No Stupid Questions

OP, ignore a lot of these commenters. Remember that Lemmy is international, and does not reflect actual Americans who are stepping up. You're asking the Internet, many doom scroll then bitch and then repeat and do nothing else.

Remember that Lemmy is still social media - which means it's unprotected and anybody can read it. You're not going to find these conversations openly. Because that's a huge safety risk.

The community groups already exist. Maybe not in small towns, but every city has something. It won't be called anything like "self-defense", which is actually harmful to the core message of creating only peaceful protests.

But being involved in the non-violent aspect will help you start to get in the know. If you're already in self defense groups (everything from martial arts to your local gun range), bring up your interest in activism.

In other words, you won't find your answer here. And the real answer is face to face with other like-minded individuals in a secure place.

Organize. Join groups. Unite. Do not Lone Wolf anything in this situation. Your power comes from your biomass moving in one direction. Do not disperse.

Yes

I recommend a first aid class that includes bleed and bone break trauma, and a kit.

Never a waste regardless of circumstances.

That and something to snip the valves off of the tires on their vehicles, wire cutters would probably work great.

Yes, obviously.

If you aren't already on it... Its never too late to start but its also very late to be starting. Community defense starts at building community. How many of your neighbors do you know? 1? 10? 100? Do your neighbors identify each other as people or just people that park next to one another every night. Do you share food, like potlucks or beers on the lanai or at the beach?

These are small examples, but the very, very first step is to begin seeing people as humans. Not seeing each other as humans; being trained to not see each other as humans: its what got us here in the first place. 100 people stepping out there front porch to confront ICE immeasurably more effective than one person with a gun showing up.

As far as actual training, take a gun safety course before doing anything else firearms related. You can sign up for one this weekend probably. Guns aren't something to be feared, they are something to be understood. Even if its not your gun, knowing when a gun's safety is or isn't set; its very important. At that point you can decide if its the right way for you to defend yourself.

Sadly, it might not help you. A wrong look in their direction can mean being shot in the face.

No to self defence. You learning self defence will only provoke a stronger response from the guys who will go up to and beyond killing you, and may call in actual military support if required.

Civil disobedience feels like a better approach. Forming human walls, information networks and rapid support responses slow and mitigate attacks on your community.

Applying pressure to your representatives also can help.

Yes.

You're going to use some bog standard self defense class against multiple armed, stupid, violent ICE agents?

Yeah, that will end well.

If you're going to do anything you'd better off going to a protest, finding like minded individuals and then deciding where to go from there.

What, exactly, do you think a community of randos is going to do against a heavily-armed extra-legal military operation?

This isn't a jab or a gotcha, I'm genuinely curious what this idea of community defense would look like.

You say self defense like you're fighting off a mugger. Your facing government backed thugs not street thugs (they wouldn't need to cover their faces if they weren't doing something wrong) physically resisting isn't going to do you any good. Maybe you make their jobs a little tougher for a little while, but they will go back to work tomorrow and you will spend a few days, maybe weeks in jail or get shipped off somewhere if you survived.

You are out numbered and out matched, self defense classes aren't going to do you any good, no half measure is going to do anything. It's entirely up to you if feel the need to resist and/or feel the urge to become a martyr if they come for you, it's your choice.

If you feel the need to act, your best options are to join an activist group and/or support government leaders that you feel could help. Because in the end you're either going to be standing in front of God or a judge, you won't be physically fighting back in any meaningful way.

What we need is for more people to read the anarchists handbook

FOLLOW-UP QUESTION: If NOT self-defense, would community defense be a bit better?