Glen Tate: 299 Days: The Preparation

No; it affected anyone unlikely enough to have their property stolen first by a criminal and then by the police. For example, when a criminal stole a car, used it to rob someone, and then got caught, the car — stolen from an innocent victim — was sold after ten days. The law abiding owner who had her car stolen was now the victim; the government had taken her car, but if she didn’t get the letter within ten days and go through the process of proving she wasn’t a criminal, then they got to keep the proceeds. The innocent victim had to prove her innocence. Civil forfeiture was a civil, not criminal, law so the burden of proof could be on the citizen to prove innocence. Many innocent crime victims were having their things stolen by government. There were more and more stories to describe on Rebel Radio, just like there were more and more pissed off people who used to trust government and now hated it. Things were getting out of hand, quickly.

Grant went into Capitol City Guns to get a reality check. Hanging out with lawyers and lobbyists was not reality. Gun store guys; that’s reality. Special Forces Ted was there with Chip and a Sheriff’s deputy. Grant avoided talking to them because they might be talking business. Chip motioned for Grant to come over. The deputy looked a little nervous about having Grant join the conversation.

Chip introduced Grant to the deputy. “Jeff, this is Grant. He’s a lawyer and has shop privileges here, so he’s cool. I trust Grant with my life. So tell him what you were telling us.”

The deputy looked a little nervous but said, “Some of us are a little concerned at all the stuff that’s happening. That civil forfeiture thing is a frickin’ racket. My guys…”

Ted asked, “Oath Keepers?”

“Yeah, Oath Keepers,” Jeff said. “We are starting to wonder when this shit crosses the line and violates our oaths. Any thoughts from the lawyer?” Jeff asked Grant.

Grant thought. “I think the civil forfeiture laws are unconstitutional, but I don’t think it’s to the level of an unlawful order. You’re not being ordered to round people up or take all lawful firearms. You could ask to be reassigned so you don’t have anything to do with the forfeitures.”

Jeff nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” They were all quiet for a few seconds.

Jeff said, “Here’s what bugs me the most. The majority of my fellow deputies don’t seem to be bothered by this ‘crime wave’ and the crackdown. They are kind of excited to be out fighting it. They feel like they are more needed than ever because there are so many crimes out there. They’re not seeing the bigger picture. I’m kinda concerned.”

More silence. Shit, this was not good. Grant had always counted on Oath Keepers to prevent his kind of thing. It looked like it wasn’t working. This might be even worse than he thought.

He looked at his watch and realized he needed to take off. He said goodbye to the guys and headed home. It was another one of those drives from Capitol City to his home where he had things to wrestle with, like the police and military deciding to fight the government, or not, as today seemed to indicate.

He could think about that the entire drive, but when he hit that garage door opener, it would be all about doing homework with the kids and going to ballet lessons. These two worlds were getting farther and farther apart. And the real world of nastiness was becoming more and more apparent and less theoretical. It was scaring the hell out of Grant.

What really scared Grant, though, was what was happening when he walked into his house. Lisa was sitting on the couch with Cole.

“OK, Cole,” she said, “what do you do if a stranger comes in our house and Mom or Dad aren’t here?”

Cole thought. “Call 911?”

“That’s right,” Lisa said. “Good. Call 911 and the police will come and help you.” Lisa saw Grant and smiled at him. She was putting her faith in the government to protect them. Grant was not. This rift between them was getting bigger.

Grant looked at Cole. He was the sweetest boy in the world. But he couldn’t talk too much or understand people. Oh, God. What will happen to Cole when all of this hits? Grant was dealing head-on with the collapse of the United States. That didn’t scare him too much since he had prepared. He was calmly planning on it. But the thought of Cole by himself in a very dangerous world terrified him.

The worse things got, the more Grant prepped. It was an emotional crutch. Yes, Grant admitted, it was an emotional crutch. After his conversation with the police about how they are going along with legalized theft, he found comfort in building up his food storage and self-defense capabilities. If that’s an “emotional crutch” then Grant was proud to be guilty of it. Prepping sure beat the other form of dealing with the situation, which was the form most people were using: pretending nothing was wrong.

Most people, even his conservative WAB friends, were trying to convince themselves that things were going to be OK. Tom did not talk about it much. In fact, he avoided the topic altogether.

During one conversation, Grant was making the point with Tom that things were getting worse. They were in Tom’s car and the Warren Zevon song “Lawyers Guns and Money” came on, which is about a guy getting out of various jams with lawyers, guns, and money.

Grant tried to make the point to Tom about things getting worse by saying, “You know, at first we tried using money to make donations and elect good people. Didn’t work. Now we need lawyers to fend off things like the CFC charges and the IRS. That may not work. I think it’ll take guns, next.”

Tom was silent. It appeared that he either didn’t understand or didn’t want to hear it. Grant had no idea why Tom wasn’t reacting. It was weird because Tom was such a fighter but he couldn’t conceive of the likelihood this fight going beyond the political realm. Even a fighter like Tom had normalcy bias. Tom changed the subject for the rest of the ride.

Brian was in outright denial. He would talk to Grant about how bad things were getting and then say, “This is no time to overreact. Things always seem worse than they usually are.” It was like he was trying to convince himself into believing it. Grant worried about how Brian would react when the shit hit the fan.

Ben was handling it better. He realized that things were not normal. He seemed to understand that something big was developing, and he would be a part of it. He and Grant talked about it one day.

“Hey, Grant, you own some guns,” Ben said. “Are you freaked out about what’s happening?”

“Yes.” That’s about all Grant would say. He fully planned on including Ben, Brian, Tom, and their families in his survival plans, but now was not the time to chitchat about it.

“I can tell something is coming,” Ben said. “Something bad. Guys like you and I will be the first to be rounded up,” he said with a half-smile. But he was also half serious. “I can’t bring myself to start stockpiling food and getting a gas mask.” He said that last part with another smile. The WAB guys, while they didn’t know the full extent of Grant’s preps, figured Grant might be preparing and often teased him about being a “survivalist” and running around in a gas mask.

Ben paused and looked at Grant in the eye. “I think I’ll be OK even when things get crazy. I don’t know why, I just do.” Ben seemed genuine; he wasn’t just convincing himself of something to believe like Brian was.

“Let’s hope so, my brother,” Grant said. Maybe Ben was prepping, too, and didn’t want to tell Grant. There was something about what he was saying that convinced Grant that Ben would, indeed, be OK.