I was living in Los Angeles in 1992 when the Rodney King Riots occurred.  I lived near Wilshire and Western, in Korea Town.

There was active rioting and looting within three blocks of where I lived.

Pundits left and right use riots to make points for their side and win followers.

The reality of being in or on the very edge of an area where that level of violence is occurring kind of obliterates the ideology and moves everything down to the level of surviving with life, limb and the property you invested a great deal of hard work in all in one piece.

That goes for people of all races who live within that area.  Riots are a beast where individuals become part of the destructive beast.  They burn, loot and kill. There really isn’t a good way to stop them except letting the energy dissipate. Cold weather and rain seems to work better than any police efforts.

Having a semiautomatic rifle with 30 round magazines suddenly seems like a good idea.

The AR/AK platforms are obvious as are alternatives such as the Ruger Mini-14/Mini-30. Extra magazines and ammunition are obvious because a gun without ammunition is a club.

Guns are like parachutes.  You hope you never have to use them but if you do you need either immediately.

Forget about police protection.  They may have the slogan “To Protect and Serve” on the side of their cars but the only people they actually do protect and serve are the rich, powerful and privileged.

The rest of us are on our own.  Rather than actually protecting us, in the best of times an emergency call can take minutes to a half hour or more before the police arrive.  Then they take a report and file it to some hard drive some place where it may never be seen again.  They give you a copy for your insurance company, which never actual covers the value of your losses.

In the worst of times which is what a riot is.

You are totally on your own unless you are part of that group described as rich, powerful or privileged.  Your property, your lives are sacrificial offerings to placate that beast called the mob, the rioters who have for the moment given up any connection to civilization, society or morality.

Working stiffs have their lives and businesses sacrificed to the beast in hopes of the riot dying out before it reaches the homes of the rich and powerful.

That is reality and that is why we need firearms for our own self defense and the defense of our homes and businesses.