Righteous Violence (Bullying)

There's been a lot of discussion in the media in the past few months on the topic of bullies and bullying. Stories abound of teens who commit suicide because of bullying. It seems that the topic of bullying whether through physical abuse, verbal abuse, or through electronic media (texting, email, facebook) its as if the American psyche is wondering "how did we go so wrong? why are our children doing this to each other?". The fact that teens/ children (and adults) are often very cruel to each other should not come as a shock to parents. Look around you'll see that depravity unfortunately seems to be a human condition that we sometimes just can't shake out of our gene pool. Whether you approach the topic from an ecclesiastical point of view or a humanist point of view it doesn't matter that the fact that this has been going on for a very long time is evident. 


I don't claim to be an expert on childhood bullying. But having been bullied through much of adolescence and having former bullies apologize to me later in life - i think have a unique first person perspective on the issue. I can say that often we teach our children the absolute wrong things to do and that carries repercussions into life that are much more far reaching and devastating. On of those damaging piece of advice that I received was "fighting doesn't solve anything" or "just walk away". 

I beg to differ. 


In my last post on How To Survive a Massacre, Pt. 2 I mentioned noted author and psychologist on human aggression, Lt. Col Dave Grossman who during his speaking topic on "The Bulletproof Mind" he said that at the Virginia Tech Massacre, several students were found sitting in their seats dead from a single bullet wound to their head. That means that they sat and waited knowing the killer was executing people 1 by 1.

Why weren't they trying to fight back or at least hide? Grossman says we are teaching our children the absolute wrong things to do. "Don't fight on the playground Johnny" is what they have heard day in and day out. But are we seriously going to tell our teenage sons and daughters (and adult children) "don't fight back against murders and rapists!" NO OF COURSE NOT. But then why are we are teaching a double message?


According to Grossman, and I agree wholeheartedly; we must be teaching our children that the judicious use of righteous violence is not only acceptable but it is honored within society. So how do we teach judicious use of violence. I like Ron Lauinger's  3 Rules for dealing with bullies:

1. Tell the bully to stop, if he/she doesn't stop then
2. Tell the teacher, if the teacher doesn't stop it then;
3. Fight back

While, I can't be certain that fighting back always works its often the response that the bully wasn't planning for. Life changed for me when a bully in high school knocked my lunch tray out of my hands and on to the floor. Instead of just trying to salvage the moment and going on with life, I reacted, I punched him square in the face. The lunchroom teacher grabbed my arm and jerked me around asking "why I did that?" My reply was "he knocked my lunch out of my hands what am I supposed to eat now?". Its interesting that I didn't get a detention or an expulsion. 

The other interesting part about that was I wasn't bullied again. Righteous justice. 


Will that work in the school system nowadays? I don't know. With all the zero-tolerance behavior support modification (BTW how is that working?) its tough for a child to even remotely respond. And then issues of cyber-bullying which often don't include physical assault require a different tact.

But ask yourself what is the more important life lesson to teach your child? don't fight back, be a victim the rest of your life? Or if you do fight back and it is judicious we will stand up with you and go to bat for you?  I have chosen the latter with my children.


Its a rough world out there.


Stay Safe!

How to Survive a Massacre Part 2

How to Survive a Massacre Part 2

In part 1 we discussed the difference between cover, concealment, distance, and using 'dead space' to hide us from the killer or his/ her line of sight/ weapons fire. We could consider this as Getting Out and Hiding Out.

Now lets talk about what to do if we can't find cover, concealment, or dead space. You might think of this as Lock Out, Call Out, and Fight Out. If your thinking to yourself "hey there's a lot of 'outs' here" well your definitely ahead of the game. What we are doing is what is called the Out Drill. I can't really take credit for it. The guy who developed this is Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, PhD who is bar none one of the experts on violence in society.

Lock Out: Its pretty simple since you can't get out. You put enough barricade between you and the Killer. If that means that you can lock doors great! Sometimes though doors don't lock so you have to be creative. That means you move things in front of the door to make a barricade. If its in a school you use desks, chairs, blackboards. Everything and anything you can find to barricade the entrance. I also heard about a scenario where someone let loose lions, rhinos, and tigers in a zoo and people were being mauled. Guess what some of the survivors did? thats right they piled into the restrooms (since they were made of block) and barricaded the doors with everything they could find. Which meant taking the doors off the stalls and wedging them between the door handle and the floor. In these situations you use whatever you can to save your life. Now is not the time to be concerned with property damage. Something else that works really well is a door stop. Rubber and wooden wedges used to hold doors open can also be used to hold doors shut.

Call Out: In Fight Like A Girl you'll hear us say things like "you have to stop the killing". The best way to do that is to get help. Never assume that someone else is calling for help. When people are taught CPR they are specifically instructed to point to someone and say "you go call 911 and report back when you have done so". In a high stress situation people do not always think straight or function well. Therefore you may have to become direct, even verbally aggressive with someone to get help "YOU CALL 911 ON YOUR CELL PHONE " (yes I am shouting) "TELL THEM THAT YOU ARE AT___________AND SOME GUY IS SHOOTING PEOPLE WITH A (rifle or pistol, if you don't know just say rifle)". Why rifle vs. pistol? Because someone with a rifle is a much greater threat than a pistol and it will bring a lot more firepower to bear on the S.O.B. So what happens if you can't call, maybe you don't have a cellphone or can't get to it? How about one of these things:

No it won't bring the SWAT Team, but it will bring the 'Combat Engineers'. Several angry guys with axes, fire hoses and ladders. They can make openings in walls and get people out. They can fight the shooter with high pressure water cannons, and they can put the guys with guns onto the roof or into second story windows. And where there is fire there will also likely be police cars. That is people with guns who will find and kill the killer.

So now that we are talking about killing the killer, our last way to survive a massacre is to do the unexpected and that is Fight Back or Fight it Out. For whatever reason you are in a situation where you cannot Hide Out, Get out, Lock Out, Call Out and imminent death is upon you. You must fight it out. There are countless stories where 2 or 3 people have tackled a killer and subdued him. But how do you fight? Ideally with a weapon, if your in the office, throw anything that is big or solid (trashcans, staplers, weighted tape dispenser, chairs, 3 hole punch, etc.). Throw these at his head. If you must close with him either try to knock him/her down or use a pen, pencil, letter opener, and anything that you can direct a good amount force with (sharp or blunt doesn't matter - actually blunt objects that impale hurt more) and keep striking the person in the face and eyes. Don't stop! Even if you are shot never stop. Nobody ever died of a broken bone, keep fighting or retreating. Tell yourself, I am not going to die here! I will live to a ripe old age! Mindset is everything.

Your probably thinking. Brian you are crazy. Yes. But that's beside the point.In today's schools they are now teaching students to do this very thing. The training is called ALiCE and it teaches kids these very same principles. But why stop in schools? Even if your workplace isn't forward thinking you should be! Look around, consider your escape routes, where can you go to Lock Out, what can you use for cover or concealment, lastly what can you use to fight it out? Personal safety isn't just a right, its a responsibility. use it.

Stay Safe!

Practice Session

Ladies,

I'll be holding a practice session on Wednesday Nov. 10 from 6pm-9pm at 215 W. Bowery Street, Akron, OH / Conference Rooms 5 & 6. 

View Larger Map

Unlike regular classes, there is no anticipated course plan. I'll be there with the mats and Redman Suit, and some fake weapons for DAW. We can cover anything you want from FLAG, GOG, and DAW.

Cost is $5 for the evening. Come in at any time, leave at any time. This is a great way to brush up on your skills. Please RSVP if you plan to attend so I can have enough gear available.

Thanks and Stay Safe!

What happened to "How to Survive a Massacre Pt.2"? Its a comin! Still in the works.

How to Survive a Massacre

In the realm of security and law enforcement the term ‘Active Shooter’ is parlance for a person who walks into a building or area with a firearm and starts shooting people. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, PhD states; “let’s not call them ‘active shooters’, shooters are people who go to gun clubs and shoot for entertainment, let’s call these people what they are; ‘active killers’. I like Col. Grossman phrasing better so that’s what I’ll use for the remainder of this blog entry. Several past incidents include; The Discovery Channel Massacre, the Fort Hood Massacre, the Virginia Tech Massacre, or the Mumbai Massacre (hey, you may be traveling!). Psychologists and criminologists all have several theories and hypotheses for why someone goes on a shooting rampage – but few offer realistic options for people who find themselves in an active killer scenario. Every situation is different and it is impossible to try to say this is the solution for all Active Killer scenarios. While this would stop some consultant from providing advice on what to do we at Fight Like A Girl – Akron feel it’s a good starting point. The information is presented from the standpoint of someone who does not have a weapon and/or is not prepared to return fire/ shoot back (e.g. your children).

First off believe what you are seeing or hearing. In past columns I have written about getting into a person’s decision making process or their OODA Loop (Observe-Orient-Decide- Act). Events around you will be transpiring quickly, you may or may not see the active killer, you may or may not see the victims or the trauma involved (which may include blood), you may see people running, screaming, yelling, you may hear what sounds like ‘firecrackers’ (if you haven’t the experience of being around firearms), you may smell smoke or see bursts of flame. These are all realistic indicators that something is terribly wrong. Believe what you are seeing or hearing! Now let your OODA loop work; Observe what is taking place, Orient (where is the killer, which way is s/he shooting, where is safety), Decide (what am I going to do), and then Act (do what you have decided). If you are afraid, tell yourself ‘fear is normal’ then act!

Secondly, what is safe? Safety usually means to find a place that has what is commonly known as ‘cover’ or ‘concealment’. Cover is what will stop a bullet or fragmentation (bombs, grenades). Cover can most likely be summed up as “is it concrete, steel, or large amounts of dirt?” Concrete planters and vehicle engines are good ‘cover’.

Anything else that hides you from the view of the killer is to be considered ‘concealment’. Also, cover and concealment is to be considered temporary. If the shooter moves around so that you are no longer protected by the cover or concealment then you need to move. Now here’s a nugget of information that you’d have to spend several hundreds of dollars for at those fancy shooting schools; ‘don’t hog cover’. Hogging cover is when you see someone getting up as close as possible to what they call cover. Hogging cover robs you of your field of vision. By backing away from the cover you stay protected but also are able to see around the edges of cover in case the murderer starts to move around to your vantage point.

Concealment on the other hand is what will hide you, but not stop a bullet. Although you must overcome the killer’s weapon you can also overcome his/her mind as well. However, concealment is always the 2^nd choice: you want cover, but you may have to settle for concealment (temporarily). If you can get to something that conceals you from the killer . The row of porta-potties below is an example of concealment (from behind them). A personal bias on my part but I would not hide in the porta-potty; not because it is bad concealment, but because it takes my vantage point and my mobility away.

Another aspect of cover and concealment is the use of what is known as ‘dead space’. It is amazing how little information is available on the web with regard to this topic. Dead Space refers to a spatial cavity or location that bullets cannot get into based on their trajectory (i.e. depressions in the ground/ or behind hills …dare I say grassy knolls?). Even in urban areas there are drainage ditches and small bowls in the ground that would be considered dead space/ good cover. People who are current or former military have a good understanding of what this is. You can develop your own perception on dead space by looking for ditches or depressions in the landscape/ landscape formations where you go and where you work. Something to keep in mind is that vegetation that is planted for ground cover often grows at a uniform height and can ‘hide’ dead space. Look for how the ground lays out.

Lastly, distance can be a good measure of safety from an active killer. Leaving the area, putting multiple doors and walls between you and the shooter is often the best remedy. Get behind cover and keep moving away from the shooter. If you are in an open area and there isn’t cover, concealment, or dead space run offline (at a 45 or 90 degree angle) of the killer. It is always harder to shoot at a moving target versus a stationary target. Get away and keep moving away!

In part 2 we’ll look at what to do if you are close to the killer and what to do if you are shot by the killer.

·

Less than 1%

back in June we were in New York again for Fight Like A Girl re certification and new course material added to our class formats. While in NY I heard an interesting statistic, not sure if it is empirical, but it does sum up a good amount of anecdotal truth; less than 1% of the US population know anything of real fighting or combatives. Which probably attributes to why most bad guys will break off an attack if there is significant resistance put forth by the person who is being attacked. Criminals prefer easy targets. While at Rape Escape's East Coast Academy I ran into two guys who do Sayoc Knife Fighting as their primary martial art. I thought I knew something about knife fighting (mostly to run away!). This further confirmed that there is quite a bit to knife fighting that I don't know alot about. Thankfully there is probably less of that 1% statistic of the population that knows anything about the real use of bladed weapons. Ironic that the next course I was getting a certification in was the 3rd module in the Women's Empowerment Series - Defense Against Weapons.

Defense Against Weapons, known by its short name DAW, addresses real life situations where the attacker is using a weapon to augment his techniques. In the course we address the following issues:

• Weapon psychology and dynamics of blades, guns, clubs, and flexibles (strangulation).
• Defense against being choked whether from the defensive position or from being straddled on your chest.
• Defense against an attacker holding a knife against your throat either parallel or across your neck.
• Defense against being stabbed
  
• What to do if you are attacked from behind with a weapon
  
• What to do if the attacker is hitting you with a club
• What to do if the attacker is holding a gun to your head (or any part of your body)
• What to do when all else fails
  

All of this done with the same 'watch/ then do' training philosophy that is used in Fight Like A Girl coupled with stress inoculation training with the Redman Suit. We have already scheduled DAW & Fight Like A Girl Classes at North Canton Community Education and Green YMCA. By the middle of August we should have some classes scheduled with our other venues as well. In any case if you have questions or comments please send them. And above all....

Stay Safe!

Hesitation

Often in my classes students will ask me "what if my mind goes blank when I am attacked or I hesitate?". Good question. My proverbial answer is "so what? no one is grading you or rating how well you fight back. The truth is; use this time to your advantage".

Hesitation its actually natural ; its hardwired into your body. Consider it this way; you have just been assaulted by a man, he may be at the pre-violence interview stage or the attack may be ensuing and at this point he is trying to gain control of you either by force or intimidation. Your body is going through extreme stress that is common to the Survival Stress Reaction. In the OODA loop that I have written about in the past this is when you are in the stage of Observing and Orienting to what is going on. Because you are rarely exposed to personal combat on a regular basis you are more than likely going to freeze or hesitate for a few seconds. Hesitation is better than freezing though!

Use this time to collect your thoughts, also verbalize what you are feeling. By talking you begin to engage a portion of your brain that also leads to action. Say something, anything; "don't do this stop, don't hurt me, I have an STD". Initiating a role-play will do 2 things. Firstly, it gives you time to recall your training and develop an action-escape plan. Secondly; it begins to get into his OODA Loop as well because now he is Observing (hearing) and Orienting (to your speech). Your role-play helps you to work through your fear as well. When you have formulated your plan launch your defense and DO NOT STOP! At this point all hesitation must be gone you have to strike without fear or regret.

If your defense doesn't go the way you expected, keep going. In the Fight Like A Girl videos you have seen how some of the girls improvised new strikes 'on the fly' during the Redman encounters, do the same. Also, remember that your environment can help you or hinder you. Is that chair in the way or is it something that you can use to strike your attacker? What else is laying around that might be used as a weapon. The common inocuous item like a food jar or a stapler can have devastating effects when you strike someone in the head. Never underestimate anything and NEVER STOP FIGHTING AND FLEEING.

Stay Safe!

Pepper Spray

A weekend or so ago, I had the opportunity to do some training with PepperSpray. Mind you I have done this on two other occasions and as I recall it wasn't very fun. Those two other occasions were basically; "here step up and get sprayed and then enjoy rinsing your face off in the puke basin". This time was a bit different; it was run in stages.

1. Stage 1; Get sprayed
2. Stage 2; Move to a punching dummy and engage for 10-30 seconds
3. Stage 3; Move to an empty semi-automatic rifle. Load empty magazine, cycle the weapon, drop the trigger, reload, and then do it again, then drop the mag.
4. Stage 4; Then move to a dummy drag to simulate a man down. Pull 'him' to a safe location.
5. Stage 5; Radio in for assistance at safe location.

Doing all of this was difficult, to say the least. I can say upfront that by the time I got to Stage 2 I knew I was in trouble. My eyesight was pretty well gone and the pain was coming on like a freight train. I knew that the impending decontamination stage was not going to be fun. Pepper Spray always effects me badly. For this training we were using FOX Labs 5.3 SHU Law Enforcement Grade Pepper Spray. SHU means Scoville Heat Units. According to FOX Labs:

Most pepper sprays are between 1/2 million and 2 million shu. Fox pepper spray is refined to 5.3 million shu, that's like the difference in heat between paper burning and a blue-hot blowtorch (about 451 degrees F vs 2000
degrees F.) However, because of its unique formulation it does not blister
the skin. Public law enforcement agencies across the USA are using Fox Labs
OC pepper spray and Fox Labs Products.

I don't know about the last part though, as several of us had some light
blisters/ 1st degree burns below our eyes. Nothing earth shattering, and it cleared
up in a few days, but it was still mildly irritating 24 hrs later. Now for
the stuff they don't tell you. The Paramedic on standby said the
pain would last about 20 minutes. Yeah right. More like an hour and a half.
One guy had trouble controlling his breathing (he could breathe, but there was a
definitive psychological component to it). My face felt like it was
literally on fire, my eyes were swelled shut, and I had a load of snot coming out of
both nostrils. Also, I have experienced a feeling of being 'locked up' that stems from having a partially engaged gag reflex as well as hyperventilation. This time though I was able to control my breathing better and get through this. Though it did not diminish the pain in any way. The only light in the tunnel was a cold water hose and the cool breeze that was also blowing (which later led me to get out of my wet clothes as I realized I was getting into mild hypothermia). Of the 8 guys who
went through this, only 2 of them completed the entire course stages. However, all of us were incapacitated within a few minutes after being hit with the spray.

If you are going to carry Pepper Spray I recommend you carry the FOX Labs 5.3 SHU Law Enforcement Grade. I was able to buy this at D&G Uniforms in Akron. But just about any gun store or uniform shop should carry it. Also, I would get the stream, instead of the cone. The reason I advocate 'streams' over 'cones' (which has to do with the output of the spray; a straight line or a cone shaped pattern) is that there is less chance of overspray or blowback. We were training on a windy day and some of the staff were caught with the overspray from a different PepperSpray brand that dispersed as a cone. Though no one experienced blowback from the fine stream. Also, I'd recommend that you experience pepper spray by putting a little bit on your hand (be prepared to put it in a cold bucket of water) so that you have some idea of what it does in case you do experience a blowback. It is wicked stuff!

Fight Like A Girl - Refresher & Intro Courses

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Fight Like A Girl! - Akron will be hosting free 1 hour refresher courses/ Introductory Courses on April 28th at 7:00 PM and 8:00PM. Course location will be 215 W. Bowery Street, Akron, OH 44308. Classroom 5 & 6 in the Considine Professional Bldg.

We'll be teaching the 6 rules of FLAG, social distance, and the defensive position to new people as well. If you want to catch up on old skills, or introduce your friends to Fight Like A Girl this is the perfect opportunity. RSVP is appreciated, but not necessary. These courses are at no charge.

Frames of Reference

At lunch the other day a colleague of mine, was mentioning that she was fearful the other night when she came into her apartment building foyer and found a homeless man sleeping there. Under normal circumstances this young rising professional, is a caring and compassionate lady, who often works with an indigent client population - yet this time she said she felt particularly vulnerable even though the man was doing nothing but sleeping in the hallway. While she felt some guilt on behalf of her own concerns I reminded her that she shouldn't be ashamed for being fearful. After all the human emotion of fear is a gift - according to Gavin de Becker. Why she felt fearful was because the incident was outside of her frame of reference. This incident was isolated from her normal day to day activities - as it has never happened before or at 1100 pm in the evening. This is something not normal for Akronites. However if she lived in the Bronx (NYC) where my cousin is from, it would be a normal day.

The reason some people are fearful of one thing, while others are not is based on Capt. John Boyd's theory on the OODA Loop. A mental process that every human being goes through on a regular basis. OODA stands for the process of Observing, then Orienting, then Deciding and the Acting. The picture below provides a visual representation of this split second decision making model.


The bubble with 'previous experiences' could be what we call the Frame of Reference. Things that fall outside of our references tend to create emotions especially fear. Fear in turn then drives the survival stress reaction. This is why when I provide lectures on Personal Safety or Violence Mitigation in the workplace i remind people that its OK for them to be afraid and to have perceptual distortions and physical distress when they are exposed to violence. Because, for most people, violence is outside of their frame of reference. They are otherwise, not socialized to the real impact of violence (despite what Hollywood portrays). I say most people, because outside of the military, some police and other civilians regularly train to diminish the effects of the survival stress reaction.

In any ways, how can we use the understanding of the Frame of Reference to protect ourselves? What's the Fourth Rule of Fight Like A Girl? Attract Attention. If we can get into the bad guy's OODA Loop we maybe able to short circuit his plan. Coach Tony Blauer, advocates trying to always find the disconnect in a situation. See the youtube video here for a real life example of using the disconnect (warning: profanity). In the video you'll see Tony Blauer getting into his enemy's OODA loop by playing on his 3 principles.

Hope this helps, Stay Safe!


___________________________________________________________
BTW, here is a picture of my wife hosting our table at the Akron Childrens' Hospital Wellness Fair.

Raid Panacea?

Awhile back one of my client's asked about using Wasp Spray as a means to defend yourself, ala mace/ pepper spray. This is kind of a new one on me - I'd never heard of anyone advocating this (note to self: try to actually watch some TV on occasion). So I had to do some looking. The first place was google, which led me to snopes.com. According to the rumor; a can of wasp spray shoots farther (20ft.) than pepper spray, its a powerful inflammatory that will instantly cause their eyes to shut, and will cause the esophagus, trachea and resp. system to contract and inhibit breathing. My interest was piqued. There 's even a video from a self-defense expert on the use of wasp spray. Interesting.

Despite, these greatly touted claims, I have a bit more empirical mindset when it comes to testing rumors like these. First of all let me go on record as saying I am not a fan of chemical irritants/ non-lethal sprays. I'll state my reasons here:

1. They are hard to deploy. While working hospital security I used to carry a can on my duty belt. I only needed to swivel it up to pull it off my belt and then flip up the velcro tab to fire it. Can be done with one hand; but not easily. Try carrying it in your purse (can you imagine carrying a wasp spray can in a purse? Better be a big purse!). Most people don't wear duty belts and thus the can goes somewhere else. Also, if you are outdoors and its raining - how effective do you think the spray will be?
   
2. Chemical irritants, contrary to popular belief, do not immediately incapacitate people. Thats utter BS. I have been sprayed with OC Pepper Spray during training classes and while it does hurt (there's reason cops call it "Liquid Hell"), I can guarantee that I can still run, shoot, and fight hand to hand. In fact this is standard practice on many police dept. physical entrance exams. Against a determined attacker (stalker, abusive spouse/ boyfriend, etc) - do not expect this to stop them. Have a back up plan.
3. Expect blowback. If you use a chemical irritant it is possible that it could blow back against you. Rooms with fans or being outdoors where there is wind can cause a deployed chemical to come back and hit you. Another reason why police are sensitized to pepper spray (stress inoculation anyone?). Fortunately, both Wasp Spray and Pepper Spray only require flushing with water to cut the effects. See below.
4. Chemical spray irritants are often used incorrectly. Police use it as a distraction prior to handcuffing the subject. Defenders often seek to use it to 'hurt' an attacker which is the wrong approach. Don't get me wrong I am not feeling sorry for the attacker. But the correct technique should be to use a chemical spray as a barrier or shield to keep someone away while providing you the opportunity to escape.

So that being said we're still back at square one; Is a can of Wasp Spray better than Pepper Spray. I'll believe the claim that it can shoot farther. No doubt about that. Wasp Spray is a bigger can, has more aerosol pushing it. Just make sure that there is nobody behind the attacker that you wouldn't want to send to the hospital.

Is worse, hotter, more painful? Hmmm good question. Pepper Spray is rated in Scoville Heat Units. Law Enforcement Grade Pepper Spray is between 500,000 - 5,300,000 (ouch). Unfortunately, nobody has tested Wasp Spray on the basis of being an irritant. Therefore we need to look at it from its chemical makeup; pyrethrin. This is actually beyond my research scope so I went and asked a hospital Pharmacologist who is also an expert in toxicology. Here is the gist of my interview:

1. Is wasp spray (pyrethrin) an acute irritant? Yes, the wasp spray could be an irritant to the eyes that can result in corneal damage and to the lungs resulting in asthma exacerbations, wheezing, shortness of breath, and sneezing. An anaphlyactic reaction can occur in hypersensitive pts. I'm not sure how it compares to pepper spray with regards to onset and severity of irritant effects. Depending on the brand of wasp spray, there may be carbamate insecticides, organophosphates and/or hydrocarbons. Both the carbamates and organophosphates could cause cholinergic toxicity depending on the extent of exposure.

2. If the person using were to experience either blowback (wind) or even the aggressor using it on them, what is the first aid to remedy exposure. For exposures to pyrethrins, both skin and eye exposures would require decontamination via flushing with copious amounts of water. For inhalation exposure, remove the pt from the source of exposure and give O2 if necessary. Typically systemic toxic effects do not occur unless large quantities are ingested since they are not well absorbed through the skin. If organophosphates or carbamates are present, the toxicity could be more significant such as bradycardia, vomiting, diarrhea, bronchospasm, respiratory failure, seizures, and increased secretions therefore the pt would need immediate medical care.

Because of the different compounds that could be in various wasp sprays, toxic effects could vary and I would not recommend substituting the pepper spray for wasp spray.

There you have it folks, the straight skinny from an expert. In a similar vein, I always tell people who take classes with us; no one technique alone is 100% effective. I'd say the same thing with pepper sprays and anything that you might use to substitute them. Your best tactic is going to be to fall back on the Principles that we work on in Fight Like A Girl (pay attention, stay with people, use barriers, get help, make space, and never fight on his terms). Hope this helps clears things up some.

Stay Safe!