Rating:

2.0 (2 votes)

TUCSON - December 21, 2012 is a key date in the Mayan calendar.

It's when their calendar just ends.

Some say that means Doomsday for us.

While some Tucsonans are making preps, others are cashing in on their fears.

Saul Gomez shows us what some doomsday believers have been buying at Miller's Surplus on North 6th Avenue.

He says in general, people come in to buy stuff to prepare for a natural disaster.

But he's seen more preppers lately, stocking up in anticipation of what they believe is the end of the world.

Gomez says, "a lot of them, they seem paranoid about being paranoid, like they'll ask me if it's weird that they're preparing."

Gomez says customers are buying gas masks, water purifying tablets and water filters.

Ammo cans and matches are also selling fast.

Manager George Landa saw a similar response with Y2K and after 9-11.

He says the preppers are taking it all very seriously.

Landa says he typically sells about 200 packages of Meals Ready to Eat or MRE's a month, but he's sold more than two thousand so far this month.

Landa says, "our preppers have been getting ready all year, stockpiling MRE's, gas cans, water filtration systems, duct tape, because duct tape does everything in the world for you."

Landa says the preppers tells him "about the caves they've found, the bunkers they're living in. A few of them, you won't find them here today because they're up in the mountain, just ready to go."

He says he's seen all kinds of people come in, "You have some serious people and you get some goofballs that look like they haven't showered in a week or two and they just came out and they're dressed in camo, and they got mud but they're here for gear and they're taking this very serious."

As for himself, Landa says it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

He says he's got 10 cases of water at his house just in case.