On our boat, bear spray which is a strong mace product that sprays a strem 50' is our first defense. Second is a shotgun pistol. Over/under 12 ga. That is not quite 14" long as the backup. I've never had to pull out the 12ga pistol, but my wife used the bear spray with great results on St. Lucia a few years back. I highly.recommended it to deal with thugs.