[pct-l] first night out

[Devon Taig]

If you really must be armed, how about using pepper spray or a taser instead
of a gun? The link below is for a small cell-phone sized taser.

Check it out: http://www.beststungun.com/firestorm-cell-phone-stun-gun.html

Downside of a gun:

1. A gun is heavy
2. A gun is extremely dangerous / lethal
3. A gun may not be legal
4. A gun to be affective against a bear would need to be a very *BIG* gun
and be well aimed.   I'm not claiming that a taser will bring down a bear (I
seriously doubt it would), but neither will a .22 (not in a worthwhile
period of time anyway).
5. A gun can't be pulled out of your pocket like a taser and is therefore
less available.
6. A gun makes other hikers feel uncomfortable.
7. In most situations (e.g. someone opens your tent in the middle of the
night looking for food, or a drunk guy in camp is sexually harassing you) a
gun is really more fire-power than you want. Do you really want to point a
gun at someone (or God forbid use it) in a situation like that? Particularly
at night where it is really hard to assess the situation accurately? Of
course not.  So better not to have it at all so that when you're scared (as
a person would have good reason to be in the above situations) they don't
overreact and kill someone. If you need to, sleep with your taser next to
you. **With the safety on**



<http://www.beststungun.com/firestorm-cell-phone-stun-gun.html>