I read the following article on the effectiveness of bear spray vs a gun: https://www.outsideonline.com/2401248/does-bear-spray-work.

Before reading this article, I had read that scientific studies showed that bear spray was actually more effective at stopping a bear attack than a gun for the average person.

What this article states that most of the reported “bear incidents” in which bear spray turned a grizzle bear, the bear was not attacking. In fact, the article showed only limited number of incidents in which bear spray was used in a grizzle bear attack. In those bear attack incidents, the spray was not nearly as effective as portrayed numerous publications.

Now it could be that the bear spray prevented attacks from starting by turning a bear away before the situation deteriorated.

I was surprised to read that bear spray is not effective with black bears.