Mvpel -
You said:
"A survey of 878 uses of CAP-STUN brand 5.5% law-enforcement-only pepper spray uses by West Virginia State Police found that it was minimally effective, ineffective, or totally ineffective nearly a third of the time.
This is a good thing to bear in mind when considering the use of 2% pepper spray as a defensive tool."
Cap-Stun is not a highly used spray anymore, at least not in my area. But again you are focusing too much on the percentages. I think Capstun is 5.5% of 500,000 SHU Spray. While Fox Labs is 2% of 5,300,000 SHU Spray. Notice the extreme differance in the SHU (overall heat level). Thats a difference of close to 5 million SHU.
Comparing pepper spray based on percentages alone is kind of like saying a 115 grain bullet is better than a 95 grain bullet. You have to ask yourself, 115 grain of what? JHP or FMJ? You see a 115 grain FMJ bullet may actually be less effective than a 95 grain JHP in terms of stopping power. The same holds true for OC Spray. A 10% 500,000 SHU spray may actually be less effective than a 2% 5,300,000 spray. See what I mean?
Also keep in mind that many police departments use 'weaker' sprays for a number of reasons:
1) Liability
2) Decon Time - Dont want to babysit a prisoner for 2 hours while they decon from the spray
3) For law enforcement, pepper spray is just one tool on the use-of-force spectrum. In other words if the spray fails, they can move up to say ASP baton strikes or deadly force if the situation warrents.
So when people say, this spray is law enforcement strength or something like that you know it is complete BS because as a whole police use weaker sprays. (at least thats how it is here in Rhode Island. An employee at a local police supply store told me that the only agency in RI that uses Sabre Red is the ACI (state prison) because it is "over kill")
The problem with the pepper spray industry is that it is highly unregulated. So people use a cheap spray and are disappointed with its results. Use sabre red of fox labs and you will probably get about 80% to 90% effectiveness if you land a good hit on their face. But like anything else you had better have a backup if it doesnt work or at least a good pair of running shoes