(Bugout.news) Perhaps one of the most frightening things to contemplate is being captured by rival groups or detained by military or police in a societal collapse situation. Talk about the ultimate feeling of helplessness; as a prisoner you won’t be able to stop a group from doing awful, harmful things to your loved ones or protect them from the heavy hand of government.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are suddenly at the mercy of someone else, there is a better-than-average chance that some form of restraints will be utilized against you. Some of the most common gear used to bind is rope, duct tape and even handcuffs, depending upon whom is doing the restraining.

There is another, cheaper and, for many more obtainable, form of restraint that can be used to control larger numbers of people, and that the ubiquitous zip tie.

Fortunately for you there are a number of ways you can escape being zip-tied, especially if you’re fortunate enough to be restrained with other people. You can try the forced method that is very handy to use with duct tape (see here), but there are a number of other methods you can also use to escape a zip tie.

The best way to get free from a zip tie is to first understand how one works. As noted by ITS Tactical:

Zip ties consist of a sturdy Nylon tape that contains small teeth running lengthwise down one side, and a  ratchet with small teeth housed in a small open  case. 

The ratchet is molded to allow downward pressure to be placed upon it as the tape is threaded through the open case, then springing back up to position as the valleys of the tape align with the teeth of the ratchet, locking the zip tie.

At this point further forward movement will continue to tighten the zip tie, and backwards movement will lock it.

But, as the following series of short videos demonstrates, don’t panic – you can get free:

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