It’s that time of year again - spring is trying desperately to poke through the grey of late winter and the dreaded bugs are coming back. A piece of advice I see online far too often around this time of year is to have hornet or wasp spray in your car/home for self-defense.
If you are in your yard, spraying a hornet nest and are attacked and have no other way to defend yourself from imminent death or grave bodily, I would say use the hornet spray (IMO). However, to have that as a backup wherever you go is not a good idea. That’s what those handy-dandy pepper spray/gel containers are for.
What are your thoughts on this? (Please feel free to share links with supporting info!)
My wife drives a taxi around town and actually had a police officer tell her that wasp spray is the 2nd best next to pepper spray if that’s all you can afford since it’s way cheaper. She has pepper spray as well as her Ruger, but thought it was strange that a officer told her that insect spray would work in self defense.
That doesn’t surprise me, @Damon. I hear it from so many people.
Will you be prosecuted for using wasp spray for self-defense when you’re in imminent danger of death or grave bodily harm? That depends on the prosecuting attorney. But I’m not willing to find out (unless I am using it to get rid of wasps and am attacked in my yard). I’d much rather have the pepper spray on me legally than risk it using wasp spray.
The stuff doesn’t sting your eyes that badly. I used to apply pesticides for a living and had a cloud get blown into my face. I would just use OC spray. All the dudes on cops seem to hit the ground after that stuff hits them.
This myth needs to die a horrible, violent death. I’ve had this stuff blow back in my eyes, guess what? It burnt but i could function really well.
IT IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR PEPPER SPRAY!!!
You’re better off using the can as a club for petes sake. Seriously go youtube wasp spray vs pepper spray right now. No, really.
While not a good choice, if you are at home, it will work.
Look around, there are weapons everywhere. The ball point pen in your pocket or on the desk, the rolled up magazine, the rolled up newspaper, your belt, you might be surprised by the number and type of available defensive weapons we see every day and may not even think about it.
As far as the spray??? Not sure how a prosecutor would react if you ignited it into a flame thrower.
First of all, why aren’t you carrying your gun with you outside?
Hornet/Wasp spray contains poisons and could get you into more trouble than if you had used your gun. Amazon sells Bear Pepper Spray. 8oz can for around $29. Shoots 30 feet.
Well, I did mention the many other available weapons that are all around each of us… but that being said, you spray someone in the eyes, with Windex, and it will delay them perhaps long enough for you to shut a door and turn the lock, and wasp spray… might very well provide more delay.
Not everyone reacts to pepper spray the same, and some are not impacted at all, so to say something will not work at all, simply is short sighted.
If it is under pressure, you very well can ignite as a flame thrower.
If you only have wasp spray in your hand when someone approaches, and you need to get into your house, use it.
Bear spray is not as potent as OC spray for humans. Bear spray is designed to fill the air with droplets by making a giant cloud, discouraging the bear from attacking. On the other hand, pepper spray is a targeted stream designed to incapacitate a person close to you.
It would be a federal crime to use any insecticide for self defense so you’d probably find yourself facing state and federal charges for aggravated assault in most cases.
About the only justification you could successfully offer is that if you had nothing else to use and had to retreat to where it was stored such as under the kitchen sink or in a garden shed/carport/garage.
Carrying it for use in self defense would certainly be illegal under both state and federal law.
Yeah, I have never checked the legality of using it. That is a good thing to know. Bear spray is also pretty expensive compared to OC gel. I think I saw a cheaper can of bear spray for like 30 some odd dollars and a can of saber gel is like $16, I think?
Bear spray is illegal to carry in many states and in some states so is OC spray above a certain percentage and volume so before one decides to carry either you really need to checkup on your state’s law.
Insecticides are not made for self defense and any off label use is a federal crime as well as a crime in some states.
You’d be better off hitting them with some ammonia based window cleaner and even that can land you in jail if it should harm them significantly unless you also had a lawful use of deadly force in the incident.
I knew pesticides are illegal to carry with the intent of self defense. I think a civilian cannot carry a can of OC spray in WI that is above a certain size.
Civilians are not allowed to carry the fire extinguisher size Police have.
Our law is somewhat ambiguous though limiting it to “small” dispensers manufactured for individual self defense. There is no limit on the size PD’s can use however so I suggest sticking to 8oz or less since by comparison they are much smaller than the Pint or larger containers used by police.
You’d have to work pretty hard I should think to find a cop willing to arrest or charge you for 8oz or less in a lawful self defense action and a prosecutor would have to be really desperate to do so at least in my opinion.
As a rule I’m not a fan of them at all but in areas you cannot carry at all it would be better than nothing.
I carry one along with a flashlight while running. I am not really super comfortable carrying a firearm while working out. I dont want a crowd control sized can of it in my running shorts.
I think my flashlight with the stobe option is a far better choice, but it pays to have options.
