USA Today Article - Posted 2/10/2009 9:50 AM ET
By Marc Shapiro
PASADENA, Md. — Eight women were sitting in the Pasadena living room of Fran Schmidt. They feasted on pasta with meatballs, veggies and chicken salad croissant sandwiches and had moved on to casual conversation flavored with beer, wine and soda when the products began to come out.
Party guests checked out the Mace Pepper Gun, which can shoot pepper spray up to 25 feet, key chain and lipstick-sized pepper spray and cameras disguised as kids' toys. They looked at advertisements for Tasers, which were available in two shades of pink. They passed around a disabled stun gun to feel how heavy it is.
It wasn't a Tupperware event, or gourmet food sale or even a lingerie party, but rather a Taser party.
Sharon Kluth, owner of Maryland Safe Defense, is the life of the party, passing around catalogs showing off items available from her supplier.
"There used to be a time when we could go out and if we parked under a street light we'd be safe," the Glen Burnie resident said. "Not anymore."
Kluth got on the path to selling self-defense products after being laid off two years ago from her office administrator job at Cingular after the company was bought by AT&T. With the help of her husband, Victor, she set out to start her own business, something she had always wanted to do. Security products was something no one else was selling.
"Being 60, it was going to be very difficult to find a new job, so we started looking at new avenues," she said.
She now conducts two or three Taser parties a week, selling most of her products to women, or to men who buy them for their wives. Men, for the most part, buy her surveillance equipment.
The firm is a member of the Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce and was awarded best new business by the chamber last year.
Not everything shown during the evening was available for sale. County law prohibits the possession of stun guns and Tasers. But that didn't keep her from showing off Tasers still sealed in their plastic packages to her potential customers at Schmidt's house.
"People want to know what they look like and what the stun gun sounds like and that's the only reason I take them to the shows," she said.
Buyers who use her Web site must provide proof of residency, and Maryland Self Defense won't sell items in areas where they are banned, Kluth said. She keeps the items locked up when they aren't on display, and she said she's not worried about the ban. Despite the ban, there was a lot of curiosity about the devices, which come in everything from basic black to leopard print.
The party at Schmidt's house started with a little roughhousing.
At Kluth's urging, a guest grabbed her arm only to watch helplessly as the security expert demonstrated how to pull away with a twist of the thumb. Another demonstration showed a way to escape from a neck hold by bending back an attacker's fingers.
After the crash course in self-defense, Kluth circulated various pepper sprays. Her pepper spray is available in a variety of sizes and types, from pink lipstick pepper spray to the 9-ounce pistol grip Wildfire 18 percent pepper spray.
Most consumer pepper spray products can be used eight to 12 times depending on the size. When sprayed, they cover the assailant in an ultraviolet dye that can't easily be washed off, and Schmidt knew of some recent incidents in which pepper spray could have helped.
"A couple of women in Pasadena have been followed home from the grocery store and attacked in their driveway," she said.
She owns a small canister of pepper spray, the pet muzzle, which is a dog repellent, and the pet blinky, a flashing light that goes on a pet's collar for late night walks.
"I think the self-defense products Sharon has are important," she said.
Kim Mann of Annapolis travels the country for a restaurant supply company and said she owns the pepper spray three pack -- a 2-ounce home use pepper spray, a half-ounce car visor clip and a half-ounce key chain pepper spray.
"I have found myself in situations where holding my keys and pepper spray made me feel the situation was less threatening," she said.
In addition to self-defense products, Kluth sells a variety of home security products, from window alarms to hidden safes.
"There was just a need out there, I feel, for women," Kluth said.
Find this article at delmarvanow.com
It wasn't a Tupperware event, or gourmet food sale or even a lingerie party, but rather a Taser party.
Sharon Kluth, owner of Maryland Safe Defense, is the life of the party, passing around catalogs showing off items available from her supplier.
"There used to be a time when we could go out and if we parked under a street light we'd be safe," the Glen Burnie resident said. "Not anymore."
Kluth got on the path to selling self-defense products after being laid off two years ago from her office administrator job at Cingular after the company was bought by AT&T. With the help of her husband, Victor, she set out to start her own business, something she had always wanted to do. Security products was something no one else was selling.
"Being 60, it was going to be very difficult to find a new job, so we started looking at new avenues," she said.
She now conducts two or three Taser parties a week, selling most of her products to women, or to men who buy them for their wives. Men, for the most part, buy her surveillance equipment.
The firm is a member of the Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce and was awarded best new business by the chamber last year.
Not everything shown during the evening was available for sale. County law prohibits the possession of stun guns and Tasers. But that didn't keep her from showing off Tasers still sealed in their plastic packages to her potential customers at Schmidt's house.
"People want to know what they look like and what the stun gun sounds like and that's the only reason I take them to the shows," she said.
Buyers who use her Web site must provide proof of residency, and Maryland Self Defense won't sell items in areas where they are banned, Kluth said. She keeps the items locked up when they aren't on display, and she said she's not worried about the ban. Despite the ban, there was a lot of curiosity about the devices, which come in everything from basic black to leopard print.
The party at Schmidt's house started with a little roughhousing.
At Kluth's urging, a guest grabbed her arm only to watch helplessly as the security expert demonstrated how to pull away with a twist of the thumb. Another demonstration showed a way to escape from a neck hold by bending back an attacker's fingers.
After the crash course in self-defense, Kluth circulated various pepper sprays. Her pepper spray is available in a variety of sizes and types, from pink lipstick pepper spray to the 9-ounce pistol grip Wildfire 18 percent pepper spray.
Most consumer pepper spray products can be used eight to 12 times depending on the size. When sprayed, they cover the assailant in an ultraviolet dye that can't easily be washed off, and Schmidt knew of some recent incidents in which pepper spray could have helped.
"A couple of women in Pasadena have been followed home from the grocery store and attacked in their driveway," she said.
She owns a small canister of pepper spray, the pet muzzle, which is a dog repellent, and the pet blinky, a flashing light that goes on a pet's collar for late night walks.
"I think the self-defense products Sharon has are important," she said.
Kim Mann of Annapolis travels the country for a restaurant supply company and said she owns the pepper spray three pack -- a 2-ounce home use pepper spray, a half-ounce car visor clip and a half-ounce key chain pepper spray.
"I have found myself in situations where holding my keys and pepper spray made me feel the situation was less threatening," she said.
In addition to self-defense products, Kluth sells a variety of home security products, from window alarms to hidden safes.
"There was just a need out there, I feel, for women," Kluth said.
Find this article at delmarvanow.com
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