Less-Lethal Self-Defense Made Simple With Byrna

When a moment goes sideways, you don’t suddenly become a superhero. You default to whatever you’ve practiced. That’s why we sit down with Patrick Cranston, co-founder of Paratus Self-Defense, to talk about a category most people overlook: less-lethal self-defense tools designed to stop, not kill.

We walk through where a Byrna non-lethal launcher fits between pepper spray and a firearm, and why that “middle option” can be the difference between panic and preparedness. Patrick shares why creating time and distance is the real objective, how simply showing you can defend yourself often de-escalates a threat, and why avoiding lethal force can spare you the legal and emotional fallout that comes with taking a life.

You’ll also hear real customer stories: a drunk stranger trying to get into someone’s car, aggressive dogs during a walk with a child, and even a nuisance black bear near a family cabin in Tennessee. We get practical about training too, including what it takes to feel confident operating a CO2-powered launcher under stress, plus the difference between kinetic rounds and pepper or tear gas rounds. Finally, we clear up common misconceptions, talk through “what if it looks like a pistol,” and explain broad legality versus state-by-state ammo restrictions.

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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

Designed To Stop Not Kill

SPEAKER_00 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_02 0:30

Choosing the right tool can be the difference between panic and preparedness. And Bernafil is a unique gap many people don't realize they have. Welcome everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer in the studio with Patrick Cranston. He's the co-founder of Paradise Self-Defense. Patrick, thank you so much for joining us. We're happy to have you.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

So if

When A Byrna Makes Sense

SPEAKER_02 0:54

we can jump into today's question, how do you know when a burna is the best self-defense option?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, that's a great question. Um and happy to dive into that. The you know, I like to say that, you know, burna uh is a less lethal self-defense option. So it's similar to like pepper sprays or stun guns, the tasers, all those kind of things. And they live in that space between having to use deadly force, which would be uh, say, a knife or a gun, a firearm of some sort, or having to use your bare hands to protect yourself. And so it kind of lives in that gap. And, you know, according to the FBI and studies they've uh uh done, they've shown that 99% of all self-defense uh altercations or interactions can be resolved with less lethal force. So just being able to demonstrate that you are able to defend yourself in some way, in most cases will de-escalate the situation and have the person, you know, the criminal or the target or the person that's targeting you uh just go and move on. Either they, you know, kind of come to their senses. If it's like a road rage incident, something like that, it kind of snaps them out of that uh mindset. Or if they're just looking for an easy target uh to, you know, to to mug or rob or you know, something like that, just being able to show that you're able to defend yourself will cause them to rethink what they're doing and you know, back off or move into move on to a different uh uh target. You know, what you're what we're trying to do in a less lethal self-defense situation is basically buy time and distance for ourselves so that we can get out of that situation with, you know, protect ourselves and have the least amount of collateral damage so that you don't have to deal with, you know, if you if you kill somebody, you know, everything rack uh gets escalated, the police have to get involved. There's, you know, almost always, you know, you know, you're gonna be arrested, at least, you know, for a short period of time. You're probably gonna end up in a courtroom, you know, as they investigate what's happening, what's happened with that situation. So if we can avoid those situations, wow, that's a that's a great uh that's a great opportunity that we have.

Real Stories From Real Customers

SPEAKER_02 3:14

And could you please share some examples of what clients have shared with you that's happened to them recently where they did have to use a burner?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah, so there's there's many examples of having to use burna. And like I said, it's it's a tool, like a less lethal self-defense tool, similar to like using a pepper spray. So, you know, we've had uh clients that have used uh burnas to protect themselves, like let's say they were uh going through a a part of town that maybe they weren't familiar with, and you know, they were approached by somebody that that you know that started you know trying to approach them, talk to them, you know, they they felt uncomfortable with that situation. They, you know, tried to get out of that, and the person kept uh kept coming up to them. Uh we had one client in particular that it was a drunk person, just kept trying to get into their car, get into their car. In this case, they didn't actually have to use the burna, but just pulling the burna out and showing it to the person and saying, get away from me or I'll use this, you know, using that verbal commands uh was enough to de-escalate the situation. Um another uh customer we had, they actually used the burna in a different situation uh when it came to uh an animal uh control. So they went on a trip down to uh the Gatlinburg area in Tennessee, which is known for its black bears, and they stayed in a cabin down there, and I think the people that stayed there before them had been feeding the bear, a bear out on their back porch because they said every time they went out on their back porch, this bear would come out of the woods and start coming up right up to the edge of the porch. And wasn't being super aggressive, but they had young kids, and this was definitely a nuisance situation, and they just didn't feel comfortable, obviously, having this bear out there every time they were out there. So, in that case, they actually fired the burna using what's called the kinetic rounds, which are just solid plastic like pellets. Um, they shot it twice. The bear, you know they said the bear kind of made a yelping noise, it ran off into the woods, uh, climbed a tree about 50 yards in the woods, stayed up in that tree for a couple hours, and then came down and left. And the rest of the time they were there, the rest of the week they were there, they didn't see it again. So that was a situation where they were able to use it for uh self-defense against a uh, you know, a wild animal. Um, we've had customers that have had used had to use them against um uh dogs, like uh aggressive dogs when they were out taking a walk, they were out with their child. This dog started coming up, barking, it's you know, not actually attacking, but being very aggressive and coming at them, and they were afraid it was going to attack. So they had the burna. They fired a couple pepper rounds at it. Uh those pepper rounds, when they break, they create a six-foot cloud of like pepper spray uh powder. So that impacted on the ground near the near the dog, and that powder came up, got on, you know, the dog inhaled it and immediately turned and just left because it didn't want anything to deal with, you know, deal with the pepper spray. So those are just a few examples of how people have had to, you know, have been able to use the burnous to protect themselves.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Yeah, and I appreciate you mentioning other examples too, where it's not just people, it can be right.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Exactly. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Yep.

Training For Calm Under Stress

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Is there any training involved or what do you do for your clients that come in so they feel confident using it?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Sure. And I'm yeah, I'm a big believer in training. I say that, you know, that it's just like any tool. If you if you're not comfortable using the tool when you go to use it, it's probably not gonna have a good outcome. If you have a saw in your basement and you never you never use that saw, and then all of a sudden you decide you're gonna go down and start cutting wood with it one day. Probably, you know, until you get comfortable using it, your cuts aren't gonna be great. Um, and you may even, you know, injure yourself if you're not comfortable with it. So, what we do here at the store, we actually have a demo range here at the store, a uh range in indoors uh range where you can fire the burnas and get comfortable with them. So you're we always offer uh free uh demos. So anyone who comes in, we go through it's about a 20, 30 minute process where we explain it to them, let them get comfortable with it, actually let them shoot it and you know get comfortable using it. And then once you purchase a uh burna, the demo range is always open. Uh the range is always open when we're open for anyone to come in and practice. So we don't actually charge for using the range, so you can just come in and practice. What's nice about the burno with it shoots a couple different types of rounds, the plastic pellets are um reusable, so you can come in and fire them. Uh, we shoot them into like a heavy tarp uh target that they just kind of bounce off of that and you can pick them up and reuse it. So it's very cost effective. Really, the only thing you're paying for when you're practicing with the burna in that scenario is just your CO2. So, and CO2s are you know a couple bucks a canister, and you'll get 15 to 20 shots out of a CO2 cartridge. So you can come in and practice, and then uh, you know, the the staff at the store here were all trained in using the burnas. Um, so as you come in, even just to practice, if you have more questions or you know, things that you're not not sure about, we're always here to help you out and answer those questions for you.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

So

Laws And Ammo Restrictions

SPEAKER_02 8:30

are there any restrictions on owning it in different states?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Uh so the general question answer to that is no. It's legal. The burna launcher itself, it's classified as an air gun. It's not a firearm. So it's legal in all 50 states. Uh, there's no permits, no background checks, no licensing required. Um, it also it fires two types of rounds. It fires the kinetic plastic rounds, which are kind of like an impact round. When those hit, they leave a big uh bruise or welt on the person. Um, and then it also fires a pepper ball round or tear gas round. And those uh those rounds break on impact and deploy either a powder, a tear gas or pepper spray powder. Some of those rounds, there's a couple states, um California uh being the most noticeable, uh notable example where you're not allowed to have the pepper ball rounds at all in California. Um I think there's maybe some carve out if you're if you have a license or something for that, but generally speaking, you're not allowed to own the those rounds in California. Um, and then some of the states, like I said, there's two different types of uh rounds. There's a pepper spray round and there's a tear gas round. Uh there's a handful of other states, like three or four other states, where you're not allowed to have the tear gas rounds, but you can have the pepper, the pepper spray rounds. So uh that's all listed like on our website. Um we're in you know in Pennsylvania here. Uh both types of rounds are are legal, so there's no no issue with that. Um but depending on where you live, if you work you know purchasing online, uh you'd want to make sure that it's uh you have the right ammunition for where you where you live.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

So and you know, you did a great job explaining what burna is and how to use it. But

Common Fears And Misconceptions

SPEAKER_02 10:19

are there any misconceptions that you run into with people when they first learn about it?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

So I mean one of the you know, one of the things we hear a lot is that, oh, well, I'll just use a real gun if I need to, if I need to protect myself. And, you know, and like I said, the the burna lives in that space with pepper sprays and other less lethal options for, you know, I'm I'm a believer in the Second Amendment. I actually have a concealed carry permit. I'm you know, I've I have firearms, I don't have any problem carrying firearms. But if there's any way I can avoid having to use that, and if I'm in a situation, you know, let's say even a road rage incident where someone gets upset with you and starts, you know, really going off the rails and and starts trying to, you know, get aggressive with you and attack you, to pull out a gun and shoot them dead over that is just, you know, I don't want to live with the emotional and mental uh, you know, toll that comes with that. And I certainly don't want to deal with the illegal and ethical things about that as well. So, you know, but I don't want to have to sit there and fight them off with my bare hands. Um, you know, I'm not a small guy, um, but I've, you know, I've trained combat sports, jiu-jitsu in particular for many years now. And the one thing that's taught me is that you never don't want to get hands-on with someone if you can absolutely avoid it, because you know, you never know what's going to happen, especially outside. You can get knocked down, you can, you know, uh all sorts of things. You don't know what kind of training that person has. And so things can just go badly. And so with something like a burna or other less lethal self-defense option, you're able to uh you know, protect yourself in that space without having to go to that lethal option immediately. You might even have a, you know, you might carry both. You might have both a burna and a firearm in your car. But that gives you the option to say, okay, I need to protect myself, but I really don't feel like I'm threatened, you know, for you know, for my life. And so I don't, you know, I don't think I need to use lethal force. Um, the other, the other uh, you know, thing we get a lot is people are like, well, what happens if you, you know, the burnas look like a pistol? Um, so they do come in different colors. We have some bright colored ones. We have ones that are like black and gray and that look, you know, a little more like a real firearm. And people are like, well, what if I pull this out and then someone just pulls out a real gun? And I say, well, these are to be used for self-defense. So if you're in a situation where the person is hasn't already pulled out, like they're not being super aggressive, then I would question why you're pulling out the burna to begin with. Um, you know, that if if someone has a gun on them and they're coming at you in a criminal way, you know, like they're looking to attack you, they're not gonna keep that gun hidden at that point, in my mind. That you know, likely they're gonna already have pulled that gun out. And then at that point, if someone comes at you with a gun, then that's a whole different situation. Um, that you know, you have to decide how you're gonna handle that, you know, and what how you're gonna deal with that. And any kind of less lethal tool that you have, whether it's you know, a stun gun or a pepper spray or a burner or whatever, or even you know, a baseball bat or anything like that isn't gonna be as effective. You know, if someone's attacking you with a real firearm, that's a whole different situation. And so what I tell people is that these are for these, all those situations where that's not uh likely to be the case. And even if it is likely to be the case, even if it does happen where someone comes at you with a real firearm, you know, once again, are you better off if you have something or if you have nothing? And those are, you know, those variables uh can happen, and you just have to be willing to, you know, be understanding what of what's happening and make those decisions. You know, that's a that's a tough decision to be in, and you have to decide how you're gonna handle it at that time.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

So well, Patrick, thank you so much for breaking this down very clearly and giving people options because I think we all feel a lot safer after hearing you talk.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Well, thank you for that. Thanks

Confidence Options And Closing

SPEAKER_00 14:28

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 ParatisSelfdefense.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.