I'll throw in a horror story from a bush camp. A friend of mine came home with his crew from work only to find that there was a black bear that the camp dogs had chased up a tree. There was a gun in camp, but nobody, including the supervisors, were actually trained in using firearms - it was just part of the safety protocol in camp to have one in case of, well, bears. Eventually they work up the nerve to shoot the bear up in this tree, and the guy who volunteers to (because no one else will) does everything wrong. He holds the rifle in front of him, not resting the but on his shoulder and sights his shot. When he pulls the trigger, the gun bucks back into his arm and the scope into his eye, knocking him back on the ground. His lack of aim means he misses the head shot he was going for, and instead grazes a bullet along the bear's stomach. In pain, the bear falls out of the tree. When it hits the ground, it literally exploded at the middle from the graze wound, it's guts pouring all over while it groaned and writhed around in serious pain. Somebody else managed to use the gun right the second time and put the poor thing out of its misery.

Now while this story isn't exactly a parable comparing the relative effeiveness of bear spray to gun, I, personally, am more comfortable with a can of bear spray to carry around when I'm out in the bush (in case I see moose, cougars or wolves too) than I am with a gun. I'm not so sure my aim would be great if I was surprised and had to shoot to kill on a dime, especially since I am usually concentrating on other things like the actual dob I'm doing, but I'm pretty confident that I can spray an angry animal in the face and blind it long enough for me to get the hell out of there, which, in the end, is all that really counts for me. On a related note, bear meat is a little gamey for my taste - I can't say I recommend it.