First your anti-gun bias is showing. Second you keep claiming to know the un-knowable (what would have happened). Third "barely got mauled," are you serious? Fourth, my conclusion that bear spray is not all it is touted to be is based upon many incidents not just one or two or three or four.

Tom Smith (hey you brought him into this) for you: "I can authoritatively state, however, that field results alone are too few and too confounded to base a sound decision on. Not only do we lack sufficient incidents for each brand but also have had contradictory results. For example, a USGS employee in Alaska surprised a bear a number of years ago and the brand of bear pepper spray she dispensed into the bear’s face apparently “failed” to halt the attack. She received injuries after the bear charged through the spray cloud and assaulted her." Sounds a lot like this incident doesn't it? There's two for you. Here's # three: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5cMZymSr0 Cruise guides in Sitka #4,...