JunkiCosmonaut

I have had several family and friends asking about owning their first firearms due to the recent riots, and money is usually a factor. My break down for them is usually this: if you're a decent shot or willing to train first buy a good used handgun and a good holster (m&p, glock, Springfield,..etc brands that are common and reliable even after heavy use). A handgun can be kept on you at all times, you have two free hands, and if you need to be out for whatever reason its concealable. Next get a decent shotgun like a mossberg 500. My reasoning is that first, they can be bought used for 300 bucks or less. Second, they are always gonna go bang even with a beating, and lastly they're not the best shots, and its a shotgun it's a one-and-done if you give a potential violent attacker a load of 00 to the chest. When asked what caliber/guage I usually say. "Whatever you can find the most of" and leave it at that. I have found most newbies will pay 450 for a used glock 17, but nearly throw up at the thought of paying 600 for a new one. I just try to keep them away from Taurus.

I would like to see numbers on how all the efforts made to prevent the spread effected the spread of other know communicable diseases. I cant find really good flu data anywhere. It's not apples-to-apples of course but it would be insightful.

The recent rioting and civil unrest has me thinking back to the days of when prepping for the "zombie apocalypse" was in vogue. The walking dead and a lot of media really helped to spur that on an imaginative level I would think. With the recent corona scare, whether it was legitimate or not, caused a lot of panic among the general populace leading to shortages in everything from toilet paper to batteries in some places. For myself, and many of my good friends, prepping has come back to the front of my mind. Generally speaking, as long as you have the unprepared, the opportunistic, and the interspecies preditor (which will be always) the metaphorical "zombie apocalypse" will always be real. I think that your question has become very relevant recently.