I have food, water, and a hand-crankable radio at home all the time. Also batteries and flashlights and, yes, firearms and ammunition.

But I still don't see the point. ASSUMING that something -- a flu pandemic, for instance -- became so bad that I wasn't going out and the electricty and water were cut off, why would I assume that anyone was broadcasting? Especially if the electricity was out. And I really don't see how firearms would help me (other than hunting, if it came to that).

The last pandemic (Asian Flu) didn't close up the world. The Spanish Influenza of 1918 didn't close down the world. Neither would this one, no matter how many died.

Assume that 200,000,000 die. That's 5% of the world's population (assuming a population of 4,000,000,000, and I think it's higher). That's less than the population of the US, and far less than the population of China or India.

I'm not being hard, uncaring, or cynical. But a death rate of 5% would have been very, very acceptable to our ancestors -- and not all that long ago.