What crime would they be plotting?
This guy was not discussing what might theoretically happen in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event.
He was negotiating a price for kidnapping a woman and asking for advice from experienced kidnappers on the best methods for doing it.
“What crime would they be plotting?”
Many might call it “self-defense”, but perhaps authorities would call it “murder” or worse. He had, after all, negotiated the price of a gun and ammo, then taken a course taught by experienced gun users, instructing him on the use of the “double tap” followed possibly by a “head shot”.
My point is that many, many people in this day anticipate scenarios such as this, write about them in books and on blogs, explore the possibilities, play out imagined scenarios, and ready themselves with knowledge, training and equipment, with no immanent or substantial risk or intention of carrying them out. Are all the armed Preppers guilty, then, of felony conspiracy? That is my question.