It’s easy to get distracted by the goings on these days about guns. Firearms are, of course, a large part of preparedness but they aren’t all of it. There’s still plenty of other details to be hashed out, geegaws to be purchased, food to be stockpiled, fuel to be put back, electronics to be gotten , tools to be acquired, etc, etc. But…with a few exceptions, firearms are the most heavily regulated (and thus susceptible to elimination) items we could purchase.

I don’t know about you, but from time to time I read about people who, in their great scheme to acquire everything they need (or think they’ll need), make lists and set priorities for getting the things on that list. While I appreciate that, I think that when prioritizing you need to consider the potentially ephemeral nature of some of the things we want, and plan accordingly.

Let me give you an example. A fella was in the shop the other day and we were chatting about, naturally, the current state of gun buying. He said that he really felt he needed more magazines and at least two more AR’s, but he also needed more food and water storage. I asked him what he was going to do. He said that he had enough money to do one or the other at the moment, but not both. However, in six months he’d have enough to do whichever one he didn’t do now. He figured that he would buy the food and water storage now and then in six months get the AR’s, figuring that the prices might be lower after the hysteria dies down. Not an unreasonable course of action but while it would make sense with just about any other product, it doesnt make sense with guns. Look at it from this perspective…lets say his choice was storage food/water versus new tires for his BOV. To me, thats sort of an apples-to-apples situation…I’d get the food/water and then in six months, when my wallet has healed, get the tires. But guns are different…no one is proposing to neuter, ban, register, confiscate or prohibit tires. The odds are quite good that in six months, heck even six years, you’ll be able to buy those same tires. Not so with guns.

In six months the laws may (or may not) change to the point where what you have right now is all youre allowed to own. Back to his choice of food/water versus another AR and mags – which one is more likely to be just as readily available in six months? The food and water, of course. So while the food/water may be a higher priority, it’s fairly certain future availability makes it take second place to the possibly (or not) unobtainable-in-six-months guns and ammo.

Of course, things could go the other way as well. Tomorrow there may be a terroristic threat to the national food supply and distribution chain and the price/availability of food/water is completely blown away from what it is now. But which is more likely?

I have a ton of more crap that I feel we need around here. More food. More batteries. More clothes. More gold. More silver. More medical supplies. More dog food. More fuel. And…more ammo, guns and mags. But everything on that list is, I am certain, going to be just as available in six months, a year, eighteen months, as it is now…I cannot say the same for the guns and ammo. So…the items most likely to become unavailable get bumped up on the priority list.

Some  folks have been asking me what I think is ‘going to happen’ vis-a-vis new gun regs. Dude, if I had any ability to accurately predict the future I would be in Las Vegas right now working up to owning a casino. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen specifically, but I can make some sweeping generalizations: the adminstartion needs to get its ‘pound of flesh’ from the gun lobby. I suspect that will be in the form of a magazine ban. It’ll be the guy kicked out of the sled to slow down the wolves. The administration can point to it’s 23 executive orders and say they did plenty to show the gun lobby who’s boss, and when further regs fail they’ll be able to blame that on Republicans and say they ‘did all they could’.

Of course, I could be wrong…I often am. But…the assault weapon ban ended over eight years ago so if you havent gotten most of what you need by now, eight years later, you may want to examine just how seriously flawed your purchasing priorities might be.