What The Heck Is Mace Anyhow?

We used to watch Fox news where Megyn Kelly is a highly respected analyst. She’s also a lawyer, so she is no dummy. Back in November 2011 she was on the Bill O’Reilly show and did a four-minute segment involving the use of pepper spray on the Occupy Wall Street protesters. During that segment she made the claim that pepper spray is “a derivative of actual pepper, it’s a food product, essentially.”

As an offshoot of that comment made on national television she was challenged by over 16,000 viewers in the twitterverse and blogosphere to eat some pepper spray. As far as we know Ms. Kelly has yet to meet the challenge. Smart idea Megyn!

Mace is commonly confused with pepper spray as a synonym when actually it isn’t. Mace is actually a teargas that can be an ingredient in modern pepper sprays. Ordinary pepper spray could be considered a food product since it is the resin of one of the hottest peppers in the world-the cayenne pepper.

What Is Pepper Spray?

For the best definition of what pepper spray is, see our blog post on everything you need to know about pepper spray. That post will answer a lot of questions you may have about pepper spray.

History Of Mace

Way back in 1965, the chemical “Mace” was invented by Alan Litman after his wife was threatened on a local street. It was the first commercial product of its kind, even though some form of pepper spray has been around since ancient Chinese warriors thousands of years ago threw bags of hot spices at their enemies. The company along with Smith & Wesson’s chemical division was bought in 1987 by man named John Goodrich. That same year Mace filed for trademark on its name.

Mace brand has historically set the standard for many products and introduced many new products to the world including pepper gel in 2004. For years since then pepper gel was the longest range, up to 18 feet, of any pepper spray in the market and to this day has a longer range than 98% of all sprays on the market.

They were one of the first companies to introduce an invisible Ultra Violet marking dye into their sprays as a way of identifying assailants who have been sprayed and leave the scene of the crime. The UV dye stays with a perpetrator for many hours after the fact.

They were also one of the first companies to introduce a pepper spray specifically to be used as a dog repellent. To this day it is still one of the most popular products they sell.

Their triple action sprays set the standard for this type of product. They contain oleoresin capsicum-which is the main ingredient in all pepper sprays-a CN teargas component and the UV marking dye.

They were also one of the first companies to introduce a pepper gun, a gun that can shoot a pepper spray up to 25 feet away. It uses a replaceable cartridge, another first, to hold the spray. The pepper gun is particularly effective against multiple assailants because it holds as many as seven shots up to 25 feet. Because of the 25 foot distance it also is an effective tool against dog attacks.

According to this PBS Need To Know segment modern-day pepper spray was developed in 1960 at the University of Georgia and was originally intended as an animal repellent. In the 1980’s the United States Postal Service issued pepper spray to mail carriers to ward off dog attacks. Later that decade the FBI developed pepper spray into a weapons grade material and approved its use by FBI agents in the 1990’s to quell unruly behavior.

Here Are Some Of Their Most Popular Products.

1. By far the most popular Mace product is this muzzle dog repellent designed specifically for dogs. It was the original dog repellent spray and contains 20 half-second bursts up to 12 feet away. It uses the flip top safety cap which was an original with Mace and the unique finger grip design that also was an original. All Mace products are test fired before shipping to ensure quality control.
2. The second most popular Mace product that we carry is the aforementioned triple action spray which contains oleoresin capsicum, a CN teargas component and the UV marking dye for assailant identification after the fact. All Mace sprays, including this one, have the unique contoured finger grip which assures that you aim in the right direction, and the flip top safety device which helps prevent accidental discharge.

   
   

3. The next most popular spray in the Mace stable of products is the bear defensive spray which contains 260 grams of high potency spray which has a range of 35 feet. The can empties completely in 5.4 seconds. It was one of the first bear sprays to be EPA approved. The reason it is important to have that range of 35 feet and empty in 5.4 seconds is because even though bears look like lumbering slow-moving animals they are not. A bear can cover 35 feet in the blink of an eye. If you suspect that a bear is getting ready to attack, you must begin spraying immediately to create a wall of mist between you and the bear.

The reason bear spray is so effective is because bears have exceptionally sensitive noses. They can smell food from as far as 2 miles away. The smell of bear spray is repulsive to them. Once a bear smells the spray he will stop dead in his tracks no matter how attractive a meal you may make.

These are just the top three most popular pepper spray products that we carry. Additionally, Mace brand has one of the widest selections of products available in the defensive spray category. Their prices are very competitive with other manufacturers. No other manufacturer comes close in terms of price, quality and variety of products.

Here are more facts from a prior previous post about pepper spray products.

 Have you ever used Mace products for your self-defense against humans, dogs or in a bear attack? Please share your experience. We want to hear your thoughts.