Dori: Marines from Snoqualmie test COVID masking efficacy with bear spray

These two guys would have been a hoot in your high school chemistry class.

From a driveway in the Snoqualmie Valley, buddies Jeff Kissick and Gavin Pendleton – U.S. Marines who are now married with five school-age kids between them – were out to prove a point.

Part chemically-burned tongue-in-cheek and part serious, the men say their experiment was designed to show the relative efficacies of a military gas mask, a KN95 mask, and the more common paper or cloth masks most students in Washington state use in school.

That’s why they staged their own scientific experiment, complete with a military-grade gas mask, canopied tent, and one can of honest-to-goodness bear spray.

Before videotaping their scientific trial, the men invited KIRO Newsradio’s Dori Monson to be their guinea pig — er, uh — experiment participant. Dori – whose on-air reporting history includes volunteering to be tasered by the Washington State Patrol — politely declined their offer. However, he did invite the guys onto his Wednesday show to talk about how they decided to bear spray Pendleton three separate times – each time using a different masking method.

“Particulates in bear spray are larger than the particulates in the COVID-19 virus,” Pendleton explained.

“Our theory is that if protective measures won’t block the pepper spray, it probably won’t block the coronavirus – complete with documents attached,” Kissick concluded.

See the video results of the experiment conducted by Gavin Pendleton and Jeff Kissick here.

Hear Dori’s entire interview with the bear spray experimenters:

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.