Wow. Replies run the gamut from "we gonna do some hunting," to "we gonna be prepared for a firefight!"
Neither is true of a post-apocalypse scenario.
The guy who carries his whiz-bang, ultra-capacity 9mm is deluded into believing he's going to "win" some kind of shoot-out.
The guy who carries his whiz-band magnum revolver is deluded into thinking he's going to "do some huntin' along the way," during the bugout!
"BUG OUT" by definition means you have to grab what you can and get out...get ON THE ROAD, not likely in a nice warm, enormous pickemup truck, but WALKING...with your kids WALKING, and your WIFE walking! The entire GOAL of all government forces deployed is to get YOU out of any vehicle and on the road, or better yet, into a "camp" where food and water, and tents will be set-up and that beats staggering down the highway any way you slice it!
The first thing the military is going to do is establish cordons and blockades. You'll be required to register, each and all, and if you even BLINK suspicious you'll be pulled out and searched! Maybe at some point there will be a sea change in the minds of government forces, but initially, expect them to tow the line and do exactly as told.
There won't be any "hunting" on the side of any roads. That's going to bring a swift response. There won't BE any carry of rifles past the first checkpoint. There won't be any carry of handguns that can be readily discovered.
The goal of government once you come out of your house and are forced to "refugee" is to render you powerless against the State.
And speaking of bugging out...to where exactly? HOW exactly? Maybe those fortunate enough to have family have options, but for most...do you really THINK for an instant all those people living up in the hills are going to sit back and let you just come a tromping on up and make yourself at home? THEY'LL call the government to report your coming!
Once the SHTF there won't be any giant pickemup trucks blasting up the highway....that's going to be shut down instantly! You will NOT be allowed to move thousands of pounds of resources just because you decide to do so.
The best answer is to start now thinking about how to lay-in an adequate supply of food and WATER, and to have strategies to composting waste to reduce as much as possible the potential for a Cholera outbreak.
Turning off and on water and sewerage will be something the government starts early on to quickly identify all those "rugged individualists" and put them in their place quickly.
So with all that said the very best weapons you can have or plan to carry are the smallest, lightest, most unlikely to be discovered. You should have NO first-tier weapons in your home that don't have suppressors because your first goal is to NOT DRAW ATTENTION to yourself.
The problem of course is they show up with magnetometers to search - even below ground level outside.
There is only one real response and that is to have already made up your mind how this is going to go BEFORE the troop deployments begin. The answer does NOT lie in social media.
