I felt that something which Sgt. Mike posted over on the Outdoor Forums might be good to repeat here, so, with his permission, here is what he wrote:<br><br><br>From: sgtmike88<br><br>PepperFoam is a terrible self defense product! It was designed and developed for correctional tactical applications (by a close friend of mine when he was the Training Director for Mace Security International in Bennington, VT). IE. Violent perp/inmate barricaded in a cell - he gets sprayed with foam, there's no secondary contamination, CERT Team waits until the foam takes effect and then goes in and takes control of the perp. IE. Used in a hospital where secondary contamination must be minimized for fear of endangering innocents with predisposed medical conditions which could be aggravated. <br><br>I have personally seen incidents where once sprayed with foam, the perp quickly wiped it away from his face and threw it back at the officer. <br><br>For self defense, you need a good ballistic stream, spatter stream, or aerosol mist/fog. BodyGuard, ASP, DefTech / Federal Labs, Zarc (Capstun), Fox Labs and many others make great defensive products as described. Stay away from those with mixtures of CS or CN blended into the mix - it's just a sales gimmick. For serious defensive work you want pure hot OC. <br><br>PS ... With that maglite or baton, you have to get close enough to strike ... with a good OC ballistic stream, you could be 12' or more away, in a better defensive position to provide for further defense should it be deemed necessary. <br><br>Mike<br>