You guys can feel free to laugh at me on this one.... but also learn something from it.
So, sometime in the last year I bought one of these Byrna (non lethal pistols) for our church safety team. 4 of us have gone out and 'qualified' with it. When I bought it I ordered all the various extras.... including the pepper powder balls.
Well this past Sunday after service I was siting in our security room and one of the members was with me and he removed the magazine from the Byrna and notices some white powder on it .... I looked at it and did what every TV cop does when finding white powder, I put a little on my finger and tasted it.... (yes, I know) the odd thing was it had no taste and was not hot at first but did start to get warm. I then looked down in the magazine well and could see the broken pepper ball and a good bit of powder still in there. So, I decided to tap the pistol on the desk in front of me to get the ball and power out.. which with a good hard tap did... about a 1/2 teaspoon of powder and the two half section of the ball came out... 2 seconds later myself and the other guy evacuated the room! He did not get as bad a dose as I did.... runny nose and eyes for about 20 minutes.....
Now here's where I get even dumber.... I went back in a bit later and using the sexton's vacuum sucked up the broken ball and most of the powder. After that I was ready to go home.... later in the day I started worrying what would happen if the sexton decided to clean the vacuum out.... and so this past week I went back out to clean the vacuum.... not thinking (seems like a on going tradition here). I took the vac out in the yard and took it apart before decided I needed to put on a dust mask.... I then processed to blow every thing off.... I did not think about eye protection.... right about the time I started putting the vacuum back together I started coughing and I mean hacking like I was going to toss up a lung.... took the vac back in the room and noticed there was still a trace of powder on the desk and used my bandana to wipe this last stuff off. Still hacking pretty good I decided to drive home.... on the way my nose was running pretty good and so I decided to blow it.... into my bandana.... there was the real mistake.... right after this I actually went blind for about 2 seconds.... remember me cleaning the rest of the powder off the desk..... into the BANDANA!
I'm serious.... not making any of this up. Was on a straight road.
We've decided that the pepper balls need to go... hitting someone with one of those inside a building with other people, especially the elderly (like me) , would be a really bad idea. So, I guess that is the potentially good part of my misadventure.
So, sometime in the last year I bought one of these Byrna (non lethal pistols) for our church safety team. 4 of us have gone out and 'qualified' with it. When I bought it I ordered all the various extras.... including the pepper powder balls.
Well this past Sunday after service I was siting in our security room and one of the members was with me and he removed the magazine from the Byrna and notices some white powder on it .... I looked at it and did what every TV cop does when finding white powder, I put a little on my finger and tasted it.... (yes, I know) the odd thing was it had no taste and was not hot at first but did start to get warm. I then looked down in the magazine well and could see the broken pepper ball and a good bit of powder still in there. So, I decided to tap the pistol on the desk in front of me to get the ball and power out.. which with a good hard tap did... about a 1/2 teaspoon of powder and the two half section of the ball came out... 2 seconds later myself and the other guy evacuated the room! He did not get as bad a dose as I did.... runny nose and eyes for about 20 minutes.....
Now here's where I get even dumber.... I went back in a bit later and using the sexton's vacuum sucked up the broken ball and most of the powder. After that I was ready to go home.... later in the day I started worrying what would happen if the sexton decided to clean the vacuum out.... and so this past week I went back out to clean the vacuum.... not thinking (seems like a on going tradition here). I took the vac out in the yard and took it apart before decided I needed to put on a dust mask.... I then processed to blow every thing off.... I did not think about eye protection.... right about the time I started putting the vacuum back together I started coughing and I mean hacking like I was going to toss up a lung.... took the vac back in the room and noticed there was still a trace of powder on the desk and used my bandana to wipe this last stuff off. Still hacking pretty good I decided to drive home.... on the way my nose was running pretty good and so I decided to blow it.... into my bandana.... there was the real mistake.... right after this I actually went blind for about 2 seconds.... remember me cleaning the rest of the powder off the desk..... into the BANDANA!
I'm serious.... not making any of this up. Was on a straight road.
We've decided that the pepper balls need to go... hitting someone with one of those inside a building with other people, especially the elderly (like me) , would be a really bad idea. So, I guess that is the potentially good part of my misadventure.
