That being said the amount of detail here is great and it’s nice to see what the Pro’s are using. For anyone doubting this guys credentials this isn’t just some internet guy throwing together a list – he lives, works and teaches in the bush 24/7. This might be part of the problem however as he’s probably more used to trucking around heavy packs than the average joe.

Either way awesome article

Personally, I live in the UK where all sorts of crazy things are either in law considered illegal, or by know-nothing cops treated as illegal.
I have, for example, been illegally searched here in the UK, and – upon finding one of numerous tool knives I carry with me at all times, both for emergencies as well as the nature of my work – read my rights.
Fortunately I am versed in UK weapons laws, and dutifully informed the officer that no knife designed and declared for the purpose of utility can be deemed a weapon in the eyes of the law, unless used for the purpose of being a weapon at the time of allegation or arrest.
Indeed, this holds true for anything! A pencil is a lethal weapon if used as such. So is a bottle, a drinking container (even plastic), a CD case, a pointy stick. Basically, nothing can be deemed as a “weapon” unless its registered purpose (meaning man-made product only) is to kill people (and only people).

A gun’s purpose is to kill, period. Carrying a firearm without the permit to do so under every-day conditions is (understandably) a crime in most territories, and you shouldn’t do it!
In a state of emergency in which civil order is (by YOUR reasonable judgement) indefensible, however; your right to surive (and take all necessary action toward that end) supercedes any and all laws.

Does that mean you can charge around shooting anyone who stands in your way? No! It means that, if faced with no other option – where the only alternative is that yourself or your family will be seriously injured or killed – you have the inate human right to take whatever means you deem necessary to defend yourself, your property and your family.

You will, however, need to be prepared to justify your actions once order is restored.

Shooting a man isn’t as easy as you think. It’s easy to sit in front of your TV watching a movie where the victim stands holding the agressors’ gun (hard-won after a lengthy and thrilling hand-to-hand struggle), aiming it at the agressor, with you screaming “shoot him ffs” at the screen. The reality is, however, that once you’ve taken a life, you can’t give it back. Most people (and this has been proven time and again) simply lack the mental ability to take the life of another, even if their life stands to be lost if they don’t.

It’s useless packing your GHB/BOB/EBOB/INCH bag with defensive weaponry if you lack the physical and/or mental ability to use them. Ultimately you’d just be arming the thugs when they inevitably take them from you.
The best way to succeed at battle is to never give the enemy a chance to fight. Your best bet at achieving that is for them to never know you were there!
Go looking for trouble and you will most asuredly find it!

What separates a survivor from a victim is the clarity of distinction between when it’s defense, and when it’s murder.
What separates a survivor from a psychopath is that the survivor cares about this distinction.

Anyway, that’s my input as regards legality and defense.

As regards the necessity of GHB/BOB/EBOB/INCH packs… every man woman and child should have one. You’re either always prepared or you never are, it’s as simple as that!
Taking myself and my family as an example: we live a couple of miles from a large nuclear power station (currently has 3 active reactors, a 4th due to go online in the not-too-distant future). History has shown that nuclear reactors can and do have the potential for massive disaster (Chernobyl, three-mile-island, and more recently Fukushima-daichi). With that in mind, it is not just wise for me to prepare these packs, but to not do so would be – in mind at least – criminally negligent as regards the well-being of my family.

What constitutes (again, from my experience) a good survival pack is MODULARITY: the ability to rapidly change the “loadout” to meet the given situation.
As an example: I keep a pack (actually one per person in my family – 4 total) containing rudimentary biohazard supplies (a WHO-approved boiler-suit or “smock”, a pair of thick rubber boots, a genuine biohazard head mask [rated for the likes of nerve gas] and large supply of Iodine tablets – not for treating water, but for protecting the Thyroid glands from absorbing radioactive particulate – specifically radioactive Iodine)
This pack can be attached in seconds (and securely) to my modular base pack.

I have the same sort of thing to turn the base pack into a 24-hour BOB, a 72-hour BOB, and even an INCH (which is basically all the modular packs attached together).

the base pack can be any mil-spec pack with a vast supply of MOLLE-webbing such as the Karimor 45 and 50 litre patrol packs, or (in my case) military Bergen packs.