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/me Casts Pepper Spray (Question). Its Super Effective!
Waffles or whatever
Previously known as, I shit you not, "Waffen"Registered User regular
Previously known as, I shit you not, "Waffen"Registered User regular
My roommate and I were walking back from the dining center on my campus. As we walked down the block a girl yelled something to us (Mind you, its St. Patrick's Day. Every college kid is drunk this night) and I basically snubbed her (I wasn't paying attention to her. I was in my own personal world) We didn't get 20 meters down the block when her boy friend ran up on us and pushed my roommate. He got scared and ran off. I however, stood my ground. Once he realized that I wouldn't take his shit he called his friend from half a block away for support. Long story short they realized I was a military man and felt stupid, apologized, and left.
Regardless, I might not be so lucky in the future and started looking at pepper spray. Would Pepper Spray actually be a worthwhile investment? I'd prefer not to use my fists like a troglodyte and brawl it out in a self defense situation. If so, is there any special considerations I should take if I buy it and deploy its usage? Mind you, I'm not retarded when it comes to weapons of any kind. I'm not going to pepper spray anyone for the "lulz" or use it for pranks. It would only ever be used for self defense in a situation where I am physically, not verbally threatened).
Regardless, I might not be so lucky in the future and started looking at pepper spray. Would Pepper Spray actually be a worthwhile investment? I'd prefer not to use my fists like a troglodyte and brawl it out in a self defense situation. If so, is there any special considerations I should take if I buy it and deploy its usage? Mind you, I'm not retarded when it comes to weapons of any kind. I'm not going to pepper spray anyone for the "lulz" or use it for pranks. It would only ever be used for self defense in a situation where I am physically, not verbally threatened).
Waffles or whatever on
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That said, and having looked into it in the past, I feel that something like this pepper spray gel would be the best bet.
http://www.defensedevices.com/mace-gel-pepper-spray.html
Less affected by wind, sticks pretty well
For example, it's illegal to carry pepper spray in New York that was purchased outside New York.
And really, if you get jumped by 2+ people and you try to whip out the pepper spray and they get it from you...well that's going to suck...
I'll let other discuss the legalities of it all.
As opposed to the jovial good time which would occur otherwise?
Besides reiterating the previous mentions of "Check your local Law" I'd also point out that some jurisdictions allow people to carry "Dog Spray" as a defense against "Dog Attacks". Something to inquire about anyway.
I would rather get mugged and/or roughed around a little than get sprayed with my own pepper spray.
In almost every possible situation involving potential violence, your best option is to get the fuck away - and if running isn't an option, like for instance if the aggressor has a gun, or if you're surrounded, your best option shifts slightly to do whatever the fuck they tell you to do, then run away.
The wisdom of running away doesn't decrease if you're carrying mace, or a knife, or a gun: it increases, because all of those things can be taken from you and used against you, making the situation exponentially more dangerous. If a couple of thugs demand your wallet, you lose whatever cash you had in your wallet, and you need to suffer through the inconvenience of cancelling your credit cards. If a couple of thugs demand your wallet, and you pull out a can of pepper spray, you're almost certainly going to end up getting badly hurt.
I'm not denying that mace can have very specific situational uses. And there are times when fighting back is the only thing you can do, and when that happens, then yeah, you scream for help and fight like hell using any weapon you can wrap your hand around. But 99 times out of 100, if some punk tries to mug you, or if some douche at a party gets up in your face, or if any other situation prompts you to feel the need to engage in physical self defense, your best response is to walk or run away.
Honestly, the really worrying thing here is your attitude. You gain absolutely nothing by "standing your ground" when a stranger tries to start shit with you. Your roommate was completely right to avoid that particular conflict; you only got out of it because the guys trying to pick a fight with you ended up being weaker than you. That doesn't make you Rambo, it makes you lucky - and carrying a weapon that could be turned against you is an excellent way to make sure you don't get that lucky again.
OK, this right here? This is an excellent example of my point.
Some drunk college kids tried to take your pizza from you. You ran away, and escaped the situation with no harm done. If for some reason you hadn't been able to run away, they would have taken your pizza, and you would have been out $10.
What would have happened if some drunk college kids had tried to take your pizza from you, and you were carrying mace? If you were to (wisely) escape by running away, the mace would have contributed nothing to your safety - you'd be just as well off without it. If you were to use the mace, on the other hand, every possible outcome would have been worse - the "best" result would have been you spraying mace into the faces of a bunch of college kids, causing them intense pain and possible physical damage, opening yourself up to civil and potentially criminal charges. The worst result would have been you either missing them or just spraying them enough to enrage them, and if you were to escalate the violence of the situation like that, you would end up losing a whole lot more than a pizza.
If you're a reasonably healthy, fit person (which I'm assuming you are, military man and all), your best possible self-defense weapons are a good pair of shoes and an ounce of common sense. Adding mace or knives or guns to your arsenal makes you less safe, not more, especially if you're the sort of person who would try to use them.
You might also talk to the campus PD, informing them of what you've noticed as an increase in situations like this will help them do their job and you can ask what they recommend to do in this case.
I agree with the "best option is running away", but disagree that it's different if what happens if you get caught.
So 3 guys threaten you and want your pizza, you:
A. Hand if over, they take it and maybe shove you down as they run off
B. You run and get away
C. You run and they catch you, the fact you ran will have pissed them off and they will likely take the pizza AND rough you up
D. You spray them and get away
E. You pull the spray and REALLY piss them off, they take the pizza, rough you up BAD and possibly spray you with your own stuff.
I'd say get the spray and think REALLY hard before using it. Know that even with it running may be the best option and only pull it out if you have a good chance of incapacitating a single aggressor or two and THEN running.
I say be prepared to fight if you have to. Pepper spray is a good choice because it incapacitates and is non-lethal, that could spare you a lot of legal hassle. It might get taken from you, that would suck, but I personally would take that risk. I prefer to have advantages that make the fight as unfair as possible for my aggressor. And I like to have options. If my only plan is to run away, and I can't do that, then I am screwed.
Y'know, I was just going to bring this up. As someone in the military, you should know how CS, or the civilian equivalent, will affect someone.
You tag someone in the face with pepper spray - who isn't expecting it - they'll leave you alone.
Yes, I have done the CS chamber. Even been hooah enough to go through it with no mask on just for kicks (and spending the next 20 minutes thinking that was a really dumb idea). The one in basic was brutal though, they burned a lot more of the tablets, took my mask off that first time and all thoughts of being hooah and shouting the soldier's creed with what breath I had evaporated in a second. You can't see and it feels like you cannot breathe (you can, just seems like you can't). Afterwards your skin itches like crazy till you can shower.
But CS and pepper spray are different beasts. They fall into the same family of chemical agents, that is all (choking agents).
I do have first hand experience using pepper spray though. One of my former room mates (this was before the military) got aggressive with me and charged at me, I sprayed him with the spray, he took one more step then fell to his knees. He was a pretty big guy too. Considering my other options were A) Let him pummel me,
The following story illustrates why if you are curious.
You should never over estimate the power of pepper spray or underestimate the value of running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1sPGC6i4I
I would not be surprised. Back when I was in first year of university and living in rez, a guy on our floor (known for being a clown), stole some girl's pepper spray and while goofing around with another guy, sprayed it in his face. This happened in a stairwell a good thirty or forty feet from my door, and around corners, no less. Less than a minute after it happened, I stepped out into the hallway for no more than a few seconds and came back inside coughing. I didn't stop coughing for the next hour. Another group of friends was in the common room even further down the hall (fifty, sixty feet from the stairwell at least?) and behind a closed door; after half an hour they had to leave because they were feeling the effects.
That stuff's powerful. But it's clear it can travel. As a military guy I think you'll know the value of using all the tactics in your arsenal before resorting to pepper spray.
And either keep some Baby Shampoo or Liquid Dish Soap on hand in case you end up contaminating yourself. It's going to take 3-4 good scrubbings to get rid of it. And the first time will be just as bad as when you first got sprayed.
Perhaps you should be calling the cops because each one of those situations would increase the patrols in the area and cut down on the chances of stupid convenience crimes like that from happening.
What the random douchbag charging you was about, though, other than being fucking crazy, is beyond me.
See that sounds great on paper, until the cops show up at your school with an awesome warrant for your arrest for assault because he got a bunch of his dickface friends to say you started it. I'd love for it to be a world where somebody gets punched who deserves it, lesson learned and that's that. But it rarely happens.
Does that ever happen? I have never seen that happen, also if you were alone and all his friends say you started it it will look suspicious anyways, like not making any sense at all.
From my experience most people will be too ashamed to report it to the cops.
Yes, dicks will be dicks. Generally if someone starts shit with you randomly they have no problem going to the police to say you sprayed them for no reason after you started a fight.
I've seen it happen once or twice, person got arrested but they didn't get more than a fine or community service. One guy got jail time though, but that was a bar fight, so.