The police wouldn't have even gotten involved had he not attracted the attention of his neighbors. Given the kind of pyrotechnical craziness that is reported to occur in the countryside from time to time, it is likely that twenty acres would sufficiently isolate the homestead and disperse/muffle the sound. (Actually 20 acres sounds kind of puny for a survivalist redoubt, come to think of it.)
That, of course, brings us back to the neighborhood where this occurred. I don't have a list of rules concerning being a successful urban survivalist, but I'm willing to bet not attracting attention to yourself would be towards the top.
But you are right in that, once the police are involved, they are going to give it to him with both barrels urban, suburban, or rural. The twelve year old kid with the guns wouldn't concern me (well, unless he has hit puberty...) since, once properly trained, they can handle a gun as responsibly as anyone else.
But the several hundred pounds of mystery chemicals would bother me. Prima fascia, that sounds like the home brewing of explosives and that is something I definitely do not want my next door neighbor doing in my townhouse complex.
Dumbass move for sure.
But the several hundred pounds of mystery chemicals would bother me
Kind of depends on the chemicals. 50 lb of glycerin and 100 lb each of nitric and sulphuric acids might make me worry, IF HE WERE COMBINING THEM, but just having them around in case, not a worry. I'd be more concerned about gasoline stockpiling. I remember the gasoline crunch brought on by dismal Jimmah's profund ignorance of economics (now displaced by Obama in the ignorance category) and people storing gas in plastic milk jugs. There were a number of fires due to vapor seepage and leakage.
Upon reflection I think I’ll give this guy a dumbass and a halfass award. He was a dubass for calling attention to himself, but he wasn’t really prepared. He had enough stuff to get himself into trouble, but not enough stuff to nail the first wave of invaders. I guess the moral of this story is that if you’re really into survivalism, you should have your claymores deployed and ready for the click when they’re lining up to kick in the door otherwise don’t bother or you’ll just get into trouble. (not sure how fireworks aid survival anyway)