Originally Posted by borobike

Have you ever been shot? Even a tiny .22 is like getting slammed by a 2x4 with an unreal amount of force. You bet they'll feel the pain right away, especially in the small body mass of a dog. Just putting that out there.

Couple other points I'd like to raise:

One concerning delay of fire because of having to chamber a round. I don't know of anyone who is licensed to carry a handgun who does so without a round in the chamber and the safety activated, if there is one. I know I sure don't. Otherwise, it's just a club with a delay switch.

Second concerning accuracy. Pretty valid point, but I'd also like to put forward that, you're probably just as likely to hit a dog from three feet or so away as you are to hit it in the eyes with some form of spray. You don't have to shoot it square in the head to incapacitate it, or discourage it from chasing you further. Training helps with accuracy under intense situations. I've mentioned it before somewhere else, but I absolutely don't believe that someone should entrust their defense to a gun until they've been trained to do so properly.

Regarding the bear statistics, anyone using a handgun against a bear of any species is pretty foolish. Grossly so, even. Handguns of the type we are speaking of here (and almost all in general) were designed for something with a much smaller body mass.

Not sure about the weight thing. My Smith and Wesson 637 (bike carry choice) weighs somewhere in the teens (oz). Not really a big factor.

Lastly, any properly designed quality modern firearm will absolutely not fire when dropped. They are tested extensively for this. Most have extensive safety features to prevent holster discharges (although a good holster wouldn't allow this in the first place) as well.

That being said, I don't discount the use of bear spray. It does work. I'd imagine anyone using that would be reasonably well off in defending against threats, but that's not what I choose to carry.

Carry what you want, by all means, I just wanted to put forth that a bullet is a more effective stopper than they are being given credit for here. Otherwise our law enforcement officers, who also must act under pressure and fire under adverse conditions, would trade in their Glocks for big cans of bear spray. Remember that cops must face the possibility of adversaries that genuinely don't perceive pain and can't reason, such as can be the case with meth addicts and other of the more severe drugs. Proper training is key, but it doesn't require some Jedi-like mastery to use a firearm effectively.

Not wanting to start some major flame war here, but I just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions before continuing on. Stay safe out there.
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