Pepper Spray Is Not For Revenge

Pepper spray is an illegal self defense weapon in Canada, but bear spray isn’t. There are a lot of bears in Canada and so it is understandable why bear spray is legal. But people have been misusing bear spray quite a bit recently in Canada, as well as using pepper spray that they have acquired illegally.

One of these instances took place earlier this week.

In a McDonald’s in Nanaimo a canister of pepper spray was deployed. The man discharging the pepper spray had been there earlier that night and had been in a fight with someone else. He left and came back a few hours later with a can of pepper spray. With a blank face he started to spray random people in their faces with the pepper spray.

Twenty people ended up going to the hospital due to the incident. Some of them were members of a local hockey team.

The police arrested the assailant as well as another man.

This attack with pepper spray was yet another in a string of recent similar instances. The police have been arresting the suspects and apparently most of them have been teenagers.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police made gave a statement about the recent outbreak of pepper spray misuses and within a week, the frequency of incidents dropped. The simple act of communicating the problems with the public seemed to raise awareness. Perhaps some people hadn’t realized what kind of trouble they could get in for misusing pepper spray.

Pepper spray is for self defense, not revenge. If you use pepper spray incorrectly, there are consequences.