In 2007 wild fires raged through San Diego County leaving a wide trail of destruction in their wake.  Glenn and Shari Kunz and their son David were living in the area, but remained largely unconcerned by the fires moving in their direction.  News broadcasts had promised that residents of threatened areas would receive a phone call notifying them when to evacuate the area.  For the Kunz family, the fact that they hadn't received this call meant that they were safe from imminent danger.

At the same time their son, Daniel, was in Idaho watching news broadcasts which displayed images of raging walls of fire headed in the direction of his family home. Daniel called his parents several times urging them to begin evacuating the area but the Kunz family was reluctant to leave their home without the promised phone call from the authorities.

The phone call never came.  Before they knew it, it was too late for them to gather their precious belongings.  The danger was too close at hand and their escape had to be executed as quickly as possible.  Thankfully, the Kunz family had recently placed all important and essential documents into their Guardian Survival Kits.  Grabbing their backpacks, they exited their home and drove away in time to see massive blazes consuming the world around them.

Days later after the all-clear had been given, the entire Kunz family returned to their home to see what remained. The house had a steel structure and the expectation was at least the basic foundation of the home would remain intact.  Instead what they found was charred ash and melted steel.  Their home was gone. All of their worldly belongings including every remnant of Daniel, David & their sister, Jaime's childhood were erased.  Seeing the wreckage was harrowing, but the Kunz family was grateful that they'd survived.

When Daniel Kunz founded Guardian Survival Gear two years prior in 2005, it was concern for his family that drove him towards creating affordable, high-quality 72-hour kits. Watching the disaster of Hurricane Katrina unfold Daniel worried of the struggles his own family would face if they were to find themselves in the middle of a natural disaster.

Immediately Daniel began researching the necessities of a 72-hour survival kit. After he had an outline of the essentials, he set out to purchase the individual components of a kit from near-by retail stores.  As he began to assemble the kit he found the product costs of each item were quickly adding up. The total cost of a retail-assembled 72-hour kit was outrageous.  He knew immediately that it wouldn't be reasonably affordable to assemble enough kits for everyone in his family, their offices, and their cars.

The need for these products was clear with the growing number of disasters and terrorists attacks unfolding globally.  After hundreds of hours of research and consultations with several survival experts, Daniel created his 72 Hour Kit.  With this, the idea of starting a preparedness company offering High Quality survival products was born.   

However, Guardian Survival Gear could not be created yet. Daniel didn't have the money to start up this company, so he turned to his father.  Glenn Kunz was a decorated war hero. During his service as a Ranger in Vietnam he'd achieved the rank of E-6 in an astonishing 13 months. Following his return from the war a parade of trials and misfortunes took Glenn many places in life. Through all of this, Glenn had learned the value of being prepared and the importance of survival. Daniel knew his father would be proud of this company he was creating and Glenn gladly invested the first thousand dollars of seed money.

From the first thousand dollars Daniel was able to begin making purchases and forming relationships with quality manufacturers. He and Glenn began assembling survival kits in a tiny California office. There they began establishing relationships with resellers and discovering new ways to fill the apparent market needs as they worked among boxes stacked floor to ceiling.

In 2006 Guardian hired their first part-time employee, Ben a high school student who came to the office after classes to assemble kits. It was in 2007 that Guardian's growth began to soar. Through several strategic changes and new manufacturer relationships, Guardian was able to begin utilizing a warehouse to assemble kits and drop ship products. Within the year Guardian was one of the largest wholesale forces in the industry.

When 2008 came the nation was struck with a massive economic downturn. But for Daniel, watching his family come out of a natural disaster with their lives and Guardian Survival Kits on their backs, he was only inspired by how far Guardian could go.

Over the next several years Guardian grew more. While remaining a family company, Guardian became an international wholesale provider for survival gear. What started with a man concerned about the welfare of his own family became a company striving every day to ensure that families, cars, offices, and classrooms everywhere are prepared for disaster.

From the 100 square foot California warehouse with a two-man operation in 2005, Guardian survived a major economic downturn and many trials to become a thriving company. We now have 15,000 square feet of office and warehouse space that towers above the crowded warehouse we started in. 

Guardian has remained devoted to its core values. We believe, first and foremost, in quality products. We understand that people will be relying on these products to carry them through the direst circumstances and the last thing they will need is gear that breaks or doesn't work. At Guardian we've also maintained a strong sense of family, this is still a family-operated business. From the beginning, we have believed in doing business with integrity and we still maintain that value as we interact with distributors, partners, and employees in every aspect of our business.

Guardian wants everyone to have the necessities to be able to survive a disaster or terrorist attack with the help of a Guardian Survival Kit.

We know that our resellers are essential to the fulfillment of our goals and we want to ensure that we maintain excellent relationships with you.  We believe “Everyone needs a Guardian” and our devotion to that belief has brought us to the place we are today.

More Information: LA Times News Article about the Kunz family