Self defence spray/pepper spray

Legally grey areas
Certain self-defence sprays: Products like Farbgel defence spray are sometimes marketed as legal alternatives to pepper spray. However, their legality is not definitively confirmed by the courts, and a police officer could still arrest you for carrying one until the product's legality is verified.

Just something I read, I think legally anything that is carried with the idea of being used as a weapon of self defence is a grey area.

I despair at the state of the world.

Yeah….I live in the US, in an open carry state. It’s perfectly normal to walk into a supermarket or a petrol station and the person in front has a gun on their hip.
I’m not a gun owner and don’t want to be. (My husband is).
But I do carry a key chain that has my car/house keys on it, along with a taser, pepper spray, several stabby tools and a very loud personal alarm.
The only reason I feel the need to carry that is because there’s a good chance everyone else around me is also carrying some form of weapon 🫠

Americans can legally carry lethal weapons around with them, and there is no issue with violence & mass murder over there.

Jif lemon (the plastic things) or hairspray is effective for some things. 👍

This is the same impulse that leads teenagers to take knives to school to feel safe. It’s a dumb idea for them - and for anyone else. The chances of needing it to thwart a violent attack are virtually nonexistent.

I'd massively prefer the jack Daniels bottle in a dodgy situation! A full, sealed glass bottle is as effective as a baseball bat in confined conditions. I've seen plenty of split heads with one of them and plenty of people attack through pepper spray...

I've watched someone cause life changing injuries with a frying pan, to be fair, you can't predict what someone will use as a weapon.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I worry that increasing the number of people armed in someway probably just increases the risk of injury/harm overall. That said I think it's silly to suggest legalising pepper spray would lead to criminals using it. They are already armed illegally and presumably don't shy away from pepper spray simply because it's illegal!

A mini can of hairspray is something mentioned in a self defence course. I've never had it in my eyes so can't say if it's effective though

@PreciousTatas exactly. I dont want to see a rise in people carrying weapons either but until we have more security/assurances what else are people going to do?

You cannot blame people for not wanting to end up as another crime statistic.

It is very concerning, I believe the rise in fear will lead to more and more 'ordinary' people carrying weapons of some kind. Fear makes rationality fly out of the window.

I had a heated discussion with a friend this morning. She was trying to explain to me about a punch knife, able to be used by an untrained person for defence and can be made from materials that don't set off security scanners.

I don't believe this is the answer and will lead to more deaths.

But I cannot deny her genuine fear that the police will not protect her or her children because it is true. In the middle of the woods, a random towns street or on a train that doesn't luckily pull into a station right next to an armed police station and hospital, she is right. The police likely wouldn't be able to save her in time.

She is adamant she would rather take the risk of being charged for carrying a weapon, than the risk of her daughter being murdered in front of her and being unable to do anything with her bare hands.

We need far more police. We need more armed police. We need to SEE the increased police presence everywhere we go. No weapons should be allowed to be carried, even for religious reasons.

Or we may be sleep walking in to a disaster.

@Simonjt I don't think anyone is saying deep heat is comparable to pepper spray, and you say it's pointless to carry, but actually in a complete emergency situation (which we'd hope to never be in) it's about disorientating someone even momentarily to be able to run or get away or do something else. Tbh hairspray or any type of spray could probably do the same

Personally I love really hot chilli sauce that I mix with a bit of water and spray onto food that I eat and I always carry it with me. My heat level is 10 million scoville. 🤷‍♂️

Security umbrellas look interesting

My 11 year old daughter asked me to buy her a tazer for xmas. She feels that unsafe. It made me very sad

Same here. Also my shoulder.

I’ve got such a sore shoulder, I am never without a can of Deep Heat in my bag.

Ah Thanks- thats SO helpful! I feel so much safer now 🙄

The way the policing is in this country people using pepper/deep heat will be the ones in trouble for causing harm!

Anyway this is what I carry with me:
https://www.get-personal.co.uk/collections/farbgel-sprays

What we actually need are some Police , and some Law, so that psychopaths are aware of deterrents.

we are moving toward being a lawless society, which means that the lowest denominator is uncontrolled.

I certainly don’t suggest the general public carry weapons, for people who wish for that there are countries where it is the norm if it would make them feel safer.

Ok so what do you suggest then?

Trust me, as someone who is stupid enough to have got it in their eyes, it really is pointless carrying it, I’d rather spray that in my eyes than get suncream sweat in them again.

Deep heat and pepper spray really aren’t comparable

Of course they arent exactly the same, noone is saying they are. But until we are allowed to protect ourselves we will have to improvise

We know it’s not the same, but we don’t have pepper spray so 🤷‍♀️