Between “The Walking Dead” and “Warm Bodies,” there’s a lot of zombie-related entertainment in the zeitgeist right now. But do people have a possible zombie apocalypse in mind when they’re looking for firearms to defend themselves in an emergency? Maybe. Sort of. Not really.

When people talk about shooting zombies, it’s (usually) a metaphor. A hook to make people think about emergency preparedness. A hardware store in Nebraska tried this tactic not long ago, and even the Centers for Disease Control used prepping for a zombie invasion to really talk about preparing for a natural disaster or pandemic.

One gun dealer and firearms instructor says that his customers often refer to zombies when making their selections. “It’s amazing how many people are picking up an AR-15 or tactical shotgun and saying ‘Oh yeah, this will be great for the zombies,'” he told KDKA in Pittsburgh. That city, of course, was famously the setting for George Romero’s classic zombie movies, but people don’t seem any more afraid of zombies than Americans in other cities. Maybe because they’ve been preparing for decades now.

If you’re really afraid of zombies, of course, perhaps you should check out the classic preparation manual, Field Guide to the Apocalypse: Movie Survival Skills for the End of the World. I hear that the author is a seasoned watcher of zombie movies and an excellent boss.

Are The Rise Of Zombies Causing Rising Gun Sales? [KDKA]

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