AnsomMag.com |

Security products for both police and civilians comprise a growing sales category for army/navy store merchants.   A combination of a high unemployment with consequent rise in crime and general concern for safety that has prevailed since 9/11 have increased the market for stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray and body armor.

“Any time the economy goes into decline, crime goes up and people look for inexpensive ways to protect themselves,” said Billy Pennington, president of Personal Security Products in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Business has been very good, said Pennington, noting that many merchants who in the past declined to carry these types of products have become customers.

PSP sells its own brand of Eliminator pepper spray and is a master distributor for Fox Lab pepper spray, widely used in law enforcement. But the company’s specialty is stun guns, on which it holds five patents. Pennington also wholesales Tasers, but sales have been slow as the almost $300 price tag puts them beyond the budget of many consumers.

Unlike a Taser, a stun gun works only when the unit is applied directly to the body. Voltage in PSP stun guns range from 600,000 in the seven- inch Zap Stick to 1.2 million in Double Trouble, two pronged, model.

The latter voltage is the strongest in the industry, Pennington said. He advises cautions customers to be wary of companies that claim to sell stun guns delivering more voltage. Some companies claim have products that deliver 2-3 million volts.

“It is not technologically possible. If it were available, we would have it,” he said.   

Stun guns, like Tasers, operate on high voltage but low amperage. Electric shock comes from high amps. A stun gun jolt, by contrast, disrupts the impulses from the brain to the muscles and temporarily turns blood sugar into lactic acid causing the muscles to become weak.

New products from PSP include the Zap Light and the Zap Baton. Both are rechargeable.

The former is a working flashlight with a stun gun that delivers a one million volt charge built into the head. The Zap Baton, manufactured mainly for security personnel, also delivers a million volts and includes electrodes at four contact points; end, sides and under the grip- so that anyone attempting to disarm the user will be stunned.

All PSP rechargeable stun guns come with a wall charger. Battery operated guns include lithium batteries.

In the late 1980s, pepper spray began to replace CS tear gas following an FBI study that revealed that the former was effective in temporarily disabling persons impervious to pain, said David Nance, marketing VP for Security Equipment Corporation in Fenton, Missouri.

Founded in 1975 by David’s father, Larry Nance, the family owned business developed the formula for Sabre pepper spray, on which it owns the patent.