Originally Posted by
GJM
Oops, make that “Outside Bozeman.”
Here is my take on bear spray.
From the perspective of a park ranger, bear spray is a perfect recommendation. It doesn’t cost much. Compared to a firearm, it takes relatively little skill to use. It keeps guns out of the hands of people with a low skill level. And, perhaps most importantly to them, the bear is unlikely to get hurt.
From the perspective of a regular person, bear spray is also an excellent recommendation. They want something that makes them feel better, and frankly it may be more effective for most people, given the amount of firearms expertise required to use a weapon defensively against a bear.
From the perspective of a skilled firearms person, I think bear spray sucks. A skilled person knows that bear spray is not part of a layered approach, since deploying bear spray compromises your ability to effectively deploy a firearm. If bear spray fails, you are unlikely to have time to deploy a firearm. Yet having bear spray with you, at least in lower 48, creates opportunities for second guessing by the authorities and public at large, in your defensive use of a firearm — as in “why did you shoot the bear when you had spray?” I think a warning shot effectively becomes your “bear spray.”