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Old April 22, 2011, 09:16 AM   #23
JollyRoger
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 24, 2005
Posts: 172
IMHO anyone who carries a gun should also carry pepper spray. It's an easy call to use deadly force when you're coming up with scenarios in your head, but the real world usually bears little resemblance to such a black and white scenario. Plenty of assaults that can get you killed start off as unarmed incidents: strong arm robberies, road rage, etc. You get your head slammed into a car or the ground enough you're still going to die, but using a gun is not justified until way too late in the process.

The problem is that juries take a real dim view of an armed individual shooting an unarmed assailant. Recently in Memphis, TN there was an incident where a drunk guy and a woman got into an argument over parking spots. The woman went into a restaurant and got her husband, a CCW holder, and returned to find the drunk vandalizing their car. Things got heated and the husband pulled his gun. Drunk guy, who was bigger, advanced and dared him to shoot, which he did. Jury convicted, judge gave him 20+ years. It would never have even made the papers if the husband had a $15 can of spray and used it instead of the gun.

Pepper spray is cheap and effective. A lipstick size spray works well and can be carried easier than a spare mag. Martial arts, kubatons, canes & rolls of quarters all work better after an application of spray. And best of all, pepper spray is so ubiquitous that if you have to go before a jury, someone on that jury will carry it, or have a family member who does. Not so with knives, saps, or other devices that will put you in the "thug" category.
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