Pepper Spray, Stun Guns, and Tasers… Oh My!

One of the biggest concerns of using pepper spray is the fear that once deployed, the product may overspray backwards and affect the user as well as the attacker. Of course this may be an issue if you spray into the wind, or if you are in a close quarters area. However, if self defense was an iPhone, there’s an app for that… (Note: These are not actual iPhone apps…)

Typically pepper spray comes in a stream spray pattern and a fogger cloud pattern. There are others, but these are the most common. If you have ever used Windex, or other spray bottle cleaning products, you probably have turned the square shaped head of the spray bottle. There is an off, stream and spray setting. Your pepper spray stream models shoot out in a stream pattern much like this stream setting. You would need to read your package, but most of the stream model keychain pepper sprays go about 8-10 feet. The larger pepper spray cans may shoot the stream in the 12-18 foot range, depending on the product specs.

The fogger models shoot out a fog of pepper spray, resembling an aerosol air freshener, such as a standard can of Glade. The fogger spray pattern is much less precise than the stream model, allowing you to engulf the target in a cloud of OC spray, rather than having to get a direct spray shot to the face. But as you can imagine, the fogger has a greater possible chance of overspray if you are not careful.

Now for the pepper spray apps…

Mace Pepper Foam is a 10% OC Pepper formula that contains the popular UV Ultra-Violet marking dye. The pepper foam sprays in a thick foam, much like shaving cream. This OC foam acts like a “blindfold” and disorients an attacker while also causing the same “burning” and closing of the eyes as any normal liquid pepper spray would. The foaming action causes the attacker to want to wipe off, or rub out the foam from their eyes. This in turn, causes the foam to foam up more and grinds the pepper into their eyes.

Our next pepper spray app is the Mace Pepper Gel. This formula suspends the OC in gel instead of a liquid stream, much like a cross between ketchup and honey. Sure that may sound tasty, but this is far from a delicious condiment. This Pepper Gel formulation also results in several advantages, such as a longer distance, sticks on the attacker’s face like glue, less contaminating, and non-flammable.

Both the Mace Pepper Foam and Gel are ideal for auto, personal (walking, running, etc.), or home use. These new pepper foam and gel formulas are one of the newest and most ingenious products available in our self defense spray line.

Our last iPhone-like self defense pepper spray app is another revolutionary self defense product. The new Mace Pepper Gun, one of the most accurate defense pepper spray available.

The super strength OC pepper spray formula is contained in disposable cartridges that can be replaced when empty. These cartridges use an advanced Bag-In-A-Can™ technology delivery system that allows you to spray a constant stream, reaching up to 25 feet, from any angle! Think hand held super-soaker squirt gun, spraying pepper spray.

There is even a trigger activated LED light helps you to accurately aim the Pepper Spray Gun and even momentarily distracts your attacker in the dark. This self defense unit includes an OC Pepper cartridge, a water test cartridge (practice makes perfect), and batteries for LED light operation in the package.

You can also buy extra replacement water cartridges for more practice, practice, practice…

All pepper spray products are inflammatory agents. They will all induce coughing, choking and nausea, as well as dilating the capillaries in the eyes, resulting in temporary blindness. Once you spray an attacker with pepper spray, you should immediately flee to safety and call the police from a safe distance. Pepper sprays with UV marking dye will aid in the identification of the assailant, that is if a blinded, coughing, choking thug flailing around on the ground isn’t evidence enough.

Don’t be afraid to spice up your self defense arsenal.

Be Safe, Be Prepared, Practice, Practice, Practice using your Self Defense Products.

More Information:
Pepper Spray FAQ, Pepper Spray Techniques Guide

Popularity: 2% [?]

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The term Self Defense is actually a misnomer, what you really want is Self Offense. But it is 10 times harder to market self offense, everyone wants to hear self defense. It sounds nicer. To most people, offense is what the aggressive, black cowboy hat wearing bad guys do. Offense is what the street thugs with bad intentions do. No good person wants to be like the bad guys…

OK, so lets reverse the thinking for a minute. Do you want to chase or be chased? Think cheetah vs. antelope. The chaser always has the advantage, and the chased only has to be caught once. Then it is over. Dead antelope.

But what if the antelope decided that at the split second he was about to be chased – he would turn the tables and attack the cheetah? Sure the cheetah is stronger and faster, but what if the antelope forcefully and unexpectedly kicked the cheetah in the throat? Or gouged out his eyes? Hey, the cheetah started it. Or, less realistic for the antelope example, but when we revisit the human being scenario, what if the potentially chased person was armed with powerful pepper spray or a cell phone stun gun?

You want action to action, not reaction. As soon someone conveys their intent to harm you, BAM! It is on. Shift your gears to the offensive and make the creep sorry he made the mistake to mess with you. Be it with pepper spray, a TASER C2, a Stun Master stun gun or a flurry of martial arts strikes and kicks, let him have it.

Be Safe, Be Prepared, Take Control of the Situation.

Action to Action, it won’t make you a bad guy, and it may save your life.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Over the past several years, I have received many, many orders for self defense products. Whenever I get a new order, I check the name to see if I remember them as a past customer making a repeat purchase. If I remember the name, I’ll look back through previous orders to see what they purchased last time. More often than not, they are now buying something for a friend or family member the second or third time.

But this past weekend, I received a surprise order from a name I remembered for a different reason. We’ll call her Amanda. For about a year and a half, I have been receiving “hate mail” as I called it from good old Mandy on a fairly regular basis. I never really bothered me much, and I never felt the need to respond, but I’ve put up with her calling me violent, saying I promote violence, and even once calling me a “warmonger”, all because I sell pepper spray, stun guns and other less-than-lethal self defense weapons.

She obviously visited the website and blog rather often because she routinely commented on various new products and statements I have made on the blog over the past several months. All expressing negative opinions. I just kind of laughed her off, she seemed to have quite a bit a free time. I did wonder if she was singling me out, or going after other dealers too?

Like I said before, I never responded to her e-mails, but she was persistent nonetheless, seemingly knowing I was at least reading them. Since she never purchased anything from Worth Protection Security, I didn’t feel the need to waste anytime dealing with her critique. I’m in business to sell self defense products to willing customers. If I spent all my time trying to convince people that didn’t want to protect themselves that they should, I’d never get anything done. I’ll write some general persuasive blog posts to argue my case, but I’m not going to one-on-one argue with someone. Even If I feel my point is more correct .

Now that I mention it, it did seem like I hadn’t heard from her in awhile, so I guess I was about due for some sort of contact. So imagine my surprise, when the next time I see Mandy’s name, it is on a order form, actually buying some of the products she previously condemned?

Mandy wrote a rather long message in the comment field of the order, which was good, because I was rather shocked to she her purchase. In her comments, she very eloquently states that she was wrong in her past objections, and I was right. She went on to tell me that one of her closest friends was attacked and severely beaten late last month, and is still recovering in the hospital. She is expected to spend several more weeks in bed, but isn’t expecting any permanent damage.

Her friend did, however confess to Mandy “I wish I had something I could have used to defend myself.” Talk about a wake-up call, which Mandy says those words “hit her like a ton of bricks.”

Her order included 2 canisters of Mace Pepper Gel, a couple of Wildfire pepper spray key chains, and a couple other self defense products. I imagine she was tooling up herself and her friend at least.

Unfortunately, the non-believers and even the on-the-fencers wait until something up close and personal happens to themselves, a family member, or a friend before they decided to protect themselves. It took this brutal attack on a close friend to change Mandy’s mind, but it shouldn’t have had to get to that. But, some folks need brutally vivid evidence to walk right up to them and smack them straight in the face.

Mandy did mention that she fully intended to carry her personal protection items from now on, not just buying them and leaving them at home. That is extremely important. There is nothing worse than actually owning a self defense product, and not having it on your person when you need it most. Carrying a stun gun, TASER, pepper spray, or a telescopic steel baton should be as habitual as putting your wallet in your front pocket (tip for you), or grabbing your car keys on your way out the door. I’ll never go anywhere without first patting myself to make sure I have everything I need on me at all times, wallet, cell phone, keys, and self defense items.

This means even on short, quick runs to the convenience store to grab a coffee, or slurpie. That means even when you to go to the doctor’s or dentist’s office, or even the post office. I carry something on me everywhere I go, except for checking in at the airport (but you can pack self defense items in a checked suit case to be retrieved immediately after landing).

As the late, great SGM Ed Parker once said, “He who hesitates, meditates in a horizontal position.”

Don’t be the one that waits, don’t be the one that hesitates, and don’t let a friend, family member or yourself get severely beaten before you are ready to take action. Be Safe, be prepared, and act now. Protect yourself and loved ones now, and avoid Mandy’s situation.

Hopefully you may only need to protect yourself or a loved one once in your lifetime. Personally I hope you never have to, but wouldn’t you rather be ready for anything, instead of wishing you had something while lying in a hospital bed?

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I was walking down the aisle between desks at my Dilbert cube job the other day. This co-worker sees me and waves me over to him.

“Hey man…” he whispers.

Playing along, I whispered back “What’s up?”

He looks around cautiously, lowers his head and voice, and whispers “Hey man, do you still sell those self defense products?”

Still playing along, I look side to side cautiously and whisper back “Yeah man, why are we whispering?”

He ignores my question and continues to whisper “Do you think I should buy some pepper spray for my wife?”

I thought it was kind of an odd question so I replied “I don’t know, do you think you should buy your wife some pepper spray?”, and yes I still humored him and whispered.

Smartly, he did answer this question by saying, I mean whispering “Yeah, sometimes she works late, and then stops off at the gym or grocery store. I don’t like her walking alone in the empty parking lots by herself.” I believe that’s about what I made out; I was getting kind of annoyed straining to hear him whisper.

At this point since we were being all secretive and shady drug dealer like, I wished I was wearing a long trench coat so I could look around cautiously and open up one side of the coat, and display my wares like they were stolen or fake Rolex watches. I would have pulled out my smart phone and let him look at the webpage on my phone, but I had let the battery run out overnight and had to leave it in my car charging.

Assuming he wouldn’t be comfortable going over to his cube and typing up the website on his PC since he was already nervous, I suggested that we head out to the parking lot during lunch and I could “hook him up”. There I go again sounding all drug dealer like… no wonder he kept whispering and looking around…

When we got out to my car, I handed him a catalog, and showed him a few items I had on hand. He found a few things he wanted, and another couple things I didn’t have on me that he wanted to order.

“I don’t suppose you take credit cards do you?” he asked.

This was the point I felt it necessary to point out that 1) these products are 100% LEGAL and didn’t need to whisper around about like he was looking for pot, and 2) yes I have a legitimate business, and take cash, check and yes, all major credit cards.

He kind of laughed and indicated he wasn’t exactly sure, but wanted some items to protect himself and his wife in case anything happened just the same.

“Oh, so all of these items aren’t just for your wife who works late?” I wanted to ask, but I figured I tortured this poor soul enough. I figure the lecture about “how carrying self-defense products do not make you less of a man” could wait until next time.

But this whole incident did shed some light on a common misconception some people must have. Self defense products aren’t just for the meek. Men and women can both benefit from arming themselves with pepper spray, stun guns, TASER devices or any other available self defense weapons.

Haven’t they ever seen Dogg the Bounty Hunter? He’s a pretty rough and tough man’s man, and he is always packing a can of Mace defensive spray or a telescopic steel baton… Of course he is willingly putting himself into harm’s way on a regular basis, so you can imagine he would routinely want to make sure he has an advantage.

Also, you won’t find a manly police officer without a firearm, pepper spray, TASER Device or some form of baton or billy club with them at all times while on duty (and probably a couple of those items when he is off-duty).

But even if you are Joe average citizen, it doesn’t mean you won’t find yourself in a compromising situation when you might need to defend yourself or a loved one. You never know, and you’d rather be safe, than sorry.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

Popularity: 3% [?]

One of the cornerstone self defense products in Worth Protection Security’s line is called “The Stunning Ring”.

Honestly if you ask me, it is definitely more than just a big log of metal wrapped around your finger. A real Black Onyx Stone fixed in this silver or gold plated ring speaks volumes about its beauty and “disguise”.

To a normal eye, the Stunning Pepper Spray Ring might just stand up for just an engagement or wedding symbol. However, Worth Protection Security made sure that this ring stays on and serve two purposes:

1 – That is, self defense and personal security from your run-of-the-mill street thugs and nasty hoodlums from those damp alleys.
2 – And to make it look real and pretty around your finger altogether, by coming out in fashionable style and prominent glossy coating.

This elegant ring is usable by both men and women due to its nifty and compatible unisex design and protects you while you work, on a date, jogging, or anywhere else against an attack, act of violence, rape, or other crisis. The Stunning Ring can be worn at all times and makes a perfect gift for that special someone you love.

Just like Worth Protection Security states, “An ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure”, so take a deep notice of those things going around in your surroundings. We know that women would just hear those stories about a girl ending up in trauma after having a rape assault against her, or just some thugs snatching a purse off an old lady a few blocks away. But no one actually pays a lot of attention to such details and they are all shrugged off from their brains in the next few days, no action taken.

If you are still thinking that “How could this ever happen to me?” or possibly “I am a man or woman who could never end up being cornered somewhere”, then you are actually waiting for the worst to happen. The Stunning Ring is your personal protector which can always come in handy, if need be. It is filled with OC Pepper Spray, which can leave your assailant quite immobilized for over 30 to 40 minutes. In addition, you can always refill the ring, once it runs out of that pepper spray.

Although we still hope that you don’t end up in a situation which requires the usage of “The Stunning Ring” but then again you can never drop your defenses in today’s time and age. Order it now and add one to your arsenal to get secured from a lifetime of unknown and threatening crimes.

Be Safe, Be Prepared,

Casey

Popularity: 2% [?]

I love stories like the first one here.

Earlier this week a knife-wielding thug attempted to steal the purse of a South Boston woman just before noon at the intersection of Dorchester and Telegraph Street.

“Give me your purse,” the suspect said.

How about some pepper spray instead? The woman whipped out a canister of OC pepper spray and lets the thug have it in the face.

He dropped his knife and took off purse-less, but the woman was able to ID the guy and he now has a warrant out for arrest.

This next story, I’m not quite sure what to think.

So, this loser in Colorado breaks into the home of his buddy’s ex-wife…

Unfortunately for the suspect, the woman was in the house baby-sitting the burglar’s children. Even with the bandana on his face, the kids recognize dear old dad… Talk about awkward!

Local Authorities arrested him on suspicion of second-degree burglary and other charges. Suspicion of? Are you kidding, his children caught him.

Kinda like those old Scooby Doo episodes when the bad guy gets foiled and says “I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those dang meddling kids…”

Not that we are keeping track, but score 1 for the pepper spray savvy woman is Boston, 0 for the scumbag burglar in Colorado.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Two 14-year-old girls from Westover Middle School have been charged with possessing a weapon on campus and simple assault after a canister of pepper spray discharged in a classroom this past Monday in Fayetteville, NC.

A teacher was taken to the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center for treatment and thirteen students received medical attention at the school. None of the injuries sustained were serious.

The report states that a key chain pepper spray was accidentally discharged while one of the girls was looking for something in the other girl’s purse.

Now this was not criminal mischief. It would be one thing if this was a smart ass punk deliberately spraying a classroom with pepper spray as a prank. Then go ahead and charge the kid with the misdemeanor charges that these girls are facing. Expel them, charge them with a crime, no problem.

Unless this story gets clarified that there was malicious intent, which seems unlikely, basically we have a 14-year-old girl, getting in trouble for having a personal protection device.

Now if this girl pulled out the pepper spray during a Columbine or Virginia Tech type incident and disabled a crazed shooter before a rampage, she’d be a hero. But no one took Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold or Seung-Hui Cho down before it was too late.

If this girl was walking home from school and got attacked by a rapist or kidnapper and was able to defend herself and disable a sex offender long enough to get arrested, she’d be a hero.

I bet she doesn’t carry pepper spray now, and if her, her friend, or any other student gets assaulted and is unarmed, I hope there is a teacher close enough to help out. Or the 0.01% chance there is a cop standing on the same corner, yea right.

Sure this was an unfortunate incident, and it sucks that a teacher and a over a dozen students caught a minuscule whiff of OC spray, but does it really warrant criminal charges? The one girl is being charged with simple assault on the teacher. Come on now.

What I would rather see is the school and local police use this as a learning opportunity and do some training classes and institute some personal protection instruction. Teach them something useful for once.

Pepper spray is not the bad guy, but basically they are making this teenage girl one. That’s as bad as blaming a Taser (inanimate object) instead of a poorly trained police officer. We have thousands of well-trained cops out there and hear nothing about their good deeds, just the small percentage of bad cases. Over and over again. After hearing the media dwell on the same case 20 times, you’d think there were 20 separate incidents, not just the one.

I understand the feeble attempts at the Zero-Tolerance policies in school, but seriously… who are the ones following the rules? Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold or Seung-Hui Cho? Um… no, the dangerous criminal psychopaths disregard what ever rules you have posted on the wall.

I’m all for punishing the first punk who pulls out the spray during a silly argument with another student and does something stupid in the hallway. But I bet if students thought there might be some resistance if one of them gets the bright idea to bring an assault rifle to school and go postal, perhaps less incidents would occur? I don’t know.

I mean the police are several minutes away on a good day, and that elderly security guard armed with a walkie-talkie and a clipboard is about useless. Sorry Gramps, you mind as well be a Walmart greeter.

I wonder what the death count would have been if a dozen students pulled out a pepper spray and hosed down Harris, Klebold or Cho before they got on a roll? Boo hoo if the teacher catches a whiff, better than catching a bullet to the chest.

I had a post a while ago, 300 Reasons to Learn to Defend Yourself. It talked about how back in the day, parents actually taught their children how to defend themselves, their land, and their country. Responsibility and duty was actually passed down from generation to generation. Amazing concept.

I remember back when I was in the military and we were all learning how to fire an M-16 in boot camp. Guess who already had a leg up on the training? The city folk losers that ran around playing with cap guns, or the hard working country boys whose fathers taught them how to hunt, shoot and handle firearms at an early age?

Sure we all eventually learned, but it is always nice to have a head start and a slight edge.

Everyone wants to complain about the youth of America, but no one wants to take any responsibility for them. Not that the grownups in the political or financial sectors are setting a good example lately…

I think punishing these two teenagers is sending the wrong message.

Before someone goes all liberal on me, again, I’m not talking about arming a bunch of kids and letting them duke it out, or spray it out on a whim. Children or teenagers can be responsibly taught incremental self defense concepts over the course of their entire schooling. I’d see no problem with a responsible 14-year-old girl carrying a key chain pepper spray after being taught how, when and why to use it. Maybe that pedophile hiding in the bushes might think twice if he thought the girl was going to inflict some serious pain if he tried anything.

Sigh, Leonidas would be sad. (If you are missing that reference, you needed to read the 300 Reasons to Learn to Defend Yourself.

Be Safe, Be Prepared, Don’t cry, it’s only Pepper Spray.

(OK, you might cry a little, but you aren’t going to die)

Popularity: 16% [?]

Due to recent reports of kidnappings and attacks around the Bakersfield, California area, self-defense items are flying off the shelves at the few local outlets that stock these items. Within the past couple weeks, there have been at least two reported kidnapping and one attempted abduction against women.

This trend is not uncommon after such events as personal protection is now on the minds of both men and women. Sadly, it seems to take a tragic event to remind people that the need is real to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Many of the local stores that carry Pepper Spray, Mace and other personal protection items are running out of stock because countless people have come in looking for items to better protect themselves.

“Since the attacks, we have seen Pepper Spray fly off the shelves and other self-defense modes such as Tasers and firearm sales have increased since then,” says one of the local employees.

Shana, one of those customers looking to buy self-defense items says she works at a restaurant during the late shift and is very concerned over the recent attacks.

“I have to walk out to parking lot a night time. I have had a couple strange men approach me in the parking lot. It scared me to death so I want to make sure I am protected and defend myself,” says Shana.

Besides pepper spray, people concerned about their safety and want to buy personal protection have many options. Knives, stun guns, kubotans and telescopic steel batons can be used at close proximity to your attacker. C2 Tasers shoot electric prongs up to 15 feet, giving you some distance and of course, firearms are available plus many other items.

Male customers buy items of self-defense for the women in their life as well as for themselves.

“I’m buying self-defense stuff for my sister, girlfriend and my mother. I’m looking into getting them pepper spray on the key chain. It’s easy to use and better for self-defense,” says John, who is concerned about the safety of himself and others.

The best place to purchase the widest variety of these self-defense items are online retailers, such as Worth Protection Security. We even have one of the lowest prices available for keychain pepper sprays, starting at $4.88 each.

Local outlets are typically few and far between, and usually only have a few items to choose from. Then, if there is a local incident, their meager supply runs out quickly. WorthProtectionSecurity.com has plenty of pepper spray available, and even if we are short on one kind, we have plenty of other models. Way more than the local shops stocking 5 at a time.

Don’t wait for the news report.

Protect yourself now. You never know, and I’d rather be safe than sorry. How about you?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Here’s a heart warming report out of Jacksonville, Florida. It took place after a robber tried to snatch a purse from a 77-year-old woman at a Kangaroo Express.

A “one-man crime spree” was brought to an abrupt halt by a 77-year-old woman with a can of pepper spray, Jacksonville police said Wednesday.

A 20-year-old guy was arrested Tuesday about 5:30 p.m. shortly after a robbery at a Kangaroo Express store in the 8300 block of Baymeadows Road. The Chief of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the man entered the store, pulled a gun and pointed it in the clerk’s face, then demanded money.

According to the police report, when the contents of the cash register didn’t satisfy him, he decided to snatch a customer’s purse. The unwilling victim, Gladys Gehrig, fought back and responded with a container of pepper spray attached to her key chain.

“She got him good in the face,” said the police.

Police picked up the suspect a short distance away.

This creep was linked to six other robberies throughout the month of January on the city’s Southside by witness ids and some surveillance footage.

He was charged with 14 felonies and held in lieu of bail.

Don’t mess with this Grannie’s purse!

So for all those whiners claiming the average citizen is incapable of defending themselves and the best bet is to offer no resistance and “let bad things just happen”, take a page out of this 77-year-old woman’s book and get a clue.

You do not need to be a victim. Tool up with some self defense gear, practice using it so you are comfortable enough to deploy it, have a plan, and be safe.

Send the Message to Yourself and to Others That You Value Your Safety…

When there is no where to run and words alone cannot ward off a would-be-attacker, a Stun Gun, Taser or Pepper Spray may level the playing field.

It is Better to Have It and Not Need It… Then to Need it and Not Have It…

Popularity: 4% [?]

There are always stories about people using something designed for good, but using them for something bad. Guns, tasers, pepper sprays and any like instrument can be used for either good or evil intentions, all depending on the wielder. It is unfortunate, but as I have said many times, it is not the object at fault, it is the individual. These guys will go to any length to find something to do harm with, be it a firearm, a self-defense tool, a 2×4, a lead pipe… just about any object could be used as a weapon.

This story is sad for several reasons. Apparently this guy in Council Bluffs, Nebraska went into a store, brandished a handgun, demanded cash and was given a sum of money out of the register. Bad situation, but it should have ended with the criminal leaving the store.

This robber, not yet satisfied with the take, forced the already compliant 20-year-old female college student into a back office looking for more cash. The report didn’t say if there was in fact more money in the back, or if the guy got any more anyways.

The story continues, and as the guy walks out of the office, he pulled out a canister of pepper spray to douse the girl. As much as I do not understand why this was necessary, I am at a greater loss for what actually transpired.

“He pulled out pepper spray and pushed the button. But the nozzle was pointed the wrong direction. The spray hit him in the face.

The robber turned the Mace around and sprayed it at the clerk, who was able to duck. She was sprayed in the side of the face and shoulder.”

How is that even possible?

Pepper spray does not come in aerosol cans like spray paint or cooking spray. They come equipped with a safety mechanism that forces you to hold the dispenser properly and slide and push the trigger to engage the spray. I can not even picture the awkwardness needed to maneuver your hand the wrong way, force the trigger to go off and spray backwards into your own face.

???

I have always been a strong proponent for extensive practice using any self-defense device to ensure the proper use and efficient deployment in a stressful situation. Always carry it in the same place, practice retrieving the device quickly and effortlessly, make sure you can confidently deploy the weapon as required for use…

But I would never have thought it would be necessary to note that you must make sure you point the nozzle in the correct direction, one because of the common sense aspect, and second, because it is virtually impossible to uncomfortably twist your hand into the awkward position required to spray yourself in the face with mace. Or so I thought.

So now I’d like to formally issue a warning for carrying pepper spray:

MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT POINT PEPPER SPRAY TOWARDS YOUR OWN FACE AND PRESS THE TRIGGER.

I suppose I can refrain from adding a resounding DUH! to the end of that statement.

Now I can understand the possibility of wind blowing pepper spray back towards yourself, if you were to spray into a strong wind (Don’t do that either) or perhaps if you were in a closed-in area and deployed pepper spray, there is a chance it may affect you too, but I am still challenged to figure out actually how someone would actually spray themselves in the face.

Dude, perhaps the pepper spray was a bad idea. Leave it for the adults to use.

Popularity: 5% [?]

It has been reported that the rate of justifable homicides has been rising in the past couple years to the highest levels in over a decade.

A justifable homicide is when a private citizen kills another person in self-defense while the person is committing a felony or when a police officer kills a suspect in the line of duty. Analysts claim these numbers represent a change in the attitude on the street where regular citizens are taking greater responsibilities concerning their safety, while police officers may be feeling increasingly threatened by well-armed criminals.

Police departments have been faced with arms escalation where they have been forced to utilize higher powered weapons to keep up with criminal offenders, who in turn keep upgrading their arsenals.

Besides Illinois and wisconsin, the other 48 states allow law-abiding citizens various rights to carry some sort of gun. In a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling of the Second Ammendment, law-abiding citizens are allowed keep firearms in their home for self-defense purposes. Still, non-law-abiding criminals are able to freely carry whatever weapons they see fit in blatant disregard for whatever laws or restrictions are in place.

Pepper Sprays are restricted in some way in Alaska, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts or Wisconsin. Stun Devices are regulated or illegal to own in the states of Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin or the city of Baltimore, MD, and Philadelphia, PA.

Besides the country wide reality check of the Septemeber 11th attacks, widespread looting, chaos and violence after Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, and the increasing desparate acts by desparate individuals in the midst of the current financial turmoil, many people are being spurred to take a greater responsibility for the safety and security of themselves and loved ones. Sad what it takes to turn some folks around, but as long as they finally realize before its too late…

“Americans are simply refusing to be victims,” say a NRA spokesman.

So this brings us to Conscience and Consequences. While few can (but some still do) argue about the benefits of owning, carrying and using a hand gun to defend themselves or their family, either their conscience or fear of consequence prevent them from purchasing and using a firearm.

Are you actually able to pull the trigger and shoot someone? Even if they are dead set on harming or killing you or a loved one? Maybe, maybe not.

Let’s say in the heat of the moment, you are able to muster up the conviction to pull the trigger. Are you so afraid of a possible consequence afterwards that you would rather not have a gun readily available to save yourself and spare a court appearance?

As the old saying goes “Better Judged By Twelve Than Carried By Six…”. Or whatever the juror to pallbearer count was.

Even Jiminey Cricket had an umbrella that he could use to lay the smack down if need be. (Bad conscience reference, I know, it’s less funny if it needs to be explained.)

But you do have to weigh the facts of the situation during those spare split-seconds during a confrontation. We aren’t shooting that unarmed teenage punk trying to grab a purse. He can have some pepper spray to the face. But that naked sex offender in your daughter’s bedroom with a knife at 3 am in the morning is probably getting a bullet. Sorry dude.

Unless you are Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Steven Segal or any other martial arts movie actor that can effortlessly disarm and disable an attacker. Well, Steven Segal does usually pack a gun in the movies.

So for all us normal guys and gals, Is there a day that goes by that crime isn’t in the news? Child abductions, rapes, robberies, assaults, car-jackings, break-ins and home invasions are in the headlines every day. Every law-abiding can use a slight edge. The bad guys have them. Shouldn’t you be protected?

Whether it be a firearm, pepper spray, stun gun, Taser, steel baton, or better yet, a combo of 2-3 items to use at your discretion, Be Safe, Be Prepared.

It looks like things will be getting worse before they get better. Economy goes down, crime goes up. It is simple math, make sure your personal protection measures add up.

Popularity: 10% [?]

A woman woke up in the middle of the night Sunday in her Atkinson, NH condo when she heard some noise downstairs. She found an unknown man in her living room when she proceeded to check out what was going on.

During the confrontation, the intruder grabbed her by the arm and punched her in the face. The woman then asked the man if he wanted money, which of course he said yes. The man allowed the woman to retrieve her purse, to which she pulls out a can of pepper spray, and let the creep have it.

The intruder quickly fled the house, full-faced with mace, but otherwise empty-handed. He was gone by the time the police arrived and it was determined that the man entered through a garage door that was left wide open.

1 AM in the morning, homeowner asleep, and garage door left open for the night. Not the best plan. Home Security 101, close and lock your doors. Let’s not make it that easy.

The Plaistow police attempted to track the burglar with their K-9 unit, but the dog was unsuccessful in tracking the creep down in the neighborhood.

It was good the homeowner had some pepper spray in the house, but she might have avoided the punch to the face if she had it handy while investigating the disturbance. Luckily, it was only a punch to the face, not a naked, knife wielding sex offender like yesterday’s story.

Spray first, ask questions later. As soon as you realize this person does not belong in your house, in the middle of the night, there is no courtesy. Lets not make it a habit of pepper spraying a teenager sneaking back into their house after curfew. That is another discipline issue for the next morning.

I was watching that new “Worst Week” sitcom last night. The show is basically about a man with very bad luck that is planning to tell his girlfriend’s parents that he wants to marry their daughter, and that she is carrying his child. That is if anything ever ends up going right for him.

The main character Sam, caught an intuder breaking-in to his future in-laws house after hearing there was a burglar terrorizing the nieghborhood. He even helped his girlfriend’s dad install a motion light earlier that day.

So when Sam saw this strange man attempting to gain entry into the house late at night, he smacked the guy in the head with a shovel and tied him up in the yard. When he retrieved the family to show off his handywork, his girlfriend introduced him to her brother he hadn’t met yet. “I forgot my keys” said the brother, still dazed from the shovel shot to the head. The parents were less than thankful of the gesture.

If you have seen the show or previews, this wasn’t Sam’s first blunder on his huge list of things to make his future in-laws hate him. Funny show, but it his defense, Sam really wasn’t reacting poorly to the situation.

What would you do if you saw someone breaking into your house, or someone was already in your living room that didn’t appear to belong there? The police will not get there soon enough.

You owe it to yourself and family to protect your household. Be safe, be prepared.

Popularity: 10% [?]

During the winter of 1994, I spent 8 weeks in Fort Jackson, SC for Basic Training in the US Army. Out of the 8 weeks, I don’t remember exactly why now, but I ended up at the medical center for most of one day. I missed the half-day session on hand-to-hand combat. Personally, It didn’t bother me a whole lot, I was seemingly well versed in the martial arts by then and as much as I wished I was present at that training session, it wasn’t a huge deal.

Unlike training and qualifying with an M-16 rifle, the hand-to-hand combat training wasn’t a critical task and did not affect basic training completion. Which was sad. Perhaps if I was a combat arms soldier, the hand-to-hand training would have been more robust, but they must have figured us support troops didn’t require it.

Which in retrospect was true. I spent 6 years in the service and didn’t see any combat or conflict time. I was in between Desert Storms, and only spent a year in peace time Korea, while the rest of my duty was in Virginia.

I didn’t have the Afghanistan and Iraq rotations like the troops do now. A report just came out of Fort Lewis, WA where they are attempting to deepen the hand-to-hand training due to the more stressful situations that the soldiers are currently expected to deal with. It is becoming less and less uncommon for deployed soldiers of various backgrounds to be faced with a situation where some sort of physical hand-to-hand or self defense related confrontation may arise.

Whether it is restraining a unarmed, but non-complying Iraqi prisoner, or facing a knife-wielding terrorist, some extra training goes a long way. When 3 or 4 untrained soldiers struggle trying to handle one guy, there is a problem.

Sure these soldiers are trained how to read a map, survive in the desert/jungle, shoot a rifle and a wide variety of other extremely useful military training tasks. But what if they never actually got into a fist fight or other real physical altercation?

“You have a kid out of high school, he’s never been in a fight before, they get a chance to learn what it feels like to get hit in the nose,” says a Fort Benning Army Combatives trainer.

“And then they get over it. They realize they’re OK, it wasn’t that bad.”

During the U.S. Army Combatives School training, “They get their first fight out of the way,” says the instructor. “Because you don’t want the first time they ever get in a fight to be when they’re over there (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.).”

If this sounds too harsh, you are missing the point. We are talking about the men and women who are thrust into harms way to defend the freedoms near and dear to your hearts.

“In some of our units this is ingrained in our culture, the combat arms,” says Sgt. Maj. Frank Grippe of Fort Lewis. “But I’ve got to have it throughout all the units…”

“We owe it to the trooper, we owe it to the families that they come back alive,” he said. “We owe it to the taxpayers that every trooper out there has the most positive effect on the fight, and negative effect on the enemy.”

Many more non-combat arms units are now employing various training sessions at basic, intermediate and advanced levels, and hopefully this becomes ever increasingly wider spread. I wish I had more of this training while in the military, but like I said, I didn’t end up a clueless support troop in the desert hiding behind the sufficiently trained combat arms guys.

So what does all this mean for the vast majority of non-military civilians “safely” living state-side? well ask yourself the question. Have you ever been punched in the nose? Have you ever been knocked to the ground in a physical altercation? Do you know what to do if you are being bullied by 1, 2, 3 or more aggressive individuals?

If you are not capable of handling yourself in a basic self-defense situation, you are doing a disservice to yourself and a disservice to your loved ones looking up to you to protect and provide safety and security.

And we aren’t talking about a scene in a Jason Statham or Jet Li movie where he single handedly takes down 15 men armed with handguns, baseball bats, and steel chains. But I did just read a news article about a man attacked in a parking lot by two unarmed teenagers. The man had about $300 bucks in his wallet, a really nice watch on his wrist and a briefcase with at least an expensive Blackberry and Ipod.

The two assailants, didn’t steal any of these items, they just beat the hell out of this guy in broad daylight and put him in the hospital. No reason was known, the police just ruled this an isolated case of thrill seeking assault. Not too thrilling for the beaten and bloodied guy. Probably his first fight ever.

To use another movie reference, I am also not talking about starting up a local Fight Club like the Brad Pitt and Edward Norton movie. Because we all know the first rule of Fight Club…

Yes, you can learn some basic self defense from a instructional fighting DVD. No, you will not become the next Bruce Lee, but if you watch, listen and practice the moves, you can become proficient in some basic techniques that may help prevent getting hit in the nose, or worse.

Of course, for the less hands-on types, a shot of pepper spray from 6-10 feet away is just as good as a forceful shot to your opponent’s nose. Again, once you practice, practice, practice using it. Spray, run to safety and call the police.

To appease the many “best defense is avoiding bad situations” advocates, I will be the first to admit that if you are not there in the first place, it is better than all the self-defense training and pepper spray in the world. So yes, keep avoiding potentially bad situations, do not go out after dark, and lock your doors with a dead bolt.

But if some bad buy seeks you out in a parking lot in broad daylight, or breaks the window on your sliding glass door in the middle of the night when you are sleeping in your own house, I hope you can still passively avoid the danger. Can’t happen? Read the news; look up assault, home invasion or robbery.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I never quite understand these peaceful, read violent and destructive, protesters. This time in St. Paul, MN, in a stunning display of their non-violent civil disobedience, rocks and bottles were thrown, windows were broken, dumpsters were tipped over, tire were slashed, traffic was blocked, traffic signs were torn down and thrown at police cars… 300 some people arrested, good times… You know, all the normal peaceful demonstration techniques used since the 1960s.

I have nothing against people holding signs, dancing around like fools, and exercising their freedom of speech, but there is a line that should not be crossed. Most rational people understand this. As soon as you start smashing innocent store windows or throw Molotov cocktails at the cops, you might want to rethink your tactics while protesting the Republican National Convention.

When your peaceful demonstration degrades into mass chaos, you might want to cut your losses and head home before the pepper spray, concussion grenades and tear gas are deployed by the local law enforcement trying to maintain peace. You know peace, just like your peaceful anti-war protest was talking about.

Don’t bum-rush the riot police and cry when you get pepper sprayed, well you will cry, but don’t whine about it. After you tip over a dumpster with your friends, throw a rock at the police, turn around throw another rock into a display window, and then proceed to resist arrest when the police move in, are you seriously wondering why they are doing this? Don’t worry, the media is there in force and have your whole pathetic escapade on tape.

“We will not tolerate lawlessness in the city of St. Paul,” said St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington. “If you come here to throw rocks, if you come here to throw Molotov cocktails … we will stop you.” Not that you needed the warning.

“The cops are being very aggressive,” said one of the protesters. “Hopefully, they’ll let us keep practicing our free speech.”

I’ll have to Google free speech and check the definition. Maybe someone edited Wikipedia to include all these shenanigans into the Free Speech entry. Maybe the cops are just on edge from all this freedom of expressing oneself in a violent and destructive manner.

Again, feel free to assemble peacefully to protest to your heart’s content. But when the police are tipped off before your event and are forced to conduct raids seizing knives, axes, bomb-making materials, maps and anti-war literature? Come on now.

I’ll even buy the 80/20 rule where the majority of you are mostly peaceful, and the 20% bad apples are making you all look bad. At some point, you should get yourself out of a bad situation. Are those 20% really the ones you want to be associated with and get pepper sprayed or arrested because of? It isn’t the fault of the police, the Republicans, the US Army or whoever else you want to blame. It is your companions making your peaceful cause look hypocritical and silly.

*Knock, Knock* This is your wake up call?

Popularity: 7% [?]

For those wondering what it is like to be sprayed with pepper spray and wondering if pepper spray or mace defensive sprays actually work.

When someone is sprayed with OC pepper spray, the person’s eyes slam shut. Even if someone does manage to get their eyes open, they won’t be able to see because OC dilates the capillaries and causes temporary blindness. Additionally, instant inflammation of the breathing tissues restricts all but life support breathing. They may double over and begin to cough uncontrollably.

Following Video contains mild language with some bleeped out audio. As you can see in this video, immediate water helps, but the effects still last well over an hour.

Video Removed

Following Video contains some language. In this video, no help is offered and the victim is in much worse condition.

Tough Guy VS Pepper Spray – Watch more free videos

Both of these video represent pepper spray demonstrations by people who are trying to be funny, but they also illustrate the effectiveness of pepper spray.

Pepper Spray FAQ and Pepper Spray Techniques Guide

Popularity: 7% [?]

Every time I have to pay out towards the premium of my auto insurance, or my homeowners insurance or my life insurance I think of how much money I seem to be wasting. It seems like I just pay every month to these people and get nothing in return. Until, something tragic happens. And these tragic occurrences are (hopefully) pretty few and far between, if ever.

However, heaven forbid, the rare instance may arise and you may actually be involved in a car accident or your house catches on fire. All of the sudden that few hundred dollars that you seeming have been wasting becomes the smartest investment you could have made.

Personal protection devices or self defense weapons are no different. As a retailer of these products who makes a living selling pepper spray, stun guns and tasers, of course I would suggest that everyone carry some form of personal protection and competently learns how to use and defend yourself and loved ones.

I also hope once you are properly tooled up with a couple items, adequately protected and comfortable using these self-defense implements, I truly hope you are never put into a position to have to use them. The reality is, contrary to the happy-go-lucky Give Peace a Chance songs, there are people in this world who do bad things. Bad things to otherwise good people. For no reason, and at unexpected times.

Most rational people do not drive their car around without automobile insurance, some do, but all the more reason to have liability and collision protection yourself. Most people have homeowners insurance to provide financial protection in case of a loss of property due to a fire. It is just the right thing to do.

However many people are not prepared to protect or defend themselves in case someone threatens their wellbeing. Theft, assault, kidnapping, rape or worse. It can happen, just read the news.

All of the sudden a $4.88 pepper spray seems like quite the minor expense as the bare minimum investment in starting to build up your personal protection arsenal. Of course it is highly suggested that you arm yourself with a slightly more robust personal protection kit than a simple ½ ounce key chain pepper spray. But it is at least a start, and better than the nothing you had previously.

Even the $349 C2 Taser’s price tag in insignificant compared to the life it could save. Your life or the life of a loved one is worth far more than the cost of a warehouse full of tasers. I could count up the number of cases of Tasers in our warehouse, multiply it by the dollar value per case and calculate the net value of the whole lot.

Now you come up with the dollar value you assigned to your life. Or the life of your spouse. Or the life of your children. Bet there isn’t a comparison, no matter how many cases the warehouse can hold.

Sure I am not talking about a 110% guarantee that carrying pepper spray, a stun gun or a Taser will protect you every time, from every possible scenario. Especially if you bury your Taser in the glove box in your car and you get jumped in the parking lot 50 yards away. Especially if you attach the Mace pepper spray to your key chain and never figure out how to draw, aim and shoot your product. Especially if you rely on a hand held stun gun to protect you while making poor situational decisions.

But I love having options, and I love having what I call a slight edge. Something that you can use to your advantage if you need to. When talking your way out of a bad situation is no longer possible. When avoiding trouble didn’t work and you are now faced with potentially dangerous circumstances.

Don’t think it can’t happen to you. You can hope for the best, just be prepared for the worst. Personal Protection Insurance. Don’t leave home without it.

Cell Phone Stun Guns Squidoo

Popularity: 6% [?]

Pepper Sprays, Mace Defensive Spays

How Hot is Pepper Spray?

Popularity: 5% [?]

A burglary at a neighbor’s home a few weeks back prompted an 85-year-old Pennsylvania woman to arm herself with a .22-caliber revolver. She kept it at the ready near her bed in the bedroom. The thought of having a weapon in the house let her rest easier as several homes were being hit in her area.

This past Sunday afternoon, the woman heard what ended up being a 17-year-old punk breaking into her house. “I just walked right on past him to the bedroom and got my gun,” Leda Smith said. “I said ‘What are you doing in my house?’ He just kept saying he didn’t do it.”

Pointing the gun at the perpetrator, the grandmother forced him to dial 911 and confess his crime and told the operator to send the police to pick him up. Still holding the revolver, she then had the 17-year-old lay face down on the ground, arms and legs spread, and waited for the State Police to show up.

The boy was charged with attempted burglary and related offenses in juvenile court, but his name was not released due to his age. “It was exciting,” Smith said. “I just hope I broke up the (burglary) ring because they have been hitting a lot of places around here.”

Happy ending for the old lady this, but I wouldn’t suggest 85-year-old women store fully loaded, unlocked .22-caliber revolvers, out in the open, on their nightstands in the bedroom. Lucky for her the kid broke into another room first and didn’t come across the weapon before she did. Lucky for her it was only a punk kid, and not a deranged lunatic that would have rushed the old lady, and probably taken it away from her.

I’m pretty sure the woman has not received much, if any firearms training. It’s hard to say if the woman would have actually pulled the trigger if necessary and I’m sure the potential for an accidental discharge would have been pretty high. That 17-year-old was rightly scared with a shaky old lady waving a loaded weapon at him.

At the same time that I applaud her efforts of defending herself and her household, I have to imagine she could be taking other effective and safer measures. One option would be to have some simple and inexpensive home alarms installed. If a loud window or door alarm announced the presence of this kid before he even made his way into the house, he would have ran away and avoided the confrontation all together.

Perhaps a shot of pepper spray would have been as effective as pointing a gun at the kid. Sure everyone remained unharmed in this instance, but if push came to shove and the lady actually shot and killed this kid, it would have been far more tragic than if he got a quick coating of pepper spray.

I believe in defending my household as much as any of my other fellow card-carrying NRA members, but the thought of an 85-year-old woman, living alone at home, thinking a .22-cal is the answer kinda scared me.

Perhaps she would consider buying a dog? Now she has protection and companionship. I love my dog… yeah, she should buy a dog.

Popularity: 6% [?]

A 14-year-old juvenile delinquent thought it would be funny to discharge a canister of pepper spray in a classroom in Arizona last week. Needless to say, he ended up arrested for disorderly conduct, reckless discharge of a dangerous instrument and disrupting an educational facility. I bet he is very popular with the girls.

The Cottonwood Police Department reported that around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, the suspect and two accomplices entered a classroom occupied by a teacher and other students. The three immediately became disruptive, and while the other two suspects shielded the third, he set off a can of pepper spray. He then proceeded to burst out in laughter.

The 14-year-old male, who speaks almost no English, stuttered out something resembling that it smelled bad in here and everyone should leave the room. By this time, the teacher and other students in the Mingus Union High School classroom were already coughing, choking and evacuating the scene. Funny guy indeed.

Unfortunately, it is the few stories like this that give pepper spray, stun guns, tasers and other self defense weapons a bum rap. It is a ‘better’ news story when something bad happens. If this was a story about a 14-year-old girl who fended off a rapist with a keychain pepper spray, it would make the news, but it would not gain the notoriety as some jackass being stupid.

Some people are again going to be outraged about the dangers of non-lethal self-defense weapons and the risks posed by them. They will again bring up the Taser related death count. They will want to ban pepper spray, stun guns, Tasers, handguns, machetes, baseball bats, lead pipes, ice picks, pieces of chain, nylon rope and a whole other slew of potentially dangerous objects that may have injured someone in a movie they heard about.

They won’t care about the tens of thousands of law abiding men, woman and children who have protected themselves or loved ones with some sort of self defense mechanism. So what do we actually accomplish by gun control laws or prohibition of self defense weapons? It makes it impossible for law-abiding citizens to easily carry a useful self-defense weapon.

What do gun control laws or prohibition of self defense weapons mean to non-law abiding criminals? Oh yea, they do not care. They will still get weapons if the want them, seeing that they do not follow the rules anyways. Be it a stun gun, handgun or a makeshift club made out of a three-inch tree branch. You lose.

If you are that deluded that the police will be able to patrol 100% of every square inch of your town, 100% of the time, you are sadly mistaken. By the time the cops show up, if you were even able to call them before something happens, you would be too late. A lot of bad things can happen in the 90 seconds to 10 minute response time. Nevertheless, you can wait it out if you’d like. I wouldn’t recommend it however…

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?
Yours in safety,
Rob

Popularity: 5% [?]

Winnie-the-Pooh, a guy in a mouse costume and another guy in a panther disguise were all arrested in Tokyo, Japan following an assault and robbery of two victims. Apparently, the cute and cuddly trio ran out of clean clothes, so instead of doing some laundry, decided to wear the silly costumes and head out on the town.

So there is Winnie, mouse boy and panther man standing on a street corner, obviously drawing some attention to themselves. It is not common, even in Japan to be hanging around after midnight in this ridiculous getup. Now I have seen that silly “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” reality series, so this didn’t seem like a huge stretch of the imagination, but these guys were getting some unusual stares even over there.

So Winnie-the-Pooh starts to get all bothered by two innocent but gawking bystanders and waddles his way up to them. ‘What are you staring at?’ bellows Winnie-the-Pooh in a non-friendly Hundred Acre Woods manner. The situation quickly escalated as Winnie started to beat up the two normally dressed people, as the mouse and panther jumped in. That willie, nilly, silly old bear.

When everything was said and done, the victims were beaten and robbed of about $160. Winnie, Piglet and Tigger, I mean Winnie, the mouse and the panther were later arrested. I guess the police line up was pretty easy, although the original call to the Japanese police must have been awkward.

You were beat up and robbed by who?

Now in a situation like this I suppose either traditional pepper spray or Bear Mace would have sufficed. Or a good jolt with a stun gun might have made and interesting scene as Winnie-the-Pooh lay rolling around on the ground. You’d just have to dig the device rather deep, depending on how stuffed with fluff the costume was.

It takes all kinds in this world, Be Safe, Be Prepared. Be on the look out for ill-mannered cartoon characters looking for an easy buck.

Popularity: 5% [?]