At what point is pepper spray justified?

[mergatroid]

With the growing recommendation from political leaders, Maxine Waters, Cory Booker, et al, and the growing prevalence of "Antifa" style aggressive behavior toward normal Americans, see link below, would the use of pepper spray ever be justified to "protect" your personal space?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_8Wpv8eFA4

What do you think?

[Cameramonkey]

Personally, I use the same metric more or less for my pistol; If I can articulate a fear for severe personal injury it comes out. Somebody in my personal space being overly aggressive and refusing to step back yes, standing at a distance yelling general obscenities no. I'll do my best to avoid the fight first, pepper spray second, and the pistol (or knife) as an absolute last resort.

it wouldnt have come out in that video. My window wouldnt have been down either.

But a drive by with a can of bear spray would have been mighty entertaining. LOL

[bacon#1]

They have tacos? I may have to rethink my position.

[Cameramonkey]

As an aside, I found it ironic that there were white men standing in the street screaming at other white men (drivers) for being white. LOLWUT?

[eldirector]

Meh, just drive around them.

I've had all kinds of random folks (panhandlers, drunks, druggies, mentally-ill, etc...) try to block lanes of traffic, just in Indy. I go around them. Why stop to engage them in ANY way? They are at best annoying. At worst, one half-step away from violent.

Now, why the cops didn't hose them down, hit them with the tazer, and roast marshmallows in the resulting fire is beyond me. I'd get a ticket for jaywalking if I set so much as a FOOT off of the curb, and these yahoos act like a bunch of 'tards and no one cares.

[Cameramonkey]

Meh, just drive around them.

I've had all kinds of random folks (panhandlers, drunks, druggies, mentally-ill, etc...) try to block lanes of traffic, just in Indy. I go around them. Why stop to engage them in ANY way? They are at best annoying. At worst, one half-step away from violent.

Now, why the cops didn't hose them down, hit them with the tazer, and roast marshmallows in the resulting fire is beyond me. I'd get a ticket for jaywalking if I set so much as a FOOT off of the curb, and these yahoos act like a bunch of 'tards and no one cares.

Apparently the cops' response when asked was "Sometimes it is better to let them get bored and go home when they arent hurting anyone. Police presence/enforcement can escalate these things into violence, so that is why we had our officers stand back and observe." (paraphrased) what a load of

[Drail]

Because for the most part - no one cares....... I wouldn't place ANY faith at all in pepper spray. I have seen guys sprayed with it and just laugh. It might work but you don't want to bet on it. It also just might blow back in your face if you happen to be downwind.

[K_W]

I was just considering the same thing. With the rise in violence against drivers by political rioters, I'm considering carrying pepper spray in my car to spray out the sunroof if ever surrounded by agitators. I hate that I've even had to ponder the thought.

Under Indiana stand-your-ground laws if rioters are surrounding and beating on my occupied motor vehicle I am permitted to use reasonable force, I believe pepper spray is minimal yet effective reasonable force.

[Cameramonkey]

I was just considering the same thing. With the rise in violence against drivers by political rioters, I'm considering carrying pepper spray in my car to spray out the sunroof if ever surrounded by agitators. I hate that I've even had to ponder the thought.

Under Indiana stand-your-ground laws if rioters are surrounding and beating on my occupied motor vehicle I am permitted to use reasonable force, I believe pepper spray is minimal yet effective reasonable force.

But without a direct hit, you're probably going to just piss the crowd off. And those upwind are gonna get pissed you hurt their buddies downrange. I saw a video a while back where one of the group got a snootful, and as soon as it was obvious he was down and incapacitated, the rest of the group increased their anger and proceeded to work harder to attack the defender. ("why'd you have to do that for? Now we have to get back at you for hurting our friend. " etc) So if you use it on a group, remember your 1st grade teacher's advice; make sure you brought enough to share with everyone.

If it were me, I'd skip the pepper spray for that one and just work at pushing through the crowd carefully.

[HoughMade]

What I wouldn't give for the '68 Chicago PD in that situation.