Whew...I almost hate to enter this thread. Guns for bear protection is one of those topics that always generates a lot of heat. The discussion can get quite contentious.

One article I found very interesting is this one from last summer by Rick Sinnott on myths about guns and bears. In it he points to a lot of the totally lame ideas that some people have regarding bears and guns. He also talks about pepper spray. Rick is a retired biologist who had responsibility for the Anchorage area. We do have a lot of bears (brown and black) in and around our city. Rick has dealt for many years with the bear vs people issue.

There is a good research article on pepper spray. Bottom line is that there isn't much doubt anymore that it works. Nothing is guranteed to work in every case, but pepper spray works well.

After having lived, worked, and played in Alaska for over 20 years, I have (surprise..surprise) some opinions of my own. Let me preface this by saying I am not anti-gun. I own and shoot a variety of long and short guns. I have military experience. Some years back I was doing field work in remote areas and my employer sent me to an excellent wildlife safety class. Unlike many who offer advice, I have actually killed bears (one brown and one black, both on bear hunting trips).

In my opinion, most of the people I see on the trails carrying guns for bear protection are very poorly trained. (See some of the comments in Sinnott's article). Most of them would be better off carrying pepper spray. At best they don't have the skills to successfully stop the bear in time to prevent injury, and at worst some of them are a danger to others on the trails. Their gun is psychological protection only.

These days my personal choice is that I generally carry only pepper spray. It has been shown to work. And I don't shoot as much as I used to, and don't feel my skills are as sharp as they should be to carry a gun for bear protection. Besides, pepper spray is a lot less weight to lug around, which is nice as I get older.