Students Carry Mace Illegally

When living in Cambridge last summer, Brittani S. Head ’06 carried pepper spray to ease the late-night walk home, halfway to Central Square.

“During the summer the campus is much more deserted, and carrying the pepper spray made me feel a lot safer,” Head said.

Many students on campus purchased self-defense chemicals in the wake of more than a dozen sexual assaults in the vicinity of the campus last year, despite the fact that carrying mace or pepper spray is illegal without the proper license.

Head, who no longer carries the spray, said that she was vaguely aware of the law against carrying mace without a license, but felt that her safety was more important.

“I think it’s kind of a stupid law,” she said.

To legally carry mace or any chemical irritant in Massachusetts, you must obtain a valid firearm identification card (FID)—a process which, in Cambridge, requires proof of U.S. citizenship, proof of Cambridge residence, fingerprinting and background checks. There is a fee of $25 for the license and an extra $20 fingerprinting fee.

“It’s a dangerous chemical if used improperly,” Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) spokeswoman Peggy McNamara said. “You can blind and permanently impair people with it.

Police officers all have to be personally sprayed with it to understand the impact of it.”

A junior in Dunster began carrying mace last winter, after a student was assaulted in the parking lot of St. Paul’s Church.

“I felt like that could have happened to any of us,” said the junior, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she knew the mace possession was illegal. “So my blockmates and I ordered pepper spray on keychains over eBay.”

The junior said that the mace, for which none of the students had a license, makes her feel more confident walking the streets, and reminds her to be aware of her surroundings.

Prompted by two recent rapes in the Mission Hill and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods, the Boston Police Licensing Division stayed open late, earlier this month, to field increased demand for licenses to carry chemical irritants.

Susan Marine, director of the Office of Sexual Assault Response and Prevention, said she has seen an increased student interest in obtaining mace over the past few weeks, possibly due to these same rapes.

“If people call us about how to get mace, we refer them to the police,” Marine said. “We don’t take a stance on mace either way, but I understand it’s very controversial because it is often used against the victim in assaults.”

Others started carrying spray for personal reasons. Annelisa H. Pedersen ’06 said she carries pepper spray to protect herself from a potentially dangerous ex-boyfriend.

“I don’t know if I should be carrying this around because you have to have a firearm ID card,” Pedersen said. “I’m from Georgia where it’s completely legal if you’re over 18.”

Pedersen said she didn’t even realize mace was illegal in Massachusetts until she tried to board a plane, forgetting about the mace hanging on her keychain.

“A policeman talked to me at the airport, but I didn’t get into any trouble,” Pedersen said. “I just think it’s more important to be able to defend yourself.”

Coalition Against Sexual Assault Board Member Laura E. Openshaw ’05 said that the process of getting an FID is too difficult.

“Mace is primarily a defense weapon,” Openshaw said. “A fee and fingerprinting seem extreme.”

McNamara urged students to explore self-defense alternatives to mace and other chemical irritants.

“We sell shrill alarms for ten dollars, you could carry a whistle, or take Rape Aggression Defense classes,” McNamara said. “Travel in groups, walk in well-lit areas. The shuttle service and the walking escort services are all ways to stay safe.”

Some students feel so safe that they’ve ignored mace sent by concerned family members.

“I don’t carry around the mace my parents gave me because I haven’t even thought about it,” Tiffany T. Niver ’08 said. “I feel safe and it wouldn’t even be natural to carry around. It wouldn’t be much use in the bottom of my bag anyway, if I did get attacked.”

“My mother sent me up a new can of pepper spray, but I just haven’t carried it,” Head said.