There are several methods that are taught by law enforcement, but essentially as you pull out the pepper spray, you now have a deterrent in your hand and hopefully the bad guy sees the deterrent. Then you warn with the deterrent, "back up or I will spray you!" So you have warned him and if he continues to advance forward, you spray him as best you can in the face and within a couple seconds usually, they are incapacitated. Out of all the self-defense weapons that are out there, I believe it is the safest because pepper spray allows you to keep your distance. The only other weapon that allows you to keep distance from the bad guy is a handgun. A handgun, you have to have a permit to carry it and you always have the chance of shooting the wrong person. With the pepper spray, you can keep the distance 8-10 feet away, you can spray the bad guy and three of his friends that are there with him. It's not something that you can only use once; you can use it until the can is empty. That's why it is so important to carry a good can, something of hard quality. There is a lot of cheap stuff in the market.
