Chris Baker at Lucky Gunner has produced a very good video summation of the use of handguns to defend against bears published on AmmoLand. The graphics in the video are well done. There were over 95 thousand views in five days, with 748 comments. The vast majority of comments were favorable. This is a well-made video worth watching if you prefer to obtain your information via video instead of print. The video is 11:48 minutes long. Chris has obviously studied the data collected and analyzed it from the long-running series at AmmoLand. He has created a good narrative and visual summary of the findings from that data.
Lucky Gunner correctly identifies the incidents collected and documented in the AmmoLand articles come from a variety of sources:
- Newspaper and magazine articles
- Books
- Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA)
- Interviews with participants in the events
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Chris faithfully notes these are all the incidents that have been found, with diligent searching, since 2018. This is to prevent or at least minimize selection bias. In the video, there is limited time, so Chris does not mention the range of years covered. The incidents range from 1890 to 2024. Lucky Gunner shows bear attacks in the United States primarily occur in three states: Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming. Chris has created some decent graphics that show the number of incidents by caliber.
Lucky Gunner does a good job of showing the advantages of warning shots in defense against bears, with a good explanation of things to keep in mind when considering a warning shot.
While Chris states there are only 4 failures in the data, he makes a small error when he says there is no indication any of the bears in the four failures were actually hit. There is documentation that the polar bear in Svalbard was hit with three bullets from the .22 pistol, but none of the bullets reached the brain.
Chris and this correspondent disagree on whether bear spray is easier to use than a handgun. Chris thinks bear spray is easier to use. Bear spray has its own problems, such as poor holsters, a safety that is not ergonomic, and the need to point it in the right direction while considering the wind direction. This correspondent believes bear spray is not as easy to use as a handgun because cartridge handguns and holsters have about 150 years of experience and refinement of their ergonomics. Nearly all firearm safeties are far superior to the safeties found on bear spray. Of course, bear spray can be legally carried in more places than firearms are allowed. If a person has a phobia about firearms or is unwilling to learn about them, bear spray offers an alternative.
AmmoLand appreciates Chris Baker’s study and effort in analyzing the video at Lucky Gunner. The attention to detail and accuracy are well done. Lucky Gunner tactfully but factually replies to several of the hundreds of comments.
Overall, Chris Baker at Lucky Gunner did a great job with his analysis and video presentation on the effectiveness of handguns in defending against bears. He accurately represents the results of the research published on AmmoLand and reaches tens of thousands of interested parties with his excellent presentation.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
While the video talks about those killed by bears, Dean’s articles include those mauled but survived by using a handgun. To just lump that category in with ‘where shots were fired” does a disservice to those who lived through their bear encounter, but just barely. (Bad pun, I know)
“Chris and this correspondent disagree on whether bear spray is easier to use”
I agree with Mr. Weingarten. I consider a handgun easier to use than bear spray, NOT harder! Lucky gunner gets this backward, IMO.
That said, overall, its a great piece that can do a lot of good for those that prefer to watch videos, rather than read. And I’m not anti-bear spray. If one cannot have anything better, it’s a viable, albeit inferior, alternative to a firearm.
Fwiw, some reports I’ve read suggest that of all bear conflict encounters where physical contact occurs with a human a smaller subset of around 5-10% of contacts will result in human fatalities. If 1.6 grizzly (Brown) bear contacts occur annually with most in WY, MT, and AK result in human deaths then total humans injured are likely between 16 and 32 persons per year. The grizzly (brown) bear population ain’t all that big. Human deaths and serious injuries from grizzly encounters occur with uncomfortably high likelihood in occupied habitats. It is only the probability of encountering a grizzly OUTSIDE of… Read more »