Does this sound familiar to you?
"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, of course, and the preamble of every gun control debate in the USA. But Dave Schuler of The Glittering Eye looks at this passage, and asks a different set of questions that focus on the first clause instead. What guidance does it offer for preparedness, responsibility, and citizenship in an age of global mega-terrorism?
We've talked about disaster preparation, distributed defense et. al. here on Winds before - but Dave's post does a great job of putting those discussions in their proper context. Give him a read, and leave your thoughts in his Comments section.
I'd like to point out that FEMA runs a program called "Community Emergency Response Team" or CERT, at which members get lightweight training in prepardness, firefighting, triage/first aid, disaster teamwork, and building search and rescue.
The training isn't hardcore, but it's enough that if you show up at a disaster site, you can be better than useless in taking direction from real first responders. And if you're alone, you can start to help until they arrive.
The program isn't perfect, but it's a start.
Sorry I screwed up the link.
Click here.