Good and informed post, Ed Hogan. I do think there's some validity in preparing for both short-term disasters (in which a "bug-out" kit including firearms) could be useful, and long-term survival situations, which takes a different kind of mindset and involves areas you don't even have to think about for the short-term cases (such as growing food). But on your larger point, I couldn't agree more: a lot of folks seem to think that building up a cache of weapons and ammo constitutes "planning ahead", when in reality, self-defense is likely to be the least of your concerns in a longer term situation.