Chemical Defense Sprays
By Tom Crawford
Copyright 2012 By The Author
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As we have seen from our discussion of the force continuum, different attack scenarios require different
and normally proportional responses in defense. The well-prepared defender will have use of force
options available to them running the gamut from little to no force, represented by loud voice commands
and body language, through intermediate force such as striking and grappling techniques, and ending in a
deadly force option such as a firearm. Obviously, the use of deadly force is restricted to extreme cases
where innocent human life is at risk, and no reasonable lower force option or escape route exists. All lawful
use of force is in fact limited to cases of unprovoked attack where such force is truly necessary, including
the level of force represented by chemical defense sprays.
Often generically and incorrectly referred to as “Mace” by the untrained, (Mace is a trademark of the Mace
Security International Corporation, and refers to their products only) chemical defense sprays and similar
preparations, when used as directed, represent a level of force that is similar to a punch in the face. No
matter what composition or type of preparation, their use should only be contemplated in cases where
actually striking another person would be considered necessary and appropriate. Far from being a
harmless prank, the use of these agents inflicts pain and discomfort, sometimes for as much as 24 hours.
Improper use of chemical defense sprays has, in rare cases, resulted in death to the recipient of the
spray. Further, improper tactics in the use of chemical agents may well result in death to the user of the
spray!
First and foremost, it must be understood that the use of a defense spray, foam, or fogging device should
be considered an alternative to a fistfight, not a knife or gunfight. One should not consider any chemical
defense agent an appropriate response to a deadly force attack. It is truly astounding how many people
there are who carry tear gas or pepper spray weapons that don’t understand this simple fact. They are
wrong. No sane person would consider a punch in the nose a meaningful and complete response to a
knife or gun attack, but many people obviously think that chemical sprays are, even though the best of
these is the force equivalent of a punch. The only time that a chemical agent should be used in this type
of situation is when there are no other retreat or resistance options available. One has a hard time
imagining such situations. I for one would rather fight with a simple stick against a knife attack than to
spray my assailant. While not perfect, and while I may well be killed or injured, the results achieved, if any,
would certainly be faster.
Defense sprays fall into several categories, separated by both chemical composition and method of
delivery. We typically see so-called “tear gas” preparations, composed primarily of CS
(orthoclorobenzalmalononitrile), or CN (Chloracetophenone) in a water or alcohol based carrier agent. CS
and CN sprays were the earliest forms of modern chemical defense agents, and are useful primarily for
crowd control. However, some defense spray products available on the market do use CS or CN as a
constituent part. Both CS and CN are considered irritants.
Neither type of spray actually requires a direct hit to a mucous membrane to be effective, both can produce
tearing and eye or nose irritation by fume action. In fact, officers issued these sprays were originally
trained to spray the attacker’s shirt in the high chest level to produce a prolonged irritation as the chemical
fumes were released from the garment’s fabric. Obviously, this process is a little slower than we’d like when
the attacker is bearing down on you with fists or a stick. Neither agent actually burns the skin to a
significant degree, nor causes any real disorientation, although some recipients do report difficulty
breathing. Both types of sprays are notoriously ineffective on those under the influence of drugs and
alcohol, but for that matter, so are pistol bullets.
What are now known as “Pepper Spray” defense agents are more modern versions, and contain as the
active ingredient the extract oleoresin capsicum, OC for short. OC is sometimes taken from the Habanero
pepper plant. OC is considered to be an inflammatory agent. In addition to burning the eye and respiratory
tract, in proper concentrations this extract causes painful burns on contact with the skin. This extract is an
oil, and is not water soluble, but rather is dispersed by water. Generally, the only way to reduce the pain
and irritation from OC contact is to flush as much of the material off as possible with water, and to apply a
fat-containing compound such as some bath soaps in liberal quantities to the affected area. OC contact
irritates and burns skin and mucous membranes, causing pain for as much as 24 hours after application.
The relative strength or intensity of pepper extracts is rated by a measure known as Scoville Heat Units,
(SHU’s). Pepper irritants intended primarily for defense against bears are rated using a different system.
For purposes of reference, the hottest Jalapeno pepper you will ever be served in any restaurant is rated
at 5,000 SHU’s. Raw Habanero peppers routinely measure over 500,000 SHU’s. As used in full-strength
defense sprays, good OC preparations range from 2 million to about 5 million SHU’s. Obviously, this stuff
has about as much relationship to the red pepper in your kitchen as your tabby cat has to a Bengal tiger.
They’re both felines, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Often, these agents are marked as 1%, 5%, or 10% strength or concentration. Such designations may be
hard to quantify, because the manufacturer may not say what strength the OC was to start with. When
selecting a chemical defense spray, it is important to know not only the number of heat units, but also the
percentage of dilution. You should be aware that heat units are touted by many manufacturers in terms of
the pepper strength before it is diluted in the carrier or base and the actual concentration is really lower,
but these are the numbers they tend to publish, if they will tell you anything at all.
For instance, a preparation of 500,000 SHU’s diluted to a 10% solution is actually hotter and may be more
effective than one that starts with 2 million SHU’s and is made up in a 1% strength. Based on my
experience, final preparations that exceed an honest 20,000 SHU’s as packaged (consumer strength) will
be effective for our purposes, but clearly, the hotter the better, especially since the pain inflicted by the
spray may be the only “punishment” your attacker ever gets for his crime. The primary difference seems to
be the onset, severity and duration of pain and burning caused by the application of the preparation to the
miscreant.
Some manufacturers combine CN or CS and OC in the same container. These chemicals cannot co-exist
in full strength in the same package, so normally the OC concentration must be reduced slightly. Mace
Security International has done this with their Triple Action Formula, but the stuff is still pretty effective
within the limits of any defense chemical agent. Among acceptable agents, size and packaging of the spray
unit, as well as its availability will help you make your choice. When you read how these devices are best
used in the citizen self-defense context, you will see that if deployed intelligently, just about any good agent
can be made to work.
Be aware that the system you choose must have not only sufficient strength, but also a sufficient volume
of spray to douse one or two attackers thoroughly. Ideally, your spray will have some simple safety
mechanism to keep the device from being activated while in your pocket or purse. Such pepper spray
accidental discharges are truly obnoxious, and will not endear you to your co-workers or car passengers.
Good brands include Mace, Cap-Stun, and Punch. Our staff has had good results with the Sabre line of
chemical sprays as well as products from Defense Technologies. There is a device made by ASP called
the Key Defender that combines pepper spray with a small Kubotan-like metal impact weapon, and
therefore makes a dual purpose force tool. Keep in mind that the small key chain type sprays, normally
housed in little vinyl snap containers rarely have full strength concentrations or sufficient spray volume to
get the job done. None of the devices are in really crush-proof or well-sealed containers, since they are
mostly designed to be disposable. All will leak under conditions of high temperature as are found inside
cars in the summer, or extremes of atmospheric pressure that exist in airline baggage compartments.
None of these inexpensive devices are foolproof, and just like your self-defense firearm, must be tested
prior to use. Outdoors, on a windless day, you should spray one or two shots at a target the size of a
man's head (since this is what you will have to hit), and assess both your range limitations as well as those
of the device. Manufacturers typically overstate the range of their sprays by as much as twice, apparently
relying on fortuitous tailwinds to propel the chemical toward the bad guy. You should practice using full
one-second bursts of spray, even though some brands call for half-second shots. This is because under
stress, you will find it difficult to assess duration, and it’s important that your attacker get a full dose. You
should replace your device once a year, or when used in defense, no matter what the label says about
expiration date.
Some of these preparations use a fogger or foam method of delivery. Foggers work best when there are a
few people to be dealt with all at once, but also may be of some value in decreasing the accuracy required
in defense. However, fogger sprays are more adversely affected by wind than are streams, which are by
far the most common. Foam was developed for use in corrections, the idea being that when used, the
spray wouldn’t hang in the air long after the need had passed, thereby taking a cell or dayroom out of
service for some time. While foam did solve that problem, a new difficulty was encountered when inmates
discovered that they could simply scrape off the foam, and throw it back in the officer’s face. Very few
people have the presence of mind to do this, but it can and has happened to me.
While we’re talking about law enforcement use, you’ll likely find that many cops aren’t too keen on the use
of chemical defense sprays, having found that great claims have been made for these agents in training,
while getting what they feel are disappointing results in the street. Police will often report that the spray
didn’t “stop” the fight, and in fact enraged the subject, whom they then must physically restrain to make an
arrest. What fun. It’s no wonder some cops don’t like this stuff very much. Their administrators
misunderstand its highest and best use, which is not in stopping fights.
Consider that chemical agents such as these work best in two settings, dispersing unruly crowds of low
commitment, and as a device to prevent an attacker from following you as you break contact and run away.
Today’s cops don’t do all that much chemical crowd control, and certainly don’t get paid to run away. In the
context of the private citizen, especially one with limited striking and grappling capability, these sprays,
intelligently used, do serve a purpose. Despite taking 5-8 seconds for the chemical to really take effect,
there is an immediate startle reflex induced when anything is shot toward the eyes. This startle reflex is the
citizen’s opportunity to run while the attacker is still stunned, not waiting to see if the spray will take effect.
If handled in this way, the chemical does serve to prevent the attacker from pursuing you in most cases.
When you do use a chemical spray, you must not threaten or warn your attacker, since the production of a
startle response is integral to success. In view of this fact, obviously you would not try the “Stop or I’ll
Squirt” defense! Your attacker is likely to be enraged several seconds before the chemical kicks in, and if
you are still there when that happens, you’ve just purchased and opened a king-sized can of Ass
Whuppin’. Don’t be there to see if the spray worked, and never use it in a situation where you can’t run.
To illustrate my point, let me give you some insight on how we train law enforcement officers in the use of
OC sprays. In training, the recruit is stood against a wall, and at a distance of about six feet is given a full
shot of police strength OC, directly in his or her eyes, which the recruit will invariably attempt to close. But,
we force them to open their eyes, and in the aftermath of being sprayed, they must normally then fight with
two aggressors, one at a time. The first one attempts to take their gun, which they must not allow. The
second one must be subdued using a training baton, or hands and feet by the now near-blind trainee,
taken to the ground, and handcuffed. The whole fight lasts about 90 seconds. Only if the officer can do this
does he or she pass the training. It's tough, but doable. The real pain starts after the OC chemical has had
a chance to work. The idea is to condition us for when we get the spray in our own eyes while using it, and
to let us know that we can still fight. My point in telling you this is that if you use OC, do not expect it to
make your attacker drop to the ground or become instantly incapacitated. You MUST run. If you spray me
with OC and stay in the area, I'm going to grab you, beat you senseless, and then empty the rest of your
spray can into your eyes, nose, and mouth. You won't die unless I choose to kill you, but you'll wish you
had run after you sprayed me. You have been warned!
In summary, good quality chemical agents are plentiful; less restricted than some other defensive tools,
require very limited training and almost no physical skill, and are cheap. They also have little potential to
do more than irritate if turned against their owners in most cases. On the downside, they don’t work in all
cases against everyone (nothing does), and there are certain situations where you shouldn’t attempt using
them at all. These are the same problems we face with firearms, but we still use them. The chemical
defense spray should be considered one of several force options available to the prepared citizen.
Remember, in self-protection, nothing is everything, but everything is something.
Special thanks to PPI Instructor Richard Castanet for his assistance in the preparation and updating of
this article. Rich is a dedicated martial artist and committed teacher. He volunteers his spare time teaching
force continuum topics and training with the United States Marine Corps.