`LEAVE MY HOUSE OR I'LL SHOOT YOU'

More and more people are arming themselves in readiness for a breakdown in civil order.

William Shawcross investigates Survivalism LAST year's riots at Broadwater Farm marked the first time in living memory that firearms have been used against the police in a mainland civil disorder. According to Scotland Yard, weapons dealers in that area have had a bonanza since then. And it is not only there. Shotgun licences are this year being demanded and issued in Lon- don at a faster rate than ever. All over the country the British are arming themselves, with a startling variety of weapons. Much of it is happening in the name of a cult called Survivalism.

I have a friend in Hampstead, as middle- class an area as you can get. He and his children have been attacked by groups of youths, his house has been burgled, and to his own dismay he found himself picking up a knife when he went out for a walk on the Heath one day. My friend went into one of those home security shops where you buy burglar alarms, window locks and grilles, special bolts for the door and every other piece of steel with which people hope (often vainly) to secure their goods and chattels.

The shop assistant was also frightened and observed rather ruefully, 'Your burg- lars are my neighbours'. He lived in north London on the sort of estate where televi- sions are sometimes dropped from high rise windows, on cars if not on heads. He had been mugged three times and his car had been continually trashed. In despair rather than with glee he had bought him- self a powerful air gun and stood with it at the window of his flat. When he saw a kid mucking around his car, he shot him, ran downstairs and found the car spattered with blood.

My friend expressed some horror, but the assistant shrugged and asked what else could he do to protect himself and his things.

Sometimes it seems hard to find some- one who has not been mugged, robbed, threatened in some way or another — or at least had it happen to a close friend. (Ironically, I was burgled, for the second time in a few months, while writing this article.) As a result people are buying weapons. Britain is not like the United States where weapons are accumulated with an obscenity almost beyond imagina- tion, but more and more of a fortress mentality appears to be developing. It is another aspect of Victorian values; a hun- dred years ago people really feared to walk most streets of London, and it is starting again.

Interest in weapons is now phenomenal. Not just firearms, but crossbows, long bows, viciously sharp knives, sling shots, martial arts weapons like nunchakus, which are heavy sticks attached by a length of chain, Ninja throwing sticks, flexible steel whips, Japanese swords and blow- pipes. All of these and more are widely and freely available. A ten-year-old child I know gave me his essay on his favourite Japanese throwing star, which has almost razor sharp edges. 'Silent, deadly, treacherous, easily hidden. When thrown with deadly accuracy the long, silent tipped stars can slice the vital parts of the oppo- nent by draining the life from his or hers body. So expertly used by the Ninja of the past, this weapon of stealth could very well save you. . .

Apart from the growth of martial arts clubs, much of this self-arming is taking place under the auspices of (and being encouraged by) the newish and very fast- growing fad called Sur- vivalism.

Survivalism is a creed which attracts various devotees. Many, perhaps still most, 'Sur- vivalists' are simply healthy men and women who long to have more contact with the great outdoors and to pit themselves against the elements. They might be rather surprised to hear themselves described as `Survivalists' at all. Hik- ing and camping and walking have been around much longer than this new enthu- siasm. But for them there are now several bona fide Survival schools which put people through vigorous weekend or longer courses of living off the land and their wits.

Some Survivalists have good arguments. The fantastic greed of Western consumer society, our dependence on massive amounts of energy, the horribly arbitrary ways in which food is or is not available around the world, terrorism, oil embar- goes, fundamentalism, the everlasting arms race, ceaseless wars on so many parts of the earth, Three Mile Island, and most recently Chernobyl, together with relent- less unemployment, irreducible crime, and failures of government to solve all these and other issues — it is easy to understand why people despair and why the myth of an arcadian, individualistic, rugged existence has grown.

But there is a darker side to the Survival- ist moon. Many Survivalists are arming themselves to kill people when, as they expect, society breaks down, whether as a result of nuclear war or total economic collapse. The `Combat Survival School' in Leeds offers weekend courses in `Camouf- lage, Concealment, Construction of "hides" and "scratches", Stealth move- ment exercises, Night movement exercise, Tactical movement.' Amongst such Survi- valists there are different levels of paranoia about the approach of Armageddon. The spectrum ends with straightforward gutter Nazis who find `Survivalism' both a cloak for their views and a respectable means of training themselves for war with their traditional enemies.

Whatever its well-spring, Survivalism is becoming big business. It is one imported, like so much of our culture, from the United States.

In the last ten years, scores of thousands of Americans have been acquiring camou- flaged fatigues, sometimes even camou- flaged jeeps, vast ranges of exotic weapon- ry, fortified rural hideaways which are often mined and contain secret stockpiles of food and water, in anticipation of catastrophe. They have a house magazine, called Survival Guide which carries stories such as `Leave my house or I'll shoot you'. The August issue of another magazine, Defence Weapons, featured articles on how to choose a gun for personal protection and a section on `Alternative Weapons Sys- tems'. This begins with the premise that `the firearm is the best tool for personal defence'. But since not everyone can carry a gun all of the time, alternatives have to be considered. A hammer is recom- mended. 'A good rap to the head, throat, elbow or knee, will disable an assailant'. Two short 'push daggers', Urban Pal and Urban Skinner, are also praised. 'Used most effectively with a punch to the torso or face, these edged gems are also good for slashes to the face, neck and arms.'

One American survey showed that the average American Survivalist is a man of about 34, married with an income of more than $25,000, and armed. He is also usually on the Right, and tends to believe that in America sovereignty lies only with the individual, that organised society is doomed and that Survivalists are superior beings who have a duty not only to themselves but also to mankind to survive in order to assure a future world is popu- lated by a better type of person, a Survival- ist Aryan.

Such Survivalists have a bible called The Turner Diaries, a clever novel which is in fact a terrorist's handbook. It was pub- lished in 1978 by William Pierce, the leader of the National Alliance, a hardline Nazi group. The book portrays America in the early 1990s as castrated by gun control, blacks, spics, Jews and all the other usual suspects, against whom only a tiny true- blue American group of survivors called The Order is prepared to struggle. They wage individualistic, terroristic war against the evil federal government and the disgus- tingly slothful masses, stage a revolution in Los Angeles, expel all blacks and Hispa- nics from their 'liberated zone', and then find that to get things under control they need to nuke New York and other centres of the evil empire, including Israel and the Soviet Union. Eventually everything turns out just fine; most of the world is subdued by nuking or by terror. Although it is contaminated by fall-out, it will one day be colonised by The Order which will `spread its wise and benevolent rule over the earth for all time to come'.

Reality is often derived from fiction and The Turner Diaries has already spawned American terrorists who have called them- selves The Order, and spread murder and mayhem in the US. The book can be bought by mail here; the National Front is pushing it. The left-wing paper Searchlight has, reasonably enough, denounced it as `A blueprint for genocide'. It does not represent the aspiration of all Survivalists, but many are indeed fascists.

British survivalists now have their own magazine called Survival Weaponry and Techniques, known by its acronym as Swat. It has been published for less than a year, can be bought at W. H. Smith, and it already has a circulation of 25,000. It is an offshoot of Gunman', the shooter's Ex- change and Mart.

In the first issue the editor, Greg Payne, declared that man was no longer well equipped for survival. People are far too dependent on society's frail links. 'We are at the total mercy of strikes, power fail- ures, and the complex and delicate chain of `Special discretion is required as this film may offend some viewers.' organisation that brings food to our shops. . . . One of the unseen benefits of Survivalism is that it gives us back our lost identity as members of the human species.'

Swat caters for all kinds of Survivalists. Typical issues will contain articles on how to survive on the seashore, how to cook caterpillars, stories from different Survival schools, and other wholesome pursuits.

But it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the weaponry is more important to the magazine's success; every issue contains reviews of firearms, bows or the lethal long survival knives which Rambo made so popular.

Last November, after the first issue sold out, many of Swat's readers wrote to complain that Swat was too soft and that there should be more articles on how to survive the breakdown of law and order.

Payne replied in an editorial that the magazine could indeed include 'features on illegal improvised weaponry, home-made bombs etc'. But then it could not he sold over the counter and anyway `for those who feel they need information on such subjects, it is already available without too much searching'.

Even so, there's plenty of meat in Swat itself for even the wilder shores of Survival- ism. Apart from its gun and knife surveys, Swat carries long instructions in the re- latively new arts of 'Practical' shooting. In the old days (until about five years ago) people who liked to shoot for the most part did so at clay pigeons or at round paper targets with bull's-eyes. `Practical' shooting is quite different; it is meant to simulate shooting in combat. People learn to shoot in mock-up streets, from street corners, from windows, into and out of vehicles. Whatever its purpose, it gives shooters much more practice for street fighting than they have had before.

Swat also carries articles like `City Sur- vival . . . How to Turn the Tide of Crime'.

This piece suggested that Neighbourhood Watches, which the police have been en- couraging for the last few years, should be adopted enthusiastically; after all, they are pretty similar to vigilantism. That is a practice which many Survivalists would endorse. The other side of the coin is that some Asian communities are forming vigi- lante groups to protect themselves from attack by just the sort of weapons which Swat promotes.

Amongst those weapons are compound longbows and crossbows, which can be freely obtained under mail order and which are becoming increasingly controversial. The advertisements have little to do with traditions of archery; one full page colour display shows a Rambo lookalike, com- plete with sweated hair and rouged lips and black vest, standing with his bow in some adman's jungle. 'For men of action every- where: the power bowman and the plea- sure shooter alike. . . join forces with Sidewinder.'

Such modern longbows are fitted with a series of cams or wheels which effectively gear them. They can be drawn and shot with far less effort than traditional bows, and are therefore deadly weapons for many more people. Similarly, modern crossbows are much more easily cocked they break like shotguns and the string is thus drawn back into the trigger mechanism.

There is a current craze for crossbows. Twenty years ago perhaps only 1,000 a year were being sold. In 1985, about 110,000 were manufactured here; most were for export, but home sales were probably about 17,000. Now, according to the industry, there are now about 250,000 crossbows in private hands in Britain. They are being used against people and animals — not on a massive scale, but worrying nonetheless. Several MPs and the RSPCA are trying to ban their mail-order sale and to get them licensed like shotguns. 'The industry is fighting back.

I went to see Mr Payne, Swat's editor, at his office in Colchester. A mild almost self-effacing man of 38, you would not notice him on a city bus. He is certainly no rugged outdoorsman. He has not been on any Survival courses but he has been interested in guns since boyhood and used to be editor of Gunmart. He was very friendly and explained to me that Survival- ism is like an insurance policy. 'Normal people have third party insurance, but Survivalists go for full comprehensive with all the extras. Survivalism began millions of years ago when life began. We are all survivors, even amoebas. Now it is a revolt against junk food and the plastic life of the cities. It enables people to gain confidence in themselves.'

It also teaches them how to kill.

Even more dangerous expertise can be acquired under the arches at Charing Cross in a shop called 'Soldier of Fortune' which sells a lot of militaristic junk, much of it fascist artefacts, plus bullet-proof vests, truncheons, riot helmets and shields `. . everything to get you ready in mind and body'.

Steps lead upstairs from the tiny shop into a sort of storeroom. You can only enter if you pay £4 to join the rather oddly named 'Virgin Book Club'. The club's membership card exhorts, 'Abolish All Censorship'.

Upstairs are the 'dirty' military and survivalist books. Amongst them: The Death Dealer's Manual: (`Tells the true story of how professional killers go about their business. Warning: for informational purposes only.') Destruction by Demoli- tion, Incendiaries and Sabotage, Pyrotechnics, Slash and Thrust, cassettes from Rhodesia, Mein Kampf and Gaddafi, Voice from the Desert.

In search of further enlightenment about this side of the Survivalist movement, I travelled to Wrexham, North Wales, to visit a Survivalist store called 'Rucksack- 'n'Rifle' which sells guns, knives, cross- bows and instructions. It is owned by an `extreme right-winger' (he hates the term) called Michael McLaughlin, the former leader of the British Movement, which once claimed to have 8,000 members with paramilitary training. In 1979 McLaughlin himself was jailed for four months for `Inciting and conspiring to incite race hatred'. In the room above his shop Mr McLaughlin gave me a precise exposition of his views on the history of the modern world. The second world war was really a European civil war and 'we are still paying the price' for the 'unfortunate' defeat of `National Socialism', (never Nazism). 'I summed it up the same way William Joyce did. If you love your country you're a nationalist, if you love your people you're a socialist — National Socialist.' Nurem- berg was 'an absolute farce' and so on.

He believes that in Britain today 'the whites are an oppressed majority' but he says he is no longer involved in politics; the British people had had the chance to heed his call, and they blew it. He had no intention of hanging around indefinitely and wasting his life like Oswald Mosley did. Instead he became a Survivalist.

McLaughlin publishes a cheaply pro- duced magazine called the Survivalist which has a mail order circulation of about 2,000 — without his even trying, he says. It was originally called the Mercenary but for what seem to be essentially cosmetic reasons, he changed the title. Certainly the content did not alter. It is full of articles like 'City Survival', 'The Gun is Man's Best Friend', 'When Man is the Enemy. . . CAN YOU SURVIVE?' One issue contained an article on how the North Vietnamese tortured American POWs, accompanied with lurid drawings which suggest just how to do it.

Amongst the weapons advertised in the Survivalist are catapults which are head- lined 'Deadly But Legal'. One of them is said to be able to catapult a heavy ball bearing over a quarter of a mile; another is described as more effective than a power- ful air rifle slug. These, too, are widely available and are made by the leading crossbow manufacturer, Barnett Interna- `Mr and Mrs Plate.' tional.

Earlier this year the Daily Mirror pub- lished an article on 'Weekend Rambos' and pointed out the links between Survi- valism and the far Right. This drew angry editorials from Swat, whose editor insists that Survivalism is absolutely non-political and that he himself has no links with any extremist organisation. For him and for most enthusiasts that may well be true, but the fact remains that Swat, together with McLaughlin's smaller, grubbier paper, are encouraging people to take up arms, and there is a political philosophy behind much of it. It is a trend which is being monitored by Scotland Yard. The Environmental Scanning Unit, which is intended to sniff out nasty new habits, has a file, thin as yet, on Survivalism. They are concerned not only with its far-right links but also with the development, encouraged by Swat, of `Practical Shotgun' shooting which, they agree, is basically combat shooting. In fact shotguns are becoming a major anxiety.

This is because here, unlike in the US, the shotgun is the only firearm easily, instantly available to everyone over 18. Under the 1968 Firearms Act the police have no right to refuse a licence to anyone, unless he has a criminal record, and with one licence a person is entitled to own as many shotguns as he wants.

There are thought to be between two and three million shotguns in Britain now, most of them legally held. In London alone there are now over 40,000 shotgun licences. That means there are many thousands more actual shotguns in private hands. And this year the number of new licences in London has increased faster than ever before — by over 3,000 in the first eight months. The Firearms Branch of the Met is trying to find out why. They think that the growth of Survivalism and the pushing of shotguns by the magazines are two of the reasons. After all, McLaughlin's paper, the Survivalist, has recommended that people acquire shot- guns precisely because certificates are so easily obtained.

The other thing about shotguns is that they are remarkably adaptable. Swat car- ries full-page advertisements from a mail order company in Kent which sells AK 47s and M16s, the principal automatic weapons carried by each side in Vietnam, which have been specially adapted to carry shotgun ammunition. Anyone with a shot- gun licence can get them. They have another shotgun which is drawn in such a way as to make it clear that the stock has been attached to a pistol handle and can be easily removed. Then with a hacksaw, the happy purchaser is left with a perfect shotgun pistol.

Earlier this year London football hooli- gans were found to have at home massive caches of the weapons Swat is promoting. In cupboards and on walls all over the country these instruments are being stored, waiting, in the name of Survival.