This Is The #2 New Product At ISC West 2014 (Bulletproof Bookshelf)

"Unfortunately, in today's day and age, the ACTIVE SHOOTER is a REAL and ever-present DANGER in our society"

- alarmist strawman marketing at it's finest.

This product may be good, this product may great, but no one will ever know because the odds of this product ever being actually fired upon by a hostile gunman are lower than the chances of our nuclear arsenal being tested in an actual theatre of combat.

But if I worked in a school or goverment building, I believe it would be comforting to quickly glance towards the bookshelf cum barricade when hearing a loud and unidentifiable sound ricochet down the hall... Now I understand what "It will make you feel safer..." means.

On the lighter side it would be interesting to see the approach a determined gunman might take to dFeat da dFence and their subsequent disbelief at its stubborn resistance, "What the f is this f'ing bookshelf made of anyway?!!

Lets talk ballistics for a minute. The bookshelf is rated to withstand:

• 9mm Hangun
• 5.56mm Rifle
• Shotgun

Of the three, the 5.56mm Rifle is likely the highest power round. (Well, the shotgun could be, but a birdshot load cannot even penetrate drywall, and we have no idea if the claim is .410, 20 ga, 12 ga, or 10 ga...)

5.56 x 45 is the NATO round used in AR-15 and M4 rifles. The story goes that Secretary Robert McNamara pushed for this caliber to replace .308 (a bigger round) to serve two purposes: give solders the ability to carry more ammo, and to inflict wounds not kill outright. The enemy spends more resources tending to a wounded comrade than a dead one, etc...

With that said, almost any modern 30 caliber rifle round, especially a cheap steel core type bullet, has a good shot a squirting right through this bookcase, just like they do bulletproof vests (TV doesn't show you that.)

Indeed 'terrorists' stereotypically carry 30 caliber rifles, ie: AK-47s, which have been produced in the tens of millions and ammo in the hundreds of millions of rounds. Some of the least expensive rifles available today shoot rounds with more power than the high-end and fickle AR-15.

Summary: Say I buy lots of these bookcases and spend loads of money in the process. They may prove to be insufficiently protective based on how the active shooter is armed.

Now, lets examine life-safety of dFence:

Me: "I want to buy these bullet proof barricades that I can roll in front of the door, for every room. They keep the bad guys out, and the good guys in."
AHJ: "LOL. No really, why'd you call me?"

I seriously doubt that emergency egress plans include the potential of such a device. Furthermore, what's worse than trapping people in a room with a badguy? Unfortunately, there are many situations where dFence would aid evil, not prevent it.

Like Luis or Marty mentioned above: the answer is to keep the bad guys out of your facility to begin with, using good old fashioned, non bullet proof access control and layers of perimeter protection.

I normally get ill reading the "new products" list at trade shows. Which means I find it mildly surprising IPVM.COM would think this problem is news. Also, I just skimmed https://www.iscwest.com/SIANPS/New-Products/ and I must confess that some items in it did not sound spectacularly lame to me (turn up the volume to hear my faint praise...) I do see at least 4 items I suspect are spectacularly insecure (and I do networking, I defer to my respected ipvm.com reader colleagues to advise me on what size round to take out a bookshelf in the average CISO's office.)

What I'm saying is - um, the list might not completely suck, I respectuflly suggest that page might be worth checking out (even with the silly bookshelf.)

Don't pay attention to who won awards, of course.

I would not want to be shot with a .223 round but would prefer it over a 12 gauge slug. You can obtain body armor that stops .308 and the AK47 7.62X39mm. Although heavier it is still far less expensive and much more practical than an armored bookcase which is almost laughable. Statistics show that most active shooters prefer to use hand guns. We are not at the point in the US where we are having Mumbai style attacks, at least not yet. If this is the # 2 best product at ISC West than what does it actually say about the show?

This must be #1 product then, in Serbia we would call it, "?eli?na vrata", no exact translation into the King's American English is available, the closest one can get is something like "Door which is made of Steel". For about $400.

You must be out of them over there, I can get for you, if you order now, I will built-in a free 'ATD' anti-tipping-device too!

Cost of a IP wireless or Wi-Fi lock: $2500

Cost of a new steel door with install: < $1000

Now you have an access control solution, bullet proof (or nearly) and the ability to do a system wide lockdown or at the very least push a button inside the door to lock it.

Sad part about this is, the guy who created the bookshelf honestly thinks he is onto something useful.

I think bullet proof is not really the truth behind the answer, as I would hope that logically, people would stay away from the door during a shooting.

The bigger question would be - can the door maintain its integrity and hold out against someone trying to shoot thier way into the lock/ hinges, etc.

We all know how easy it is to use your blaster on the controls of the door to either open or lock it, like in Star Wars.