3-Year-Old Dies From Gunshot Wound In Yellowstone National Park - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;42132129]can't you headshot the bear?[/QUOTE] good luck

More than just bears to worry about in Yellowstone not sure how spray would effect those other things you need to be cautious about.

[QUOTE=The golden;42131789]What are you even trying to argue here? That a handgun is more efficient than bear spray? Sorry but it isn't. Any professional outdoorsman will tell you right away that the spray is much more efficient and reliable if you are approached by hostile animals. Unless you're just turning this into a gun debate which it isn't. Nobody here is arguing for or against firearms - just their use in a situation such as this. Nobody is debating guns here.[/QUOTE]Entirely depends on the situation. A pissed off bear, like, murderously angry, is best dealt with lethally. Using mace on it will just further enrage it. Though I will agree that bear mace acts as an excellent deterrent to a curious or slightly aggressive animal. Since bears have an unbelievably powerful sense of smell, that mace is going to be a massive "don't fuck with this human" red flag if you spray it correctly.

[QUOTE=The golden;42131789]What are you even trying to argue here? That a handgun is more efficient than bear spray? Sorry but it isn't. Any professional outdoorsman will tell you right away that the spray is much more efficient and reliable if you are approached by hostile animals. Unless you're just turning this into a gun debate which it isn't. Nobody here is arguing for or against firearms - just their use in a situation such as this. Nobody is debating guns here.[/QUOTE] in the hands of a novice, sure mace is a better choice. in the hands of someone who is good with a gun, the gun will always be the better choice

[QUOTE=katbug;42126834]I wish we had some sort of fingerprint system that makes sure that someone is holding a gun correctly and is the owner of said gun before it could be fired. It would stop so many of these unnecessary tragedies, would stop the problem of guns being stolen, and would effectively stop the illegal firearm trade if the encryption was good enough.[/QUOTE] The NRA would actively lobby against it.

[QUOTE=The golden;42128070]Why the hell would you bring a handgun out camping rather than bear spray or something. An angry brown bear is going to take more hits than your average camper can reliably land on it. A quick shot with bear spray will quickly incapacitate it and allow you to escape harm.[/QUOTE] I live relatively near Yellowstone and I carry both when I visit. Bear spray is fantastic. If used properly it is extremely unlikely to fail to stop a bear. HOWEVER. Bear spray is also only useful in one scenario. You do not directly shoot bear spray at a bear, you wait for a bear to charge, spray a cloud in its path, and back up. This requires that the bear be actively attacking (or at least making a mock charge) and be directly attacking you specifically on open ground. If any of those three factors aren't met, then bear spray isn't terribly useful. If the bear is going after another member of your party, or a hiker not outfitted with bear spray (most of them won't be carrying it), or attacks you or your camp while you sleep (extremely common), then the bear spray is going to hurt things more than help. You don't need to necessarily incapacitate a bear in the same way that you would stop a human, you only need to establish that humans are more trouble than they are worth. Brown bears rarely pursue humans for food (black bears are, surprisingly, more likely to do that) but rather to defend territory. Territorial defense isn't likely worth a fight to the death in the bear's mind and if they are defending cubs you likely only need to buy enough time to disengage and get away from the cubs. Aside from the topic of brown bears, there are other threats in the park. Everything from wolverines to coyotes to even the elk will attempt to fuck up people on occasion. It is a hostile place. And ignoring even the animals, it can be extremely isolated once you get even a little ways off the road. A handgun allows you to fire distress shots (groups of three shots will be recognized by park rangers and any outdoors people worth their salt as a universal sign of distress. Technically groups of threes of anything are the universal sign of distress in general, but gunshots are particularly noticeable and useful in that capacity) and potentially actually get help. [editline]10th September 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;42133263]Entirely depends on the situation. A pissed off bear, like, murderously angry, is best dealt with lethally. Using mace on it will just further enrage it. Though I will agree that bear mace acts as an excellent deterrent to a curious or slightly aggressive animal. Since bears have an unbelievably powerful sense of smell, that mace is going to be a massive "don't fuck with this human" red flag if you spray it correctly.[/QUOTE] Bear spray is extremely effective. If you are in the correct situation, bear spray is always more effective than a gun.

[QUOTE=katbug;42126834]I wish we had some sort of fingerprint system that makes sure that someone is holding a gun correctly and is the owner of said gun before it could be fired. It would stop so many of these unnecessary tragedies, would stop the problem of guns being stolen, and would effectively stop the illegal firearm trade if the encryption was good enough.[/QUOTE] The technology is there.. It's probably just that the fingerprint technology is not currently sufficient enough in a war environment. (Checking finger print every time they press the trigger or pickup the gun might take time) Why do parents leave guns around for kids to pickup anyway.