This week, we attended the 2021 National School Safety Conference and Exposition in New Orleans, and we invited a group of education leaders from around the country to a very unusual event.
Instead of telling the nation’s leading school safety minds about how the glass is lightweight, thin, suitable for retrofitting, and the best they can get to protect their schools and students, we brought out high powered weapons and had them fire it at our bulletproof glass.[image_with_animation image_url=”12160″ animation=”Fade In” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”]They were able to shoot multiple rounds from AK-47’s and AR-15’s at the UL level 8 glass.
Spoiler alert:
It withstood all of the gunfire.[nectar_video_player_self_hosted video_webm=”https://staging.ballistiglass.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/school-bulletproof-glass-video-1.webm” video_mp4=”https://staging.ballistiglass.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/school-bulletproof-glass-video-1.mp4″ video_image=”12154″ el_width=”70″ align=”center” autoplay=”yes” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none”]
The different levels of school safety
According to the keynote speakers from the New Orleans event, choosing a high standard of bulletproof glass to protect a school makes a whole world of a difference.
School shooting survivors spoke to the fact that the tragedies were amplified because standard glass was breached by bullets, leading to more deaths and injuries.
At Sandy Hook for instance, when police arrived they found gaping holes in windows next to the front that gave the shooter access, even though the front security doors were locked.
At Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, the shooter shot through glass on schoolroom doors to gain access to more victims. Stacy Lippel, a teacher at the school, testifies “I heard a barrage of shots in Mr. Beigel’s room, then immediately after that, the shooter fired about four or five times right into my classroom through the glass panel in the door”.
They wouldn’t have been able to do that, have the schools had gunfire-resistant glass installed.
There’s no point dwelling on past tragedies though. What we must do, is learn the lessons from them.
The key one?
Bulletproof glass installed in schools saves lives.It’s not the only security precaution that schools should take, of course, nor is it the only way to stop school shootings. Other measures such as security personnel, metal detectors, and gunman drills are key too. They will slow down an active shooter that enters your place of education, or stop them altogether before they can cause harm.
However, at the point of having an active gunman in your school, ballistic glass is invaluable. It will protect those hiding inside of classrooms, and make the shooter waste their ammo by trying to shoot through it.
Disabling a school shooter
When it comes to the BallistiMAX specifically, it provides an added layer of protection too.
The glass includes what is almost a defence mechanism against the shooter: a proprietary countermeasure technology we’ve called BallistiSHOCK. It helps disable the shooter by utilizing the outermost layer of the glass as a ‘spray’ towards them.
If they are standing close enough, this can physically hurt. If they are far, it might make them think that they’re getting somewhere with breaking through the glass and waste more ammunition. Either way, full protection for everyone on the other side of the glass is maintained.
The education leaders in New Orleans got to experience the protection provided by our glass, and you best believe when we tell you that they tried their hardest to shoot through it.
Our promise to you is that you will be just as impressed. Inquire about installing BallistiMAX in your school now.
