LETTER: Banning pepper spray a bad idea

So Seattle is banning police officers from having or using pepper spray (June 16 Review-Journal). I guess they forgot that pepper spray is a nonlethal tool police use to avoid using greater force. Pepper spray descended from “mace,” which was invented after a police officer shot and killed a man with a knife many years ago. So the next time a Seattle police officer is faced with a combative individual, he or she will have one less nonlethal tool that has been used countless times to end confrontations relatively peacefully.