Non-Lethal Self-Defense: How Byrna Launchers Deter Threats Without Deadly Force

How Does A Byrna Launcher Actually Work To Stop A Threat?

A bad moment doesn’t ask for heroics—it asks for preparation. We sat down to unpack the real-world value of less-lethal self-defense, exploring how CO2-powered Byrna launchers deter threats fast without crossing the line into deadly force. From what’s inside the magazine to what happens on impact, we break complex choices into clear, practical steps you can use when seconds count.

We start with the hardware: how launchers that look like pistols use CO2 to fire either kinetic rounds for pain compliance or chemical rounds that burst into a six-foot cloud of pepper and CS tear gas. You’ll hear when each round shines, how velocity and projectile weight affect stopping power, and why “more” isn’t always better if your goal is to stop, not kill. We also walk through effective range—why 20 to 30 feet is a critical window—and how to avoid cross-contamination when deploying chemical irritants at close distances.

Then we get tactical. Learn a smart magazine setup that starts with one or two kinetic rounds on top and stacks pepper or tear gas beneath, giving you safe close-range options and strong follow-up as you create distance. We share simple at-home training drills with target tents or hanging blankets, plus range tips to build draw speed, accuracy, and confidence under pressure. Throughout, we emphasize situational awareness, ethical force decisions, and the legal and moral advantages of tools designed to preserve life while protecting your own.

If you value practical defense, clear instruction, and options that align with your principles, this conversation will sharpen your plan and your skills. Subscribe, share with a friend who wants safer alternatives, and leave a review to tell us what loadout or drill you’re trying next.

To learn more about Paratus Self-Defense LLC visit:
https://www.ParatusSelfDefense.com
Paratus Self-Defense LLC 
115 Perry Hwy Ste 138 
Harmony, Pennsylvania 16037-9205 
724-453-4030 

Transcript

Mission And Core Message

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Self-Defense When It Matters, brought to you by Paratus, a premier burna dealer. Hosted by Patrick Cranston, co-founder of Paratus Self-Defense. Here's the truth. When a moment goes sideways, you don't rise to the occasion, you fall back on your preparation. That's why today we're talking about self-defense tools designed to stop, not kill. No Hollywood heroics, just smart, effective protection when it matters most.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Welcome

What A Launcher Is And Isn’t

SPEAKER_00 0:31

everyone. Let's break down how less lethal force can quickly change the direction of a dangerous moment. I'm Chelsea Earlywine, co-host and producer here in the studio with Patrick Cranston, co-founder of Paratus Self-Defense. Patrick, great to see you today.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Nice to see you, Chelsea.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

So let's dive right in. So, Patrick, how does a burno launcher actually work to stop a threat?

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Yeah, so burning launchers, you know, there are less lethal options. So they live in that space between not being able to protect yourself at all and having to use something like a firearm that is going to have lethal force or deadly force applied if you need to protect yourself. So less lethal launchers, they look like a pistol. And I actually have one here, I'll hold up here. They look like a pistol, and but they are technically an air gun. So they use a CO2 cartridge, which is similar to this, similar to uh just a CO2 cartridge that you'd find in any typical air gun.

Kinetic Vs Chemical Rounds

SPEAKER_02 1:31

And that CO2 cartridge goes in under the barrel. So there's a spot here under the barrel where you can put the CO2 and seat it in there. And then you load a magazine of projectiles and they shoot these hard, they look uh like round uh projectiles. Uh they either shoot a hard plastic kinetic round. So this is a solid plastic round uh that weighs about three grams, or they shoot a pepper ball or tear gas round. And so the kinetic rounds, when they are fired, they hit with a lot of force. Um, it's like getting hit with an extremely hard punch. They leave, you know, real uh nice welts and bruises on an attacker. Uh and then the pepper ball rounds, they kind of work like a paintball in the sense that they're a hard plastic shell, but they're filled with a pepper spray or tear gas powder. And so when they hit, they break open and they create a six-foot cloud of uh tear gas or pepper spray powder that can, you know, incapacitate an attacker for up to 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Oh wow. Okay, that's really interesting. So, so can you dive in a little bit more about the difference between the the kinetic rounds and the chemical irritant rounds?

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yeah. So uh with those, the so the regardless of which round you're using, in the uh in the launcher itself here, uh there's a magazine that goes in the goes in the bottom of the launcher, and it's a five-round magazine that can hold a mix of these kinetic or pepper spray rounds. And so uh the kinetic rounds are really used kind of like a pain compliance uh situation. Uh so you would deploy those if you wanted to, you know, hit someone and let them know that, hey, I have the ability to protect myself. Um, you know, you may want to think about going somewhere else. Because in most cases, you know, studies and statistics show that, you know, criminals are looking for the path of least resistance and for the easiest target. And so just pulling out a launcher and uh sometimes just literally pulling out the launcher is enough to dissuade someone because they see that they may not be quite sure is that a real gun or is that a you know, is that a less lethal? But either way, you pull that out, that can be enough for them to say, you know what, this isn't worth my, I thought this was an easy target. It's not, I'm gonna move on. But if they are, if they don't have that, if they still are being aggressive, then you're able to just pull the trigger and fire. And the kinetic rounds will just, like

Velocity, Mass, And Stopping Power

SPEAKER_02 4:00

I said, they have that pain compliance uh part of it. Uh, it's gonna hurt. They may not know if they've been shot for real or not, but either way, that's gonna stun them and it's gonna allow you to buy time to get out of that situation because sometimes you really only need a few seconds uh to be able to get into your car to get away, or you know, walk, you know, move around the corner, something like that. And that can buy you that time. The pepper spray rounds are similar in that uh when they're fired, they they'll hit, but they break open. And so uh when that powder, when the shell breaks open, the powder coats the attacker. And so that instantly causes like the tearing, the temporary blindness, the burning sensation. You know, your your nose starts running, your your eyes start tearing. Um, the tear gas rounds uh also have a CS gas mixed in with the pepper spray. And what that does is that constricts your breathing and makes you feel nauseous and you know, you can't catch like you can't catch your breath. And you know, Berna says that the tear gas rounds can incapacitate someone for up to 30 minutes. So, once again, allowing you to buy time to get yourself out of that situation and get the safety.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Wow, yeah. Thank you for explaining that. So, how does the launcher's velocity contribute to that stopping power?

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah, so the launcher does, you know, obviously it's a combination of the weight of the projectile and the velocity with which it's being uh shot at. So on the velocity side of things, uh depending on the launchers, our are um uh least powerful launcher, shoot the 280 feet per second, all the way up to 410 feet per second, depending on what model you go with. All of them have, you know, good stopping power, but obviously the ones that are shooting faster, um, they're gonna hit harder. And so, especially with the kinetic rounds, that's gonna, you know, they're gonna feel that impact more uh at the at the higher velocity. Um, and Vernon kind of measures that as well. That uh I mentioned the three gram weight before. It is possible to buy different projectiles that are heavier in weight, and the heavier weighted projectile is going to hit harder. But at the same time, you have to remember the purpose of this is to be less lethal. And so I like to say the heavier the projectile, the less less lethal it becomes because depending on where you hit the person or how you hit the person, how close you are, if you're shooting with, say, like a nine-gram projectile versus a three-gram projectile in weight, the kinetic force is much harder. So it's gonna do more damage.

Effective Range And Use Strategy

SPEAKER_00 6:38

So, Patrick, tell me what is the most optimal range for each of the different types of rounds to be the most effective?

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Sure, that's a great question. So Verna lists the maximum effective range of about 60 feet for the projectiles. Um, that's that's the long, that's as far as they're gonna go before they just drop off and basically you know hit the ground. Um the I will say at 60 feet, that is that is the far end. I'm not sure how effective they'll be at 60 feet, but re but actually, you know, if 60 feet is quite a ways, if someone's 60 feet away from you, you're gonna have a hard time, you know, saying that they're really an intimate, uh, imminent threat, you know, to your to your you know, well-being. So um most times what I tell people is, you know, it's generally considered if a threat is within 20 to 30 feet of you, and that that takes about a second of time to cover 20 to 30 feet. So that is about the time where you want to, you know, start thinking about maybe you need to deploy this. Um, the kinetic rounds uh will work very well from that 30 feet and in. They pack quite a punch. Obviously, as they get closer, they're gonna they're gonna hit even harder. Um, the the pepper ball rounds, they'll work at the same in the same spot, but with the pepper ball rounds, you have to be careful because when they break open, they do create like a six-foot cloud of pepper spray or tear gas powder. And so when they get if someone very close to you and you fire that off, there's that chance of cross-contamination. Just like if you use a regular pepper spray that has a liquid, you know, like the little canister, when you spray that, that kind of starts going everywhere uh immediately. What's nice about the pepper ball rounds is when you fire them, they don't break until they hit the attacker or hit, you know, around hit a solid object near the attacker or the attacker themselves. So you don't have to worry about it, you know, cross-contaminating you just when you fire it. But if someone is within, you know, six or seven feet of you and you fire that and it breaks open when it hits them, it is gonna, there is that chance for cross-contamination. So we recommend that, you know, obviously if you have to use it, you have to use it, but you know, a little bit more distance on the pepper ball round is actually preferred. And what's nice is in the launcher, in the magazine that you have, you can mix and match how you want those to load. So I typically load mine with one or two kinetic rounds at the top, and then the three or four pepper ball or tear gas rounds underneath of that. So that if you do get in a situation where someone's very close to you and you're feeling threatened, you can pull that launcher out. You can fire that first shot without fear of getting that pepper spray on you. And that allows you to buy some time to back up and start to get away. And then if there's still being a threat, then you can continue to pull the trigger and fire it. Um, you know, fire, deploy the pepper arounds.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

So

Training, Practice, And Confidence

SPEAKER_00 9:40

okay. And so, Patrick, before we close out here, what training do you recommend that people go through to be confident to deploy this under pressure?

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Yeah, so it's like anything else. If you don't, if you're not comfortable using the tool, uh you're not gonna you're you're it's not gonna be as helpful to you in a situation when you when you might need it. So, you know, I recommend at the very least, you know, what's nice about the uh the burnas is that you can practice with them in your backyard, in your basement, um, especially using the kinetic rounds, also work very well as a training round. You can shoot them into a target, a soft target of some sort. We sell target tents. You can also shoot them into like a like a heavy sleeping bag or a moving blanket that's kind of draped over, you know, kind of hanging, and that creates a nice uh target backstop to shoot into. And so, you know, I recommend that people shoot it enough that they're very comfortable drawing it out of wherever they're keeping it, you know, and then pulling that trigger fire and be able to keep the rounds on target. Um, at the store here in Harmony, we do have an indoor shooting range where uh people are able to come in and use that, uh, use the range for practice. Um, and then as when they're here, we also offer, you know, we'll do one-on-one instruction with them. Um, we also offer like classes and things where you can come in and get additional training on how to use not only how to use the launcher, but also just kind of self-defense in general as far as situational awareness, you know, when you think you might want to pull that out, you know, the best ways to, you know, to use the burna. Um, but I tell people really the biggest thing is to make sure you're shooting, just like yeah, even in this case, like a real firearm, make sure you're using it and being comfortable with its function. It's not very difficult, but if you never touch it, you never pick it up, uh, your chances of being able to use it uh successfully when you need to go down.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

That makes a lot of sense. Well, Patrick, thank you so much for breaking all of that down so clearly. We appreciate all of your insight, and we'll see everyone on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Thanks for spending time with us today on self-defense when it matters.

Closing Principles And Resources

SPEAKER_01 11:49

At Paratist Self-Defense, we believe confidence comes from being prepared and from having options that protect lives without taking them. That's why we proudly offer Berna non-lethal launchers. They're not firearms, but they are incredibly powerful, effective, and easy to use when seconds count. If you'd like to learn more, visit ParatistSelfdefense.com. We ship to the lower 48 states because safety shouldn't be limited by geography. Until next time, stay aware, stay prepared, and remember design to stop, not kill.