Confessions of prepper

This was beautifully written, u/lucysmacksmith. Thank you for taking the time to give us such a detailed glimpse into what it was like for you, growing up.

This question has come up several times on the prepper threads, when we speak with concern about the children involved, and I'd love to get your take on it: do you think it constitutes child abuse? Obviously you were terrified, and it affected you into adulthood. Was it something you could have articulated or identified when you were a child, if someone in an official capacity (say, CPS) had asked you if you felt safe at home? Do you think there's any set of questions or interventions that could occur, to protect children from the worst extremes of this kind of upbringing?

And as an aside, why did/does your father stockpile all those guns? If all his best buddies are also preppers and they're using the guns to protect their homestead, exactly how many guns does each person need? This is a serious question, because I've seen people mention guns in the prepper threads, and as you said, there's bitterness and jealousy alongside the fear... which makes me terrified the somebody's going to snap and start up a whole Cliven Bundy / Waco / Jonestown type of situation (that list in ascending order of horror, obviously). As you indicated towards the end of your post, some of these people have gotten to the point where they're willing the worst to happen, so that they can be proven right and maybe so they can get it over with. It's unthinkable to imagine that people who are in such an unstable emotional state have been given stockpiles of weapons, and they're itching to advance to the next stage.

/r/exmormon Thread