OC Spray question

[spandexlurch]

I don't know if I've ever asked this question before and I'm a little lazy too look to be honest but I have a question directed more towards Gunlawyer or Mr. Prince. I am an ACT 235 certified security officer and I'm qualified to carry OC spray, is it legal for my wife to carry the same kind of OC spray if I bought her a can? I ask because I bought her a can about a year ago but since we don't know if it's legal for her to use it, it's sat in my house collecting dust. She does have her LTCF but can't carry due to work being a gun free zone. They only have unarmed security at her job and I consider it a HVT for a disgruntled employee or customer who may want to shoot up the place.

[Steve in PA]

There is no permit or documentation required for a person to carry OC Spray. If you carry because of employment, your employer may require you to have some type of certification, but Joe/Jane Citizen does not need anything.

[spandexlurch]

There is no permit or documentation required for a person to carry OC Spray. If you carry because of employment, your employer may require you to have some type of certification, but Joe/Jane Citizen does not need anything.

That may be but I had to present my certification to purchase the OC I bought for my wife. The OC I bought her wasn't the little tubes you can get at walmart, it is the same type, size and strength that police use. The can I got her was .4, I can't find any information as to the strength of the walmart stuff online.

[Daycrawler]

She needs to carry the spray. I know of no law that would prevent her from doing so. Here is Pa. CC 908.

§ 908. Prohibited offensive weapons.
(a) Offense defined.--A person commits a misdemeanor of the first degree if, except as authorized by law, he makes repairs, sells, or otherwise deals in, uses, or possesses any offensive weapon.
(b) Exceptions.--
(1) It is a defense under this section for the defendant to prove by a preponderance of evidence that he possessed or dealt with the weapon solely as a curio or in a dramatic performance, or that, with the exception of a bomb, grenade or incendiary device, he complied with the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.), or that he possessed it briefly in consequence of having found it or taken it from an aggressor, or under circumstances similarly negativing any intent or likelihood that the weapon would be used unlawfully.
(2) This section does not apply to police forensic firearms experts or police forensic firearms laboratories. Also exempt from this section are forensic firearms experts or forensic firearms laboratories operating in the ordinary course of business and engaged in lawful operation who notify in writing, on an annual basis, the chief or head of any police force or police department of a city, and, elsewhere, the sheriff of a county in which they are located, of the possession, type and use of offensive weapons.
(3) This section shall not apply to any person who makes, repairs, sells or otherwise deals in, uses or possesses any firearm for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.
(c) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:
"Firearm." Any weapon which is designed to or may readily be converted to expel any projectile by the action of an explosive or the frame or receiver of any such weapon.
"Offensive weapons." Any bomb, grenade, machine gun, sawed-off shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches, firearm specially made or specially adapted for concealment or silent discharge, any blackjack, sandbag, metal knuckles, dagger, knife, razor or cutting instrument, the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism, or otherwise, any stun gun, stun baton, taser or other electronic or electric weapon or other implement for the infliction of serious bodily injury which serves no common lawful purpose.

IANAL

[MARINE DIVISION TWO]

Employers who hire ACT 235 will have you certified for O/C spray Only if they want you to carry spray !SABRE RED is a very popular spray Always check you date on the spray also a requirement of employers !

[spandexlurch]

Employers who hire ACT 235 will have you certified for O/C spray Only if they want you to carry spray !SABRE RED is a very popular spray Always check you date on the spray also a requirement of employers !

I was issued First Defense, Defense Technology MK-4, which is a .4% 3oz can. I bought the same for my wife although hers is not a 360 spray.

[Steve in PA]

The requirement for documentation is something the seller is imposing. There is no law requiring any "papers" to buy OC spray.

"For law enforcement purposes only"......is from the seller. Like batons, body armor, etc.

[Berncly]

I was issued First Defense, Defense Technology MK-4, which is a .4% 3oz can. I bought the same for my wife although hers is not a 360 spray.

As others have already said, there is no OC restriction in PA.
NJ and other places have restrictions.
If you're going to get OC for your wife get her Fox spray, it's the best there is https://foxlabs.com/

Just FYI, OC spray effectiveness is complicated and includes factors beyond percentages of this or that.
The only rating that matters with OC is the SHU rating, and Fox has the best SHU rating on the market.
A detailed explanation is included below.

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https://foxlabs.com/pepper-spray/

Why Our Pepper Spray Is The Best

Simply stated, in their categories, these are the best products in the world. All of these units, unless noted otherwise, are in-stock containing our famous 2% formulas using 5.3 million SHU OC resin. All FOX formulas are non-flammable and Taser safe.

The safest, most intense and effective defense sprays you can buy!

Fox Labs International’s Premium Defense Spray Products® are formulated to be the safest, hottest and most effective you can buy! All of our sprays are non-flammable, Taser-safe, and available in a wide range of sizes with varying percentages of pepper (OC), combinations of pepper and tear gas (CS) and ultra-violet dye, plus the newest addition, MEAN GREEN®H2OC®—the world’s first GREEN pepper spray! You will also find that we have a spray pattern to fit your every need, including our famous heavy stream and medium emission cone-fog sprays for our 2, 3 and 4-ounce units. Upon close inspection you will find that only the highest quality materials and components are used in the manufacturing of these products. If we can do it better, tell us how it is possible.

2 Million Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) Rating

All Fox Premium Aerosol Defense Sprays® use organic pepper resins that have at least a true 2,000,000 Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) rating. We were the first company to use resins with this intense rating in a 5% product and our formulas are still unsurpassed! In 1998, we became the first and only company offering a true 5.3 million SHU resin in a 2% solution. These formulas are legendary! Don’t take our word on it. Browse the Internet and see what people in general, and LE professionals specifically have to say. Additionally, the word ‘true’ is very important, because some companies have their own systems of heat measurement, or they are not even using organic resins, but rather something called PAVA, which is artificial OC, and not nearly as effective as the real stuff. What that means to you, specifically, is that they may say their sprays have the same intensity as FOX, but in reality they are far weaker, and less likely to afford you the same kind of results when you need them.

The bottom line is this:

If you are serious about wanting the absolute best products of their kind you really must consider the FOX line-up of superlative aerosol defense sprays. Once you use them we know that you will agree with the hundreds of thousands of police officers, deputies, corrections officers, government and military personnel and civilians that already believe there are none finer in existence. You will find that, like you, we take our job seriously.

SPECIAL NOTE: Although we do everything we can to ensure that our units will perform exactly as expected, it is possible for a number of reasons a unit may fail to do so. Although the odds of this happening with FOX brands are extremely small, (literally a mere fraction of one percent) it can happen in varying frequency to units of any brand from all manufacturers. As such, if it would make you feel more comfortable or safer, it is okay to give your unit a short test burst to make sure it performs as you expect. This should not affect future performance. You should only do this outside, ideally in an open area—away from other people and animals, with the wind, if any, to your back. If you decide to do this, we do suggest that you use a cotton swab or some other absorbent material with alcohol on it so you can clean out the spray nozzle opening and surrounding surface area. This is to make sure you remove any pepper residue from the test spraying, so you do not accidently touch the contaminated area and then touch a part of your face or body – resulting in a most unpleasant experience!

A few years ago the term “nozzle heat” started appearing in marketing materials from a couple of different defense spray companies. Since then it has been spreading like a virus via the Internet and numerous e-commerce stores. We happen to believe that its inception was brought on by the introduction of Fox Labs’ (now) famous “FIVE POINT THREE” formulas in August 1998. You see, once Fox started using their 5,300,000 SHU pepper resin—the purest OC resin ever used to create defense sprays—these other companies had to figure out how to deal with Fox Labs’ superior formulas in a way that would make their formulas sound better, even if they couldn’t outperform those of Fox Labs. Someone got the idea that it did not matter what went into the formula, it was what was coming out of the nozzle that was important. And Fox Labs actually agrees with that assertion—up to a point.

The Real Facts On Nozzle Heat

Here, briefly is the “whole” story on nozzle heat: the “marketing tool or term” of choice for defense spray companies that prefer to use higher percentages of less pure, lower grade resins. It provides them with a way to create impressive sounding numbers to woo an unsuspecting consumer, but they fail to share the “complete” story, which is…

Less pure resins have much, much more color, sugar, oil and junk in them. This is why the formulas that use them are dirty looking, opaque liquids—you can easily see this when they are discharged because they make whatever they hit look like it has been spray-painted. Now, when companies pump up the percentages of this less pure resin used in their formulas (usually 10% or higher) they are actually increasing the levels of this worthless, miscellaneous stuff that has nothing to do with stopping power. What this “stuff” really does is slow down—that is, actually delays—how fast these formulas can work.

So, for example, brands using 10% of a 1,500,000 SHU or 2,000,000 SHU resin (or even higher percentage versions!) will have “nozzle heat” numbers that sound really great (150,000 SHU and 200,000 SHU in the above example), but what they are actually doing is increasing the amount of inert matter in their formulas. This makes it impossible, really and truly impossible, for them to work faster than Fox formulas that use a lower percentage of purer resin.

Why does this matter?

Because the main feature of a product in this category (defense sprays) is how fast it can bring someone into compliance, or stop them from attacking. This means that for the sake of marketing, or perhaps a more honest way to put it, to mislead the consumer—be it civilian or law enforcement professional— these companies use higher percentages of low-grade resins so their “nozzle heat story” sounds good, but the performance can be greatly compromised. The bottom line is how safe, how fast, how wide ranging is the effectiveness of the formula regarding different types of people/circumstances. As anyone who has ever compared products already knows, Fox Labs Premium Defense Sprays remain unmatched. (Fact: Comparing apples-to-apples, if Fox Labs were to use a 10% formula they would have nozzle heat of 530,000 SHU and 3.5% major capsaicinoids!!! Pretty impressive, and scary, huh?)

Lastly, the cost savings these companies receive in using less pure resins is incredible! Fox Labs pays up to ten times more for their pepper (OC) resins than these other companies, yet our prices have always remained competitive. So when you are paying less for these higher percentage products it isn’t because you are getting a deal, it is really because you are getting what you are paying for—simply cheaper, slower-performing products, that cannot outperform the Fox Labs brand.