We were awakened this morning by news out of New Orleans, five days after the devastating hurricane passed through the city, that the city is still plunged in darkness and most of it is remains flooded.  But, that wasn't any different from the day before.  What was different was the news that police officers are walking off the job, gunshots are common throughout the city and fires are beginning to erupt at various locations.  Gangs of 7-10 men, both armed and unarmed, are roaming the city killing and stealing, some out of pure instinct to survive, some to take advantage of the situation.   This is happening in a city that had advance notice of an impending disaster and 80% left for safety.  The other 20% are now trying to survive.

In California a major earthquake would make the scope and scale of what happened in New Orleans seem like a minor incident.  There obviously would be no warnings, and the area devastated would be at least 10 times that of New Orleans affecting as many as 10 million people or more.

The lessons learned from New Orleans are:

1.  Keep enough food and water to last for a minimum of one month.

2.  Keep a lot of flashlights and batteries around along with a couple of portable radios.  Keep a well stock first aid kit as well.  Keep a portable stove for cooking and boiling water.

3.  Own guns and plenty of ammunition.  Know how to use them and that includes everyone in your family old enough to handle a firearm.

4.  Be prepared to use your firearms in defense of your life and the lives of your family members and neighbors.

5.  Share what you can with your neighbors and form a neighborhood security team to keep unwanted people out until  government authorities have secured the area.

6.  When politicians tell you that only law enforcement and police should own guns in today's "modern society", tell them to go to hell... or New Orleans.  There's no difference between either at this point in time.