Even though carrying pepper spray doesn't automatically mean she'll be safe in the event of a sexual assault, Kathy Freel said having it with her makes her feel safer.
"I grew up with the Boy Scout motto - be prepared," said Freel, a third-year MSU College of Law student. "It never hurts to carry something that may work."
In the wake of the 11 reported sexual assaults on campus this semester, one of which was proven to be false, personal safety devices such as pepper spray, mace and noise-makers can be another way to feel protected, area businesses and sexual assault educators said.
"There are times when it's really effective to use those," said Barb Walkington, a therapist for the Sexual Assault Crisis and Safety Education Program with the MSU Counseling Center. "It really gives people a sense of security and safety."
Walkington said safety devices would be useful for stranger situations, in which someone is taken by surprise but has time to react. But she also said it may be unrealistic to use them in an assault by an acquaintance.
"The only problem with an item like that, that you might use to make noise, is that an assailant can easily knock them out of your hand so you can't use them," she said.
Pepper spray and mace should not serve as replacements for education about how to prevent a sexual assault, she said.
"Women can do things to keep themselves safe, but we also need to get the message out there to men to not take advantage of women," she said.
Sprays containing pepper with a pepper quantity below 2 percent are legal to carry, according to the Michigan State Police Web site. Any spray more potent than 2 percent is illegal to possess.
"The size we carry would be illegal - about the size of a half a Coke can," said East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler.
Sales of pepper spray and other items at Galyan's Trading Company in Meridian Mall in Okemos have not increased specifically due to the recent sexual assaults, but they have gone up since the beginning of fall semester, store manager Dave Sicheneder said.
"Obviously when the students come back to campus, we sell some," Sicheneder said.
Total Firearms, 1380 Cedar St. in Holt, sells mace that contains 2 percent pepper spray on a keychain ring. Owner Doug Carl said his store sells it as a means of self-protection, and that not only women purchase it.
Even though mace can be used for protection, it's not the most significant means of defense, Carl said, adding that a person involved in a sexual assault needs to know how to get away from an assailant.
"That's just one of a hundred different scenarios you could be caught up in," he said. "Education is probably the most important thing for self-defense."
