During the Arab Spring, governments didn’t just shut down internet.
They went door-to-door confiscating satellite dishes and communication equipment.
In Myanmar, possessing certain types of radios became illegal overnight.
Even in America during Katrina, ham radio operators reported having equipment confiscated by authorities who wanted to control emergency communications.
Why does communication equipment become such a target?
Because accurate information is power.
Knowing what’s really happening. Being able to coordinate with others.
Being able to call for help or warn of danger.
These capabilities make you exponentially more likely to survive, and that makes you a threat to anyone trying to control the situation.
Protecting communication equipment requires a different approach than protecting physical supplies.
The challenge isn’t just hiding the equipment, it’s hiding the fact that you’re using it.
A transmission can be triangulated.
An antenna can be spotted.
Even the electromagnetic signature of devices can be detected with the right equipment.
Graduated communication security
Have multiple levels of communication capability and only reveal what’s necessary for the situation.
Level one: Your phone and regular internet.
Everyone has these, so they don’t mark you as prepared.
Level two: A basic emergency radio that receives but doesn’t transmit. Still normal. Nothing that screams prepper.
Level three: Capabilities that need protection. Handheld ham radio. Satellite communication device. Mesh network nodes.
These need to be hidden and only used when necessary.
But here’s the critical part: you need to practice with them now, before you need them.
Figuring out how to program a radio while someone’s banging on your door isn’t ideal.
Get your license if required. Learn the equipment. Practice with local groups. Build competence now while it’s safe to make mistakes.
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Category Six: Tools and Hardware
Chainsaws. Generators. Water purification systems. Basic hand tools.
These items become incredibly valuable not just for their practical use, but because they represent the ability to rebuild and repair in a world where nothing new is being manufactured.
During Argentina’s collapse, a good chainsaw could trade for a month’s worth of food.
Why?
Because it meant you could cut firewood to cook and stay warm. Clear roads. Help your community.
You had a valuable service to offer.
Water purification systems became so valuable that people dismantled swimming pool filters to trade the components.
But here’s what most people don’t realize: tools aren’t just valuable to criminals and desperate neighbors.
They’re often first things requisitioned by authorities trying to maintain infrastructure.
I’ve personally seen public works departments going door-to-door “borrowing” chainsaws, generators, and pumps.
They give you a receipt and promise to return them.
Good luck with that.
In 2018 during California wildfires, I watched crews requisition water pumps from three properties on my street.
Owners were told it was temporary for fighting fires.
Two years later, they were still trying to get compensated. One guy never got his pump back, supposedly lost in the emergency response.
Tool redundancy and camouflage
For every critical tool, you want three versions.
First is your decoy, the old beat-up version that barely works.
This is what’s visible in your garage.
If someone’s stealing something, let them take this.
Second is your daily use version.
What you actually use regularly, kept secure but accessible.
Third is your cache version, new or like-new tool properly stored and hidden for when things get really bad.
Make tools look worthless
That beautiful new generator? Paint it to look old and beaten.
Use rust effect paint. Put fake repair patches on it.
Make it look like it barely runs.
That pristine chainsaw? Dirty it up. Make it look like it’s been repaired with duct tape and bailing wire.
People steal what looks valuable. Make your tools look like they’re not worth the effort.
This same principle applies to everything from power tools to hand tools to specialized equipment.
The best protection is making valuable items appear valueless.
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Category Seven: Knowledge and Information
Preparedness books. Maps. Written plans. Digital files. The knowledge in your head.
You might think, “Who’s going to steal books during a collapse?”
You’d be wrong to dismiss this threat.
During China’s Cultural Revolution, people were imprisoned for possessing certain books.
In Cuba, having the wrong technical manual could get you labeled a counterrevolutionary.
Even in modern America, during various investigations, people have had digital devices seized and searched for specific types of information.
But it’s not just authorities you need to worry about.
In a collapse scenario, a book on medicine becomes invaluable to someone without medical knowledge.
Maps showing water sources.
Agricultural guides. Technical manuals for repair and maintenance.
These become survival tools. If someone knows you have them, they’ll come looking.
More concerning: your knowledge itself becomes a commodity.
If people know you have medical training, engineering skills, or extensive preparedness knowledge, you become either an asset to be controlled or a threat to be eliminated.
During the Balkan conflicts, educated people were specifically targeted. Doctors were forced to work at gunpoint.
Engineers were kidnapped to maintain critical infrastructure.
Protecting information resources
Digitize everything you can and store it on multiple encrypted drives.
A micro SD card the size of your fingernail can hold an entire library.
But don’t rely solely on digital. EMP events, whether natural or man-made, could wipe out electronic storage.
Keep physical copies of truly critical information, but hide them like you would gold.
Create a knowledge cache
A hidden collection of your most important references: medical guides, repair manuals, maps, agricultural information.
Seal them in waterproof containers and cache them separate from your main supplies.
Because even if everything else is taken, knowledge can help you rebuild.
Practice information security now
Stop posting about your skills and knowledge online. Stop telling people about your preparedness expertise.
Become the grey man of information.
Be someone who knows nothing special, has no unique skills, presents no threat and offers no value beyond basic labor.
I learned this the hard way in 2019.
Was helping coordinate disaster response after flooding in our area.
Made the mistake of demonstrating extensive knowledge about water purification and emergency medicine.
Within days, had people showing up at my house asking for help, advice, and supplies.
In a true collapse, that attention could be fatal.
The Concentric Security Mindset
Everything you own becomes a potential liability in a true crisis. Every resource makes you a target.
Every capability makes you either an asset to be exploited or a threat to be eliminated.
The only way to protect what you have is to ensure nobody knows you have it.
Think of your preparedness as concentric circles.
The outer circle is what everyone can see. This should be minimal, just enough to seem normal but unprepared.
The next circle is what close friends and family know about. Slightly more, but still limited.
Inner circles get progressively smaller and more secretive, with the core being knowledge that only you or perhaps your spouse possesses.
Each category we’ve discussed requires different protection strategies, but they all share common principles:
Redundancy means never keeping all your eggs in one basket.
Concealment means hiding not just the items, but the fact that you’re prepared.
Misdirection means giving potential threats something to find so they stop looking.
Operational security means controlling information about your preparations from the very beginning.
Building Protection Into Your System Now
You can’t wait until crisis hits to implement these strategies.
Start now by conducting a threat assessment of your current setup.
Walk through your home as if you were someone looking to take supplies.
What would you find? What advertises your preparedness?
Create an inventory of your supplies and rank them by likelihood of being targeted.
Firearms and ammunition at the top.
Then medications.
Then food.
Work down the list.
For each category, implement the appropriate protection strategy.
This might mean building false walls, creating caches, distributing supplies, or simply making valuable items look worthless.
Practice operational security starting today.
Stop advertising your preparedness.
Remove bumper stickers. Stop posting photos. Stop talking about your supplies at work or with casual acquaintances.
Build your concentric circles.
Decide what information each circle can know.
Your outer circle, casual acquaintances, should think you’re completely unprepared.
Your inner circle, immediate family, knows the truth.
Test your protection strategies now.
Can you access your hidden supplies quickly when needed?
Are they protected from moisture and pests? Would they survive a casual search?
Create a family plan for if authorities or organized groups come looking for supplies.
What do you show them? What do you claim not to have? What’s your story?
This isn’t about lying to authorities or breaking laws.
It’s about understanding that in a true crisis, emergency powers can suspend normal property rights.
Having a plan for that scenario is just realistic preparation.
The Psychological Preparation Nobody Talks About
Physical preparedness is only half the equation. The other half is mental.
You need to develop the mindset now that allows you to make hard decisions when the time comes.
The decision to not share when sharing could expose your supplies.
The decision to mislead when honesty could make you a target.
The decision to appear weak when displaying strength could invite challenge.
These aren’t comfortable decisions. They go against normal social conditioning.
But in a true collapse scenario, normal rules don’t apply.
The people who survive aren’t necessarily the strongest or best armed or even best prepared.
They’re the ones who adapt fastest to the new reality and make decisions based on that reality rather than clinging to how things used to be.
Start training yourself to think in terms of operational security.
Every conversation.
Every purchase. Every action.
Ask yourself:
“Does this reveal capability or vulnerability? Am I creating a target or maintaining cover?”
This isn’t paranoia. It’s strategic thinking.
The same strategic thinking that’s kept people alive during every collapse in human history.
Final Thoughts: The Reality We Face
I’ve been prepping since 2012. In that time, I’ve watched multiple situations where the patterns I’ve described played out exactly as expected.
The 2014 ice storm where generators were requisitioned. COVID panic-buying.
Natural disasters where authorities collected supplies. Economic disruptions where neighbors turned on neighbors.
Every time, the same categories get targeted. Every time, those who protected their supplies beforehand fared better than those who didn’t.
This isn’t about living in fear. It’s about acknowledging reality and responding intelligently.
Our interconnected society is more fragile than most people realize.
When it fractures, and history shows it will fracture eventually, everything changes.
The time to prepare is now. The time to protect those preparations is also now.
Because when everyone else realizes they need what you have, it’ll be too late to hide it.
Build your supplies. Hide them intelligently. Control information about them ruthlessly. Practice operational security constantly.
Be the grey man.
Be the person nobody thinks has anything worth taking.
Be the neighbor who seems just as unprepared as everyone else while secretly maintaining the capability to survive and thrive.
This isn’t about being selfish. It’s about ensuring you’re in a position to help on your terms, not having your resources taken and distributed by others.
It’s about maintaining the ability to care for your family first and your community second, rather than having everything stripped away in the first days of crisis.
The items we’ve discussed, firearms, medications, food, fuel, communications, tools, and knowledge, these aren’t just supplies.
They’re the pillars of survival in a collapsed society.
Each represents a critical capability you’ll need. And each requires specific strategies to protect.
Start implementing those strategies today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today.
Because the best time to prepare was yesterday. The second best time is right now.
Stay safe. Stay ready. And above all, stay quiet about it.