With all the creepy surveillance of America's phone system, internet, etc. that seems to be happening - is "we'll try to trace those death threat calls" even on the table?

I'm not a security or safety trained professional, but off the top of my head a domestic security system maybe including video, top of the line door and window locks, advice on car security, who knows what else.

All that is completely beside the point though, because none of it is pertinent to whether the advice to get a gun was reasonable.

That's a fun thought experiment: imagine you're a police officer tasked with helping a woman being anonymously threatened.

I suppose for the police officer, solving the problem of "a stranger is making death threats" is to take a proactive defensive measure and arm yourself.

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What if you were to imagine the advise from some sort of other professional? Maybe a social worker who helps victims of domestic violence ?

What other professionals would have good advice to offer the scientist ?

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I did think it odd that the article mentioned the "go get a gun" response. Was the author's intention to drive home the point that the police were unhelpful ?

Bear spray.

Also, increased monitoring on a vulnerable person with known death threats against them.

Also, if it were available, counseling.

Bear spray is not the more powerful version of pepper spray you might assume it to be. In fact, it's formulated to be weaker, because deterring a bear doesn't take as much effort as deterring a human assailant.

So recommend pepper spray. It's less dangerous and more effective.

I know what I'm recommending.

Bear spray creates a cloud, rather than a stream that must be accurately directed at an assailant (like, e.g. pepper gel). In a situation where the one goal is "escape, alive" bear spray is a reasonable choice for an untrained, likely panicked individual.

You may yet be right! I'm not a self defense professional. But I was not mistaken in my understanding of the products.

Whoever you've just sprayed is not going to be incapacitated to the point of no longer being a threat if that is what they want to continue doing. They may very well decide that their best option is to try and prevent you from calling 911 rather than retreat.

Bear spray is also a really crappy choice indoors. Good luck finding your phone and calling 911 in a sufficiently timely manner after that.

This is why you shouldn't ask me for advice! You should ask a professional. Unfortunately in this situation, the professional's advice was not just bad (as mine apparently was), but potentially deadly - and that's the problem I am lamenting in the original comment.

The default professional advice for people who are worried about being assaulted more or less starts at "glawk fawty" and goes up/down from there depending on what details you add and how they change the situation. The police officer basically gave her the canned default advice.

But like ... that's bad! That's exactly my point.

Not that this particular police officer gave particularly bad advice, but that this idea - that adding more guns solves public safety problems - is so pervasive and _so wrong_.

Any police officer that recommends bear spray for self defense would be putting themselves in legal hot water as such products typically have warnings printed on them that say "Any other use of this product is in violation of federal law". I've never bought or seen a can of bear spray in person, but every can of wasp spray has such printing on it.

I agree with you on the points about increased monitoring and counseling.

Bear spray is indeed illegal to use on people, but so are high-velocity bullets. The courts tend to be fairly understanding in self-defense cases.

It is legal to carry in California, at least.

I agree with you. I would not hesitate to use bear spray, wasp spray, etc. for self defense when I thought that my life is in imminent danger. However, it would be foolish (IMO) for a law enforcement officer to recommend it. Also, if I were on a jury and the defendant used bear spray or wasp spray to save their own life I would certainly not vote to punish that person for what I would view as reasonable force for the situation.

You keep bringing up wasp spray, for reasons I don't really understand.

Bear spray is pepper spray in a different concentration, and with a different spray pattern. s/bear spray/pepper spray/ if it brings clarity to the recommendation.