Originally Posted By: Denis
They often use language that suggests your are taking an unreasonable risk if you choose bear spray as your primary defence tool in bear country, and yet all the available data suggests that it is your safest bet.

I'd say that what the data actually suggests is that bear spray is an average person's safest bet. If you are sufficiently different from the average (e.g. if you are better at handling a firearm), then your personal safest bet might well be different too.