Ammo shortages and the ladies luncheon

From an article in the Kennebec, Maine Journal and Morning Sentinel:

When the conversation at the ladies' luncheon suddenly swung from cats and grandchildren to the ammo shortage, I finally verified I was not imagining things.

We're living in strange times. Perilous times. Definitely uncertain times.

The Internet is full of kooks and near-kooks preparing for "the end of the world as we know it," or TEOTWAWKI. Some have a precise date set for the apocalypse. Hmm. I think I'm going to keep on working on keeping my soul clean and taking my chances on that one.

Others predict the economic collapse of the United States. This is TEOTWAWKI in a more figurative sense. It is a vision of hungry residents of exurban McMansions walking 15 miles to town (because gas is no more) to pick from what's left on the shelves of Hannaford or Shaw's, but probably not both because there won't be enough processed food to support multiple grocery chains.

We'll all be sporting those bumper stickers that proclaim "My Other Supermarket is My Garden" on our bicycles.
...
But I sit up straighter when chatter on the Internet reaches critical mass and especially when it overflows into the sacred milieu of the ladies' luncheon. At this point, unarmed as I am, I don't really care about ammo shortages per se. I'm concerned that others do -- and enough to talk about it.

I've had the distinct feeling lately that we are poised precariously between two realities.

Our lives go on much as they have before. Our cars still run, our washing machines chug away, our children still manage to find summer jobs at McDonald's. Every so often the federal financial gurus tell us things are getting better. The Dow goes up for a day before it goes down again. Our jobs are safe. For now.

But then we hear the state government of California is writing IOUs. Tent cities are springing up in Florida. Major auto companies, once a mainstay of our economy, would go under if not for government help.

We seem to accept it all without a blink of an eye. So far we have left revolution to the Iranians. But we are talking about TEOTWAWKI among ourselves. Ordinarily peace-loving citizens are arming themselves. The murmur is growing louder. ...

Article here.