The image below is a Ruger Mini. So he shows them that weapon, along with "12-gauge shotgun, along with six magazines of various ammunition and more than 200 extra rounds". Would he expect the authorities to let him keep all that?
Reads to me like he was preparing for a private war and nobody carries that kind of firepower these days without checking the laws. He probably did want them for self defense, but maybe he needed them if he also had another agenda?