Introduction
By Gabby
Hurricane Sandy put much of New York and New Jersey in a state to which they are not accustom. People whose attitude can most often be described as, "I don't nuthin' from nobody" suddenly had to call for help. ArmedCandy's own, Lauren, works for the New York Fire Department, and as I watched her facebook feed during and after the storm, I got a sense of the chaos that was occurring.
In the hope of pulling some small amount of wisdom from such a tragedy, I asked her to share with us a little about arming oneself against looting, gas rationing and general preparedness.
A First Responder to Hurricane Sandy Devastation
By Lauren
Hey Gabby, it's been crazy here since the storm. The media did warn about looting, because it happened last year when residents evacuated for Hurricane Irene, and it did occur in a lot of places here in New York city. For example, Far Rockaway (in Queens) was best described as a war zone. Working as a first responder during the storm, we too, were ambushed by people needing goods and water. As far as citizens preparing for this issue, the ones who were told to evacuate, which were in the areas where the most looting occurred, would have been able to gather personal belongings and valuables and evacuate their area. No one believed how devastating this storm was going to be, so many stayed behind. However, as you know, NYC has strict laws when it comes to firearms, and in a situation like this, these laws prohibited many home owners from protecting their property. Further, the storm struck very unevenly. There were many areas that were not told to evacuate that flooded and so homes were lost. No one could have known.The safety issues did not stop at looting either. For days after the storm, the NY and NJ area had mass gas shortages which led to hour long lines at gas stations. And with the high tensions and stress levels, there was assaults and fights at almost every gas station. There was police at every station to keep some sort of order and to try and allow first responders some priority in getting gas. (We had to continue to get to work once we were able to finally get to our homes.) This caused uproar with citizens who felt we shouldn't have priority.
There is a gas station around the corner from my own EMS station and the lines wrapped around and blocked our entrances to the garage. The ambulances were unable to respond out of the station because cars refused to move in fear that they would lose their spots in line. My lieutenant was intentionally struck by a car while he was trying to guide an ambulance responding to a cardiac arrest out of the garage.
I have never seen anything like this in NYC before. The best anyone could have prepared for this would have been to leave and evacuate. The chaos that ensued was compared to some of the most disastrous events in The City's history.
As a responsible firearms owner, I continuously push for education, knowledge and preparedness for any situation that you may encounter when you are faced with danger. However, situations such as this one, there was no clear answer. If people didn't not get robbed, their property and valuables were washed away with the storm, or in some cases, untouched. This has been an experience for all of NYC, and we can only learn and become stronger from this and prepare for the next time.
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