F4 Tactical Rail-Mounted Pepper Spray (courtesy The Truth About Guns)

“I really love your blog,” the fresh-faced lad at the F4 Tactical booth said as if TTAG was a beloved pet. “I read it all the time in Afghanistan. Especially just after Newtown.” Oh great. What am I supposed to say? “I wouldn’t put that canister of pepper spray on my AR on a bet?” I bet you wouldn’t, either. So I slinked back to the Press Room and wrote it here. [Click here to watch the video.]

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47 COMMENTS

    • I have to say I agree and that I am a little disappointed. You could have just told the truth. “I appreciate your a fan, but….”

  6. I guess if the rifle was only to be loaded with non-lethal rounds I could see the point of this. Or maybe for use inside a prison?

  7. Well I agree it is not something I would put on my AR. Nor do I see it being used by the police. However it’s seems like a good idea. Or a solution looking for a problem.

    • In general you would not want to mix your lethal and non lethal options on one platform. There is always the chance you could mean to hit the spray button and squeeze the trigger.

  15. I want a tactical AR15 that’s rail-mounted tactically onto another tactical AR15…

    Tactical!

  16. “When you absolutely, positively got to mace every motherf***er in the room, accept no substitutes.”

  17. If you watch the video you find that the “what could go wrong” factor only gets higher and higher. The button you see in the photo is the spray can’s cross bolt safety. To spray the pepper spray the operator pushes in the safety, and then pulls the canister assembly rearward.

    Someone once said to me, after a long discussion when I was concerned a carbine length quad rail wasn’t enough rail space, “Everything doesn’t go on the rife. And (things that do) certainly not all at once.” Words to live by.

  19. (1) Slunk, not slinked. That’s up there with “fishes” or “sheeps” -It’s grammatical b–sh–

    (2) What’s with all the hate? Maybe it’s not perfect, but hell, I’d like to require that attachment for stormtroopers on no-knock raids. Maybe it could remind them that non-lethal options exist. Better to be sprayed than shot.

    • Fishes is not grammatical BS, it’s used to refer to multiple kinds of fish, perfectly acceptable English.

  21. This is how I look at it … There are way too many cops who kill people (or dogs) unnecessarily … far too often innocent people. If this prevents them from doing that, it’s a GOOD thing.

    There are scenarios in which someone can really “look like” a bad guy but may not be. As a general rule, it’s not a great idea for cops to be executing people as opposed to bringing them to trial. There are at least three scenarios I can think of where using non-lethal force should be absolutely required:

    (1) the person who is normally good and peaceful if they’re taking their medications, but for whatever reason (be it “doesn’t want to” or “can’t afford it”) they aren’t up to date, and are a bit out of control;
    (2) the person with a diabetic emergency whose blood sugar is too low, and they’ve turned into a raging monster;
    (3) the person who is depressed and suicidal and is angry at the world.

    As Jeff mentioned above, I don’t know if having the lethal and non-lethal options on the same weapon is good or bad. I think that really good training would be an absolute requirement so they don’t shoot someone they’re trying to subdue non-lethally. Perhaps they’d have to use it with their trigger finger wrapped around the pistol grip of the gun so that they don’t accidentally fire …? Dave’s suggestion of added to a non-lethal bean bag gun might be a better option.

    On the other hand, as far as using this product for home self defense …. no. No way. If someone has broken into my house, I must assume that they mean to injure or kill me. If I need to use force on them, it will be lethal force.

    In short, I like the concept, even if not necessarily the implementation, as far as for police using non-lethal force. I don’t like it at all for civilian use.

    • On the other hand, it could be (if modified) used as added effectiveness when using lethal force.

      If the canister was small and light, and was only fired when the trigger was pulled, it could increase the chances to stop an attacker compared to just the projectile on its own. A hole with pepper spray I imagine has better chances than just a hole. That’s a little bit different from this device though, as I understand it.

    • A person with low blood sugar is not a raging monster, if anything they will be sluggish or passed out

      • Usually, but not always. I’ve personally had to wrestle with a diabetic with hypoglycemia. Eventually the whole fire cew was holding the patient down while I got an IV and hit him with the D50.

    • You got #1 wrong. The accepted standard tactic for subduing an unarmed non aggressive individual in need of psychiatric care is to deliver several warning shots into random bystanders.

  23. I saw this the other day in one of the gun magazines.
    One of the first times ive probably said “what the hell?” Out loud reading a mag in the store
    Terrible idea lol. I mean really really terrible idea. Not even because of the accidental shooting risk, but because its just a stupid goddamn idea lol.

    • Dude! It’s on an airsoft gun. It’s obviously meant for the super serious players tired of arguing over hits and misses.

  24. It’s not necessarily a new concept. The x and m26 taser has an accessory that lets you attach to your rail. So did the dazzlers we had down range, and I think the 303s could be rail mounted as well. The big thing with less than lethals is if you mix up weapons, you’re typically liable, such as cases where cops drew their side arms instead of their taser, or grabbed the wrong shotgun from the trunk.

  25. Really not new, Civil Defence Supply in the UK were doing this in 1997: one of the weapons on their stand at DSEi that year was a M4 rechambered for .224BOZ, that used a PAVA spray can as a forward grip. (The can was loaded with tap water and CO2 for the show because everyone ended up spraying the back of the stand…)

    Their intent was to give armed police a less-lethal option that didn’t require taking hands off their primary weapon, and in slow time and without stress it worked quite well. Their armourer was cheerfully sceptical, explaining to me that they’d been asked “can you do this?” and had happily put togrther a prototype, and were waiting for feedback and hopefully orders; I don’t think it survived contact with reality, though (and CDS dropped out of the firearm business not that long later).

  26. Yeah, that’s what I want in a gunfight – A can of pepper spray suspended two feet from my face. *facepalm*

  27. Being that “fresh faced lad” that you mention in your article, I am surprised and sorry that you felt that you couldn’t speak your mind to me about the F4 Tactical. After spending my time in the military I believe that I have developed a ‘thick skin’ for criticism. I will still follow TTAG by the way.

    PS Thank you for helping to get our name out to the public either way.

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