Violent crime continues to rise in Montgomery County, with assaults, armed robberies and carjackings regularly making headlines. Now pepper spray sales are also rising. This pepper spray section at Target in downtown Bethesda was virtually cleaned out yesterday.
Maryland's highly-restrictive gun laws leave residents few options for self-defense beyond staying alert to their surroundings. Others simply may not wish to carry or use a firearm. Whatever the reason, it's clear that pepper spray sales are hot at the moment, reflecting strong concern about the crime situation.
What actual evidence is there that pepper spray sales are increasing? The display being out of stock could be indicative of supply shortages, not due high demand. As a journalist, did you pursue interviews with manufacturers?
ReplyDeleteI think the nearly-empty display speaks for itself. In order for there to be a supply issue at this point, there has to be demand. There hasn't been a snowstorm for many months, so there are currently no issues with trucks resupplying Target stores with pepper spray.
DeleteThis is unfortunately not true. You cannot point to something and claim that it is proof just because you desire it to be so. You need evidence that demand is higher than usual; I'm not saying that it's not true, I am just asking that you do some research before making assertions.
DeleteFirst, there could be supply issues due to a lack of raw materials, or of components for the canisters. For example, Sriracha has had supply issues because of problems growing peppers, not because of too much demand. Simply insisting that high demand caused the display to be empty assumes way too much.
Next, being so oblivious as to think that snowstorms are the only cause of trucking issues is amazing. If you haven't been paying attention for the last 2 years, there continue to be serious issues with our supply chains including a shortage of drivers.
Also - what if the cause of low inventory is demand, but it's somewhere else in the country? Perhaps Target has decided that they need to send all of their pepper spray to Menomonie, Wisconsin due to a huge spike in sales. Without research you can't definitively point to local demand as the reason.
Have you been to a grocery store lately? My favorite drink is constantly out of stock, but it's fallacious to assume that it's just because demand has increased. Maybe all the criminals are extra thirsty due to all of the crime they're committing? There are myriad reason why products could be out of stock, and it's irresponsible to just assign a reason because it fits your narrative.
We are shipping Target in full. Demand is up and we are not facing a supply shortage. Thank you - SABRE
DeleteHmmmm, unverifiable anonymous post claiming to be from a manufacturer based in Chicago, for some reason monitoring a microblog in Rockville. Seems legit.
DeleteLet there be pepper spray! AndcGel!
ReplyDeleteGood reply to a snarky question.
ReplyDeleteEvery gun owner should come in for a mental evaluation annually. We need to have school children uniformed, so that police and authorities can immediately recognize suspects of any criminality or juvenile delinquency. As for illegal firearms, being a national disaster (war zone all over the USA), State government working with federal government should cordon of areas and mount house to house searches, removing illegal weapons. I believe all these problems can be solved easily. The only hinderance is lobbyists working against hard working Americans. That one vote has been hijacked by lobbyists.
ReplyDeleteevery liberal who wants to defund the police should also have a mental evaluation annually to determine whether they are sane enough to be part of society
ReplyDelete