GuyWithQuestions said:
tellner, if you don't mind me asking, why do you not trust pepper spray? I was just thinking of it because although it's no match against Mr. Gun, you could use it to create a blockade when you're running across your house and if you put some next to every door, it's more forgiving than if a youngster puts several chairs next to where it's at and climbs up and gets it (vs a gun or knife, which I wouldn't want to put a gun next to each exterior door).
A very fair question, Guy. Here's one form of my standard rant on the stuff:
Every once in a while there's a new self defense product that is guaranteed to stop the bad guys effortlessly with no collateral damage. CN, CS, stun guns, Tasers (which actually do a good job when used as directed), less than lethal shotgun rounds and OC. Shockingly, none of them fully delivers on its advertising hype.
OC started off as the Supreme Ultimate Bad Guy Stopper. The early FBI trials proved it conclusively. Proved it, that is, until it turned out that the Agent in charge of the experiments cooked the protocol and faked some of the results on the strength of about $800,000 in bribes from one of the manufacturers. I believe he's out of federal PMITA prison.
A little more recently the FTC examined the effectiveness of pepper spray. MSI Mace was forced to retract all claims for the potential of the stuff to stop violent attackers. Some years back ASLET issued a statement saying that, in its considered collective opinion, it was best used on non-compliant, non-violent suspects. In other words, if Bubba is drunk, disorderly and doesn't want to get into the squad car honk him with the pepper spray and stuff him inside. If Bubba wants to give you a holistic scalp massage with a tire iron forget the Alaskan Breath Freshener.
Some of the most interesting trials were done by the larger than life Phil Messina of
Modern Warrior. After a couple decades of trials with hundreds of subjects he proved pretty conclusively that it just does not work on motivated, goal-oriented people. If someone's handcuffed and sitting in his cell he will sit there and hurt. A lot. If he's angry and coming towards you he's not going to stop. In fact, you've just made him stronger and faster. OC works through an allergic reaction. What is your body's response to an allergic reaction? It dumps adrenaline.
I've been hosed with OC. Once I was in a bar where the bouncer got out the fogger and lots of people were affected. Another time I was doing a research project on self defense for people in wheelchairs. One of the guys was really into it and had a can of the special Cop Only Not For Sale To Mere Civilians 5 gazillion SHU stuff. He grabbed me and put me in a headlock. Then he pulled one of his cans of OC and pointed it at me. And hit the button. I was completely unprepared and didn't have my intention set or anything. It hurt like hell, but all it did was get me motivated and goal-oriented. In this case the goal was to break out of the lock and find the nearest water fountain which I accomplished while employing all nine parts of speech with many Anglo-Saxon colloquialisms. Still another time was on a bet.
I'm nothing special. Bad guys who have been in prison are almost certainly familiar with OC. It doesn't really come as a surprise to them.
If the stuff were really effective that wouldn't help much. In an enclosed space you're going to get dosed with it. Even outdoors plenty of officers get OCed from the wind, from walking through the cloud, or from getting it rubbed on them while wrestling with the suspect. As the chief of campus security at a school I once taught at said "Sometimes I'll go home, and my wife will say 'Take off your clothes!' I think 'Alright! Baby you've still got it.' Then I realize it's because I got hit with my own pepper spray."
Pepper spray has its place. Its place is not one where you have to defend yourself against a violent felony. For home defense there are good alternatives to firearms. Dogs, sharp things, big heavy blunt things, and whatever else your imagination supplies.
