*1950’s PSA announcer voice* Are you worried about the threat of violence due to local or global sociopolitical destabilization caused by natural or man-made catastrophic events? Do you feel your current daily equipment loadout or everyday carry would be insufficient when responding to a large, agitated populace or large scale terrorist attack? Are you simply bored and have too much money and need an excuse to purchase more guns? Sounds like you need a Get-Home-Bag!™ In this installment, NRA certified* tier mall ninja Vhyrus will show you how to make your GHB (or ‘force multiplier package’ for all you operators out there) using affordable, off the shelf items available to most of us courtesy of free market capitalism.

For the well-equipped gentleman

Now, before I begin, I want to start out with a few assumptions that I have made in composing this article. First, I assume you live in an area where you can legally purchase long arms and store them in some manner in your vehicle at all times. So, this article is basically void outside of North America (and CA, NY, and the rest of the slave states). Second, I assume you are able bodied enough to carry about 40 pounds of equipment and function while doing so. If that is not the case you may need to scale back your gear according to your ability.

If you are new to guns or not much of a gun person, this article is definitely made for you. I tried to explain the more esoteric points as clearly as possible. Those of you into guns may find this article a bit oversimplified, and for that I apologize. I also want to add that much of this is based on my opinion. Well researched opinion, mind you, but opinion nonetheless. This kit as I describe it certainly will get the job done, but certain specific details may be up for debate among some of the more ballistically inclined among you. Feel free to tell me how stupid I am in the comments.

So, what is a get home bag? Put simply, it is an emergency battle kit that will allow you to defend yourself if a serious SHTF situation were to occur while you were not home. This kit is not designed to protect or defend against normal criminal activity, such as a carjacker or mugger. That is what your pistol is for. I mean, you DO carry a pistol, don’t you? This is more designed along the lines of a major violent riot, large scale natural disaster, zombie apocalypse, etc. It is designed to be a self contained unit that you can grab from your vehicle in case you need to bail out and hoof it due to impassable roads or other quickly developing events. A GHB is not a bug out bag per se, although it could be part of a bug out bag if designed properly. I am going to go over the simplest form of the GHB, which is a rifle or shotgun, ammo, and body armor. Also, many of the items I will describe in this kit are not one size fits all. Depending on your local environment and laws, your bag may be very different from the one I show in this article. For example, if you live in a high population urban area, you will be more interested in a gun that can shoot quickly and accurately and hold a lot of ammo, whereas if you live out in bumfuck Iowa, you may want to ditch the body armor entirely for food and water, and carry a gun that holds fewer rounds but allows for longer range shots and more power. In part 2 of this series (yes, there is a part 2. Strap in fuckers, we’re just getting started) I will go into more detail on different guns for different situations and what works best for your area. This article is going to focus on a budget minded approach, so I am going to illustrate the cheapest way to implement a GHB. If you have a lot of disposable income and want to go crazy, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a 2000 dollar trunk gun and a grand worth of ultra lightweight body armor. The kit I have put together is what I would consider to be the minimum necessary for a decent kit.

The first and most important part of your get home bag is a gun. Depending on your budget and situation, this may be the only part of your GHB, in which case it simply becomes a get home gun. Slap some ammo in it, throw it behind your seat, and you’re good to go. I recommend more than that in most cases, but at least it’s a good start. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of viable guns you could use for a trunk gun, and as I mentioned I intend to go into more detail in a separate article. If you’re pressed for time and want a TL;DR version, then the short answer is to buy an AR-15, which is what I ended up using for my kit. My initial idea was to purchase what I consider to be (at least in theory) the best get home gun currently on the market, the Kel-Tec SU-16CA. The SU-16 is essentially what you would get if you forced an AK to dress up like an AR. It is a piston driven, side charging rifle that takes AR15 magazines. It is lightweight, simple to operate, inexpensive, and has a few little features that make it unique amongst it’s peers. There are many different models, but the one we will focus on is the CA model. The CA model has 2 features in particular that are extremely useful for our purposes: It can fold in half for compact storage, and it can hold a 30 round magazine in the stock. This makes it the perfect grab and go rifle. The other great thing about this rifle is that it lacks features that would cause it to be classified as an assault rifle in the less free states, which should make it easier to acquire and carry in those second amendment challenged locations.

So, with my ideal rifle picked out, I set out to purchase one. The problem is, I can’t fucking find one! Right now it appears that the only model commonly available is the C model, which has an AK like underfolding stock. While handy and compact, it also gets rid of the magazine storage, which is kind of the whole point of the damn gun. The A and B models are also available, but the A has an 18 inch barrel which makes it harder to store and carry, and the B model has a pencil barrel, which makes it slightly lighter but also makes it much less capable of prolonged firing. Then there is the price. Right now these guns are running about $500-$600 new. While not expensive, currently you can get a brand name base model AR15 for as low as $400 and change, and the AR is a much better platform overall compared to anything kel-tec makes. The other nice thing about an AR is that they can be separated into two halves which allows very compact storage, even more compact than a folded SU-16. The only issue is that an AR does not have magazine storage in the buttstock. Fortunately, someone else took care of that since there are several options currently available that allow you to keep a magazine on the stock of the gun ready to go. The one I purchased is made by Blackhawk, but I actually recommend the Condor version. The straps on the Blackhawk one that I purchased are only designed for use with a GI type collapsible stock, so if you have a magpul one you will have to buy different straps like I did. The condor one comes with longer straps that will better fit different stocks, and it is cheaper.

In the end, I used a gun I already owned rather than buying a new gun, which obviously saves a ton of money. If you have a gun that could fit the role of a trunk or get home gun and you’d rather not buy another one then perhaps your existing gun could simply be modified to suit your needs. The gun I have is a side charging AR which uses a Bear Creek Arsenal side charging upper. Currently these are a ridiculously low price, and if you are at all interested in making a side charging AR, I highly recommend getting one. If there is an interest from the commentariat, I can also write up a short piece on assembling your own AR. Getting back to the topic at hand, I picked a side charging AR for several reasons. First, a side charging AR is simpler than a standard AR, as the charging handle pulls triple duty as a forward assist and a shell deflector. It also gets rid of the god awful charging handle on a mil spec AR. The barrel is a mid length 1:7 twist, although if I could do it again I would make it a 1:8 twist. I will go into barrel twist in the rifle article, but if buying an AR try to get a 1:8 twist barrel. Failing that, the 1:7 twist is best for all around defensive use.

Black rifles matter

The two accessories I highly recommending adding to any fighting rifle are a sling and an optic. For slings, 2 point slings are better for moving, but 1 point slings are better for fighting. Magpul makes a convertible unit called the MS3 sling that I like very much, or you could make your own like mine but it will probably be better just to buy one pre-made. If you want to stay cheap and simple just go with a 2 point sling. For optics, this largely depends on your local environment, but it is hard to go wrong with simple red dot. For a good cheap red dot look no farther than the Bushnell TRS-25. I have 2 of these and they have never let me down. They can put up with the recoil of my VEPR 12 which had broken the other 2 red dots I tried on it within minutes, so you can be sure they will work. I wouldn’t go scuba diving with it or run it over with a train, but for normal use it should hold. I would also recommend iron sights as a backup. This may sound redundant but a lot of less expensive ARs do not come with any sights at all so you have to buy them. Remember, you want to keep this setup inexpensive in case it gets stolen from your car or wrecked in a crash, or you have to throw it in a lake for some reason. Now all you need are magazines and ammo. For my GHB, I used Magpul Pmags. The gen 3 pmags come with snap on dust covers that take the pressure off the feed lips, so you can load them up, snap on the covers, and store them worry free for years. Note that gen 3 pmags don’t fit in the stock mag pouch mentioned earlier, so you’ll need to buy 1 or 2 gen 2 or GI steel mags to fit in the pouch. Finally, ammo. To keep it simple and cheap you’ll want to go down to Walmart or your local gun shop and pick up some m193 made by federal. This is the same stuff the military uses, so it’s nice and strong. It’s also very affordable. How many magazines you carry is up to you. I have 5 30 round mags ready to go in my kit.

The second major part of the bag is the body armor. I may also write a short article about body armor if people are interested, but the general idea is that there are levels of body armor from 2a to 4. The higher the level the more calibers the armor will stop. Everything below level 3 is only rated for handguns, not rifles. The advantage of lower level armor is that it is cheaper and lighter, but soft armor will not only not stop rifles; if you do get hit with a handgun, even if it doesn’t penetrate, it is going to ring your bell something awful. There’s no point stopping a handgun round if it knocks the wind out of you so badly that the bad guy can just walk up and pop you in the head while you’re rolling around on the ground. Level 3 and 4 armor plates are solid plates, either ceramic or steel. They are much heavier, but they can take multiple rifle hits without failing. Not only that, but because they don’t deform when hit, they won’t transfer the energy of the round into you like a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick, which means you will actually be able to react and either fight back or find cover. The minimum I recommend are level 3 plates. The ones in my kit are level 3+, which is not an industry standard but came up because certain commercially available rifle rounds (hint: I mentioned them back in the last paragraph) can actually penetrate level 3 armor at closer ranges. 3+ are slightly beefier but they can protect against everything not explicitly armor piercing. The company I recommend is AR500 armor. You can get a set of 3+ plates and a carrier for around $300 from them, which is a very reasonable price. Body armor prices have come down drastically in the last 10 years or so to the point that they are truly affordable, so there is no reason not to have a set. For guys, you want a rounded front plate, girls should have a flat front plate. Rear plate can be flat to save money.

Last, but not least, you need a bag to keep everything in. This part is trickier than it sounds. The most important thing is you want a bag that does NOT look like a gun bag. You do not want anyone to think there is anything valuable in the bag. It also should be something that you can transport easily, which means it should have a shoulder strap and/or backpack straps. If you plan on using an AR broken down you will need a minimum of 25 inches in the bag for the upper. If you get something like an AK with a folding stock, you will need about 28 inches, and if you plan on keeping the AR together, you’ll need about 33 inches. At first I bought a bag online with the intention of keeping the AR broken down into two halves and putting it together when needed. The bag I bought turned out to be too small. I was able to fit everything, but it was an extremely tight fit and it wouldn’t zip up completely. Frustrated, I decided to solve the problem the way I normally do: Drive to Wal-Mart and walk around the aisles until I find something that works. And find something I definitely did. I ended up with a 32 inch duffel bag. It’s larger than I originally planned, but it allows me to keep the AR as a whole unit ready to go and it has plenty of room for other things even after I put the gun and plate carrier in the bag. It also has a shoulder strap and backpack straps that tuck into a little pouch when not in use. It kind of looks like a large gym bag or maybe a bag full of laundry, which is exactly what I want people who see it to think. It was also less than 30 bucks. I don’t expect it to be super durable but it should hold up for it’s intended purposes. Remember most of this stuff is only designed to work for a few hours or days tops. None of this is intended to be a long term solution (except maybe the gun itself).

There is one last thing I added to my bag: a cable lock. The purpose of this is twofold. First is to discourage theft in case my car is broken into. I basically lock the gun to the car and thread the cable through the plate carrier. If they tried hard they could get the plates, but the gun isn’t going anywhere without a set of bolt cutters. This is not just for regular smash and grab, though. Depending on how far away from your car you are when something happens, you may not be the first person to get to your bag. The last thing you want is your own gun used against you. If you live in a rural area you can probably skip this, but it does make it a little less likely to be stolen.

Now that we have our kit laid out, let’s do a quick cost estimate so far:

    • Rifle: $500
    • Body Armor: $300
    • Bag: $30
    • Magazines: $50
    • Optic, ammo, accessories: $120
    • Grand Total: $1000

So there you go, one basic GHB for a grand. Not a bad deal if you ask me. Remember that this is a minimum budget based on my specific needs. If you need a 2 person kit or you have some of the items already purchased, this is going to change the amount you need to spend.

Once you start assembling your kit, you can’t just throw everything in your trunk and forget about it. Test your gun with the magazines you plan on using and the ammo you plan on carrying. Make sure the gun is 100% reliable. Sight in the optic, adjust the sling to your desired length. Wear the plate carrier with the plates in, and make sure it is adjusted and fits well. Clean the gun before you put the kit away, and make sure you take it out every 6 to 12 months and make sure everything is still working. Inspect the gun, mags, ammo, etc. That’s it! You’re now ready to fight the fascist capitalist pigs! I mean smash the patriarchy! Wait, which site am I on again? Oh fuck! Uh, I mean *reads notes* protect yourself from violent antifa mobs and other catastrophic events. There we go. Hopefully you learned something from this article…. aside from the fact that I have crippling paranoia, that is! *Laughter, studio applause, end credits*

*Not Really