[USGuns]

http://www.mace.com/index.php/product/index/id/135

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/4986/mpgbr0.th.png (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mpgbr0.png)

Thoughts?

[mgregg85]

I've been skeptical about those things but I believe I saw a positive review once.

[RyanM]

Seems like a gimmick. Doesn't do anything better than a spray, and it's a lot more bulky. At least the other gun-ones that Kimber started selling, use explosive propellant. Those stand up to temperature variations and stuff a lot better than aerosol.

Those also seem like a good way to escalate a situation and/or incriminate yourself more than pepper spray might, since witnesses will think you have a gun.

[ray_ray]

take a look at this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0FFjAofnq4

[USGuns]

Those also seem like a good way to escalate a situation and/or incriminate yourself more than pepper spray might, since witnesses will think you have a gun.
I thought about that as well but if that is a concern you could buy the hot-pink one! ;)
http://www.mace.com/index.php/product/index/id/4

One advantage of it being gun-like is it might initially intimidate or cause the attacker to hesitate?

[RyanM]

One advantage of it being gun-like is it might initially intimidate or cause the attacker to hesitate?

Relying on intimidation value of a weapon is dubious at best. Taking Murphy's law into account, something that looks like a gun would be more likely to make a crook panic and whip out his own gun.

Also... well, in this state, anyway, I really would not want to use a reduced-lethality weapon on someone who was actually attacking me.

Reduced-lethality stuff, especially pepper spray, is more for potentially violent people who are acting belligerently, but have not yet displayed any intention of physical violence. Aggressive panhandlers, someone who's intentionally but not violently blocking you from being somewhere you have every right to be, things like that.

In those kind of circumstances, a gun-like object is the last thing you want to be waving around.