New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof posited the idea in a recent piece that people who are worried about people breaking into their homes should get bear spray for self-defense instead of a firearm.
Kristof wrote about the idea after home shootings involving Ralph Yarl and Kaylin Gillis.
Elsewhere, brutes send their victims to the E.R.; in America, they send them to their graves. Foreigners admire our popular culture, our technology, our lifestyle, but are bewildered by our refusal to rein in guns.
In the 1990s when I was Tokyo bureau chief of The Times, Japanese people regularly spoke to me about a 1992 incident in which a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student, Yoshihiro Hattori, was shot dead in Louisiana after knocking on the wrong door. The homeowner said he thought the boy was a burglar and ordered him to 'freeze'; Hattori perhaps didn’t understand 'freeze' or misheard the man as saying 'please.' In any case, the boy moved, and the man shot him with a .44 magnum.
"I backpack, and it's well known that bear spray is more effective against a charging grizzly than a handgun. Probably also more effective against a home invader. Think of it as harm reduction," he tweeted.
We could even encourage worried homeowners to buy bear spray for protection. I backpack, and it's well known that bear spray is more effective against a charging grizzly than a handgun. Probably also more effective against a home invader. Think of it as harm reduction.
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) April 22, 2023
"We accept inconveniences to reduce auto fatalities: seatbelts, speed limits, no riding in the backs of pickup trucks. So why don't we accept tradeoffs to reduce gun mortality? In MS, it's easier to buy an AR-15 than to adopt a Chihuahua. Why should that be?" he further tweeted.
Kristof was predictably mocked for the idea of using bear mace:
You do realize that indoors, bear spray would affect the intruder and the homeowner?
— Cavalry Doc (@desertveteran) April 23, 2023
If you don’t understand what you are talking about, just set this one out and let the adults handle it.
While painful, bear spray is weaker than pepper spray - designed for use on an animal with 1000x more sensitive sense of smell.
— Joel (@joelgaines) April 24, 2023
Legally, you can be in jeopardy if you use bear spray as a self-defense tool .
Poor survival advice against asocial violence.https://t.co/imvsbtBKGQ
You've obviously never fished in Alaska, where every other fisherman has a 454 Casull on their hip because of grizzlies and brown bear, not spicy perfume.
— LeeRoyJenkins® (@NunyaBiznnes) April 24, 2023