A Chicago startup thinks it has come up with a weapon for people who don't want guns: Salt. The weapon, which recently appeared on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, is described as a nonlethal home defense solution.

Salt looks like a typical bullet-firing handgun, but it isn't. It isn't even a firearm as defined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Salt is basically a paintgun that fires paintballs filled with an incapacitating pepper extract.

Each Salt gun is powered by a single CO2 cartridge and holds seven balls. Upon impact, the balls explode and create a five foot spray of pepper extract. Salt's inventors claim the extract, derived from the world's hottest peppers and created with the help of a defense contractor, will "cause the lungs to constrict as they would during an asthma attack." Presumably, much like pepper spray it will also inflict blinding, incredible pain to the eyes.

The Salt gun doesn't use an "incendiary firing mechanism"—think the explosive primer in a regular gun that forces a bullet down the barrel. Instead, a burst of pressurized CO2 forces the ball out the barrel. This distinction means Salt is not an actual firearm and could be bought over the counter without legal restriction.

Salt may not technically be a firearm, but it sure looks like one. The weapon features aiming sights over the barrel, a skeletonized trigger, and a Picatinny rail for mounting accessories, such as a light or aiming laser under the barrel.

Salt claims to be safer for households with children—according to the Centers for Disease Control, an average of 62 children a year under the age of 14 are killed in accidental firearm discharges. Salt's CEO Adam Kennedy states, "You should feel comfortable having this by your bed, because your kid can't kill himself with this."

There are problems with this reasoning. Leaving Salt out in the open doesn't decrease the likelihood a child could get ahold of it. If anything, doing as the CEO recommends would increase the likelihood of accidental discharge. Salt is still a weapon, and children would still experience incredible, blinding pain for up to an hour. Despite what Kennedy says, if you have kids you probably want to lock Salt up just like you would a real firearm.

If you want something guaranteed to not kill anyone, Salt may not be for you. In a study of 63 pepper spray deaths conducted on behalf of the National Institute of Justice, two deaths were blamed on a combination of pepper spray and asthma—the rest were blamed on a combination of the pepper spray, drugs, and victims accidentally asphyxiating themselves.

Finally, it's not clear how someone is supposed to practice using Salt. A responsible weapon owner would not want to use it for the first time in a emergency. People who do not like guns may not want to practice with an actual gun in order to become proficient with Salt—which is dangerous and counterproductive. There are no ranges where you can practice with a Salt gun—real handgun ranges will not tolerate clouds of pepper spray driving away their customers.

All of this may explain why Salt's Indiegogo page is currently down for unknown reasons.

Update: The Salt gun has now officially been removed from IndieGogo. According to a statement from the company:

We were very disappointed to find that IndieGoGo removed the SALT project yesterday because it straddled the traditional categories of safety device or weapon. Of course, anyone who purchased or donated to SALT through IndieGoGo will automatically receive a full refund.Given the excitement and interest around SALT, we are now taking orders and inquiries on the brand new company site.

Source: WTVR.com

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io