@vietmyke some do yes. if you're an idiot (not you specifically I'm using this to describe people who don't understand firearms and use this trick poorly) you will put a compensator on your firearm which discharges the gas out the top which is what they traditionally do and it will end up right in your face blinding and burning you.
Now.
Some compensators Disperse the gas evenly but don't necessarily act like a suppressor they just make firing the gun more stable in general as opposed to reducing specifically the upward kick of the front ofor the gun (so compensatory are traditionally square close fitted extensions of a guns barrel, suppressors are traditionally a bit longer and spiral the gas along the length hence the reduced noise).
Compensators and suppressors also have another side effect. If you press them against a person they in turn press specifically on the barrel of a semi automatic pistol. Why is this important? Well turns out if you're in the middle of a close quarters fight with someone and you shove the end of a semiautomatic against someone there is a good chance it will push the slide on the gun back enough to take the pistol out of battery making it impossible to fire pressed against someone like that. A Compensator or suppressor prevents that issue.
I was actually just working with a guy like two weeks ago, he has this striker fire conceal carry and we were practicing defending knife attacks, drawing and shooting out the hip girdle because I'm not law enforcement and he isn't either so if you kill someone then you're basically going to jail if you live in California XD but sure as shit he presses his gun right into my hip and then nothing. It's the funniest and scariest feeling ever because all of the sudden. Your gun doesn't work and you have an: oh shit... moment
