I hear you. But I disagree that being well armed is at the top of the list. I love my bang sticks but unless one is independently wealthy you cannot gather everything you need in advance all at once. After a very basic long gun and sidearm...my priorities when it comes to expending resources in order to prepare for a disaster are water, food, shelter, broader security, health/wellness.
Being well armed with guns and ammo are 4th on the list. If you blow your wad on guns and ammo first and the 'balloon goes up' you will be forced to go out and forage, and put yourself at risk, far too early in the game. By placing the basic survival needs of food and water first, one can hunker down, gather information, and avoid going out and joining the initial panic.
Being deep in all preparations would be great, but with limited resources I submit that a deep larder of food and water (or access to water) will go a lot farther than a deep larder of guns and ammo. A guy with a .30-30, a few boxes of shells, and his grandad's .45 who has a pantry full of canned goods, buckets of wheat berries and access to a pond is going to fare better than a guy with a hotsh#t AR-15, 5 glocks, 5K rounds of ammo and two packets of ramen noodles.
I'm not bustin' on you, hope you don't take it that way...just playing this out for discussion sake.Let's have fun with it.
