Pepper Spray Pros and Cons for Self Defense

Pepper spray is one of those self-defense items that seems to either get too much credit or perhaps not enough, in my humble opinion. Obviously, if we’re talking about whether pepper spray is suitable for truly stopping a violent attack, it is not. At best pepper spray buys you time… enough time to do something useful like run away, lock the car doors and speed off, kick the attacker in the groin, punch them in the throat… or whatever is most appropriate.

So, let’s get this clear: pepper spray is NOT an adequate defensive tool when you life literally depends on it! Nothing short of a firearm will do that. Granted, there are plenty of reports where even being shot several times won’t stop a truly determined attacker, but that’s a discussion for another day.

The Pros of Pepper Spray

The good news is that pepper spray is:

• widely accepted as a self-defense option (people won’t think you’re completely crazy for carrying it)
• allowed without restriction in most states (check your state regulations to be sure – here’s a reference to get you started)
• easy to use (just point and press)
• relatively effective in most cases (see videos below)
• the effects are not permanent

You might think you WANT the effects to be permanent. I don’t. The last thing I want to do is to permanently harm another individual unless I had no other choice…. yes even bad people. Moreover, it is possible that YOU could simply be wrong about the situation, jumpy, in a bad mood, or whatever and accidentally harm somebody who didn’t really deserve it. Hopefully that will never happen.

Now, I’m not going to get into the differences between pepper spray and other alternatives. Suffice it to say that there are different formulations, potencies, spray patterns, sizes, ways to carry it, and so on. I’ve purchased various pepper sprays in the past. For our use I recently bought a 4-pack of Police Magnum Pepper Spray with UV Dye that have been added to our cars and even around the house. I also recently saw a neat device called the Kimber Pepperblaster that may be of interest to you, though, I’ve not yet purchased it. You’ll have to decide what works for you and where best to utilize it.

People Being Sprayed

As for effectiveness, here’s three videos of people being pepper sprayed…

Video 1:

Video 2:

Video 3:

https://youtu.be/SFS2c2Bw3Hg

Assuming you watched them you can see there are varying reactions as to the effects, from outright pain and inability to function to more or less the ability to still move and function as needed. There are plenty of other videos you can watch if you like. Realize you’ll see a wide variety of reactions.

The Cons of Pepper Spray

Unpredictability, sadly, is precisely the problem with pepper spray. You never know what kind of reaction you’re going to get from an attacker who has been pepper sprayed. It could be severe and immediate or nearly nothing. Beyond that, there’s also something to be said for people who are on drugs or just loaded up with testosterone. Men can fight through a lot of pain when their testosterone is flowing. Drug addicts may not even be aware you sprayed them.

There’s also something to be said for the very real possibility that you’ll inadvertently affect yourself when shooting pepper spray at an attacker if the wind is blowing. For example, I had my wife test out a canister of pepper spray the other day so she understood how that particular canister worked (as well as to ensure it still worked) and even though she clearly sprayed it away from her just a little bit must have been blown back into her face because she immediately started coughing. Glad to see it was still potent. 😉

Potency is another potential problem as they do include expiration dates to be aware of. Besides lessened effectiveness over time it’s also possible that the dispensing mechanism can eventually fail as well. As such, you’ll want to replace your pepper spray regularly and at least by the expiration dates to ensure it’s ready when you may need it the most.

My Thoughts

Most everyone seems to have at least some reaction to pepper spray but you can’t guarantee that they’ll have the reaction you expected–or needed–them to have. They could well fight through the pain and still have the capacity to harm you or others so please don’t equate it to a firearm. They are vastly different in potential effectiveness.

Of course, like I said, pepper spray isn’t seen with the same disdain as a firearm may be and so most people may not get the “evil eye” if carrying a canister of pepper spray through the mall, for instance. Maybe.

Obviously, something like pepper spray won’t do you any good regardless of effectiveness if it’s buried in your purse or pocket. Like any self defense weapon you really need to have it readily available in your hands or immediately accessible (perhaps on a keychain) but even that may not be nearby enough. Ultimately, YOU need to be aware of your surroundings, stay away from bad situations, cross the street if you feel unsafe, and so on. Avoiding bad situations if at all possible is always the best course of action.

What are your thoughts on pepper spray? Useful? Worthless? Somewhere in between? Have you ever been pepper sprayed? I’d be interested to hear your experiences.