Looking to arm my 17 and 19 year old daughters with Pepper Spray. Brand Recommendations? Configuration Recommendations? (type of can, etc) and any other advice welcome.
Pepper spray is a nice option. It falls somewhere between A) STRONG LANGUAGE and B) a MAGAZINE DUMP, as it relates to dealing with a potential threat.
Pepper spray can be a great tool to have, if you know how to use it properly. Look up John Murphy https://www.fpftraining.com/. He provides some really good training on the use of pepper spray. He stops by Indiana periodically to train folks on a myriad of topics.
John recommends, and I carry, Sabre Red. He particularly favors the style of activator seen on https://www.redhotpepperspray.com/c...ay/products/sabre-red-mk-6-h2o-0-69-oz-stream. You can buy an inert can in the same style for training purposes.
This type of activator is covered by a spring loaded safety, that you can use to audibly warn an aggressor that you've got a little something up your sleeve (kinda sounds like a rattle snake if you repeatedly flip the safety just right). You normally want to learn to deploy it with your offhand, so that you can transition quickly to your firearm if the need arises.
I wouldn't want to rely on pepper spray for life/death/assault situations, but it can really slow down someone who doesn't back off when you clearly tell them to do so (repeatedly and loudly).
...17 and 19 year old daughters...
...knowledge to stay as safe as possible?
OC certainly has its place in self defense. I carry an ASP brand personal sized expandable baton when I'm in a soft uniform or off-duty. It's good to have options, as long as you know how to use them and their limitations (every tool has them). As long as your kids know what OC is capable of and its limitations, carry on. We just switched from an OC/CS mix to 100% OC. We started buying Sabre Defense OC. It's 100% food grade ingredients but it is HOT. It really works based on our Recruit's reactions when they get a face full. I would not hesitate giving that to someone I loved. They make personal protection sized bottles. Buy a couple and have your kids practice spraying a target. That will allow them to smell it in the air so they know what to expect if they have to use it. It cracks me up that people would "poo poo" carrying an intermediate weapon. Then again, there are those that think carrying a gun protects them from the 99% of confrontations that would be inappropriate to use a firearm in.
Pepper spray is a nice option. It falls somewhere between A) STRONG LANGUAGE and B) a MAGAZINE DUMP, as it relates to dealing with a potential threat.
Pepper spray can be a great tool to have, if you know how to use it properly. Look up John Murphy https://www.fpftraining.com/. He provides some really good training on the use of pepper spray. He stops by Indiana periodically to train folks on a myriad of topics.
John recommends, and I carry, Sabre Red. He particularly favors the style of activator seen on https://www.redhotpepperspray.com/c...ay/products/sabre-red-mk-6-h2o-0-69-oz-stream. You can buy an inert can in the same style for training purposes.
This type of activator is covered by a spring loaded safety, that you can use to audibly warn an aggressor that you've got a little something up your sleeve (kinda sounds like a rattle snake if you repeatedly flip the safety just right). You normally want to learn to deploy it with your offhand, so that you can transition quickly to your firearm if the need arises.
I wouldn't want to rely on pepper spray for life/death/assault situations, but it can really slow down someone who doesn't back off when you clearly tell them to do so (repeatedly and loudly).
Your daughters should get some training to use the pepper spray and to evade. They could be maimed or killed, waiting for the pepper spray to work. Even when the spray is working well, an attacker won't be immobilized, just blinded. If the attacker has hands on your daughter, even if blinded they could take out their aggression on them.
I don't carry or stash OC because I am confident that it would affect me more than the person who needed spraying if even a little got in my eyes or mucous membrane. I think it's a good additional option for people who are not overly sensitive to its active ingredient.
Well no pepper spray recommendations, other than my opinion it is a poor self defense tool. Have you equipped them with the knowledge to stay as safe as possible? I would look at a book titled Sheep No More. Lots of good info.
I take it you've never been hit in the face with Fox Five Point Three pepper spray.
That would be my recommendation.
https://shop.foxlabs.com/collections/five-point-three
Sticking with original position pepper spray is a poor self defense tool. Far more important is having training, and situational awareness far outweigh the benefit of pepper spray. How does that rule go? The Number one Rule to winning a gun fight is not to be in one.
And "Be Prepared" is the Boy Scout motto. What's your point? Can one not have situational awareness, training and more than one type of defensive tool?
I spent many years relying on situational awareness, training and less than lethal tools. This included pepper spray, and let me tell you, if I had to choose between using a baton, pepper spray and a Taser, in most situations I'd take pepper spray. I never had anyone that was unaffected by Fox 5.3, and I had occasion to use it quite a few times. It's hardly a "poor self defense tool."
Please tell us about your experience using pepper spray in real-world situations that has led you to the conclusion that it is a poor self-defense tool.
It was Fox's carrier that was the issue. It was straight OC but the liquid carrier was essentially brake cleaner. That is why it melted plastic and was really hard on the eyes they were sprayed into.I have no idea what different credentials people have around here. OC is a very effective tool; anyone who's been sprayed or used it can attest to that. Perfect? Definitely not. Neither is a gun. OC is much better than a Taser. Tasers aren't that great unless you also have handcuffs. Partners who also have handcuffs are big help, too.
I haven't carried Fox since the early-2000s. That was some bada** sh**. I think the type I had was OC/CS, but I could be wrong. I think we had to stop using it becuase of liability - apparently, it could melt plastic.