[quote=@Mokley]
Gun handling?
[/quote]

His knowledge and experience are very basic. He's read quite a bit about guns and went to a shooting range once or twice. He knows how to reload, turn off the safety, and even some basic maintenance, but in terms of actual accuracy... he's only slightly better off than the average citizen.

[quote=@Mokley]
martial arts?
[/quote]

He took self defense courses as a teenager and continued taking them as an adult.

[quote=@Mokley]
Pepper spray and brass knuckles?
[/quote]

Non-lethal methods of self-defense. He's not confident in his abilities to diffuse a confrontation, so it's better to be prepared should one escalate. He's also going into an unfamiliar town where strange happenings have been occurring.

[quote=@Mokley]
Can I ask what he's afraid of
[/quote]

I believe I did say that he was afraid of heights. He will also initially find the supernatural stuff to be quite spooky as well.

[quote=@Mokley]
or at least a further explanation of these things that at first glance make him seem ... well, suspicious. xD
[/quote]

I personally don't consider them to be suspicious. As a journalist, he was concerned that he might one day stick his nose into the wrong business, so he decided to prepare himself.

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If the knuckles/spray are too much I'll take them out. And the gun handling too. But I would rather keep his hand-to-hand capabilities.