The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - OC, Pepper spray -- do you carry/use it?

raven · January 9, 1999, 03:06 PM

GLV:

Do I carry it? Yes. I am a big fan of the ASP key-defender. This is a
'kuboton' with an OC canister inside. For those of you who do not know what
a kuboton is, it is basically an aluminum rod about the size of a fat
permanent marker that has a key ring on the end. You can use it as both a
pain compliance device squeezing on different nerves to stop a subject from
resisting or you can use it as an impact weapon. ASP advocates using it as
a handle and swinging your keys at the person's face. I think this is more
intended for women if the OC doesn't work as it seems most of them have tons
of keys -- even a homeless, jobless female with no car and no bike still
probably has 15 or 20 keys on her keyring

The other nice thing about
this is that it is a keychain which means you will always have it at hand.
A canister of OC gets thrown in your coat pocket or in your wife's purse and
by the time you need it you can't find the damn thing. (no affiliation with
ASP of course).

Have I used it? Never in combat. I did have some informal training on the
use of it though... I tested it out in my garage once. Big mistake. I
wasn't sure what to expect (this was the 'spray' type) so I left the garage
door closed because I was afraid that the wind might blow it around. I was
very surprised to see it come out of the canister in a very fine mist almost
like hair spray. I guess I was expecting a stream. (for thsi reason I'd
probably be a very healthy advocate of pepper-foam but I have not seen a
cartridge loaded for my ASP) So I'm out there spraying and spraying and
then spraying some more, trying different things (I was hitting it for maybe
1/2 a second to a second at a time and there were quite a few shots in
there) when all of the sudden it hit me. Did you ever have your wife or
sister go nuts with hair spray in the bathroom and then you walk in there
and choke? Well the same thing happened to me, there was all this OC vapor
in the air and all of the sudden I must have gotten a good lungfull of the
stuff. My primary reaction was coughing, sneezing, and a massively running
nose so I must not have gotten it in my eyes, but I was a mess. I could
have still faught back on someone but coughing definitely would have put me
at a disadvantage. I had to go upstairs and strip, throw all the clothes in
the washer and then take a shower. I also sent my wife coughing and sneezing
as I ran past her on the way through the kitchen. What did I learn? 1)
Never play with OC spray in a closed in space (well DUH?) 2) The stuff
comes out in a short range mist so make sure you are close to the person.
It's not like in the advertisements where it looks like the lady is blasting
the guy from about 6 feet away with a CO2 fire extinguisher, imagine you
have a small can of hair spray. 3) Blast 'em good. Don;t mess around with
some little sissy shot of OC. It took a long time for it to hit me
(granted it was not aimed at me) Give 'em a good shot in the face with the
stuff and then get the heck out of there. 4) unlike what the advertisement says, this does not stop someone instantly (just like shooting someone with a handgun) so be ready to defend yourself still, but I would expect to be at a healthy advantage over someone who came at me. 5) if they are coming at you with a baseball bat or knife you better have something more than a can of OC, a shotgun or a couple of grenades would be nice.

I love pepperspray (not just for myself but for anyone I know) because of a
few reasons. 1) It's cheap, leagal and it works. 2) People are not afraid
to use it. You have to give serious consideration to using a firearm, esp
if the guy is coming at you with a beer bottle or something like that. With
OC you have almost no inhibitions to use it and you will rely more on your
instincts to defent yourself. 3) It will work on both dogs and people.
I've never shot at one but I have heard that dogs are very hard to hit
because they are small and move fast. OC spreads out like a shotgun so you
have a better chance of hitting. 4) it will work on someone drunk or
drugged (definitely to a lesser degree) because the body will still force
them to caugh and/or sneeze and that will be to your advantage.

I think that's long enough. This is my first post to this board BTW (I
post over on shooters now and then).

January 9, 1999, 03:06 PM	#10
raven Junior Member Join Date: January 8, 1999 Location: Algonquin IL Posts: 9	GLV: Do I carry it? Yes. I am a big fan of the ASP key-defender. This is a 'kuboton' with an OC canister inside. For those of you who do not know what a kuboton is, it is basically an aluminum rod about the size of a fat permanent marker that has a key ring on the end. You can use it as both a pain compliance device squeezing on different nerves to stop a subject from resisting or you can use it as an impact weapon. ASP advocates using it as a handle and swinging your keys at the person's face. I think this is more intended for women if the OC doesn't work as it seems most of them have tons of keys -- even a homeless, jobless female with no car and no bike still probably has 15 or 20 keys on her keyring The other nice thing about this is that it is a keychain which means you will always have it at hand. A canister of OC gets thrown in your coat pocket or in your wife's purse and by the time you need it you can't find the damn thing. (no affiliation with ASP of course). Have I used it? Never in combat. I did have some informal training on the use of it though... I tested it out in my garage once. Big mistake. I wasn't sure what to expect (this was the 'spray' type) so I left the garage door closed because I was afraid that the wind might blow it around. I was very surprised to see it come out of the canister in a very fine mist almost like hair spray. I guess I was expecting a stream. (for thsi reason I'd probably be a very healthy advocate of pepper-foam but I have not seen a cartridge loaded for my ASP) So I'm out there spraying and spraying and then spraying some more, trying different things (I was hitting it for maybe 1/2 a second to a second at a time and there were quite a few shots in there) when all of the sudden it hit me. Did you ever have your wife or sister go nuts with hair spray in the bathroom and then you walk in there and choke? Well the same thing happened to me, there was all this OC vapor in the air and all of the sudden I must have gotten a good lungfull of the stuff. My primary reaction was coughing, sneezing, and a massively running nose so I must not have gotten it in my eyes, but I was a mess. I could have still faught back on someone but coughing definitely would have put me at a disadvantage. I had to go upstairs and strip, throw all the clothes in the washer and then take a shower. I also sent my wife coughing and sneezing as I ran past her on the way through the kitchen. What did I learn? 1) Never play with OC spray in a closed in space (well DUH?) 2) The stuff comes out in a short range mist so make sure you are close to the person. It's not like in the advertisements where it looks like the lady is blasting the guy from about 6 feet away with a CO2 fire extinguisher, imagine you have a small can of hair spray. 3) Blast 'em good. Don;t mess around with some little sissy shot of OC. It took a long time for it to hit me (granted it was not aimed at me) Give 'em a good shot in the face with the stuff and then get the heck out of there. 4) unlike what the advertisement says, this does not stop someone instantly (just like shooting someone with a handgun) so be ready to defend yourself still, but I would expect to be at a healthy advantage over someone who came at me. 5) if they are coming at you with a baseball bat or knife you better have something more than a can of OC, a shotgun or a couple of grenades would be nice. I love pepperspray (not just for myself but for anyone I know) because of a few reasons. 1) It's cheap, leagal and it works. 2) People are not afraid to use it. You have to give serious consideration to using a firearm, esp if the guy is coming at you with a beer bottle or something like that. With OC you have almost no inhibitions to use it and you will rely more on your instincts to defent yourself. 3) It will work on both dogs and people. I've never shot at one but I have heard that dogs are very hard to hit because they are small and move fast. OC spreads out like a shotgun so you have a better chance of hitting. 4) it will work on someone drunk or drugged (definitely to a lesser degree) because the body will still force them to caugh and/or sneeze and that will be to your advantage. I think that's long enough. This is my first post to this board BTW (I post over on shooters now and then).