Interesting article and the follow up on the Canadian position on beer/pepper spay. Over the years we have had several threads -some rather heated-on personal protection, & being safe out there and related subjects. Still the best advise i give (and it is maybe a general feeling on this site) is always be prepared for anything, use your common sense, and don't get into "that " situation " in the first place-if you can help it. Still, for me, when everything else fails, my first safety measure after the above, is my trusty dog, then my can of bear spray and if things get real bad(depending on where i am), my trusty glock or 357 Colt trooper. Again I spent allot of years learning and being trained- both on the job and off of it- in the back country on how to deal with lot's of various situations and the "Public". One of my big fears out there is that untrained and uninformed person with a gun, vehicle,fishing rod or what ever, thinking he/she is making a right decision, making a wrong decision that impacts me and my own-just got to be prepared and hope for the best
Smoke.