Originally Posted by
Litespud
consider Mace (never a gun)
Why not a gun?
What if the bad guy has a gun? Go ahead and pull a can of mace on a guy with a gun. Let's see how that ends for you.
Mace is only an irritant to people who've never been maced. It's disorienting and scary. It doesn't put you on the ground like a taser does. And anyone that's been maced a couple times (or is high) will deal with the irritation later, after taking a few retaliation swings at you. Only now they'll be more pissed off.
Mace is a poor defense weapon for that reason.
Police use it as a non lethal option, but will have a hand on their sidearm in case you don't stop when maced.
Mace is good for dealing with animals though if you ride where there is the threat of an animal attack. Mace is great for that because it'll scare the snot out (literally) of a dag or coyote or something like that, but ultimately do no lasting harm to the animal.