Less than Lethal

Many years ago as a young man in the military I was placed on a mobility team. As a result of that I was given the assignment of being the weapons instructor for that team. I went through an instructor course and often trained with the Security Police guys. I happened to live across the street from the NCOIC of CATM. (Non commissioned officer in charge of combat arms training and maintenance) who was an inactive member. He was a nice guy and we shared a love for weapons. So I had the opportunity to do a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to do not knowing these guys personally. In the process of training, I trained with pepper spray. If you train with pepper spray you have to experience what it’s like to be sprayed. We were supposed to be sprayed, and then with a training weapon (rubber handgun) we were supposed to continue to stop the assailant by pointing the weapon in the right direction and giving verbal commands. It was very difficult and I lasted long enough to have 2nd place bragging rights. I believe it was only 48 seconds. The winner didn’t last a minute! The point is, pepper spray works! I know personally! Now, I’m not saying you should experiment and test pepper spray on yourselves, you can take my, and others, word for it.
You may read that wasp spray is as effective as pepper spray. In some cases this may be true. The only problem is you’re dealing with non-lethal self defense. This means your assailant will still be around to sue you for using a poison that clearly says on it’s label that wasp spray will not be used for anything it was not intended for. It is actually federal law. The skum-ball that would commit violent crime without batting an eye could, and probably would, sue you. Just because you’re a career criminal and in jail for assault does not mean you can’t sue in civil court. Buy and use pepper spray. It’s legal and it works better than wasp spray in many cases. But in a pinch, if you can’t get to anything BUT wasp spray, save your life and use it! Better yet, prepare and have pepper spray, training, and even better, a gun available to protect you and your family and friends. Get licensed, get trained, and carry always. Also, live by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost can keep you out of many situations where a weapon, lethal or not, would be necessary. Many have been saved by listening to the still, small voice. But I also believe we will be blessed after all we can do. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. This means good people need to be ready. Here is a short list of alternatives to pepper spray.
Firearm – Should be considered lethal
Knife – Should be considered lethal
Stun gun – Mostly non-lethal
Baton – Mostly non-lethal
Martial arts/Self-defense training – Mostly non-lethal
My recommendation is a combination of at least 2 of the above. Options are best. Remember to check laws and be safe. Learn what is legal where you live and get appropriate licenses where applicable.
There are 3 kinds of pepper sprays:
CS (Orthochlorobenzalmalonitrile),
CN (alphachloroacetaphenone)
OC (Oleoresin Capsicum).
CS and CN are considered irritants and will cause stinging and tearing (tear gas type spray).They can take from five to thirty seconds to be effective and may have little to no effect on someone who is chemically altered or in a psychotic state.
OC on the other hand is an inflammatory agent. When sprayed with it, your eyes immediately slam shut. People most often become temporarily blind due to the capillaries in the eyes dilating. From breathing in the agent, there is also coughing and possibly some choking.
My recommendation is OC. This is what I’ve been sprayed with and what I try to have on hand. It’s also used by law enforcement and military.
Blowback
Blowback is when some of the pepper spray blows back at you. It is more of a danger outdoors and of course is more likely to happen if you spray it into the wind.
Sprayers
There are four types of sprayers. They are:
Stream
Think water gun. This gets a lot of spray on the target quickly and as a result empties faster. There is a mild risk of blowback. That risk increases proportional to the range it is sprayed.
Forced Cone
The spray pattern is circular and sprays a fine mist of droplets. There is a larger risk of blowback than with stream or foam.
Fogger
A fogger sprays a wider pattern and finer mist than the forced cone. Foggers are the most effective to use against a crowd, as they put out a large amount of spray. Aim is also less critical. A fogger could be used nicely to defend a home as well. The risk of blowback is higher than with spray or foam.
Foam
Foam shoots out like silly string and accumulates on the target. Attempts to wipe it off often just rub it in, making it more effective. Foam is the least subject to blowback.
How to Carry Pepper Spray
It’s not effective if you can’t get to it quickly, There are cans made for key chains. Carry your keys in your hand or in your jacket pocket with your hand on it. If you need it in an emergency, you will not have time to fish it out of your pocket or purse and put it to use.
Generally speaking here are the distances we’re talking about:
Spray gun-25 feet or more
Large canister-(9 ounces to 1 pound)-20 feet
Small canister-(1 to 12 ounces)-12 to 18 feet
Mini or key chain – (less than 1 oz)-8 to 10 feet
Testing your spray
1. Go outside. Do not attempt to test your pepper spray indoors.
2. Find the direction of the wind. Stand upwind so that wind blows away from you, not toward you. If you stand downwind, pepper spray may get blown toward you.
3. Press the firing button for half a second. The pepper spray should come out evenly.
4. Test pepper spray every 90 days.

Always be safe. Always be worthy of and follow the Spirit. Always think about what you are doing and have situational awareness (know where you are and what’s going on around you).

Burn

Semper Paratus