Before we begin, a somewhat belated correction.

In my Oct. 14 column about the movie “Barbershop,” I asserted that Bob Teitel, one of the film’s producers, is African-American. I recently got an e-mail from an alert reader from Teitel’s old neighborhood who asserts that the co-producer of “Barbershop,” “Soul Food” and “Men of Honor” is actually a white guy.

We regret the error. Well, we — I mean I — don’t regret that he’s a white guy. Not that there’s anything wrong with not being a white guy, it’s just that … oh, never mind. On to this week’s column.

OK, I’ve got my plastic sheeting. I’ve got my three days’ supply of water and food, just like Tom Ridge and the good folks at Homeland Security tell me (although if history is any indicator, the Krispy Kreme doughnuts won’t make it ‘til noon). I’ve got my duct tape, but then, I always have duct tape.

Now all I need, according to Vernon Robinson, is a gun.

Robinson, a Republican city councilman from Winston-Salem, suggested during the recent Orange Alert that folks preparing for terrorist attacks make sure they augment their survival kits with their trusty shotgun, rifle, or other firearm of choice. Robinson made his remarks at a joint meeting with Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, held at the Green Street United Methodist Church. After which, we suppose, he led the congregation in a rousing chorus of “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.”

Does Robinson think that we’re going to need weapons to fight off human wave attacks of wild-eyed, shoe-bombing Muslim extremists? Nope. The threat Robinson envisions comes from your fellow Americans, or to be more specific, those folks who failed to heed the words of Homeland Security and who didn’t stock up.

“Robinson said people who stocked up on food and water would need guns to fend off people who had no supplies,” according to a story in The News & Observer of Raleigh. In the aftermath of a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack, Robinson apparently believes, the first thing those people are going to do is knock down your doors and try to take your duct tape.

Why haven’t we heard this dire recommendation from George Dubbya Bush or Tom Ridge? Simple, says the councilman. Political correctness. Robinson asserts that “Federal officials would have recommended guns in the warning if not for anti-gun sentiment in the country.”

Oh, yes. This administration, after all, is notable for its PC attitude.

Needless to say, these pearls of advice drew some criticism.

“What planet is this guy from?” one resident was quoted as muttering. But the feisty Robinson would not be moved.

“I invite everybody to put a sticker on their house saying, ‘I’m a liberal, and I don’t have a gun in my house,’ “ he snapped back.

Hey, wait a minute. I actually do own a gun. Does that mean I’m not a liberal any more? Boy, will my family be surprised! But I digress.

Reading Robinson’s words, I couldn’t help but think of January 2000, when the worst blizzard in anyone’s memory buried North Carolina under a foot and a half of snow. On my block, people pulled together. We shared firewood. We got together to cut and haul fallen trees out of the road, and not just in front of our own houses, either. Everyone repeatedly checked on each other, asking if anyone needed anything. It never occurred to anyone I knew to hunker down, gun in hand, over our supplies.

That, of course, was during the dark days of the liberal Clinton Administration. Post 9/11, by golly, things are different. It’s a new day in America. We have bold leaders like Vernon Robinson showing us the way to go.

Now things are more like they were in the glory days of the early 60’s, when President Kennedy was urging Americans to dig “fallout shelters” in their back yards, stocked with two week’s supply of food and water. In those days, there was actually serious debate about whether it would be morally permissible to shoot a neighbor who tried to break into your fallout shelter. Boy, those were some good times, huh? Somebody ought to do a TV series.

Seriously, folks, let me tell y’all something. If the aftermath of a terrorist attack means that I’m going to have to take my gun and fight off refugees at gunpoint rather than pitching in to try to help them, then I’m just going to step outside, take a deep breath, and get it over with. Because if things get that bad, even the idea of America is gone, and I don’t want to live in a world without it.

But until that day, you can borrow my duct tape.