Click here to download the catalog as a PDF file. To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. Massad Ayoob Selling Non-Gun Self-Defense Products G uns aren’t the be-all, end-all of defensive equipment. If they were, police duty belts would be considerably lighter. It has been my experience over the last three and a half decades that cop and citizen are more likely to have to restrain a criminal or fend him off than to shoot one. Many of your customers have all the guns they need (though, hopefully, for the sake of your business and their contentment, not all the guns they want). However, when they’re on that business trip to California or a family reunion in Chicago, they won’t be able to carry firearms. That’s when some sort of “lesslethal” option needs to be their next purchase. In addition, there are customers who are new to the whole self-defense thing and are taking it in baby steps. They are not ready to recognize that they might have to end a human life to stop a particularly violent attack. That’s why it’s impor- tant to know what level of self-defense the customer is ready to put into action. If, when customers enter your store, you come across as a “gun shop commando” and attempt to sell them a higher-force level than Kimber’s Guardian Angel contains two cylinders of concentrated, near pharmaceutical-grade OC (oleoresin capsicum). they’re ready for, you’re likely to not only lose them as customers for today, but also never see them again. If, on the other hand, customers leave with some means of self-defense, something that makes them feel safer, more secure and more confident with a “weapon” of some sort, you’ve developed a new regular customer. You are the one who purveyed the instrument of their newfound confidence. You are the one who proved you understood their needs, and therefore you are the one they’ll come back to when they’re ready for the next step, and the next. To encourage this sort of customer, be sure to have books or DVDs on selfdefense, weapons safety and things of that nature readily accessible and on display. The price will be small enough to make it a natural impulse sale. Books and DVDs aren’t just sales in themselves; they help draw the customer back for more of what you have to sell. Explaining The Less-Lethal Concept elf-defense sprays or ASRs (Aerosol Suspect Restraint) and stun guns, or ERDs (Electronic Restraining Devices) and the like, used to be called “non-lethal.” That went by the board when attorneys began suing cops on behalf of folks who were killed or crippled after such force levels were applied. Just as X-number of people die from being punched or kicked (or falling on their head) in a fistfight, X-number of people are going to die after inhaling substances to which they’re particularly sensitive, or after having been shocked — or just from falling on their head at the end of the fight. However, in legal arenas, when someone dies from something that shouldn’t have killed them, the argument arises, “If it’s nonlethal, then you, the one who applied it, must have used it excessively or negligently to cause death!” That’s enough for a bigbucks, wrongful-death verdict in civil court, and enough to even sustain a possible manslaughter conviction in criminal court. With this development, cops and the industry moved away from the term “non-lethal” and adopted the current term, “less-lethal.” Now, you’re going to have customers who scoff, “What the hell is ‘less-lethal’? Isn’t that kind of like ‘less-pregnant’ or ‘less dead’?” Be able to explain the terminology. Basically, “less-lethal,” as used for these products, is a term that means “It’s less likely to be lethal” than, say, a per se deadly weapon, which is what a gun or an aggressively wielded knife is seen as in the eyes of the law. 16 JUNE 2008 S Modern Sprays, Electronic Restraints Prove Effective T ear gas sprays go back to the mid-20th century and they’ve always had a very spotty record. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. Pepper spray has worked much better. Oleoresin capsicum, or OC, is basically the active ingredient in cayenne pepper. It doesn’t stop every bad guy in his tracks, but it stops them much better than the old CN and CS tear gas formulae did. A brand used by police, such as Curb, Fox Labs, Sabre, etc., will have more credibility with most of your customers. It won’t hurt to also have fogger, streamer and foam delivery systems for your Security Equipment Corporation’s SABRE RED formulation is used by many of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies. www.shootingindustry.com