I'd give them sticks and make them stand guard.
Oh, I’d make them stand guard.
But I’d give them shooting leasons with .22s, arm them with the surpluse rifles and then have them man the perimeter.
No sense having an outpost overrun and then have to take it back again. Besides, gun shots are good early warning.
It would have to be real “end of time” stuff to get marauding gangs cruising over to our neighborhood looking for loot. Every other porch having a man or woman with a rifle would tell the visiters its time to move on.