Yes Smith followed the Orr attack.
The columnist asked (to the readers), "Orr’s story raises a number of questions, like why did the bear attack him?"
Hmmm. Two cubs... might that be a reason?
Smith says, “My hunch is that there wasn’t a sufficient deposit. (The) vast majority of evidence suggest that (bear spray) works very well, (and Orr’s story) should not undermine confidence in bear spray.”
No kidding. Like not being shot enough.
"According to Smith, bear spray has a 93 percent success rate (defined as altering an aggressive bear's behavior). Of 197 people involved in 75 incidents, only 2 percent sustained “slight” injuries (all caused by grizzlies.) 98 percent were uninjured. "
Well it's not 93 percent now..., right? Notice 75 incidents.
"Compare that with the 75 percent firearm success rate (altering an aggressive bear’s behavior) involving 444 individuals, resulting in 17 fatalities and 35 severe injuries. "
Notice he didn't mention how many incidents nor over how many years (if you want to know, it's years 1883–2009 and about 269 incidents. Lots more than the bears spray.)
And notice in the studies it has 'firearms failures'.
"Firearms failed to protect people for a variety of reasons including:
1. lack of time to respond to the bear (27%),
<--- WHAT? And that is a 'failure' of the firearm?????
2. did not use the firearm (21%),
<---- WHAT??? And that is a failure of the firearm??
3. mechanical issues (i.e., jamming;14%),
4. the proximity to bear was too close for deployment(9%),
<--- WHAT? And that is a 'failure' of the firearm?????
5. the shooter missed the bear (9%), the gun was emptied and could not be reloaded (8%),
6. the safety mechanism was engaged and the person was unable to unlock it in time to use the gun (8%),
7. people tripped and fell while trying to shoot the bear (3%),
<-- WHAT?? And that is a failure of the firearm???
8. and the firearm’s discharge reportedly trig-gered the bear to charge that ended further use of the gun(1%)"
<-- Not sure what he means here!
So notice the failures of the firearm that seem bogus consist of
60 PERCENT of the failures.
But then look at the bear spray studies... just not one failure! Nope, not any kind of failure.
And that is one reason I feel the studies are flawed.
Go look at the data posted on these two studies and see if I'm right.
Deaf