Riots in Grand Rapids

This week on The Home Defense Show Skip talks about the officer-involved shooting of an unarmed black man by a white Grand Rapids police officer. Will there be more riots in Grand Rapids? And, if so, how can you keep your family safe from them?

Here's the article from 2020 I mentioned in the video.

User’s Manual – How to Survive a Riot

I’ve been teaching concealed carry classes for 20 years now, and I enjoy it very much. However, I have to tell you, that the past few months have been Crazy with a capital “C”. I taught almost 300 students last month, and the vast majority of them had zero formal training with a handgun before attending my class. Many of these people don’t even like guns. How do I know? Because they told me so.

They are in my class, not because they want to carry a gun, but because they’re terrified of walking around in public without one. I never saw that coming. Honestly, I never thought America would ever become a place where carrying a gun was necessary for every law-abiding citizen, from a safety aspect I mean. And the number one reason my students give me is the rioting and looting.

Of course, I want to calm everyone down, I want to allay your fears … but … I can’t. Simply because I’m not a liar, and your fears are justified. America is a very dangerous place right now, especially if you live and work and travel in large cities. This isn’t a political piece, so let’s just get right into the meat of it. Here are some things you can do to survive a riot:

Stay out of the city.

I say this knowing that it’s not possible for many people for a lot of reasons. You live in the city. You work in the city. You have business there that has to be done if you’re going to provide for your family. But here are some ideas.

Limit your trips to big cities, and by big cities I mean anything over 50,000 people. It’s just not safe anymore. You have to understand that the police have been neutered. They can no longer protect you. If you get caught in your car during a riot, and are surrounded by 500 people jumping up and down on your car and smashing your windows, you’re pretty much screwed. After all, what are you going to do? Step on the gas and run over 25 people? Most people aren’t willing to do that. Are you going to pull out your Glock and start shooting as many as you can until the crowd thins out and you can drive away? That tactic might help you survive the initial attack, but the legal, social and political aftermath can land you in prison for the rest of your life and bankrupt your family to boot.

Don’t go to the city after 5PM. Many of the protests are peaceful. People come during the daylight hours and they hold signs and chant slogans about justice. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, our country was founded by unhappy rebels who didn’t like the status quo. Your right to protest is enshrined in our history and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. But here’s the thing. Scary things come out at night. Once the soccer moms leave to go home and fix dinner for their families, the militants take to the streets, and that’s when things get dicey and very violent. If you’re still in the city by 5PM, then you are in danger.

Listen to the local news any time you’re near the city. Why? Because you need to know what’s happening five blocks away. What are you driving into? Is it safe? Is it not? Can you detour around it? A few years ago my family drove to Portland, Oregon to visit family. I don’t like Portland. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that it’s a hotbed of political activists who tend to block off streets, even major interstates leaving 100s of cars stranded and at their mercy. Listening to local news anytime you’re near a city is a good idea. It gives you real-time intelligence on where the danger is so you can avoid it.

Get armed and trained.

But here’s the deal. You have to understand the limitations of the concealed carry lifestyle. 85 percent of altercations do not rise to the