Understanding Martial Law and Civil Unrest.

08/19/14
Prepping.

Martial Law is a very serious topic that every prepper should be talking about. I have read many other blog posts and watched many videos on WROL and Martial Law but too many of the posts and videos are wrong. Instead of looking at a declaration of a state of emergency from a realistic point of view, many people jump on the "they are coming for your guns" scenario. In this post, I will clarify and provide facts about  martial law and civil unrest. How governments go about enacting protocols, the levels of response and escalation, and what causes the declaration of a state of emergency/martial law.

If you want to know the facts and the reality, don't watch any of Jason A's videos on YouTube. None of his videos are reliable and he has been claiming all sorts of nonsense for years without anything actually happening. The media is not going to elaborate on the truth, hell, most newscasters are idiots who are only good at reading a teleprompter. The news coverage is only good if you want to see examples of what martial law looks like. The events in Ferguson have shown millions of Americans that our police depts are becoming more like gov't sponsored para-military forces. The police state is not a myth and yes, you should be very concerned with the militarization of the police.

I use the terms martial law and state of emergency in the same capacity. Both mean the same thing, but have two different understandings.
 -State of emergency is used more to describe the action of a governor in making the declaration that, due to some sort of event (riots, hurricane, floods, tornadoes etc), the protocols that are in place for responding to said events must now be initiated.
-Martial Law is used more to describe the law enforcement response that would happen after a disaster or during a riot. I think the easiest way to explain it is to say that martial law would be declared because of civil unrest or a civil uprising.

Despite what conspiracy theorists claim, martial law will never be declared by a US president. NDAA has nothing to do with a state response to civil unrest. Martial law has historically only been declared on a local level. States of emergency have historically only been declared locally and regionally (local meaning town, city or state, regional meaning multiple states). Hurricane Sandy prompted multiple states to declare states of emergency. Hurricane Katrina resulted in a state of emergency in Louisiana (I do not recall if TX or FL were hit bad enough by Katrina to result in states of emergency there), but martial law was really only declared in New Orleans.

Protocols:
It took me a while to find just one official document on just one formal protocol for civil unrest. This is a PDF of the Military Field Manual 3-19.15. http://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-19-15.pdf
The great thing about US gov't manuals is that they are full of information that allow you as a civilian to know exactly how "gov't forces" would respond to said situation. The US Dept of the Army puts out field manuals, technical manuals and pretty much manuals for everything that everyone from the common Infantry soldier to the elite of the elite.
Sometimes protocols are called guidelines. Essentially all levels of government have response guidelines and protocols. Some of the information can be found through an internet search but a lot of the information can only be obtained if you are a member of a fire dept, ambulance corps, police dept, national guard etc. Some protocols are created by councils or private organizations.
Although this document is about an Influenza pandemic, it is a great piece of intel.
 https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/PI_Best_Practices_Model.pdf
Here is another one about bathing water.
 http://www.ct.gov/dph/LIB/dph/environmental_health/recreation/pdf/beachguide.pdf
Here is an example of a protocol that was created by a non-governmental organization
http://www.northcentralctems.org/documents/MCI%20Protocol%20Letter0001.pdf

Here is the actual letter from Governor Daniel Malloy to Denise Merrill (who I personally know) when Malloy declared a state of emergency because of Hurricane Sandy
 http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/lib/malloy/2012.10.17_Sandy_Declaration_of_Emergency.pdf

Here are some more protocols from my state:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/pub/chap517.htm
http://www.ct.gov/demhs/lib/demhs/ct_srf_aug_2011.pdf

States of Emergency and Martial Law declaration:
Right now, in Ferguson Missouri, a state of emergency is in effect. States of emergency could be declared because of many different situations from storms to protests.

Gun Confiscation:
Honestly, I don't believe that gun confiscation would happen on a national level. Registration does lead to confiscation. Confiscation could mean that the police require all gun owners to turn over their arms to the police for the duration of a state of emergency, or it could mean SWAT going door to door and conducting raids to take your guns by force. Instead of explaining how gun confiscation happens, I'll explain how to avoid it below.

What to do when martial law is declared.
Knowing the fact that martial law will more than likely only be declared on a local level, all you need to do is pack up your vehicle and get out of the area. If you live in New York City, you might just have to go only 5 miles out of the city to avoid possible gun confiscation. Do you know how many residents of New Orleans would have survived if they just drove to an area above sea level instead of staying home to ride out Katrina? Yes, I am saying that bugging out or evacuating can be the difference between life and death.

You NEED an Evac Plan.
If you and your household don't have a bug out plan (I call it an Evacuation plan), then you should start one right after reading this.
I will do a different post on establishing a household evac plan and go over the supplies that you should stock up on.

Thanks.