What is your "Every Day Carry" or EDC?

[chilledwarmth]

For me

• Android phone, I have an In Case Of Emergency app with all medical info about me, and contact info for people I'd want emergency services to notify. That one specific app can be accessed without having to unlock the phone

• Glock 19 and spare mag

• Leatherman Wave

• Wallet with ID, credit card, and a bit of money

• Fenix TK15 flashlight

• Protein Bar

• Waterproof notebook and pen

• Lighter

• Keys (car and house)

Haha the first preppers thread I look on and someone's talking about carrying a gun in their handbag!

Then of course I realised they were American and suddenly it all made sense...

Well I carry a tampon ( yes I suppose I do 'prep'), keys, phone, toothpick, purse, mobile phone charger and lead ( as phone is always dying on me), make up, tissues ( look, see how prepared I am!) and a load of old of old crumpled up receipts

See, prepared for any eventuality!

Why can't the gun lobby understand that Europe has a much lower incidence of murder, BECAUSE WE DONT ALLOW GUNS TO BE CARRIED WILLYNILLY.

It's like banging your head against a brick wall.

And the comments about the Paris incidents are so spectacularly stupid.

I expect more people are killed in USA, due to guns, every single week than have been killed by terrorists in Paris. Yet you let it go on, every single week. again spectacularly stupid

Bakeoffcake it's not that we're ignoring your claims that stricter control will save lives. It has been considered but we've found that those claims don't work in practice. Gun control is the idea that if you have a gun free zone, a shooter is going to obey that regulation. He's going to abort his attack at a school because it's not legal to take his gun onto the premises. But in practice gun free zones are where they all gravitate to, because they have the least resistance. School shootings are not an argument for more gun control: They already have gun control on school premises, it's already illegal to take your gun on site. And the response from the anti gun lobby to a massacre happening in a gun free zone is to turn the entire country into a giant gun free zone, leaving shooters free to do their thing all across the nation? I don't consider that a logical response.

llhj (and to a lesser extent everyone who is annoyed at the mention of the handgun), I haven't meant to offend anyone, if that's whats happened then sorry. But I'm not sure exactly what I've done or could have said differently to avoid it, because the whole point of this topic was to find out exactly what people from different cultures across the globe carry on a day to day basis. And where I am, it's normal to carry. How many cultures do we have? I'm not sure of a number, but it's a lot, so I think inevitably at some point you'll see something or look at something and think that's not right, or I disagree with that entirely. If it's normal in your culture not to carry then I understand you'll look upon people who do as weird, in the way we might look at cultures who don't carry as a bit strange. I don't think there is a universally correct answer, gun control may work better in cultures like yours than it would with us. I can't say I really agree with any anti gun arguments you've made but like I say it would be boring if everyone believed the same about everything. I know there's a lot of stereotypes about us and our guns, but honestly from my experience most of us who carry are just regular Joes and Janes looking to protect our own if the worst happens. No confederate flags or stockades. Regardless of that, I don't want to put anyone off the prepping board as some have suggested might happen if they see guns being discussed, so if it helps with that I just won't bring the subject up again if that's ok?

American, here. I just want to say that it's not considered 'normal' to carry a gun in the majority of the places in the US. At least, it is not considered 'normal' to the majority of people in the US. It is recognized as 'lawful' to carry, but that doesn't mean most of us consider it 'normal'.

And I say that as a person who has been trained to use and care for firearms. And one who does NOT carry one anywhere.

This is nice middle class British prepping. Stiff upper lip with lentil weaving. No glocks or spare mags required. Not even when the zombies come.

chilled, hon, you are still doing it. Trying to do gun lobby all over the thread. And you promised not to mention it again. Tsk. Naughty.

In case of any doubt, I have over 25 years of firearm experience, including 16 years of military service. And I can quite categorically state that using terms like 'carrying' and 'EDC' mark you out to be one of 'those' types of preppers.

Do be a dear and button up.

Thanks awfully.

Oh gosh that'll teach me to RTFT before posting It's all gone a bit 'cold dead hands' hasn't it?

chilled google to see what happened at Dunblane in the 90s and discover why access to handguns was severely restricted to the point of a ban afterwards. You'll discover that, despite initial resistance, it was instituted and it worked very well.

hehe madwomanbackintheattic at the "tsk naughty" and "button up". I figure it's best if everyone just drops the topic and allows it to get back to the original one.

Hi StrawberryTeaLeaf, if you want to keep discussing guns perhaps use a different topic for it. It seems quite clear to me that people don't want to do it in this one.

That's the ticket.

Good grief, no, I'm too scared of madwoman and really I just popped in for the tea

I just thought you might find it interesting reading.

I'm in the Swedish countryside lots of us have guns but cant carry day to day but most carry hunting knives all the time.
I have in the car; first aid kit, water, blankets, a little food, some cash (there's no as so its good to have a tenner to pay a passer by to help you put), spare clothes and boots, (winter kit - snow shovel, second spare tyre, warmers, ice scrapper etc)

Kids bag - nappies, spare clothes inc winter stuff, food, water, kids first aid kit, painkillers.

I always have my phone, back up battery and a torch..

Glad we could settle that madwomanbackintheattic. Cool username by the way.

My understanding of the position in the US (told.to me by an American as.the reason they didn't carry) was that statistically you were more likely to have your weapon taken away and used against you than actually succeed in defending yourself with it. Also the outside chance that carriers would succeed in finishing off attackers in a siege situation and thereby save a number of lives is massively outweighed by the risk of children finding their parents guns and accidentally using them against siblings/themselves. I can't see that that is a risk worth taking in any society.

I also think that if this board calls itself preppers it will fill up with genuine preppers rather than ordinary people keeping track of their candles, but now I have found it I plan to settle.back and get some tips. Currently, unless any emergency can be solved with a Hello Kitty plaster, I would be buggered.

Oops sorry. I see the thread has moved on and away.from guns. My phone didn't refresh and I was still on page 4.

Interesting AcrossThePond, and reassuring! Thanks.

Yes, thank you AcrossThePond. You gave me some great advice many moons ago on a different username and it's great to see you as a voice of sanity here too.

The troupe with calling yourselves "preppers" when what you mean is making sure you've got a week's worth of meals, a torch in your handbag and a blanket in your boot is that you will find yourself being associated with "proper" preppers- and you understandably won't like that.

I think you should find a new name - can I suggest "moomins"? They love a full larder and are excellent at winter preparation. And would utterly hate guns.

"Trouble" not "troupe"

Why do you keep telling us what we 'mean'? Bertrand. My meaning of prepping may be totally different to someone elses. And I'd like to be able to discuss all aspects of it, not just which torch I would like to keep in my handbag. It that's ok with you of course.

Thanks Bertrand, you've made your point perhaps.

I think the group has put forward a suggested rename to "Emergency Preparedness" to help people realise what this section is about and post appropriate discussions, so hopefully that will help.

However - the term "preppers" does cover a range of activity, from "spare chocolate bar in bag" to "a week of food" to "a secret bunker in the Himalayas" so it's not an incorrect label as such, more traditionally stereotyped to one end of the spectrum - and there'll always be some parent who wants three extra generators and a month's worth of food as opposed to the one trying to keep their car keys in one findable place.

Also (and I'm playing devils advocate here because I really, truly hate the idea of guns and it sends chills up my spine how normal it is for some) - there will be parents out there posting who do have guns, and do want to talk about them as part of their parenting experiences. They'll see it as part of their parenting duties. And while I don't think that Mumsnet is the place to chat about it whatsoever, anyone can post any topic at any time - such is the nature of the Internet.

I do hope it becomes more apparent what is and isn't appropriate, welcomed discussion and I wouldn't mind a bit of rock solid guidance from Mumsnet on this either ... But sometimes it takes a while for a board to find its feet.

Meanwhile this has still been an informative post, if a bit chilling. I genuinely hadn't clocked that there would be regular people like chilled who keep a gun in their handbag, and as such it's another thing I've realised I take for granted about Britain and hope it doesn't change.

Oh Moomins, I think that's a lovely name, but Emergency Preparedness will do.

So just to confirm I sent this to MN last night as the majority seemed happy with it. Hopefully this is ok but let MN know if not.

Dear MN

Hopefully you have been following all the goings on with this board. There seems to be a mix up in understanding what the board is about so we have agreed a change of title and some words to put in a sticky thread at the top of the page. They are as follows -

Emergency Preparedness
The Emergency Preparedness section is for anyone interested in safety, preparing for life's inconveniences such as car breakdown or power cuts and for discussing longer term events.

Perhaps you could add that we would like to discourage extreme views especially with regard to guns. It was also suggested that this thread would also provide a sensible explanation - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/preppers/2507237-Please-can-someone-genuinely-explain-what-a-Prepper-is

Zet