While I agree that in an overall preparedness kit you would want a fire-arm and other weapons, and I always suspect the political motivations of any governmental official in any country, I think that there might be other reasons why weapons and home defense were not mentioned.

The focus of the Homeland security web-site is on how to prepare for a terrorist attack. Unless you are a high-level highly visible political figure you and your home are not of interest to terrorists. Terrorists will not be breaking into your home to attack you personally. They will blow up your building if you live in a high-rise. They will blow up the neighboring building. They will spray anthrax over the city from a crop-duster. You home defense fire-arm is irrelivant in all of these scenarios. This isn't to say that you don't need one but rather that you don't need one for the reasonable terrorist scenarios that you might want to prepare to defend yourself from.

If you want a terrorist scenario where a fire-arm would be needed you will rather be thinking offensively or pre-emptivly. Scenarios where you see the individual who parked the truck full of manure and Kerosene and you need a glock to take him off the street. Or perhaps where you notice that the man stepping into the nightclub has TNT strapped on his waist and you use your .45 S&W to stop him before he reaches for the detonator. Of course recommending these scenarios to the average individual on the street whilst the entire population is in a panic to prepare might make for a less safe place for us all to be living. (And vigilantism is frowned upon in America today <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> )

There are a raft of non-terrorist threats that you might want to prepare for and the Homeland security site says nothing about them. The Hurricane scenario where you want to board up your windows is not mentioned and the intruder scenario where someone has tresspassed into your house malisciously and needs to be stopped is not mentioned. These are not issues of "Homeland security" but more correctly belong on the FEMA site or the FBI site.

RANT ONReturning to my more normally cynical posture; The FBI site nor any other police site that I have seen has recommended arming yourself to protect yourself and your loved-ones. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. In a country as fiercely independant and individualistic and self-reliant as the US proclaims itself to be in the propaganda this is a sad state of affairs. If it weren't for a well armed populace willing to go to war against oppression we would still be paying taxes to HRMS of England.RANT OFF