There are plenty of places where the typical BOB starts out with 20 pounds of guns and ammo. I think that is a bit nuts and often say so in such places. Most of the time no one really cares. You are unlikely to change anyone's mind about much of anything by what you post on any forum.

No kit of mine has any firearms in it, largely because I live in the state of IL and even an unloaded and locked up gun is often illegal outside of one's home. Part of surviving to me is not getting thrown in jail. The sheer weight of a firearm is also a problem, even forgetting the legality for the moment.

There are not many places around me where I go hiking that I am real worried about wild animals. A few coyotes. One park I frequent has vampire deer, but so far my faithful hiking buddy Wilma has protected me and I have not been attacked by them. I always have a hiking stick so in the unlikely event of being assaulted by a poisonous snake I would have some defense.

I am more worried about 2 legged critters, but the laws being what they are make that problem difficult to deal with. For now, I rely on being lucky and avoiding certain areas. Mostly around here there are only a few places that need be avoided.