Cincy Police: When we say we want you defenseless, we mean DEFENSELESS

September 10, 2003
Cincinnati Enquirer

Police concerned over civilian pepper guns

SYCAMORE TWP. - Outside Kenwood Towne Centre on Saturday, shoppers will find
a pepperball gun company pitching its weapons as the latest thing in home
protection.

They look enough like real handguns to have police officers concerned. But
PepperBall Technologies Inc. (San Diego) says citizens are clamoring for ways to feel
safer, and that these weapons are the newest wave in self-protection without
killing anyone.

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The pepperball gun - called "The Neutralizer" - fires hard plastic
projectiles that burst on impact. The balls are filled with powder that
irritates the victim's eyes, nose and throat.

The company chose Cincinnati to launch its marketing campaign after extensive demographic research - including percentage of gun owners and non-gun owners, Villines said. Another crucial factor: A lawsuit challenging Ohio's ban on concealed weapons is pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.

PepperBall Technologies, he said, described its gun as "kind of like a paintball gun," Casper said, except that on Saturday it will shoot pellets of baby powder at a target.

Cincinnati police officers - who described The Neutralizer as looking similar to a 9mm
semiautomatic pistol with a scope on top - said arming the public with anything that looks like a real gun can be dangerous. Pointing a pepperball gun at a burglar, for example, could prompt the burglar to respond with a weapon that fires real bullets.

Company officials insist there are differences between their weapon and a
real gun, including that the person shooting it doesn't feel it recoil, said Monte Scott, client relations manager.

"Our primary focus here is home protection," he said. "It's not for taking
outside or in your car."

Cincinnati police have had pepperball guns for about 18 months, but they're
not in every cruiser yet. Officers have fired them three times in just over a week, each time at mentally ill people who were then taken for psychiatric evaluation.

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