Best Pepper Spray?

[ernestedward]

Here's something I figure you guys can help me out with -

After a few incidents of muggings within blocks of my house, and because I'm often out alone at night, my friends and I are looking into buying pepper spray to be ready to defend ourselves (if necessary). Ideally it would be inexpensive (but if there's a group discount on a more expensive brand, that is a factor). I've already found that I should get the "stream" type rather than the "spray" type, so it doesn't blow back into your face, but most of the info I find is just marketing hype. Anybody experienced with this stuff?

[pwd72s]

I vote for 00 buck when walking in a neighborhood you know is full of muggers...

[alf]

Originally posted by pwd72s
I vote for 00 buck when walking in a neighborhood you know is full of muggers...

Mossberg is inexpensive and reliable. If you want bling, get Binelli

As for pepper spray...what do you think the mugger will be using to mug you with? Verbal threats, fist, bat, knife, gun? You might just piss her off with the spray...

[competentone]

For a mugging threat it's probably wiser to carry a throw-away wallet. Have a few one dollar bills sticking partially out of it.

If someone pulls a gun or knife on you and says, "Give me your money!" Pull out the wallet, throw it in one direction while you run in the opposite, yelling, "Fire, fire, fire!"

(People are more likely to pay attention to a call of "fire" since it can potentially affect them, than they are to respond to someone yelling "help" or "robbery.")

[jtkkz]

This can shoot from 30 feet out and can also shoot from the hip


http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0005570222537a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=pepper+spray&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.22&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=pepper+spray&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

www.cabelas.com
Guard alaska defense pepper spray

[RickM]

Use what works on bears.... http://www.fourseasonssurvival.com/osb/showitem.cfm?Category=19

[Jeff Higgins]

Bull***** on the pepper spray. Buy a gun. Every time some one kills a scumbag mugger, some one else does not have to deal with them. Our catch and release justice system does no good, and simply pepper spraying these folks only temporarily solves the problem. It certainly will not make them give up their life of crime, and the next poor schmuck may have more to deal with than you did.

And a throw-away wallet?? Are you kidding?? Reminds me of when the advice for backpackers was to drop your pack and sneak off when confronted by a bear. All it did was teach the bears how easy it was to get a free backpack full of goodies. As with the bears, this strategy also leaves them out there to attack some one else.

It has always distressed me to read the pacifist/liberal advice on how to deal with a mugging. Give in and give them anything they demand; don't fight back. If you do choose to fight back, by all means don't hurt the poor dissadvantaged, missunderstood individual that is threatening you. Bull*****. It may or may not (and often does not) save your ass at the moment, but it leaves some one else to deal with the problem. Honest citizens have a responsibility to fight back. Not with pepper spray, mace, a whistle, or whatever. With a gun. Yes, you are going to hurt him. Hopefully kill him.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by pwd72s
I vote for 00 buck when walking in a neighborhood you know is full of muggers...

You don't need to get racist.

[FrayAdjacent911]

I vote for .38 Special +P.

Why trust your life to a bottle of spice?

[Rot 911]

Bush hates pepper spray.

[vash]

eff that you trigger happy fools he isnt in arizona.

get the pepper spray for animals. that stuff shoots far and hard. and for really close encounters get a SUREFIRE flashlight with the tactical bezel. a quick jab to the solaplexes (spelling?) would drop a perp like a turd. you should be carrying a flashlight anyways. and that surefire is so damn bright, keep you senses, flash the a-hole in the eyes with light, crack his ribs.....

[RickM]

Here's some pepper you can use for protection:






or is this betta?

[vash]

here is the flashlight i am talking about. on my Christmas list.

[coloradoporsche]

If you must use some non-lethal method, how about a taser? Those things look pretty effective. Not sure if they are legal for us non-government types to own, though.

But then again, the guy you taser or mace will probably have it out for you next time you walk down the street. You'd better just shoot 'em.

[vash]

tag him with this! not considered a weapon.




A FLARE PISTOL

[alf]

Cops carry several types of weapons.

Pepper Spray
Baton
Stunt Gun
Taser
Pistol
Shotgun
Rifle

I reckon that they choose the weapon based on the precieved threat. Wonder what they would pick the Pepper Spray for and at what point they would escalate to a gun.

Now ask yourself what you think the mugger will be mugging you with -added- and how you should respond.

[competentone]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
Bull***** on the pepper spray. Buy a gun. Every time some one kills a scumbag mugger, some one else does not have to deal with them. Our catch and release justice system does no good, and simply pepper spraying these folks only temporarily solves the problem. It certainly will not make them give up their life of crime, and the next poor schmuck may have more to deal with than you did.

And a throw-away wallet?? Are you kidding?? Reminds me of when the advice for backpackers was to drop your pack and sneak off when confronted by a bear. All it did was teach the bears how easy it was to get a free backpack full of goodies. As with the bears, this strategy also leaves them out there to attack some one else.

It has always distressed me to read the pacifist/liberal advice on how to deal with a mugging. Give in and give them anything they demand; don't fight back. If you do choose to fight back, by all means don't hurt the poor dissadvantaged, missunderstood individual that is threatening you. Bull*****. It may or may not (and often does not) save your ass at the moment, but it leaves some one else to deal with the problem. Honest citizens have a responsibility to fight back. Not with pepper spray, mace, a whistle, or whatever. With a gun. Yes, you are going to hurt him. Hopefully kill him.

I see someone has been spending too much time watching TV and has concluded that a firearm is some sort of "superweapon" that will automatically protect the person carrying it.

I carry a gun every where it is legal for me to carry, but I am NOT delusional about its capabilities or my abilities in using it in a self-defense situation. (Nor am I oblivious to the legal rights and risks involved in using deadly force to defend myself or my property.)

While I am generally very aware of my surroundings, it is not impossible that a criminal could surprise me and I could find myself being robbed. Assuming I am being robbed by a perpetrator with a firearm, I do not expect to be able to draw my firearm and shoot the perpetrator faster than he can pull the trigger of his gun.

Even if I did train to some extreme level and was able to draw and fire in a fraction of a second, I would not expect that my gun shots will instantaneously incapacitate the perpetrator. The odds are he will be whacked-up on chemicals -- perhaps even just adrenaline -- and I will run the risk of being shot even if I shoot him first. (I'm sorry to inform you, but people rarely are instantaneously incapacitated from handgun rounds the way it is portrayed in the movies and on TV.)

If I am surprised by a robber with a gun, the most practical thing to do to survive, will likely be to give the perpetrator my wallet -- throwing it away is the best distraction -- then put as much distance between the perp and myself as quickly as possible. This means running in the opposite direction I have thrown my wallet. During this time, I will be drawing my weapon; if the criminal does not go for my wallet, but instead chases me, he will be fired upon -- which hopefully will persuade him that further attack against me is not a wise thing to do.

I hardly think that surviving by "getting the hell away from an assault by the most practical means possible" makes a person a "pacifist/liberal." One does not have to be ready to dispense "vigilante justice" to prove that one hates crime and criminals. Law abiding citizens do not have any "responsibility" to "fight back" when attacked; in a civilized society the citizens delegate the responsibility to "fight back" to the police and justice system.

The system may not work as well as it could in dealing with criminals, but I do not see that as a reason I should take chances with my life and behave stupidly if faced with an attack from a criminal. This may be difficult for a generation raised on Hollywood’s firearms to understand, but drawing a gun isn’t always your best defense in a robbery situation.

[vash]

alf is right, most muggers have guns or knives.

give them the wallet.

[ernestedward]

To those who said give them the wallet: Absolutely, but as a college student I carry almost no cash, and who knows if a mugger is going to be happy leaving empty handed.

To those (many) who suggested getting a gun: Handguns are very, very illegal in DC. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't afford it - and am too young to buy one in VA anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion on animal pepper spray. I'll check it out.

[RoninLB]

in NY you are only able to buy one spray can per 24hrs.

A spearfishing bang stick comes in different sizes and various rounds.

A friend was in his patrol car and unloaded into a drugged up perp as he continued to charge the car. He just wouldn't drop.