Preparing for "Zero-tolerance" Policies

I hope you've been following the Matthew Whalen story out of New York. The seventeen year-old Eagle Scout and aspiring West Point student was suspended for twenty days for having a 2" pocket knife in a survival kit that was locked up in his car on school grounds.

While I want our kids and teachers to be safe, I think that mindless policies are not the way to go about it. That knife, which isn't even considered a weapon by New York State Law, was no more dangerous than a baseball bat or even a fork in the wrong hands.

Consider, also, Zachary Christie, the Delaware first-grader who was suspended for 45 days for bringing a "hobo tool" to school to eat his pudding. While the school board in Zachary's case eventually came to their senses about the matter, Mathew Whalen's family has had to hire a lawyer to try and get the incident rectified.

So where does that leave us law-abiding folks who are simply concerned about our kids being prepared for an emergency?

Plan First

FEMA has put together a nice website called, "Ready America," to help the ordinary citizen (and businesses) be better prepared for a disaster. This site has a lot of good information that's well thought out and easy to follow. One flaw I find with the site, though, is the fact that in the three basic steps of becoming prepared, "Make a Plan" is second, after "Get A Kit."

Don't get me wrong, having a well-stocked kit is important. And myself being a gear junkie, I'll confess to sometimes making this priority numero uno, whether it's a good idea or not. But a kit without a plan is just a bunch of stuff gathered in one place. And it's only during the planning that you realize just what you're going to need for your specific situation.

What is a zombie hunter?

While the definition can vary depending on whom you ask, my idea of a zombie hunter, as it applies to the real world, is as follows:

A zombie hunter is someone who's aware of what catastrophic things can happen within the world around them and tries their best to prepare for these events. Call it disaster preparedness, survivalism or just plain paranoia; I call it a good idea.

Why zombies?