Bear spray is simply higher percentage pepper spray. The stuff we can buy is 1-2% Capsicum (Pepper)
Bear spray is 10%
Law enforcement uses a stronger pepper spray with a higher concentration of Capsicum. Gee, what do you know? it’s 10%. Kinda like bear spray.
If they get away with this, they must discontinue the use of pepper spray as a non-lethal crowd control device.
I notice on the radio news they are not calling it bear spray or pepper spray but rather a mysterious ‘unknown irritant.’
In the article, it’s mentioned that one of the two who had the bear spray said, ‘they [the cops] just sprayed me” before he sprayed his own can.
So it sounds like the cops were out there deploying their own, more powerful pepper spray at that same time.
You have it backward. Bear spray (2% cap) is WEAKER than human pepper spray (10% cap). This is because bear spray is designed to deter a bear, ie, to make it run away, and not knock it on its butt. A bear, unlike humans, will hurt itself if it is blinded for a long period of time.
The advantage of bear spray is it fires long distance, which is so you don't have to get close to a bear to use it. Human pepper spray is meant for close encounters. I suspect police pepper spray is high-pressure, so it shoots far, which makes it appear as if it is bear spray.
“Bear spray is simply higher percentage pepper spray.”
Incorrect. Bear spray is at a LOWER percentage than human spray. Bear spray is around 1-2% versus 3% or more for human self-defense:
“In bear spray, the concentrations of “capsaicin and related capsaicinoids” (CRC) or “major capsaicinoids” (MC)—the parts of the oleoresin capsicum that actually cause pain—tend to be lower than in (illegal-in-Canada) personal pepper spray, which can range between 1% and 3%. Bear sprays in the US are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and are required to have a CRC concentration between 1% and 2% CRC, while most bear sprays available in Canada have a 1% concentration.”
https://cottagelife.com/outdoors/whats-the-difference-between-bear-spray-and-pepper-spray/