Americans preparing to survive: stockpiling guns, ammunition, storable food, non-hybrid seeds

Can you survive economic crisis?

Booming preparedness industry says Americans are stockpiling

By Drew Zahn | WorldNetDaily | March 08, 2009

To some, the term "survivalist" conjures images of camouflage-clad men stockpiling freeze-dried food in a mountain cabin, but in the current economic crisis, the people quietly preparing to survive catastrophe may just be your next-door neighbors.

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Bill Heid of Survival Seeds, a company that sells "banks" of high-yielding vegetable seeds sealed for long-term storage and awaiting a family's need to grow its own food, says business is skyrocketing.

"It's been dramatic, nothing short of dramatic," Heid told WND. "The survivalist mentality used to be considered a fringe element, but now that economic times are such as they are, many more average, regular folks are adopting the same set of preparations."

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WND also reported a spike in gun sales in the wake of Obama's election that was even more intense than in the days following Y2K and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

And since November, the sale of weapons and ammunition hasn't slowed.

The Orlando Sentinel reports months of steady, heavy buying have left gun dealers in Florida facing shortages on ammunition.

"The survivalist in all of us comes out," John Ritz, manager of a Florida shooting range, told the Sentinel. "It's more about protecting what you have."

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