Paratus Self-Defense Podcast

Patrick Cranston On Why Preparation Beats Heroics When Safety Is On The Line

• Patrick Cranston • Episode 3

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0:00 | 11:40

What Makes Less‑lethal Self‑defense A Smart First Option?

Preparation beats heroics when life tilts sideways. We sat down with Patrick Cranston, co-founder of Paratus Self-Defense, to unpack why less lethal protection can stop real threats, reduce legal exposure, and spare you from heavy emotional fallout—all while building everyday confidence. From road rage flare-ups to late-night parking lots, we explore practical ways to deter danger without creating consequences that follow you for years.

Patrick breaks down what most people miss about self-defense: in the vast majority of incidents, decisive non-lethal action is enough to end the encounter. We talk through how deterrence really works, why confident body language can prevent victimization, and how distance, time, and movement shape safer outcomes. You’ll hear clear guidance on legal thresholds—why proving reasonable fear of danger is different from proving fear for your life—and how that gap can mean fewer investigations, fewer charges, and far less stress.

We also get hands-on with tools. Patrick explains how Byrna launchers function, from CO2 activation on trigger pull to effective ranges that let you create space fast. We cover the difference between kinetic impact rounds and pepper-based projectiles, and why simplicity under stress matters more than specs on paper. Accessibility is a major theme too: permits, background checks, travel rules, and the patchwork of state laws for pepper products are explained in plain language so you can prepare without guesswork.

By the end, you’ll know how to set a non-lethal strategy that fits real life—equip a tool you can actually use, train to act under adrenaline, and focus on stopping the threat and getting out. If this conversation helps you rethink your safety plan, subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs options, and leave a review to tell us what scenario you want us to break down 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 

Why Less Lethal Matters

SPEAKER_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_02

Welcome back, everyone. Sometimes the safest choice is the one that stops danger without creating lifelong consequences. I'm Chelsea Earlywine here in the studio with Patrick Cranston, co-founder of Paratus Self-Defense. Patrick, it's great to see you again.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Chelsea, nice to see you again as well.

SPEAKER_02

Let's dive right

Deterrence And Real-World Effectiveness

SPEAKER_02

into this. So, what makes less lethal self-defense a smart first option?

SPEAKER_01

Sure. Less lethal self-defense is, you know, it sits in that spot between not being able to protect yourself at all, having no means to protect yourself, and having to pull out a firearm or a knife or some other lethal weapon and being forced, you know, to potentially severely injure or even kill someone in order to protect yourself. And the reason that that matters is that studies have shown that in about 99% of all cases where self-defense is used, less lethal self-defense is enough to deter and stop that threat. Criminals, you know, they're looking for easy targets. And they are, you know, if if they see that someone is able to defend themselves in really, you know, any way, even if it's a less lethal way, all of a sudden that just becomes less of an attractive target to them, and they'll just move on looking for uh, you know, someone else that they can that they can go after. And also, you know, there's a lot in not just in criminal situations, in road rage situations, that is also a great option for less lethal self-defense. Because in a lot of times, in a road rage incident, the person doesn't really have any true criminal intent. They're just, you know, they've lost it. You don't know what's happened, you know, before they've gotten to you. But you know, maybe that then getting cut off in traffic or you know, uh failing to merge, something like that, is just like that final straw that just causes them to snap. And, you know, having to use lethal force to defuse that situation is just an extreme measure that, you know, having less lethal and that a less lethal option there will be enough to get them to back down and just leave you alone.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Legal And Emotional Fallout

SPEAKER_02

So, Patrick, how does less lethal protection reduce the legal and emotional fallout after an incident?

SPEAKER_01

So, yeah, those are those are it's a good question. Those are two very different, uh, very different aspects. So the I'll talk first about the the legal aspect is so with less lethal self-defense, obviously, you know, if the person that is attacking you is alive after the situation is has ended, then the you know, your ability to you know avoid any kind of long-term consequences or things are are much are much more reduced. Uh, even if you're fully justified in defending yourself, if a person is dead, then there's a whole separate legal, you know, machinery that goes into place that that has to be investigated. You know, it's much more likely that charges will at least initially be brought, and then you're having to prove that you had the le, you know, you you are in an imminent threat of you know severe bodily harm or death. And so you were, you know, that you had to defend yourself, and that can be, you know, open up to interpretation and you know, lawyers get involved, things like that. In a less lethal self-defense situation, um, the bar for proving that you were able to use uh less lethal defense legally is much lower. So all you have to prove is that you thought that you were in danger, like that maybe they were gonna they were gonna hurt you or you know, some sort of danger. You don't have to prove that you were in severe in fear for of severe injury or you know, you're in fear of your life. You just have to prove that you were in fear of danger. So that just lowers that bar. And then on on the emotional side, that's almost, you know, that could sometimes people gloss over that, but you know, the the actual act of taking a life, killing someone, has long-term emotional consequences. Uh, I mean, the only people that, you know, it wouldn't have an emotional consequence on would be psychopaths, you know, people that are just able to kill without you know any feeling, which and which, you know, fortunately, there's not many psychopaths in the world. And, you know, that, you know, so a normal human being having to kill someone is just an emotional uh baggage that you have to carry with you, uh, even if you were justified or not. You know, there's a lot of questions. Oh, did I have to do that? You know, maybe there is another way out. And so if you can avoid having to, you know, take that step to kill someone, then that just long-term emotionally, uh, that is much better for people.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely. So, why is it important for everyday people to have an option that doesn't require lethal force?

Everyday Confidence And Prevention

SPEAKER_01

So, I mean, it's just important because there's there's so many people that, you know, with when they don't have any option at all, they're just you know scared to even go out and live their normal life or that they're home and they're just scared in their home that, hey, if if someone were to come up and start banging on my door, trying to get into my door, how would I, you know, how would I protect myself? Um, and so this gives them that option of you know, providing that safety and that security. And once you get uh, you know, something like a burna and you learn how to use it and you become competent with it, then when you get into that situation, uh, you're gonna be, you know, much more likely to be able to use it effectively. And just living your life, you're gonna feel more confident. And once again, studies have shown that criminals are very good at being able to detect when someone feels scared or feels nervous or feels confident. So even just knowing you have some sort of less lethal protection on you and you know how to use it and you're comfortable using it, that just subconsciously changes your demeanor, changes how you walk, how you how you conduct yourself, and by uh by its very nature, also reduces the chance that you're gonna be a target of some sort of criminal activity.

Access, Laws, And Travel

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So um, Patrick, can we talk a little bit about accessibility, like not having to do background checks, no waiting period periods? How does that factor into preparedness?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so the with less lethal weapons, the the entry to the bar for owning them is much lower. So with the burna specifically and with pepper sprays and things in general, you typically uh you don't have to have a license to carry them. And so you don't have to apply for a license, you don't have to um, you know, make sure you have proper permits and things. Um the the burna's they shoot both a hard plastic kinetic round and they also shoot a pepper ball round. So the hard plastic kinetic rounds uh is legal in all 50 states. There's no permits or licensing required. So if you have a burner, you're able to take that with you. You can travel with it. Uh you can travel with it in your check luggage through an airline, even. Uh you don't have to declare it or lock it or any of the steps that you have to do with the firearm. Uh if you have it in your vehicle, you can cross state lines without worrying about whether uh it's legal to have it. So you're able to travel to, you know, across the U.S. without that worry. So it's just it's just easier to take it with you. Uh, when it comes to the pepper sprays, there are a couple states that have additional laws uh regarding pepper sprays. Um uh New York and California are the two best known examples where California, it's it's uh not legal to have pepper spray unless you have a certain license for it of any kind. Um and New York, it's uh it's legal to own it in New York, but there's laws about purchasing it. You have to purchase it from a licensed dealer, you can't purchase it out of state, that sort of thing. Um, so you'll want to check for on the pepper spray, you want to check your local laws and make sure you're uh you know in compliance there. But for the launchers themselves with the kinetic round, those are, like I said, legal in all 50 states. And the pepper spray is legal in the vast majority of the states, you know, without any extra permitting or licensing required.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. So what what makes burgo launchers especially appealing for families

How Berna Launchers Work

SPEAKER_02

or individuals that are new to self-defense?

SPEAKER_01

Sure. So uh a couple things that they're very easy to use. Um, they you they're literally what they you know, the term point and shoot. You literally pull it out, point it at the person, and just pull the trigger and it fires. It's a CO2-fired uh launcher, but the CO2 doesn't puncture until you pull that trigger, so you know it's always going to be there ready to go. And it doesn't require, there's other like pepper ball guns and things on the market that other launchers that require an extra step to activate the CO2 with the Berna. It's just a simple trigger pull, both activates and fires the launcher. So it just makes it very easy to have it set up and ready to go. There's unlike a regular firearm, you don't have to rack a slide or do any other kind of caulking um uh mechanism with it. It's simply just point and shoot. Um, and then it also allows you to uh protect yourself at a distance. So in self-defense, it's very good to have distance between you and your attacker. The more distance you can have, obviously the safer you are because that you're always trying in self-defense situations, you're always trying to create distance and space and buy yourself time. And so with the burner launcher, you're able to do that because it does have that effective range out to 60 feet. So you can, you know, if you're in a situation, let's say you're even close, you can start deploying the launcher, creating space, and then you can continue to deploy rounds and shoot uh rounds with either kinetic or tear gas rounds that are going to you know slow down the attacker, uh hopefully stop the attacker while you're continuing to make that space so that even if they stay aggressive, it's just buying you time to get out of the out of the area.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it sounds like a much better option.

Closing And Resources

SPEAKER_02

Well, Patrick, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and helping people understand what their options are. We'll see everyone on the next episode.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks for spending time with us today on self-defense when it matters. At Paratis 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 designed to stop, not kill.