My opinion on mace and other chemical sprays like OC are that they just aren't enough by themselves to stop anyone who seriously wants to harm you.
Evidence forthat can be found in the training programs for these tools. Usually, training programs require that an officer is sprayed in the eyes and then perform several combative tasks like delivering knee strikes, punches, and elbows, effecting a takedown and arrest (handcuffing), then locating a gun that's been dropped and "covering" the subject. If every single person that takes the class is expected to do all of that after being sprayed, what does it tell you about the chemical's ability to stop someone?
When I went through the OCAT course, it hurt, but I did the big motor skill movements (knees, elbows, etc.) and had no trouble with the fine motor skill movements like handcuffing. The pain was present, and my eyesight was affected, but it was not enough to stop me or the other 30-some people in the class.
Classes like this take place all over the country, and generally every cop you see carrying pepper spray has had to go through the same thing, so that means each one of those people is someone pepper spray didn't disable.
Something to think about.
Also, I think the concern about giving up your weapon and having it used against you is wrong-headed. Training in a weapon's use is what keeps that from happening, and the determined application of the weapon against an assailant goes a long way too. Just reaching out and taking a knife away from someone is not easy, and it is made exponentially more difficult when that knife is being directed at you with bad intentions.
I was at a seminar in Jacksonville Florida back in maybe 1996 assisting Paul Vunak. He wanted to make the point about knives being "equalizers" and so he picked one of the little girls sitting on the sidelines (she was maybe 10?) and handed her a pair of dry erase markers. She was to draw lines on anyone that tried to get near her or take her "knives" away. He then picked out several of the black belts in the school (I believe it was eight or nine guys, but my memory of the event has faded some) and circled them around her. Whenever one of them got close, she carved him up. If they reached for her to grab and take the markers away, she drew all over their hands and arms. She got grabbed a few times, but she just cut her way loose. While these guys were not hitting at her, the point was made. She was a little kid, and she was surrounded by many many trained, large, strong, capable men. Advantage: blades.
And she was an untrained little girl.
A trained woman with a determined spirit and a real understanding of what's at stake would likely do far better than the little girl playing a game, and she'd likely not have to face nearly so many attackers.
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