Pepper spray and tear gas are under the less lethal category of self defense. It sounds like a great idea to be able to defend yourself with less then lethal means. The only problem is these things don’t work all the time, if at all, and it takes time to find out either way.
There are generally three types of active agents in the spray that create the irritating effect, pepper, CS, or CN. The world started with crushed peppers that where burned to put it in the air. It took a long time for that to come back, but is in my opinion, the most effective (because it has the most effect on me). It’s made from drying up peppers, crushing them, and then making them into an aerosol and putting that in a can. Like everything else it effects different people differently and drugs and alcohol use will change the effectiveness.
CS is commonly called tear gas and is used by the military and law enforcement for riot control. It’s a fine powder that is generally put into the air with a sprayer (my favorite in the military looked like a fire extinguisher) or a burning canister. At riots and large gatherings CS will get rid of the casual onlooker. There are a couple things wrong with CS as a self defense tool. It takes time to have an effect. It generally takes me two or three breaths of the stuff to start to have an effect. If someone is punching you, three breaths is a long time. It makes me cough, my eyes water, and my nose run. Really I’ve been exposed to it so many times it just annoys me.
CN is normally called mace. It’s considered not as potent as CS, but is suppose to take effect faster. Which is good for self defense. I’ve been exposed to this stuff a lot also. It does have an effect on me faster. One breath and I can feel it burning in my lungs. After a little while it also starts to make me tear up. It doesn’t stop me, just cut my effectiveness to about 80% because I can’t get a full breath and I have to look through teary eyes. Other then that, it doesn’t bother me.
I hate pepper spray the worst. I’ve been exposed to it by dropping it in my eye, over spray, and by being sprayed. All of it sucked. I wouldn’t use it for self defense because the worst exposure was when it came off other people at me during training with the Marines. So if you spray someone and they get to you, you will be just as effected as the person you spayed. It’s nasty, painful, and makes you feel like your head, eyes, throat, and lungs are on fire.
CS and CN has little to no effect on me and other people I’ve trained with, so it’s really a waste of time and energy. The only reason I would carry a spray is for self defense against four legged animals, dogs or bears. I would rather tell my neighbor I sprayed his dog when it ran at me barking, then I shot your dog. I also know that bear spray is way more effective against a bear then my 9mm handgun.
Stay Safe,
Ben