The Survivalist Pledge:

To help all that can be helped,
To defend all that can be defended,
To save all that can be saved,
To free all that seek freedom,
To stay alive as long as I can and stay free as long as I live.

I am not familiar with Australian laws regarding firearms, self-defense in the face of deadly force, etc., but, from the article, it appears that no firearms are allowed for the civilian population. Also, it appears that you essentially can not defend yourself with any greater force than is used (i.e., if the opponent has a baseball bat, then you must use something similar).

(Let me digress a moment and address the population of US survivalists, hunters, shooters, gun buffs, etc., who at this time do not belong to any national pro-gun organization—there are literally millions of you. If you do not want to end up like Australia and lose your second amendment RIGHTS--not privileges--you had better join some organization and help.

Likewise, help preserve the laws on deadly force. The "enslavers" of the USA want to take away your firearms and your privilege to defend yourself. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.)

In the article noted above, anarchy rules, the police/military can not help, shortages are creating riot mobs and looters. In general, the same things that will rule after a sustained nuclear attack. Now, let's look at the five questions the article posed:

Number 1: You have 5 adults and 4 children in the home. About 15 people are at the front door, screaming and hollering and pounding at the walls. What do you do?

Answer: If you believe that the riot crowd intends to break into the house and will eventually do so (and maim or kill all inside and take all the material they want--probably even fighting among themselves), you must disperse them in order to have time to make your next move, even if it is running.

Some ways of dispersal include those noted in the text of the original article PLUS:

A) Use a water cannon or high pressure water system. This is a low-level approach if you are of that persuasion (I am not). You should already have in place a system of sprayers (plastic pipe being better than metal due to the chemicals recommended later). The system should include a method to select what location is ON and OFF. Also a pressure system that can be directed to that sector and a way to introduce water or chemicals.

B) If water fails, you can go to skin and eye irritants such as ammonia, household bleach (sodium hypochlorite 5.25%), lye, etc. The amount of damage can be controlled by the dilution with water.

(Incidentally, a regular plastic squeeze bottle for nose spray is a good personal defense item to carry. After it is empty of its original contents, wash well and put one of the above solutions into it. In close-in fighting--again with no firearms--it will put an end to the fight once it gets into the mercenary's eyes. It will not attract a lot of law enforcement attention with the original label marking it as a "nose spray." Just be sure you have a mark on it so no one sprays their own nose with it!!!)

Once your mob is saturated and their eyes burning and skin itching (low-level chemical warfare), you can then announce on your public address system (PA) that if they get to the buckets of antidote in your fenced-in enclosure at the fence line, in five minutes, they will not be permanently blinded. They will probably quit their fight and head for the buckets in your enclosure! I believe in a double fence (as in prison camps) and you can close off a small section (with a ceiling, too) and have remote-controlled rolling gates on both the inside and outside of the fence.

Open the inside gate and let the rioters in, then close it. You can let them out via the outside gate if you want. Detention would be based on what tactics you want to use next. A double fence is not cheap but it has a great advantage in letting you have some time between notice of first breech of the outside fence (due to your alarm system) and breech of the second or inside fence (like maybe letting attack dogs loose in the fenced area).

C) If they need help in retreating, you can have remotely-controlled gates (belt transmitter operated similar to those in a remote garage door opener) which will open the attack dog cages.

D) If this does not work, then you will have to escalate a little. This time load the spray system with gasoline (petrol) and spray the mercenaries. Once saturated, you can advise them that if they have firearms, they had better not use them as the flash will ignite them.

If you feel safe, you can go outside with a long pole with a gasoline-soaked rag on it (on fire) and offer them the choice of going to the enclosure and buckets of antidote or being ignited. It is you or them--if you feel inclined to let it be you, just put down the fire brand--they'll do the rest! (Side note: all of the situations posed note small numbers of people. It is almost impossible for a small group to defend a fixed fortress. Small numbers--down to a few--can work best in guerrilla operations. You might even have to rove about if your shelter is over run. You can also have a group that is too large; you need enough to fill all the basic skills needed. You will have a lot of small kids and infirm/old/ill people, too, so it is no small consideration. As an example in these scenarios, the menace always seems to be a surprise. With the small numbers in your group, this is to be expected. With sufficient people, you could have round the clock perimeter patrols, with radios, so you would get not surprises and might even drive the intruders off before they get to the shelter.)

Number  2: You have 4 adults, one teenager, and one child in the home (I assume shelter, home, etc., refers to the same place and not necessarily a nuclear shelter). A mob of 30 people are throwing rocks at the house and 6 have just climbed the fence.

Answer: You might stop the fence climbing if you had an electric fence. A double fence would also help. This is really similar to case one except you caught them before they got to the house. You could warn them over the PA system that you have special defenses that can incapacitate or kill them and that they should disperse or take the consequences. Then let them approach the house and use whichever means in answer Number 1 fits the situation.

Number 3: Your wife and teenage son are one hour late from a half-hour errand. You have one other adult and three children in the home.

Answer: Once again, this is a problem of lack of people. We don't know how they traveled or what the terrain was (if by car, a simple flat tire could be the delay). With only the listed personnel and the conditions of anarchy, I would have sent the other person along since things are more dangerous away from the shelter; it is always best to travel with at least 3 people (if not bunched up, as in a car, one can usually get back to advise on the problem while two remain to help each other). Of course, I would not send anyone on an errand without a radio for contact; I would maintain close contact (coded with frequency changed according to a secret plan). The purpose of taking your wife and son hostage may be to draw you away from the shelter. I know it gets tough when the people are your wife and son. The only real solution is to have more people and to be armed.

Number 4: When confronting 3 people at the front gate with another adult partner, you discover 4 more men have sneaked in over the back fence and are now between you and the (open) front door. One gun-shy adult and two children in the house.

Answer: First, you don't get surprised like that. With a double fence and warning system, the can get in but not as a surprise. Secondly, don't confront anyone at the front gate; you're much safer in the house than at the gate. You could again have a belt-mounted radio remote control for releasing the attack dogs and get some immediate help. Once the dogs get the intruders down, you might want to assist the dogs with your "nose spray" (you still have the other three to worry about if the should start through the fence, but the attack dogs may discourage them).

Handcuff the intruders with 5-cent "handcuffs" (these are made directly from the plastic straps used to bind cables, tubes, etc., available at electrical supply stores--no conversion needed). These plastic handcuffs have no key and can be removed by cutting but are strong enough to keep the person wearing them bound. I would suggest that you run the strap through a belt or belt loop and then around the wrists with the hands at the back. Escort your prisoners to the storage fence at the front and retain or release them on the basis of your next tactic (fight or
flight?). If you can get back into the house before the other 3 come over the fence, then give them the treatment of question Number 1. (You might go straight to the gasoline and skip the earlier more humane treatment--judgment call.)

Train all members of your group so that there is never an open front door, back door, window, or any other entry point when there is an emergency. (I am not sure what the gun-shy comment meant. Maybe there is a gun in the house--I hope so! Or maybe the person is afraid of guns that the back fence intruders possess?)

Number 5: The armed police have arrived to confiscate your recently used tear gas kit and search your house for "illegal" food and radiation meters. There are ten of you.

Answer: First, how do you know they are police? Uniforms and badges are easy to come by. And it sounds like you had some "illegal" tear gas--well hurrah for you. I don't know why the food and radiation meters would be illegal except if they were stolen. USA survivalists do not agree that food, etc., that they stored when there was plenty is hoarding--and neither should you. The irritants we noted in Number 1 are household items (at least in the USA) and are not illegal or even suspect.

Your choice of action here is really not dependent upon the numbers of survivalists and of armed police. The decision is one you need to make long before it comes that and involves whether there is a government and law of the land or anarchy. You have to decide on the "fight or flight" plan. If the situation is a no-win one, then you need to capture the invaders and lock them up in your fence room (handcuffing them as well). It will take time before backup help arrives and by then you can be gone. If you leave, burn all that you can not take with you as the Soviets did in WWII when the German Army invaded them. It is hard for aggressors to survive in burned out houses, food stores, etc., during any "scorched earth" policy--big or small. Do take the police officers' weapons as you have elected to be governed by the law of survival rather than by bureaucratic policies.

If you thought it was bad up to now, your troubles are only beginning as you and family members (ill, young, and old) try to operate as guerrillas (because that is what you have elected to do!). If you find a place that is sparsely settled (the outback?) which has food, water, etc., and maybe you have help from the aborigines (you'll need skills to do this), you might make it. No one said survival was going to be a rose garden! 

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