SHOT 2020: PepperBall Compact Personal Defense

Last year's SHOT Show brought big news from PepperBall, a company that specializes in less-lethal personal defense, about their pepper-powder-powered LifeLite. This news from PepperBall this year is much smaller...and that's also big news. This year, the company is introducing an itty-bitty PepperBall personal-defense product, simply called the Compact, and it's even more portable and concealable than the LifeLite.

Like its bigger brother, the Compact uses a kind of powder that's similar to capsaicin. The company calls it Pava Powder, and it's debilitating but temporary and shouldn't cause any permanent injury. But that's where the similarity stops. The LifeLite is about the size of a large flashlight (which it very closely resembles), but the Compact is about the size and weight of a dry-erase marker. Specifically, it's 6.9 inches long, 1.65 inches high and has a .7-inch diameter. These teeny-tiny dimensions mean it can go just about anywhere with you...and that's the whole point of the PepperBall brand.

Without getting into the politics behind personal defense, we can simply state that there are some places and situations in which it's either illegal or seriously impractical to have a firearm. For those situations, a less-lethal solution like the PepperBall might be just the ticket...and a super concealable one, at that. 

The PepperBall Compact retails for a mere $24.99, in part because it's a single-use, disposable tool. It comes preloaded with one live SD round (that would be the little round projectile made of fiery Pava powder), capable of launching up to 10 yards. Upon striking a hard surface, it explodes into a cloud of Extreme Nastiness that should be a serious deterrent to dogs, bears or even two-legged attackers. 

Want to find out more or get your hands on a PepperBall Compact of your own? Click here!