Brief History on the Origin of Pepper Spray

The world can be a dangerous place. Most of themostly for animal repellent, soon adopted by hunters
time that is not the case. You can walk down theand forestry agents in case of a wild animal attack,
street safely without worries, and probably haveas violent as a bear attack. Pepper spray's domestic
someone by your side just in case. However, foruse did not pick up until the early 1990s when more
those rare times when it is dangerous, protection isthan 3000 police forces, driven by the endorsement
handy to have around. Pepper spray as a compact,by the FBI of pepper spray as a safe crowd
easily concealed protection device is ideal for justdeterrent, picked it up as a standard weapon in their
such situations. When going to buy pepper sprayarsenal.
though, you might have questions as to its originsLaw enforcement's decision to pick up and use the
and actual usage.substance led to the spread of it as a common self
Pepper spray, also known as OC spray (standing fordefense substance throughout the nation. Marketed
oleoresin capsicum) is derived from a certain genusin small, compact canisters, it became quite easy to
of plants known as Capsicum. The most commonlybuy pepper spray for use as a crime deterrent for
known of these is the chili pepper. Accordingly, thethe average man or woman on the street. Often
amount of Capsaicin in the spray is measured to giveconcealed in a purse or something as small as a
the pepper spray its hotness rating and thuspendent or ring, pepper spray is a perfect self
effectiveness. These numbers range from lowerdefense tool in that it will allow the incapacitation of a
numbers in use by police for crowd patrol to themugger or attacker for just long enough to run
industrial strength pepper spray used to subdueaway. The inflammatory properties of pepper spray
bears.are perfectly suited to giving a victim enough time to
The process of grinding up peppers and using themescape.
to blind one's enemies has been happening since daysPepper spray, from its earliest inception has always
of ancient China. Developed in the 1960s, pepperbeen used and marketed as a repellent, a powerful
spray was first marketed under the name Halt Animaland natural substance that will temporarily and
Repellent. Pepper spray, derived from the slew ofwithout causing permanent harm, incapacitate a
tear gases, mustard gases, and hybrids used by theperson or animal, long enough to get away from
military and police forces of the world since the 19ththem, or for law enforcement to arrest them. Widely
century, was first used by the Postal Service in therecognized as a first line of defense, pepper spray is
80's as a dog repellent.a great choice for the regular citizen looking to
For the rest of the decade, pepper spray was usedprotect themselves.