While we often think of a terrorist attack as a bombing made by Muslim extremists, the truth of the matter is that an act of terror can be committed by anyone. It is often the result of someone feeling alienated by society, and nowadays with the rise of self-centeredness, these threats are getting more and more common. What can you do to protect yourself?

1. Avoid Crowded Public Areas, International Airports, High Profile Areas
If there is an imminent threat of something bad happening, choose not to travel or go out to crowded public places. By keeping yourself out of a populated area, you are decreasing your risk of being in the middle of a horrific event.

2. Have A Contingency Plan: Develop a plan with your family of what you would all do in the event of a catastrophic emergency. Determine a preplanned meeting spot, and make sure that all who are in your group know how to get to that point.
In the event of a nuclear EMP, communication may be down, cell phones may not work, and land lines may be out too. This is why having a plan of what you will do in that situation will help you to stay focused on your goal, which is getting your loved ones in a secure and safe place.

3. ALWAYS pay attention to your surroundings. Keep your eyes open to things out of the ordinary. Pay attention to people, and what is happening around you. It’s kind of like defensive driving, only you are defensive living.
Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, or if things just seem off, listen to it! I know it isn’t easy, but try to not get caught up in the everyday same old routine. If you feel that you should be doing something differently, then do it differently!

4. Carry Your Bug Out Bag With You: Your bug out bag isn’t going to help you if you are stuck on the highway, and it is stored in your garage ‘just in case’. Keep your bug out bag in your vehicle, or with you always.
If you always keep an emergency kit in your vehicle, you will have it with you when you are driving. But what about if you are at work? Or in a store? Always keep some type of get home bag on you at work, or when you are away from your vehicle.

5. Stock Up on Your Preps: Having enough food, water, and essentials is important always, but even more so when there is a possible threat of an event. Think about it, would you want to be running to the local Wal-Mart to get the stuff you need?
By adding an extra $10.00 a week to your weekly shopping trip you can add at least a month’s worth of food in just 1 month of shopping. You won’t be eating an 8 course meal, but you will have food, and enough to share if you need too.

6. Hide Your Preps In Plain Sight: You have spent your time and hard earned money to make sure your family and group will have food, why should it be allowed that someone else can come and take it away from you because others did not have the foresight you did? I think not.
Get creative with where you store your preps. Keep them hidden in plain sight. You can make furniture with hidden compartments. Hide food behind books, or in the rafters of your garage if the temperature permits. Store the food in Rubbermaid bins and categorize it in a way you know you can remember.

7. Weapons – Think Outside Of The Box: Weapons don’t have to be only firearms. There are the more traditional or non lethal weapons, such as knives, crossbows, traditional bows, etc. But what if you don’t have these things with you? What do you do? You improvise. If you are in your car, a tire iron would make a great weapon. Or if you’re at home, you have your preps and probably a lot of weapons.

8. Remain Calm and Keep Your Mouth Shut: This may sound easy, but in a stressful situation, you will have so much adrenaline coursing through your body, keeping calm is going to be the last thing on your mind.
Add to this if you are surrounded by people, you may find it easy to get caught up in the situation, and act as the crowd does. However, this is not what you want to do. First things first, keep calm, and be quiet. Assess the situation around you, and determine what your options are.
Keep your goal in mind, and keep saying it to yourself as you figure a way out of the situation. If you remain calm, and be as invisible as you can, you will be able to escape the situation.

While many of these are steps you may already be taking, it never hurts to refresh them in your mind and to rethink various scenarios that may be more likely in your area. For instance, if you live near a large shopping mall or airport, you may want to go camping or on a road trip on days that may lead to an increase in terror threats. Learn ahead of time what you can use as a weapon in your house, and practice various self-defense methods often so you will be prepared to use these weapons. As every prepper will tell you, stockpile on food. Just $10 a week will add up to $520 a year that can be spent on grain and rice; that's a lot of food!

To read the whole article, and to learn more ways to defend your family in the event of a terror attack, check out Survivalist Prepper.