Buying pepper spray can be a confusing endeavor, so please take your time and read through our guide and choose what is best for your current situation. Here is a quick checklist to get you started, below we will cover each of these buying pepper spray tips:
- Check Local/State laws
- Practice holding the spray
- Take a Training Class
- Study Defense Spray Book
- Don’t Buy Strictly on Price
- Understand the Hype
The first pepper spray tip above is also the most important.
Most companies online will not ship to areas that have restriction or they will only ship certain types of pepper sprays based on local pepper spray laws.
Since, pepper sprays are restricted in some States, Countries, and Providence’s. Your top priority should be to make sure, prior to purchasing any pepper spray, you understand and check your local laws for any restrictions or bans on self defense sprays. click here for a brief summary of pepper spray law
Once you verify legality, and decide on buying pepper spray. It is important to understand how to best use your new self defense weapon. Practicing with your pepper spray will be very important to it’s deployment and effectiveness during an attack. It is highly recommended that you consider purchasing a inert practice spray to assist you your pepper spray training.
Taking a class on how to use your pepper spray is another great way to make sure you are prepared to use it in a stressful situation. You can check with your local police station, local self defense school or at a women’s shelter for possible classes in your area.
If you prefer, we have produced a very informative and exploitative information page on how pepper spray works that I recommend you read prior to making your pepper spray purchase.
The Tactical use of Defense Spray manual is another great resource to assisting you in both buying and training to use your self defense pepper spray. You can get your pepper spray manual here.
Comparative shopping is all the rage these days and with the advent of the internet and the ever improving search engines it is easier than ever to accomplish. While, it can be very beneficial to comparison shop, don’t let it consume your buying decision. The first thing is to make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
Here is a list of a things to consider when shopping for the best pepper spray:
What size do you need? There are many pepper spray sizes available on the market today and knowing which one is best for you is important to understanding how to buy pepper spray. Size range from .5 oz to over 4 ounces.
Who or What are you in need of protection? Determining if your attacker is human or animal is the first step to answering this question. You can’t use animal defense sprays on humans. Standard self defense pepper sprays are often not as effective on animals.
Where will you need protection? There are so many variations in types of pepper sprays on the market, each one designed for certain types of situation. They may be for home use, or use on your boat, designed for your car visor, etc.
What delivery system do you need? There are also differing delivery systems available, such as; pepper foam, pepper gel, stream models and fogger models.
Don’t buy strictly on price, investigate other things as well. Make sure the company you are buying from has a good track record and has been selling for a while. Ask around to see if others have bought from them.
When buying pepper spray prices can vary, make sure when checking price you don’t forget to factor in the shipping charges to the total cost of the product.
Before buying pepper spray don’t overlook things like warranty. Make sure to investigate warranty and check if the company will replace your pepper spray for free if you have to use it. Most importantly trust your gut, buy only from places that you feel comfortable with.
Understanding the Hype that surrounds the selling of pepper spray is one of the hardest things when buying pepper spray. Why? Because it exists everywhere and since most people buy with their emotions, hype sells. With that said lets examine the hypes you will encounter during your buying pepper spray journey.
Percentage of pepper in the Spray – This can be misleading because you do not know the source of the pepper being used. Different types of pepper have differing concentrations. So don’t use this as the only means of quality.
How the pepper spray is delivered – The delivery system is how the the OC pepper is carried in the spray. Currently the best method is HFC134A.
Hotness of the pepper spray – This is along with the percentage are the most used in advertising. While it is not a bad way to let the public know. It is often overused and misquoted. Here are some independent testing results that may help you in understanding hotness.
As you can see from the information above there is a lot to consider when buying pepper spray for self defense. We hope you have at least come away more informed in you pepper spray buying decisions.
Security Defense Weapons feature many models of pepper spray. Please take the time do your research and judge us on the above criteria. We offer a lifetime replacement guarantee if you ever need to use your pepper spray.
We are also working on implementing a pepper spray trade in program. Sign up for our newsletter to be informed when it is completed.