I got the following in an e-mail. Do you think this is a reliable defense against attacks and would there be any legal repercussions?


A friend who is a receptionist in a church in
> a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the
> office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the
> collection. She asked the local police department
> about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that
> she get a can of wasp spray instead.
> The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet
> away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper
> spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower
> you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an
> attacker until they get to the hospital for an
> antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the
> office and it doesn't attract attention from people
> like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps
> one nearby at home for home protection...

FROM ANOTHER SOURCE
>
> On the heels of a break in and beating
> that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense
> experts have a tip that could save your life.
> Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students
> at Sylvania Southview High School. For decades,
> he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet
> spray near your door or bed.
> Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach
> them."
> Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more
> effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans
> typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to
> break into your home, Glinka says, "spray
> the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip
> he's given to students for decades.
> It's also one he wants everyone to hear.
> If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to
> the spray.
> "That's going to give you a chance to call the
> police; maybe get out."
> Maybe even save a life.
>
> Please share this with all the people in your
> life.

I've heard this before on the internet but is there a chance of permanently blinding someone with that stuff. I don't remember now but it seemed there was a terrible repercussion from using the wasp spray. Why not carry a bottle of some awful smelling perfume?? LOL

I believe Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson have the best solution for dealing with robbers. Center mass! Tis better to be tried by 12 than carried by six.....

Here is what Urban Legends has to say on the subject: http://www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/waspspray.asp

I would have to assume that any person breaking into my home or attacking me was going to harm me and I'm telling you I would use either the gun or the spray, whatever one I had and I don't care if it kills or blinds them. I like what Mikey said about the 12 vs the six.

Thanks for that Mikey. The trouble is, my Smith and Wesson is so securely disabled, that by the time I got it out of the locked cabinet, the lock removed from it, dug the ammo out of it's hiding place and put it in the gun, the robber would have taken everything he wanted and killed me in the process. So I guess it's back to the wasp spray and ballbat.
I have never shot a gun in my life of any sort and am not sure I'd be able to shoot someone. I'd like to think I could in the right circumstance. So seeing I'm not too sure of my capabilities of even aiming the thing, maybe the wasp spray would work better for me. I think I'm going to get some brown vinyl and make a spray can shaped holster. LOL.

Esther I can just see you working on that little project now

What is the natural reaction going to be if someone picks up a can of bug spray and points it at you? I dare say most thugs would duck their head down and rush you and then after taking you down they would use the bug spray on you.

If you don't like the gun idea at least keep a SHARPENED long bladed knife nearby. Use the knife like a boxer uses his jab to keep the opponet at a distance. Slash, slash, slash! Go for the face and if they get close enough stab them and keep on stabbing until the assault ends. A machete would be best because it keeps the attacker further away due to the reach and it also is much more threatening than a kitchen knife.

The same thing applies to gun size. I have a little 22 semi-auto that is quite small and I imagine a thug would do a double take looking at the gun trying to determine if the darn thing was real. I would likely empty it in order to put the thug down. My much larger 9mm S&W would likely get their attention quicker and it would not be mistaken for a toy. I have no long guns in the house but a short barreled shotgun loaded with 00buck would truly be the best weapon of choice in my opinion.

Since I have no children in the house I keep my guns unlocked and easily accessible. When children are present I run a cable lock through the barrels and hide the key at a different location.

I know what I said in my other post about using a gun or the spray but at this time I don't have a gun and I really don't want to have one at least not now anyway. I feel safe where we live out in the country and we do have 5 neighbors right close to us. One guy won't have any alarm system put in as he has a gun in his home and he wants them to come in so he can blow them away. I prolly won't put any knives near me either or even the bug spray. Maybe I'm making a big mistake but all that stuff laying around would make me constantly think about all the bad stuff that could happen and I don't want to be in that mode. If I do find the need or want and I have the stuff there to use and someone comes at me..............I would definitely use it but I'm just not there yet in actually getting them. I hope nothing happens to change my mind and then I am sorry but I can't help it, I don't want it around

We have 5 long barrel thingys of some sort. Pete knows, I don't know and don't care. Then we have two pistols of some sort. The pistols and two of the long barrel ones came from my dad. After he had that accident, he was talking goofy about not wanting to live so we snuck all his guns here. Later I told him what we had done and why. He was surprised to learn he had said things like that. He never asked for them back. Good thing because I don't think Naomi would have wanted to have them.

Both the pistols came from friends of my folks who were missionaries in Africa before they retired. It would be interesting to know what they had been used for. I know that one time MANY years ago, the one missionary had been asked to accompany the officials in the area to help hunt down a rogue elephant and another time it was to kill a huge snake of some sort.

My dad has an ivory tusk but don't know if it had anything to do with that elephant story. Wonder what happened to all that stuff my folks had been given from missionaries over the years. My mom and dad always had it sitting around and on bookcases but that type of stuff doesn't fit my stepmom's idea of decorating.

Um, I don't really know what I think about using a gun to kill someone Mikey. I don't think it is wrong to do. I would like to think I could do it but when actually faced with it, I just don't know. I used to have a machete hanging in the kitchen but it's not there now. Wonder what I did with it. I think I could shoot someone quicker than stab them. I would suspect that using the wasp spray would disable the robber's vission for a while, long enough for me to hit 'em with my ballbat.

I probably come off pretty hard-nose relative to killing an attacker. I came from the real world where most of you have never been. I know what really happens, not just the tiny percentage of crimes you read about or see on the local news. As a former peace officer I have seen it all; rapes, molestations, shootings, stabbings, murders etc.; horrible things a Hollywood script writer would never dream of. Sure, most of these crimes happened in "bad" neighborhoods but certainly not all. I still have a vivid recollection of an elderly well-dressed man lying dead face down in a hallway of his home with a hunting knife firmly planted in the middle of his back. He lived in a very expensive house in an affluent part of town....but he was no less a homicide victim. Sadly it was a who-done-it and to my knowledge is still unresolved.

I live in a middle class neighborhood in quiet community with very little crime but several years ago an undesirable family moved into a house directly behind me.... It can happen to anyone.... I shot these through my kitchen window two years ago....