taken from an interview...MG is Michael Gross...
VV: When you watch the "Tremors" films, that's one thing that's very obvious. You're having fun.
MG: My wife swears that it rubs off on my real life, too. Certainly, living in Los Angeles part-time. I have repeatedly one of the best earthquake kits of anybody in Los Angeles county. When the kids moved out, I got rid of some of my water. I used to have two 55 gallon barrels of drinking water behind the house along with several barrels of batteries and bandages and, you name it, I have it. It's got a little smaller since the kids moved out.
VV: Well, that Burt paranoia might not be such a bad thing. You never know when you might need it.
MG: The next thing you know, there'll be a collision with an asteroid, and then where would we be.
VV: Everybody will be coming over to your house for water.
MG: Well, that's why survivalists have guns. I never really thought about it. You know, survivalists were so associated with guns and things like that. I did a lot of reading, particularly with the first "Tremors" movie, about the survivalist movement and realized, of course, that they weren't necessarily violent people but the guns were there because when all your neighbors who were not prepared came knocking at your door, you had to have a way to keep them at a distance. Because the ones who are going to pooh-pooh you are the first ones who will be there saying, "Can I have some of that water of yours?"
DB