Another possibility is that all our communications are completely compromised by the feds, and most organizations infiltrated with agents, and all our credit card purchases monitored so that as soon as someone communicates a dangerous idea, they become watched more closely to see if they might be dangerous to the regime or to Official Reality.
In that case, you’d never get to the point where you had a cache of 1200 pounds of fertilizer and three people to help mix the stuff. Actual attempts would be extremely rare, but sting-type busts common.
These guys were flagged as odd and had an informant attached to them. When they “carefully” downloaded the Anarchist Cookbook, one of the guys said, hey, maybe we can just BUY the stuff rather than make it...and at that point the agent said, why, I know some guys!
Sorry. You are not entitled to your own set of facts. If you wish to illustrate how over-bearing our government is, you need to find another argument.
#72: Exactly my take.