Friday, May 09, 2008

Pepper Spray vs...

Just about anything and the pepper spray loses, except it does work on dogs. At least it did the one time I used it.

I guess it's easy for me to say, but I don't see why people are going along with this pepper spray robber in Arcata. I know the stuff's irritating, but that's about it. Even a baseball bat would trump a robber using pepper spray, fists alone if you have a size advantage on the guy.

Somebody needs to thump this (these?) guys.

12 Comments:

At 9:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I doubt a baseball bat would trump pepper spray. It takes a lot less time to emit a field of spray than it does to wind up and swing a baseball bat. A person who is pepper-sprayed is immediately incapaciated, though not injured.

Pepper spray is more than just irritating, it shuts down the respiratory system. It was developed at the University of Montana in Missoula as a defense against grizzly bears. It is the only known effective grizzly repellent short of a firearm. It was developed because mace -- which burns the eyes -- is ineffective on bears, because bears have no tear ducts in their eyes.

 
At 9:19 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Well, I'm sure it varies amongst individuals. I'd probably be pretty vulnerable to it as I can't even handle food that's too hot, but there are many people that get pepper spray on them that can function through it. One good example being the Earth First gals at Frank Riggs office and the deputies that arrested them. Look at the deputies in the video towards the end. You can see they were getting it almost as bad as the gals from the looks on their faces. Yet they hung in there and did there jobs.

 
At 10:36 AM, Blogger ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ said...

Pepper spray is not always effective on someone jacked up on speed/crank.I like the part where the HSU prof is consulted by the reporter and concludes these crimes are the result of an economic downturn (in Humboldt County?). That's really funny. I would have to say the cause is global warming. What the hell; that's the cause of everything else unpleasant.

 
At 11:21 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Andrew Bird is a pussy. Along with the people who got robbed with a can of pepperspray. I've had to use it a couple of times, and you can still work through it as long as you aren't a huge wussy.

It isn't going to kill you, and you can sure as shit wind up a bat and knock someone out even with a face full of it.

And the bear pepperspray isn't legal in CA.

 
At 3:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I managed to set off the pepper spray my wife left uncapped in the glove compartment and did not lose control of the car, which I was driving on the highway. I did spill the coffee. If she had been in the car, and if I had a bat,
I could and would have used it.

 
At 6:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If someone tried to rob me with a can of a pepper spray, I would laugh at them. But if I was up against a perp who had a baseball bat and I had can of pepper spray, I'm confident I would incapacitate the perp first. Yes, those extremely jacked up on speed have been able to shrug off the effects of pepper spray. And pepper spray, even the bear strength, is not always effective on griz. There have been some cases of griz attacking through pepper spray. But for the most part it has been effective against griz attacks. If you want bear strength pepper spray, buy a cannister the next time you're near Yellowstone or Glacier national parks.

 
At 7:18 PM, Blogger ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ said...

andrew bird said: "If you want bear strength pepper spray, buy a cannister the next time you're near Yellowstone or Glacier national parks."

Just don't get caught with it when you return to Calif.

 
At 7:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you want to know what being pepper-sprayed feels like (short of taking a face full of it yourself), talk to a police officer. They get sprayed as a part of their training. They tell me, among other things, that being pepper-sprayed is a memorable experience. My word, not theirs.

 
At 8:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrew

When you're in a hole....stop digging.

When some tweaked sociopath wants to take the bosses money, he gets it.

And the boss will embrace it. At least if I were the boss, I would and I am one. I'd rather lose a few bucks than lose an employee.

You can take your OC spray theories to the bank or to the wilderness but there are two things you need to know...

1) If some dirt bag, who has nothing to lose but a bit of fleeting liberty; give him the money, and.

2) If you encounter a bear...any where, don't stop to consider the finer points of personal protection.

I put three, 45 cal slugs into a Griz (as you call them) in Alaska. (Probably missed with the first two, but one skidded right up his forehead and he didn't even slow down) He seemed to like our camp and had followed us for miles and for days. Yep, pepper spray is an awesome weapon.

The point, if there is one, is this: If some strange wacko threatens you, you give up the money and live to give a description later and, if you confront a bear, don't quibble over those things that you think you know...leave the food (If you didn't secure it in the first place) and otherwise, get the fark away.

I would love to be there when you laugh at some hostile dirtbag when you are emboldened with your baseball bat.

No wonder you can't keep a job.

 
At 11:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When griz pepper spray was first marketed in Montana in the late 1980s, my friends and I rigged our back-packing gear with several cannisters. One of my buddies bought a huge cannister (we were all from California and intimidated by backpacking in griz country) and velcroed it to the frame of his pack. On our first trip in Yellowstone, he shot off a burst (it had a range of 15 feet) and we sprinted to the cloud to get a feel for what it can do. Even though it hardly largely dissipated when hit the cloud, we couldn't breath for a couple of seconds. I roll my eyes when people say they could still swing a baseball bat if they took a burst full in the face. Unless you were extremely hopped up on some type of speed, you would drop whatever you are holding and immediately cover your face with your hands.

 
At 12:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with the above comment. The police officers I have talked to have told me that this is not something you want to have happen to you. It is silly to suggest an employee should risk being sprayed to avoid being robbed.

 
At 11:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes. Pepper spray is powerful. And I believe it has a more powerful effect on people who have respiratory problems like asthma. So I agree with the comments above advising against risking being sprayed.

 

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