Every year all around the country hundreds of thousands people use self defense products to save themselves from assaults, robberies and assorted other street crimes. A lesser number of people use self defense products as their first line of defense against dog attacks. And even fewer people use bear spray out in the back country as their primary defense against bear attacks. With the growing popularity of home invasions, homeowners are turning to wireless home security systems as a defense against burglary and home invasion.
These are the instances that people hear and read about in the news. Multiply those instances by 10 and you have an idea of how popular self defense products have become.
It is one thing to talk about anecdotal evidence on the popularity of a particular product but to give you a front line report that made the news provides legitimacy to the use of the product.
So here are some instances where self defense products made the news.
The first example is that of a homeowner who had a wireless security system installed in her house to improve her home security. Just two weeks later a home invader tried to get in while she was at home. The alarm went off but the very first number that was dialed on her preset selection was the police department who heard a prerecorded message. They showed up within minutes and caught the bad guys.
In another instance from last fall, a gentleman who lived in Montana decided to take his family for one last fling before winter set in. They were in a pretty remote section of the Rocky Mountains when they were within the sights of a black bear. His two kids panicked and started to run despite warnings from their dad to the contrary. Dad fortunately had a can of bear spray. He was quick on the draw and was able to get a wall of mist up in front of the bear. When the bear came charging at them he ran right into the bear spray and quickly retreated
A business owner in New Hampshire had been the victim of armed robbery last fall. One of his customers bought him a pepper spray to keep at his front register. Recently another robber approached with a handgun pointed at the store owner. The store owner reflexively reached for the pepper spray and sprayed the armed robber who was forced to retreat. As it turned out the robber, as he was making his escape, ran into a power pole. He couldn't see because the results of the pepper spray forced excessive tearing.
For hundreds of thousands of Americans self defense products are the first line of self defense.