Getting started, need some advice?

So I decided I want to suit up and join this awesome group of awesome people, but I've told it like I'm going to be just a community and public service member and I really would like to fight crime eventually. Advice on what to have on my person, times to be out, etc.?

Your own person doesn't matter. You don't even have to have a costume. It's like what I say, "The size of the muscle doesn't matter, the strength does." Do not go out with your fists. I would recommend a firearm, and a melee weapon of LEGAL choice. I recommend being out at dawn, dusk, and night. Be sure to watch the drunken for fights, or, on occasion, a crime happening right then. Dont charge in, analyze the situation and think before you go in. Be careful, pulling a firearm will alert the hostile that you are a threat and may attack. Try to get it out peacefully and without harm or a fight, but if you must, ONLY IF YOU MUST, engage but do not fatally harm the criminal.
       Hope this helps, and it's what you wanted!    

I reccomend not looking for trouble; you can make more changes by building your life around ways to be a hero without using your fists, if you simply must go on patrol go out with a large group. Have a first aid kit, a flashlight, a leatherman, and a pocket knife. A lighter is good too. In your vehicle have a tire iron, a jack, and other tools to help during stranded motorist incidents and a chainsaw for getting trees out of the road or off of powerlines. Volunteer with your local fire department, you'll be able to acess CPR/First Aid/AED training with the EMS side, and Hazmat firefighting training from the fire side, go for it all, Firefighter and EMT; give wildland firefighting a try for a while as well to build your endurance and wilderness survival skills.

Donate blood with a  big group of friends; one blood donation goes towards the saving of three lives.

Be a superhero because you want to help those in need and protect the innocent to the best of your ability, not because you want the action//adventure of childhood fantasies; it won't work out the way you think it will, and you can be making better changes with the time that you'r using to walk around looking for trouble.

For me getting into firefighting with the government and my community was my best choice; i don't need to look for trouble, my radio tone goes off blaring and I dash to the rescue. It's sorta like the bat-phone. XD VFD do everything from structural firefighting, hazmat/weapons of mass destruction incidents, and vehicle accidents and search and rescue, and Wildland saves entire cities from the most destructive forces on earth, only it's not volunteer per se; you get paid really good for wildland.

After a while I intend to rack up certificates and experience on my resume and enlist in the US National Guard. Eventually open up a self defens edojo to help keep the people safer at night, as opposed to babytsitting the streets. Making a commited effort, you can creat massive changes without ever having to put yourself or your family at risk. Well, you may be putting yourself at a little bit of a risk with firefighting, but not much; we have a lot of resources and standard operating procedures based on decades of firefighting in the service; it's not common for accidents to happen. Train hard, know your stuff, and think clearly you'll be fine. In all likelihood; accidents still happen.

You get to help a bunch of people, you get the action/adventure/adrenaline rush, you get awesome training, and in wildland you get paid thousands of dollars, there's really no downside. So long as your eighteen and aren't an arsonist or pyromaniac. And you pass the fitness tests. It opens doors. Trust me.


Stay true. Stay free. Stay safe.


--Hero Man

If you go on patrol, have a gun and know how to use it. I reccomend a 1911 semi-automatic Remington handgun and a semi automatic AR-15 for home defense.

There is no peaceful way to draw a firearm with the intent to use it to intimidate others.

Training helps you to evaluate situations more precisely, and respond quicker when intervention is necessary. Waiting around until you have all the data will get people hurt.

When you do charge in, training tells you what signs to look for and how to respond.

There are several capacities, in which you could fight crime. What you carry on your person, when you're out, and what you wear will depend on your goals and how you want to accomplish them.

I was referring to the term in the sense that I wouldn't have to hurt them or lay my hands on them or get close to them in order to in all liklihood stop the violence and protect myself. My intent would be to make them back off, and allow me and/or other to get to safety, safely. My goal is for no one to get hurt and everyone to go home in one piece. My priority is to not do anything to put myself in a situation like that in the first place, and help my community in less risky ways and fight crime more indirectly in a manner that doesn't tick anyone off.

Keep in mind, a person is only permitted to draw a firearm or present a billy/club/bat with intent to use if someone threatens you with a weapon first. Otherwise, you are escalating force, and therefore the assailant. Keep them only for emergency use when in fear of your life, or to meet escalating force.

The safest effective measure is to gather information legally. This includes filming and audio in public areas. Taking photos and such. This is only legal if you are in apublic area. When possible, use phone and upload to a cloud service before making contact. In this event, you may inform the criminal/wrongdoers that you have evidence uploaded to the net, therefore a security blanket against harm. People may not like it, but its legal. And great secure evidence if something happens.

Also keep in mind that it's illegal in some states to take video footage that includes audio, and vice-versa. You'll have to record the video and audio on separate devices, if you want both. As with anything you do, check your local laws. You don't want to be on the wrong side of the badge, especially during an investigation.

I don't want to pull the gun unless it's absolutely necessary; my views used to be a little different but I'm incorporating a lot more protection into the new suit so I'll be able to afford more to go hand to hand; but if I do pull it, it'll be between the moments he draws his weapon and the the moment he threatens me with it; by the time he's threatened me with it, it's too late in my book. I prefer drawing early if I'm scared enough; it just seems like a bad idea to wait until they have a lethal weapon too. I'm still a little conflicted on it; but whatever my final philosophy on it is, it will be because it's the safest option; whether it be in correspondence with some state laws or not. If I have to shoot someone it's because I or and/or third parties were going to die if I didn't. I'd order someone to call the police and I would be leaving town asap and lay low on the run. I trust everyone involved would know I did the right thing, and I have no problem fleeing from and oppressive government. I have the right to have a gun in my mind and according to my forefathers; a part of me really feels we shouldn't just throw our best lines of defense against the crazy and insane out the door because of some legal thing; sometimes someone just has to say enough's enough. Sorry if that sounds a little arrogant or whatever; it's just how I feel; I don't like being chained down in anyway, I want to be a symbol for freedom and independence but sometimes I fear I can't live truly free that way; I feel pretty strongly about my liberty, freedom, and independence, and I get pretty pissed when anyone tries to fuck with it and it seems to trigger a slight rebellious instinct in me. Been kinda sorta quietly struggling with it in my mind lately; thinking of what's better; to live my truth or conform.

Want to get a shirt button spy camera; I like that idea of my actions being on video for proof that I didn't do anything wrong in the event I have to go to court for whatever reason.

Either that, or a go pro helmet cam for my firefighter helmet.

Anyman, I was unaware of restrictions ad such. I know that police themselves don't like being filmed. But as long as you are filming from a public place, there were nonrestrictions . Good to know!

Pertaining to guns, here is something the county sherriff told my mother when she got a pistol permit for defense . I totally don't agree, but see the logic. He told her that if she ever has to use the firearm for self defense, shoot to kill. He said that there was no way for him to testify, and possibly land her in Jul.

I agree; if you're going to shoot someone, shoot to kill. Shooting to maim or injure may just piss them off enough to make them draw their gun and shoot you if it isn't already drawn, and they may not be quite so noble. Don't shoot anything unless you're prepared to kill and/or destroy it.

That depends on the situation, if you shoot to injure, you have atleast a good 3-5 seconds to where their reacting about being shot (and thats just the least amount of time, usually when someone is shot, they react to it and are in pain for much longer) within that time span you can immobilize them, or simply by shooting them in the arm that they are carrying their weapon, that will usually cause them to drop the weapon, making it easy for you to retreive it, now if you have no time or dont have a good aim, and someone is about to get hurt, then you may have to shoot to kill

The reasoning for the sherriff telling my mother that was because a burglar or assailant can sue you for injuring them, claiming that the use of force was unwarranted. They may press charges, landing the defender in jail for attempted murder or assault with a deadly weapon. 

If you shoot to kill, there is only the defenders word as to what happened

How many people have you shot/seen shot? XD

I shoot to kill. If the situation isn't life threatening, I don't need to draw a gun. If it is, my heart will be racing, adrenaline pumping; I'm not going to be going over complicated crap in my head or take time to aim at a teeny tiny target, standing like a sitting duck.

I'm gonna jump to the closest cover, draw my gun, slapping in a fresh mag and ratchet a bullet in the chamber with a tactical isreali maneuver then mozambique their ass.

And I've shot no one so far, hope I never have to and I probably never will, but I have a gun; better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it, and if it comes down to it, I believe it is better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.

I've shot/been shot at 1 time its stressful but not complicated, usually when your brains under pressure it, I didnt have to think long and hard, in the event I had shot near his arm, he immediately dropped it, and I hand even hit him, its not like your trying to shoot a slit of rice on a needle. Shooting their arm wouldn't have been too hard, I've witnessed officers do it before. most of my encounters usually involves knives not guns, mainly because its usually teenagers or college students. But I carry a gun, and IIve had to draw it before, Ive had a gun pointed at me 2 other times, but they never shot because I had either talked them out of it, or the police arrived. I know how the pressure feels like, and depending how well your trained (whether in shooting or addressing a situation that could cause harm to yourself), that pressure can either help or hurt you. I havent shot anyone, and I dont intend too unless its the last means, usually shooting them inc the arm or near them Wil cause them to either shoot back or fro Theo weapons, which is why shooting to kill doesn't work either, if you shoot them near their heart they still have an estimated of 20 seconds to 4 minutes to live, meaning they could still shoot you. But if you shoot them near their arms, wrist, hand, or whatever body part is holding the gun, that would cause them to release their grip on the weapon, and Mali sure they dont fire back.

* it tends to think and respond faster *hadn't even hit him
Sorry for the spelling errors on my phone

*drop their weapons
*make

I don't trust my aiming skills when I have gross motor skills because of adrenaline. If I shoot, it's going to be two to the chest then one to the head; they won't shoot back or do anything to hurt me or anyone else because they'll be dead; the arm wrist or other limbs are too smal to rely on in a situation like that. I used to believe in drawing early, and a part of me kinda still does but I really just want to draw it when it's life and death; I think that should be the rule. Once all other means have failed, he's made his choice blatantly clear and it's time for him to die. Either that, or risk further loss of life by trying a trick shot to disarm them; (I'm picturing a situation with a psycho guy and a gun shooting random people; in that situation I'm going to be as fast as possiuble and taking too much time to aim slams the speed down several notches. Two to the chest one to the head. If he drops his weapon(s) after the two to the chest and I see it before I put the one in his head; great, I'd stop there; but if I don't see it in time and I kill him....I dunno; I'd feel bad sure but he made his choice; if you're going to try and kill someone do not be surprised at all when they try to kill you back. Be quick and simple; sooting to maim/injure/disarm is not quick and simple.

And it's far more dangerous,\.