Think we'd be better off without guns on the streets and now trails.

doesn't work on bears... unless you know how to use it and do it right.

Most bear sprays are the same as the pepper spray used on humans. Just a bigger bottle, more highly concentrated and can shoot further due to the size of the container. I have been exposed to Bear Spray, it is fucking savage. Pepper spray is tolerable, but the bear spray literally took my breath away and I was not even a direct hit.

There is a reason that the sick fucks who attacked the Capitol on 1/6 used Bear Spray as a weapon of choice.

I changed the oil and spark plugs yesterday, but maybe I need to adjust the timing. Timing seems to be key on these things.

a person, man or woman, is 5x more likely to be injured or killed trying to use a gun in self defense than not.

A gun will turn an assailant's mind from rape to murder.

Last week we (spouse and I) saw 3 black bears in two days…black, chocolate, and cinnamon.

We hike in city parks. We have walked miles and miles in NYC, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Belize City, Barcelona, London, Ghent/Bruges, Dallas/Fort Worth, Portland, Denver, Atlanta, etc etc etc. Through good parts of town and bad.

We camp, very often completely isolated, nobody around for miles. Sometimes in a campground, with others within feet.

Not once, ever, have we felt the need for a gun in any of those situations.

And we should be glad about that.

Not addressing any aspect of self-defense other than the definition of "self".

Decades of internet info, fact, fiction, rumor, stardom, social-media, money, more ... are fragmenting society into 'extreme-individualism', a plague of MEanness in the pursuit of MEness in excess of youness; says ME.

However "I" will never claim difference between I (grammatically-me) and every pair of eyes that also say "I".
I do fear meeting anyone on any trail anywhere who can't simply ignore me as do I thee.

in the woods, often... and don't feel a need for a gun or repellent.

same reason for both... not practiced and if used improperly, only makes things worse

are harassed or stalked at some point in their life.
Of my 5 sisters, four have been. I estimate that at least 75% of the women I know. And, that is a low estimate.

the Pennellas Bike Trail in Florida while bike riding, I am glad I had a gun just in case. A missing 76 year old women was found on a
bike trail in Western PA a couple months ago she had been raped and murdered. I am 75 year old man, I have
come across some strange characters riding a bike.

You run into some odd folks there on occasion