Get home Bag/ EDC bag

I don't have one yet, but i've been planning to get a military style backpack with blanket, couple days rations/energy bars, light, knife, water, radio.  Never leave home without pew pew either.

I keep a small bag with some bottled water, gels, flashlight, first aid supplies, and a small roll of toilet paper and some alcohol based hand gel. I also have a small stove and freeze dried mac and cheese, a lighter, a compass, rain poncho. There is always a blanket in the car, sometimes two and some cold weather gear if it is the season. I also keep a spare pair of old hiking boots, some work gloves that do double duty if it is chilly, and a small crank and solar powered radio that can also charge a USB device like my cell phone.

Everything in the packs has been used at one time or another - sometimes for a spontaneous day hike, sometimes for conditions warranting them. Never needed a gun, or been in a situation where having one would have been handy.

That's OK until someone with a gun demands your food, water, and blanket......just saying.

OK, but that has never happened in over 30 years of driving. Seriously, do you think we are going to be hit with the apocalypse that this is likely? Or maybe you live/work somewhere that is really dangerous, and expect to have a breakdown/break-in there?

The purpose of the gear in my car is to be comfortable in case I break down in the middle of nowhere (quite possible in this area) and might not be able to get to assistance in a reasonable amount of time. Winter storm, or as happened a few years ago to many people here, a huge PennDOT screw-up leaving people stranded on the roads and jammed in place for a day. 

Secondarily, it is in case I decide on a nice day to take an extended hike - I have the gear with me in case the weather screws me over and I am making an unexpected overnight stay of things.

And like I said, everything in my car I have at one time or another used. I have never needed to use a gun. I have added things here and there when I thought to myself "Oh, I wish I had X with me" - such as the hand cranked radio that doubles as a phone/USB charger.

Beef Jerky, Beer, Bug Spray? 

Exactly.  A gun is like a spare tire, hope I never need, but if I do it's there.  My bag contais, water filtration, Cliff, Mountain home, space blanket, MSR, fire, extra ammo, lights, UA pullover.

 You should consider some LPs too. Pretty effective up to 10 yds.

Why do people insist on comparing "need" by using items that are so statistically divergent? Helmets, spare tires, various forms of insurance. Gun proponents; this is not helping your argument.

Not to change this into a gun thread, but I am a gun proponent and carry because I previoulsy worked in an industry in which as a result of my job mine and my families saftey have been threatened by individuals I felt would carry out the threat if they had the opportunity.

I'm not trying to make an argument....I'm just stating a fact. 

Another fact is that I don't NEED to make an argument.  I can carry a gun if I want to.....like everyone else. 

If I have one and you don't.....and someone tries to hurt you or your family.....I'll help you too....no worries.

I don't find the gun issue to be something that is arguable....so I don't.

I've needed the spare tire on a couple of occasions.

I've cracked a couple of helmets over the years (my motto - if you don't ever fall over, you are too far from the edge)

This I would agree with. And I know of psychiatrists who, as a result of their work, DID get threatened, and then carried until such time as the threat was no longer in place (e.g. the patient got incarcerated). My friend the ex-cop, and my friend who works for CYS as an investigator - they also have good reasons to carry.

I'm not anti-gun, but I also don't think they are something that everyone needs to have for some kind of insurance or safety.

Right, you aren't making the argument and aren't comparing carrying a gun to a spare tire. My comment wasn't directed at you. 

Of course, I am reminded of the Monty Python Argument sketch

Sweet, a gun thread...

As for the carrying versus not carrying discussion.  On a high level it is an insurance policy for an unlikely event that will likely never occur.  I totally respect people who want to carry and I totally respect those that do not want to carry and I could honestly argue both sides of the debate very effectively.

For me personally, I had an incident back in 1999 where I owned an apartment building and was doing some work in one of the units.  I was in the process of evicting an upstanding citizen in the apartment across the hall for running a drug business out of her apartment.  The next thing I know I've got 4 really big dudes trying to beat the door down threatening to kill me and all I had was my tool box and a hammer to defend myself.  I looked through the peephole and one of them had a gun.  I didn't have a cellphone at the time and crawled out the back window running for my life.  I was trained in the military and am very proficient with a weapon, but I felt completely helpless at that moment.  I went out and got my concealed permit a few weeks later and never went near the apartments without my buddy.

Nowadays, I don't have that level of risk because I don't have any apartment buildings in the not nice parts of town, but that doesn't mean I have zero risk.  I own a business and things do still happen that are out of my control.  In January 2011 the Millard school shooting in Omaha happened a few blocks from my office.  The kid fled the scene and parked in the parking lot right outside my office and chose to take his own life versus continue his rampage.  He could have easily got out of his car and started shooting at us.  I had to terminate an employee once who was certifiably crazy.  I was very fearful he was going to go home and come back with a weapon, it was that bad.

So, will I ever need my weapon?  Probably not, but I choose to never be in a situation where I need my weapon and don't have it with me.

HA!....guilty.